Kia Seltos review: Real-world performance tested

Kia is offering purchasers a choice of 3 diverse engines – a 115hp, one.five-litre naturally aspirated petrol a 140hp, one.four-litre turbo-petrol and a 115hp, one.five-litre diesel engine. Each of these get a 6-pace guide and an computerized choice as perfectly. What is distinctive is that each individual automatic transmission is unique to each individual powertrain. The one.five-litre petrol will get a CVT (continuously variable transmission), the one.four-litre turbopetrol will get a seven-pace DCT (dualclutch transmission), and the diesel will get 6-pace torque converter computerized. Kia has taken the direct in its phase by introducing BS6-compliant engines – for which the catalytic converters in the petrols have gained some tweaks, but adjustments to the diesel are far more important like the addition of a highpressure pump, a catalytic converter with a diesel particulate filter (DPF), and a lean NOx entice (LNT).

With electric power and torque figures of 140hp and 242Nm, respectively, the one.four-litre turbo-petrol motor definitely impresses on paper, and even far more so in the true entire world. Refinement ranges are leading-notch, and even on the shift it goes about doing its job in a silent manner. People with a keen ear will listen to a faint whistle-like seem from the intake previous 2,000rpm when the motor is underneath load. Over and above five,000rpm, the motor seems a bit boomy. Throttle responses are sharp, and due to the fact max torque will come in from as small as one,500rpm, there is no perceptible delay in effectiveness. Spin it previous 2,200rpm and the tachometer needle swings toward the redline in a instead enthusiastic manner. When effectiveness in the mid-vary is sturdy, there is no popular spike in electric power shipping and delivery, so it builds pace in a very linear manner. Hold on to a equipment for a longer time and it will spin previous five,000rpm in a gutsy manner, while electric power commences to taper off beyond 6,000rpm. The 6-pace manual’s gearing is very tall, so it will rev right until 6,800rpm in the first 3 gears, with the first maxing out at 54kph, 2nd at 99kph, and 3rd at 149kph. The tall gearing and extraordinary torque spread shoots the Seltos from -100kph in a speedy 8.9sec, building it the quickest sprinter in India underneath Rs 20 lakh. Acceleration as a result of the gears is similarly extraordinary, regardless of the taller ratios. The guide transmission is a delight to use, with slick shifts that deliver a reassuring simply click each individual time the equipment slots into its gate. The clutch, while mild, has a prolonged travel, and the pedal truly feel isn’t dependable, so you are going to need to modulate it very carefully to drive effortlessly.

Keen motorists will take pleasure in the turbo-petrol, though mile-munchers will adore the frugal diesel.

Paired to the turbo-petrol is also a seven-pace dual-clutch automatic transmission. This unit is quite swift like most twin-clutch units and is practically normally in the correct equipment. There are driving modes too, and in ‘Normal’ and ‘Eco’, it shifts to the optimum equipment feasible at the earliest for example, it shifts to sixth equipment by 60kph and seventh by 80kph. In just urban confines, there is hardly any big difference between the two modes so the Eco method feels very usable, and it does not blunt effectiveness or responsiveness either. However, it does lessen the performance of the air conditioning, and this can be not comfortable on a very hot day. The 3rd driving method is ‘Sport’, which sharpens throttle responses, weights up the steering and programmes the transmission to hold on to gears for a longer time. But what it does is also irritate the snappy engagement of the DCT which isn’t very userfriendly in start out-cease website traffic. In fact, a person of the weaknesses of the Seltos’ DCT is that clutch engages a bit too sharply and it does not have a progressive truly feel. Backing into a parking location in reverse can be tricky due to the fact of this sudden engagement. It is also critical to issue out that the Seltos DCT did encounter overheating concerns due to the fact of abnormal clutch ‘slip’ in cease-start out website traffic. A new program update has diminished the slip but the clutch now engages far more like an on-off swap, building it truly feel a touch too snappy. Paddleshifters would have improved the drive encounter but the Tiptronic method does give the choice to adjust gears manually. The Seltos DCT has a few rough edges and is obviously not as sleek or refined as Volkswagen’s DSG unit, which, in phrases of shift quality, is nonetheless the benchmark.

The Kia Seltos’ one.five-litre diesel sets a new benchmark in its phase in phrases of refinement and drivability. The motor is incredibly sleek and the diesel clatter or drone is perfectly in verify. What is pleasant is that electric power shipping and delivery is linear, and just like the turbo-petrol, this diesel makes its max torque of 250Nm correct from one,500rpm, so lag is nominal. Lazy motorists will be delighted to drive about city in increased gears with no the need to downshift normally it can quickly exit a pace breaker in 2nd equipment, with no any juddering. The true meat of the powerband is between 2,200rpm and four,000rpm, building it a terrific cruiser overtaking in this vary feels effortless. When the base-stop and mid-vary are instead extraordinary, it does operate out of breath toward its leading-stop so even however the motor will spin right until about five,000rpm, it commences to seem clattery and instead coarse beyond four,000rpm, with hardly any energy remaining in the past one,000rpm. The 6-pace guide, just like the turbo-petrol’s unit, has a very optimistic shift motion, and while its clutch involves a bit far more exertion than the turbo-petrol’s, the pedal truly feel is much far more linear and less complicated to judge. Becoming down on electric power in comparison tothe Creta one.6-litre diesel-guide final results in a slower -100kph time of 11.67sec, (Creta’s is ten.81sec), but the Kia only blows absent the Creta when it will come to drivability – 20-80kph in 3rd equipment is one.58sec faster, and forty-100kph in fourth equipment is one.57sec faster, reflecting on how a great deal far more drivable the Seltos is in comparison to the Hyundai.

The 6-pace torque converter computerized is sleek and performs seamlessly though cruising. Demand from customers for more rapidly responses, nevertheless, and it is slow to react. Pin the accelerator to the flooring, and it will upshift at about four,500rpm in the decreased gears, but the changeover between the ratios appears instead lazy. This blend feels most effective when driven in a sedate manner.

Very last but absolutely not the least is the one.five-litre, 4-cylinder petrol motor that places out a healthy 115hp and 144Nm of torque. And though Kia has the effectiveness portion included with the one.four turbo-petrol unit, this one.five, naturally aspirated petrol motor focuses far more on a sleek driving encounter. From the second you start out the motor, it feels refined and also runs quietly at small to mid revs. It is only in the higher reaches of the powerband that it feels strained and the motor noise will get intrusive. Off the line, electric power shipping and delivery is sleek and the motor feels responsive to the slightest of throttle inputs. It does not have the mid-vary punch of its turbocharged siblings but does not truly feel gutless like many naturally aspirated engines. It is only beyond four,000 rpm that it starts off managing out of breath.

This motor is offered with a CVT and it does the job perfectly. Sure, it does have the standard rubber-band outcome seen in most CVTs, in which you accelerate difficult and the motor RPM rises but does not translate into a increase in pace. However, the fantastic information is that this undesirable outcome has been retained to a minimum, which signifies there is ample electric power though overtaking on the highways. When the fast small-pace response is extraordinary, specifically on portion throttle, there is a momentary delay just before the gearbox responds, and that is not a thing you anticipate in a contemporary CVT. There’s a guide method to shift as a result of predefined ratios but it does not allow for aggressive downshifts for motor braking. On the other hand, for the duration of outright acceleration, the guide method holds on to each individual ratio a little for a longer time than in ‘D’. All in all, this blend operates genuinely perfectly if you have a laid-back again driving design.