Kia Carens 1.4 itre turbo petrol ownership review

Kia launched the Carens MUV in the market recently. It is based on the same platform as Kia Seltos but, it offers three row seats and also comes with a different design. When launched, Kia Carens base variant was cheaper than that of Kia Seltos and like other Kia models, competitive pricing helped it in becoming popular among buyers in a short span of time. The deliveries of the car has started and here we have a video where the owner of a Kia Seltos 1.4 litre turbo petrol variant shares his experience with the Carens.

The video has been uploaded by Man And Motor on their YouTube channel. It is actually a very interesting story that the owner of this Carens has about the car. He was using a Maruti Ertiga diesel before this and he was using it for around 8 years. When he decided to buy a new car, he considered XL6 and also checked Kia Seltos. His family was not interested in XL6 so he went ahead and booked the Kia Seltos iMT variant which has a long waiting period. While he was waiting for the car, he got a buyer for his Ertiga and suddenly he was left with no car to use.

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It was then, when one of his friend who owns a Kia dealership informed him about the Carens and assured him that he would get the delivery at the earliest. He went ahead and made an unofficial booking for the Carens, When Kia launched Carens, he got one of the first Kia Carens in the country. He had asked his friend to make the bookings and had no clue on which variant he was getting. It was only at the time of delivery that he realised that he is taking the 1.4 turbo petrol variant to home with him. He was driving a fuel efficient diesel MPV all these years and switching from that to a powerful turbo petrol motor meant disappointment.

He was told that the turbo petrol variant will offer a lower fuel efficiency but, he was not expecting the figures to be that low. The owner mentions that he has been getting a maximum of 11 kmpl from his Carens. He mentions that if you drive the car a bit aggressively, the fuel economy figure drops drastically. The owner has no complaints about the fit and finish and quality of materials used in the car. He can be heard saying in the video that he some times find the touchscreen infotainment system laggy after connecting it to a phone of while using Android Auto.

He mentions that if he did not change the vehicle because that meant he’ll have to wait for more and he was desperately in need of a vehicle at that time. Owner can be heard saying in the video that if he is asked to buy a car in the same budget again, he would pick anything but the turbo petrol. He mentions he would probably go with the 1.5 litre turbo diesel but, he won’t mind considering naturally aspirated version as well.

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