Kia Seltos – Badass and more

To Asia’s biggest dance and music festival Sunburn

Whether it’s the straight highways to sprint across, or the twisty tarmac cutting through hills, or even a picturesque coastal road with the sea on one side and lush green lands on the other; the Mumbai-Goa road offers you all. But, when it comes to travelling for more than 500km in one go, one has to have a comfortable tourer. A machine that will whizz past rural areas to keep yourself engaged. 

Remarkably, the Seltos has all this covered. For one, the red accents on this GT line trim give the right kind of party vibe what with the glimmering bright DRLs. The 433-litre boot is quite viable to eat up all your luggage needs. In fact, we managed to cover long distances, thanks to its turbocharged 138bhp 1.4-litre petrol engine that helped us easily cruise at triple digit speeds. The comfortable leatherette seating with ventilated front seats ensured we could munch miles and miles at ease without taking too many breaks.

What also kept us engaged is the brilliant Bose music system amongst the 37 attractive features inside. It blew our music influencer's mind as it kept the vibe going till we reached our music destination. This infotainment system along with the mood lighting inside the cabin assuredly has added the required glitz and glamour, just like the way Sunburn has done to the Indian music scene.

For an exhilarating adventure sport Paragliding

So after having rocked the party at Vagator, we geared up for yet another exciting paragliding experience. We headed towards Kamshet, which is the sort of place along the Expressway you would go past without even noticing. But it's where you would want to take in the surroundings. You will also find yourself constantly wanting to stop and click pictures especially of the colourful parachutes in the sky. And though we managed to click the SUV with the paragliders shimmering in the background, pictures cannot fathom what it’s like being there.

Getting there is one adventure in itself for it’s an area with small hillocks but with steep slopes. The Seltos, with its driving and traction modes to alter the throttle response, was brilliantly gripping on the twisty dusty tarmac. It cut through narrow tracks and thanks to its excellent driving dynamics, the car could manoeuvre through switchbacks and hair-pin turns without fuss. It already got our adrenaline pumping for the final hiking point where we would get familiar to a higher-level of adventure.

With some indemnities signed, strapping all stuff and safety checks done, we were up in the sky in no time. The moment your feet leave the ground when you take a leap from the edge of the mountain, you will find yourself sitting nicely cocooned in a harness suspended below a huge colourful wing. What a mixed feeling of having butterflies in your stomach and yet feeling like a bird!

Even if you are not one of the outdoorsy type, or even scared of heights, it’s worth doing. Especially when these instructors have literally got your back with state of the art safety systems. These highly qualified outdoor specialists are properly equipped like the Seltos which also has all the bases covered especially in terms of safety. Namely, a few features like six airbags, VSM (Vehicle Stability Management), HAC (Hill-start Assist Control), ESC (Electronic Stability Control), etc. amongst a long long list.

Conclusion

So here it is, be it Maharashtra's beautiful coastline or the mountainous terrain we combined fun with adventure thanks to the new Kia Seltos. It ensured we captured all the dazzle of Sunburn and the luminescence of an adventure sport in a single trip. In fact, we came out of our comfort zone quite determined over a 'Badass' journey that will remain to be a special one. What a fun time to remember with the Kia Seltos.

Pictures by Kaustubh Gandhi