We have owned a Tata Zest for 10 years and are looking for a family car for 4 adults and 1kid 9year old. Our running for the year is 12k to 13k kms with 60% city and the rest highway for occasional trips. We intend to keep it for 10 years and zeroed in on Seltos, but worried about ethanol blending and pricey petrol. So, for our requirement, we are thinking of moving to EV and are confused whether we should wait for Sierra EV, go with Harrier EV or XEV 9s. Although we aren’t keen on a 7 seater, and 9E seems to be gimmicky. Please help.

autocar.india

•1d

Between the two, the Seltos is the better choice, especially if you are looking at the base variant. It feels more premium, is the newer product and offers a more complete package even in its lower variants.The 1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol makes 115hp and 144Nm. It isn't a particularly powerful engine, but it is smooth and refined and is perfectly adequate for normal city driving.For overtaking, it won't have the punch of the Seltos turbo, but it isn't underpowered either. With a full load and during quick highway overtakes, you may need to plan ahead and use higher revs. The Grand Vitara's 1.5 petrol is also a smooth, simple powertrain, but its performance is more relaxed and the base variant is quite sparsely equipped.

Kia Seltos

Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara

autocar.india

•1d

Since most of your driving is on the highway, a diesel SUV would be a good choice. You're coming from an XUV300, which is a compact SUV, but moving one step up to a midsize SUV would be the ideal upgrade. We would recommend the Kia Seltos in its diesel automatic guise, as you get a strong, refined diesel engine along with a proven gearbox in the six-speed automatic, and you have the efficiency that you expect of a diesel as well. What you also get is a car that is very well loaded in terms of features and equipment, is very safe, gets a 5-star Bharat NCAP rating for crash safety, and you get all the bells and whistles with a lot of choice in the variants depending on your budget. The Seltos diesel's performance is strong. It has a good bottom end. The torque is good. You have strong overtaking capability, and the refinement is equally nice as well. On the highway, stability is very good, but in the city the suspension is also quite nice and absorbs the bumps really well. As an overall package, the Seltos diesel will be our top recommendation. You just have to figure out, depending on your budget, which variant suits your needs the best.

Kia Seltos

autocar.india

•2d

Since your 2021 Venue has completed five years without a single DPF or other issue, you already have a positive Hyundai ownership experience. If your heart is also with the Creta, there is little reason to ignore that preference.The new Kia Seltos is the more substantial and feature-rich product, but the Creta offers a very similar mechanical package, excellent comfort and a more familiar ownership proposition. If you are planning to keep the next car for several years, the difference in features shouldn't outweigh your preference for the Hyundai Creta.The Seltos makes sense if you specifically want its additional space, features or styling, but there is no compelling reason to choose it purely for reliability or mechanical reasons.

Hyundai Creta

Kia Seltos