Introduction

It's been a while since Kia launched the Seltos in India, and yet it continues to have a good demand. There's no denying the fact that the Seltos has been one of the most successful launches of 2019. Also, it continues to take the four-metre-plus compact SUV segment by a storm even in 2020. Yes, may be the newly launched Hyundai Creta might regain its lead in its segment in India, but the Seltos still enjoys a massive market share in our country.

We've tested both, the HTX Plus 1.5 diesel manual and the GTX+ 1.4 petrol manual variants of the Seltos. And, this is not a test to ascertain if the diesel contests with the petrol or vice-versa. But it’s crafted to give a buyer an idea of how quick the car is to accelerate and more importantly how it will sprint in the city and highway conditions.

Acceleration

A. Acceleration

0-60kmph diesel

0-100kmph diesel

The four-cylinder 1,353cc petrol engine producing 138bhp and 242Nm of torque, definitely feels brisk and has an advantage over the four-cylinder 1,493cc diesel motor, churning out 114bhp and 250Nm of torque. This petrol manual trim did the 0-60kmph sprint in 4.27s and the 0-100kmph in 9.80s. Meanwhile, the diesel version did the same feat in 5.04s and 12.23s respectively.

Roll on times

B. Roll on times

20-80kmph in third gear

40-100kmph in fourth gear

As seen earlier, the diesel will overcome issues like overtaking similar to the petrol as the torque figures are more or less the same. In our in-gear roll-on times of 20-80kmph in third gear, the petrol Seltos took 8.95s while the diesel completed the same run in 9.77s. The petrol manual also sprinted from 40-100kmph in just 10.38s. The oil-burner is heavier than the petrol by 60kg, but still managed a similar time of 11.16s without much bother.

Hope our purpose of setting these times is clear. If not, do let us know in the comments below. Nonetheless for more clarity, you can read about the full deal here in our comprehensive road test of the Kia Seltos.