On the Bangalore-Mysore highway, the MID showed a fuel economy of 19.7 km/l and inside the city.
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Hi Folks, last weekend I went on a trip, i.e. from Bangalore to Mysore then to Wayanad clocking 730 kilometers. Thought of sharing my drive experience of my Seltos 1.5T Petrol GTX+. So far I have driven 1200 km and the first service is scheduled on 18th Nov.
Drive Experience
1. Suspension – Still it is on the stiffer side if I compare it with Creta. This helps in highway stability, body roll is well-controlled but at the same time, pothole jerks are felt inside the cabin.
2. Steering – It is very good in city driving conditions and accurate on highways. I did not find any issues with Steering feedback. Comparing the Steering feedback of Seltos with Kushaq 1.5T petrol, I would say, the difference is minimal (not like day and night)
3. Braking – The brake is really good and it will never make you feel nervous
4. Seating Comfort – According to me, the Seating comfort is OK. My height is 6ft and it lacks under-thigh support for tall passengers. Also, lumbar support could have been better.
5. Engine/Transmission Performance – Here I am not really impressed by the 1.5 Turbo Petrol Engine and transmission duo. In Stop and traffic, it lags a lot in quick acceleration in initial gears. Once it reaches to 3rd gear, it pulls well. But during initial gears (1 & 2) I have to press hard on the accelerator (have to literally stand on the accelerator, i,e. when the accelerator is pressed more than 60-70%) to get the initial pull. Not sure whether it is an issue only with my car. Please let me know if others noticed this as well.
- Normal Mode – I have mostly driven in Normal and Sports mode. In Normal mode I observed the gear shift is very quick, it upshifts as soon as the RPM is about to reach 2000. Result in linear acceleration.
- Sports Mode – It holds the gear for some more time till the RPM reaches 2500 and then it upshifts. But lags during initial Gears, i,e. in stop-and-go traffic scenarios.
- Adaptive Cruise control – I like this feature and it is useful on highways. Observed one thing, if the Speed limit is Set through Cruise Control and the car has reduced the speed because of a slow-moving vehicle in front of Seltos in the same lane, then changing the lane, the car pulls aggressively.
6. Alert Warning – The vehicle keeps displaying a “Consider taking a break” warning message every 15-20 mins interval. There is no setting to disable this warning message. I called Kia customer care. But they could not help, instead, they redirected me to the Service Manager of Epitome Kia. The Service manager is clueless about this Warning message and the Service Manager asked me to take the car to the Service center for an inspection. They wanted to see the warning message. Seltos model sold outside India has a setting to reduce the Alert level and even completely turn it off. Hope they fix this in future software upgrades.
7. Visibility – Overall visibility is good but the Speaker Grill on the Dashboard reflects a lot during the daytime.
8. AC – AC is very good. But there is no way to control/reduce the Rear AC or close the Rear AC Vents.
9. Music System – As mentioned in my earlier post, the rear speaker misses the punch as the volume is 60% less compared to the front speakers. This is because the rear Bose speaker is a 5.25″ driver vs a 6.5″ front driver.
10. Mileage – On the Bangalore-Mysore highway the MID showed a fuel economy of 19.7 km/l and inside the city, the MID showed fuel economy between 7-13 km/l. On tank to tank method, I got an average of 17.5 km/l (80% Highway and 20 % City.
Attaching a screenshot
Yeh Dil Mange More
Kia should have provided a front passenger-side electric seat adjustment instead of a Manual.
Keyword: 1200 km with my 2023 Seltos 1.5 turbo-petrol: 10 driving observations