New Seltos replaces my BMW X3 for a 1250 km road trip: 5 observations

Managed to eke out 15-17 km/l fuel efficiency from the Seltos GTX+.

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Hello everyone,

This is my second post after buying a Kia Seltos GTX+ (Pewter Olive) in early January. The first piece was about my initial impressions of the car, and this one is after my first long trip with it—from Bengaluru to Kochi and back.

The total distance covered during the trip was around 1250 km over four days in early April. We wanted to try this car for a long drive, giving our usual companion—the BMW X3—some rest.

I will make this post in a semi-listicle format.

1. Drive impression on highway: Seltos, from hereon the Ranger, is a super smooth vehicle with oodles of power on tap. The 160 bhp, 253 NM turbo petrol engine is a stonker as it pulls, pulls and pulls on. We never had to worry about a quick overtake of a long truck or a slew of slow-moving vehicles. The DCT-Engine combo is near perfect.
2. AC performance: While we were quite happy with its performance in the city, we wanted to see how it works on a hot day on the highway. Wife was a bit sceptical because of the all-black interior of the car. But to our delight, the AC kept us very cool throughout the journey while operating generally around the 18-19 degrees range. Imagine the outside temperature was a scorching 36 degrees on our drive day. We didn't feel any of it inside the Ranger.
3. ADAS: The driver assist systems worked well, particularly the lane-keeping assist and blind spot monitoring system. But you have to remember to turn the indicators on (right or left) before you change lanes for an overtake, or else the car will nudge you back to your original lane. The adaptive cruise control, too, worked nice, even though I didn't keep it on for very long.
4. Headlight: We didn't drive too much at night, but the general feeling was that the throw could have been a tad better. By no means is it insufficient, but at times, you need a brighter flame to spot a speed-breaker or a curve along the road that bit better.
5. Mileage: We managed to eke out between 15-17 km/l on highways around the trip. Of course, now the overall mileage across 3600+ kms stands at around 11 km/l. Good for us.

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