Kia Motors entered the Indian auto market early last year and quickly became popular. The first product, Seltos, became an instant hit for its bold looks, loaded interior, and a variety of engine and transmission options. The same applied to the recently introduced compact SUV Sonet. It’s a sub-4 meter SUV that competes with Maruti Brezza, Hyundai Venue, Tata Nexon and Mahindra XUV300 in this segment. It’s a feature-loaded SUV that has multiple segment-first features, but the base variant isn’t loaded at all. That’s where aftermarket modifications come onto the scene. Here we have a Kia Sonet with basic equipment, modified with functions like cruise control.
The video was uploaded by Tarun Shandilya on his YouTube channel. The video shows any changes or modifications that have been made to the SUV. The front of the car looks in stock. The owner didn’t make any wild looking mods on the outside. The grille and headlights remain in stock. The fog lights are still missing in the car. The owner installed a new set of light alloy wheels for the aftermarket on the side profile. The tires were also changed. Otherwise there is a rain visor, chrome trim on the door handles and the headlights.
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When moving in, the entire cabin was also updated. It is now getting deep black seat covers. It goes well with the black theme of the cabin, broken up by brushed aluminum inserts around the vents. As this is the basic variant, there is no touchscreen infotainment system, but they do provide provisions for this. The aftermarket Android touchscreen goes perfectly with the dashboard. Other modifications to the SUV include a 7D floor mat, a roof-mounted sunglasses holder with lamps, etc.
The main highlight of this Sonet modification is that it is a basic variant and receives a speed control. The owner installed the original Kia steering controls to operate the touchscreen and set the cruise control. The touchscreen infotainment also supports voice commands such as increasing and decreasing the volume. Cruise control is the highlighted feature of this change. This is likely the first base Kia Sonet model in India to receive this feature. The fit and finish of the work look very neat.
The vlogger even shows how the cruise control works in this base Sonet model. According to the video, the approximate cost of this modification in the base Kia Sonet was Rs 70,000, which is not much, given that people are spending a large amount on this purpose.
Kia Sonet is a sub-4 meter SUV that is available with three engine options and various transmission options. The first is the naturally aspirated 1.2 liter gasoline engine, which is available with a manual transmission. The 1.5 liter diesel engine is available with both manual and automatic transmission. Last but not least is the 1.0 liter turbo gasoline engine with 120 hp and 172 Nm torque. This engine is available with a 7-speed DCT and iMT transmission.
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