Kia Syros First Drive Review: Feature Loaded But Bouncy!

There is no point of doing something which is already done and dusted by many others. Taking the less travelled route gives the learnings of a lifetime and it also builds a great personality. That is what I assume, Kia is trying to do with the Syros. The car has been launched in the sub-compact SUV segment but it does not look like any other car from that segment. They have taken a brand new route by choosing the tallboy design. No other manufacturer in India has ever tried this combination. Hence, it gives the Syros its unique identity.

We recently managed to spend some time with the Syros and we have a lot to say. The car has stepped into a market flooded with top-selling options like the Tata Nexon and Maruti Suzuki Brezza. Will it have a surviving chance?

Kia recently stated that the Syros has attained over 20,000 bookings within two months. These are very good numbers for a car that is only two months old and has strong rivals. We spent some time with the Kia Syros at its launch but we wanted to understand the car better and hence decided to take it out for a spin. 

We got access to the Kia Syros HTX Plus (O) variant, which is the top-end Petrol model. The car is loaded with all the bells and whistles such as the Level 2 ADAS, 30-inch trinity display panel, panoramic sunroof and more. 

Kia Syros first drive impressions

Performance

For an in-depth chapter into the car's features, you can read this story. Everything you read below will focus only on the Kia Syros's performance.

The Kia Syros has a 1.0-litre turbo petrol engine which churns out 120 hp of peak power and 172 Nm of peak torque. The same engine does duties on other cars such as the Kia Sonet and Hyundai Venue and is known to be a reliable performer. The car has three driving modes: Eco, Normal and Sport. The Eco mode is best suited for driving in the stop-go city traffic whereas the normal mode is good for most city drives and the Sport mode is enjoyable on highways. The car has a 7 DCT which shifts very smoothly. We did not notice any delays or jerks.

Brakes and suspension

The car has disc brakes on all four wheels. The brake pedal felt a little spongy and the initial brake bite was not that sharp. However, the overall braking performance was good and the car did stop without losing its composure.

The rear suspension felt a little weird, do not get me wrong, the suspension worked magically well on bad roads. But, as soon as we started doing the triple-digit speeds on the highway, the rear suspension seemed a little too bouncy. This should not be a problem on slow speeds or on extremely smooth roads, however, as soon as the undulations arrive, the rear end goes bouncy. The car is built on the reinforced K1 platform, which is an evolved version of the Hyundai Exter’s platform. The car feels fairly stable in the corners even with its tall boy design but the only con I found was the vertical movement of the rear at triple-digit speeds. 

Conclusion

Who should take the Kia Syros home? Like most modern relationships, this too is complicated. If you mostly drive in the city and need a feature-rich car, then you should definitely take a test drive of Kia Syros. It has a small footprint, ample space in the cabin, it has also a big boot space, thus enhnacing its practicality for city usage and short family trips.

The car is loaded with segment-first features such as sliding and reclining rear seats with ventilation. However, the ex-showroom pricing of INR 16,80,000 for the top-end variant is a lot of money for a sub-4-metre car. In my opinion, the most value-for-money variant of Syros is the HKT Plus because it comes equipped with all the necessary features and gets sliding as well as reclining rear seats. 

The Kia Syros is competing against cars like Tata Nexon, Maruti Brezza and Skoda Kylaq. If you want a car with the best suspension setup, the Tata Nexon still walks away with our heart. The Nexon is a benchmark for suspension tuning in the sub-INR 20 lakh price bracket. However, if you will only be using Syros as a city car or you do not do triple-digit speeds often, you can do fine with it. You must take a detailed back-to-back test drive of any car and its rivals before making a purchase decision to figure out what suits your needs the best.

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