Why I chose the Kia Seltos X Line Diesel AT over the 1.5L Turbo 7DCT

While the 1.5 turbo petrol is a great engine, with an amazing mid-range (which is so addictive), it's sadly let down by a confused gearbox.

BHPian Col Mehta recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Just came back from extensive test drives of both the 7DCT and D AT - 30 minutes each (covering a mix of open roads and heavy traffic). We've finally settled on the black Xline D AT!

While the 1.5 turbo petrol is a great engine, with an amazing mid-range (which is so addictive), it's sadly let down by a confused gearbox. I'm not saying it's a bad gearbox, but we haven't been able to connect with it after numerous test drives. In a heavy-traffic environment, this gearbox just fails to make a positive impression. We took our neighbor along for a unanimous decision and he also concurred that the gearbox was "jumpy" in slow traffic conditions (eco mode is a little better, but the turbo lag is more apparent in that mode). No such issues on open roads though where this combo excels. DCT's long-term reliability is also a concern, however, not many issues have been reported so far with Hyundai/Kia's DCT gearbox.

For us, we prefer a smooth driving experience in all possible conditions, and that's where the D AT comes in.

The D AT combo is exceptionally smooth and makes driving effortless, closely resembling the NA IVT combination in our Creta (of course the D AT is more powerful). However, it's not as fun as our 1st gen Creta with 1.6 D AT. The contrast is quite noticeable if you've driven the previous engine gearbox combo. I have shared my feedback on different threads. Perhaps it's been (de)tuned to comply with the phase 2 regulations. Having said that and driven it for a longer duration, it's not bad at all. In fact, it's frugal, torquey (though not quite as much as its predecessor) and very refined. No NVH-related issues on that demo car which seemed to have been abused quite badly. On open roads, it pulls cleanly, though not as strongly as the 1.5 turbo petrol. Apart from concerns about the future of diesel engines, the only cause of worry is DPF clogging but we have plans in place to take care of things, so it should be okay.

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