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A month & 2700 km up on my Kia Seltos Turbo DCT: Experience so far

20th March 2025, 15:03 by Deepankar Sadekar

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Most of the drives so far were on open highways and expressways, this engine and gearbox combo feels right at home on open roads.

BHPian Mariner_sky recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

One month update on Kia Seltos Turbo DCT (Onyx)

Distance Covered - 2700+ kms

Fuel Efficiency - 13.1 km/l

Things I liked -

Refined and Powerful Petrol Engine
Gearbox Performance
Design Language
Feature Packed
Feel Good Factor
Fit and Finish

Things that could have been better -

Headlights Performance
Wired Apple & Android Carplay
No Memory Function for Driver Seat
Image Stitching of 360 Camera

ODO stands at 2770 as of today

My experience so far with the car -

The Good

Engine plus gearbox -

Most of the drives so far were on open highways and expressways, this engine and gearbox combo feels right at home on open roads. City drives are also smooth, have driven in extensive traffic but never felt any jerkiness with the gearbox, maybe accelerator modulation is the key here. Keep a light foot and it will not try to change gears often. This 1.5L turbo engine combined with a 7 DCT is a very refined combo. The one time I felt the jerkiness with gear changes were when we started an uphill climb for the first time just after crossing Punjab but after that it was a smooth experience in Himachal. On open highways this engine will never feel underpowered and there’s always power available on a slight tap of accelerator.

Have driven in normal and sports mode till now and - mind you, once you start driving in sports mode, normal mode will start to feel lethargic and the kick-down acceleration is ADDICTIVE. Maybe that’s the reason I have not yet tried Eco mode yet.

Ride quality -

Coming from Tata Zest and Volkswagen Polo I didn’t find suspension to be uncomfortable as both the previous cars had balanced and stiff suspensions. During delivery checked the tyre pressure and surprisingly it was 34 PSI and I kept it like that only. Drive SLOW on undulations and speed bumps and you are good to go. It takes on expansion joints and rumble strips much better than Zest and Polo but on mountain roads if you attack a corner at high speeds you'll surely make your passengers on the rear seats uncomfortable with motion sickness.

ADAS -

As most of my drives were on highways and expressways, I used ADAS features like LFA, ACC and they work as expected. I wish they had provided a dedicated button for FCA to turn it on or off on the go. BCW also helps a lot to avoid vehicles (two wheelers which normally shadows your car) in your blind spot. LKA is aggressive and avoiding potholes becomes difficult so I have kept it off. SEW is also a great add on. My final verdict on ADAS is it's not a gimmick but a great add-on in terms of passive safety, it surely helps in increasing the situational awareness of driver but for first couple hundred kilometres the continuous beeps will be a distraction for sure if you are new to ADAS.

Fit and Finish -

While making the decision of which car to buy, me and my fiancee explored various options including VW Virtus, Skoda Slavia, Verna, Creta and one or the other option was missing something. The German sisters lack the luxuriousness in interiors that is expected at this price range. Verna’s ground clearance does not give a sense of comfort for our roads and Creta’s top variant price was a little on the higher end with omission of some features as compared to Seltos. With X line’s sage green interiors, soft touches and piano black inserts - we get the feel of the premium paid for it.

Looks -

Kia is known for its unique styling and good looks but on the top of it with Seltos X Line, it has done a really fine job. X line introduced in Aurora Black Pearl colour was one of the factors which inclined me towards this model of Seltos as Graphite Matte finish would have been harder to maintain. Also, the fact that X line comes with all black grille and no silver/chrome inserts makes it look stealthy and powerful. In short, there is nothing more I could have asked for in the exteriors of Seltos X Line variant.

No chrome definitely adds to the stealthy looks

Beautiful sage green interiors

Interior ambience during night

Convenience -

Well here I think Seltos scores much better than the competition. What people often perceive as gimmicks i think they do help in making your drive convenient. I have listed some features below which i find useful and makes my drive comfortable.

Seat ventillation
360 deg camera
Dual zone climate control
Heads up display
ADAS
UV cut glasses
Sunglass holder
2nd row window shades

Dual climate control is much needed when you and your partner's comfortable temperature is different What could have been better

Headlight -
It’s BAD. My 2016 Tata Zest with projector headlamps worked much better. I find the low beams non existent when there's glare coming from oncoming vehicles with their high beams on. Have to choose between driving with high beams or not able to see the road ahead of me.

Wired apple carplay and android auto -
I don’t mind the wired connection but at this price point getting the option for wireless is not too much to ask for.

Driver seats memory function-
With the convenience of electric seats it’s a great miss to not include memory function. Me and my fiancee takes turns driving it and with memory function changing drivers mid drive would have been very convenient.

Seat comfort-
As highlighted by members I am also finding it difficult to find a sweet spot for seat position. Most of the drives so far have been long ones and I feel discomfort in my right leg. While en-route Gurgaon to Udaipur I was driving alone and every 2 hour I felt the need to stretch my legs just because of the discomfort. I feel pain in my right knee and hamstring. Any suggestions for what can be done about this? My height is 5’4 and yet to find the root cause for this discomfort.

Random experiences worth sharing

I wanted to take the delivery of vehicle with HSRP number plate but due to delay from RTO end I got my number plated on the next day of delivery. Went to the dealership the next day and handed over the car keys for fixing of number plates while I was waiting inside the showroom. Also Kia connect had to be activated that day so after the installation of number plate SA asked me to come inside the car for activation of KIA connect and after the process was completed we headed home. Here’s the twist - after parking at home, I searched for the keys to lock the car but it was not in my pocket. The car was meeting all 3 conditions indicating the keys were inside it. I thought it must have slipped out of my pockets so searched everywhere in the car but couldn’t find it. After searching for an hour or so, went back to the dealership and they found it in 5 minutes. Guess what - it was placed in the sunglass holder by the SA. Takeaway - if you are new to keyless entry system, fix a place where you always keep the keys.
At the time of delivery I asked the SA to disable FCA, he told me it’s already disabled and I took his word for it. Couple days later when we were cruising on highway speeds and during an overtake manoeuvre (was overtaking a truck moving in the middle lane from right and there was a bike in front of us in the right most lane so I planned a quick swerving manoeuvre). FCA warning flashed with continuous beeps and luckily I quickly changed lanes and it was limited to just a warning and no emergency braking. After reaching our destination I checked the settings and saw that FCA was enabled. Disabled it and thanked our stars that we didn’t experienced emergency braking in the middle of highway.

Did a little efficiency run of about 200 kms while the ODO was still at 450 kms, surprisingly I was able to eek out 18.5 kmpl which is impressive for car this size and the engine which was still in its break in period. Speed during this were in the range of 60-80 kmph.

MID showing average of 18.5kmpl

Got the oil change and lube oil filter replacement done at 2700 km. Costed around 1700 bucks and 3 hours of my time, KIA Udaipur needs to up their game.

I have ordered a VIOFO A229 plus from USA. My friend will be carrying it for me in February. Getting it 10K cheaper from there so decided to take the risk of getting it from USA and i already had a word with my SA about it and they will help me with the installation part. Decided just to use it by plugging in 12V DC adapter.

While in Himachal the inevitable happened. Managed to scrape the rear quarter panel and rear door with an iron rod which was placed just on the side of a very narrow road which was completely in my blind spot. I think I was over relying on 360 deg camera and as soon as the front sensors kicked in I turned the steering wheel fully to drivers side to save it from the protruding branches and the rear side of car came in contact with a iron rod.