Kia Seltos 5 seater was launched in India. At the time of launch, Kia India declared that they have already received over 32,000 reservations for the Altos. At the same time, they declared that no matter what, they will not close bookings of Seltos — thus taking a dig at rival MG Hector, whose bookings are currently closed for 2024.
MG Hector reservations were closed as the company does not have enough production capacity to satisfy demand. At the time of shutting reservations, Hector had about 28,000 orders. The present production capacity of Hector will be 2,000 units a month, which will be increased to 3,000 units a month by Oct 2024.
Kia India did not disclose what was the manufacturing capability of Seltos, however, they did state their plant has a production capacity of 3 lakh units a year.
The base gasoline version of MG Hector prices Rs 14.88 lakhs, on-road Delhi, while base gasoline Kia Seltos costs 10.88 lakhs. The top-end variant of MG Hector gasoline manual costs Rs 17.8 lakhs for the normal model and Rs 18.5 lakh for its hybrid model.
7 DCT petrol top Hector costs Rs 19.53 lakhs. In comparison, the Kia Seltos petrol manual top version costs Rs 18.6 lakhs. The automated option isn’t offered with Kia Seltos top version. It’ll be launched at a later date.
Kia Seltos Review Features
Achieving the proper balance between price, fashion, and apparel, it has won each compares it has entered in at OD and unsurprisingly, it manages to rake in close to 10,000 bookings each month. Rather than taking a top-down strategy and launch products from its global portfolio, Hyundai’s compatriot and sibling, Kia, has made the smart move of borrowing the Creta’s platform and creating its first product – the Kia Seltos – for the Indian market. In doing this, they have also created one of the greatest examples of platform sharing and ensuring it does not feel as a cost-saving badge-engineered product.
Design
The very first matter to highlight that fact is the design of the Kia Altos. Save for its silhouette, there’s nothing on it that traces at the Hyundai Creta connection. The tail and face seem border and the particulars are aplenty with the complex lighting elements and premium textures. Kia is claiming a best-in-class drag coefficient of 0.35, which is fairly normal for a top riding crossover.
We had a chance to visit Kia’s plant in Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh to get a foretaste of this Seltos about the test track – and also out in the open, the Kia Seltos looks equally as good as it did on the jazzy show floor, even when it was revealed in June. It will look quite radical, but I still believe that this layout will age nicely. Such as the Creta, the Seltos too boasts of superior paint quality and if I was buying a single, I would get the white Seltos in the GT lineup, with its red accents along with the contrasting roof.
Cabin
The GT line’s cottage is also the funkier of the lot together with the flat-bottom steering wheel along with ribbed leatherette upholstery, also I’d go with the all-black option over the traditional black and beige. I found the chair cushioning to be on the softer side though and I’d have preferred a firmer strengthening especially on the chair base.
kia seltos Cabin Interior
We drove a gas 1.4 automatic which was loaded with the Bose audio, a head-up screen, 360-degree parking, and lively mood lighting, which are a few of the numerous features that immediately set the Kia Seltos apart from the Hyundai Creta. But I’m told that these attributes could be available only on the range-topping manual variant which would be a bummer if true since I expect many driving enthusiasts to decide on the petrol-automatic (I’ll come to this in a little ). I am feeling a replica of Hyundai’s top-heavy approach in terms of variant packaging and that is something which I’m not in favor of.
The Kia Seltos cabin had excellent fit and finish on the prototypes we drove and if it stays unchanged on the production car, it is going to set a new benchmark for your class. Nevertheless, every time that I drove across the rumbler patch, the inner panels on the B-pillar did creak on most of the cars I tested, and I hope this is ironed out to the production automobile. I like the infotainment, that sits upon the dash, and is slick and crisp.
It’s easily the best in the class (and perhaps even a segment higher), also has the same software as the Hyundai Creta, but with different skin and design to its menus and icons. Additionally, it features Kia’s variant of the Hyundai Blue Link connected technologies. The infotainment is mated to sound units from Arkhamy’s or Bose and the latter creates a noticeably superior soundstage. I hope it is made available at least as an option on trims which don’t get it like a standard fit.
Kia Seltos Engine Review
The 1.4l turbo-petrol can be had using a dual-clutch automobile, the 1.5l petrol has the choice of a CVT and the 1.5l diesel auto uses a torque converter. Each of the engines is BS6 compliant, meaning that the total cost of the car at the start will have factored it in already, unlike the competition that’s likely to jack up prices next year to the new emissions compliance.
If I was buying, I would define it using the DCT, since this is the only one to find the various driving modes. The steering is marginally better than the comparable Hyundai’s, but the Sport style handles to add more weight and feedback to it enough for me to throw the manual and receive the DCT rather than What’s more, the shift quality and reaction times of the DCT are excellent! The 1.4search engine is among the most eager motors this aspect of 20 lakh rupees, despite the turbocharging, it has a linear-pull from the word go. It’s fast off the mark and I’m imagining it’s going to break the 10s barrier for a 0-100kmph run.
We did not get a chance to drive the 1.5l petrol, but we managed to spend a while together with the 1.5l diesel. If its tuning is carried forward as is to the production car, I think it will set a new section benchmark for refinement. We have heard Hyundai powertrains getting louder with time, therefore this is something that we will wait and see. We scaled an intense incline on the test track and I was pleasantly surprised at how tractable the engine and gearbox felt, without a knocking or booming under the load. The motor builds speed quite wracking too.
The six-speed manual seems to be tuned well and I’m excited to discover how it works in city conditions. There isn’t any noticeable turbo-lag and the engine seems quite relaxed in all these situations. The clutch is light on both, the petrol and diesel variant and also the shift quality of the six-speed is as slick as Hyundai’s if not better.
I can not comment much on the ride and handling bit, except the Kia Seltos, feels sportier than the Hyundai Creta in terms of its cornering manners. It seems to have a more controlled dip and dip along with a quieter ride over undulations, though I’d hold back my view until I push it into weathered roads of the real world.
VERDICT
That real-world drive is scheduled to get underway early next month and that is when I will have the ability to give you much more information regarding the Kia Seltos and it is performance. But my first impressions are quite concrete and positive everything we said about the Seltos out of its public show last month. By the time that you are reading this report, Kia will have already opened bookings for your Seltos and I anticipate a big footfall at the 200+ sales points they have installed in the nation already. While I’m confident they will price it directly by delivering on their promise of a sticker cost ranging between? 11-17 lakh, I hope they are kinder to the 1.4l auto in the kit they are planning to offer on it.
