Five labours of the Hyundai Creta

I stayed up until dawn waiting in excitement to commence our journey in the Hyundai Creta to the biennial automotive show, the Auto Expo, in Greater Noida. Introduced as an SUV for the new generation way back in 2015, the Creta has got a fair share of fan following. This time, it was our chance to make friends with Hyundai’s popular seller in the SUV segment. The star dust coloured SUV was our travel companion for a week spanning a distance of over 3,000kms. Since we had ample time and a long journey ahead of us all the way from Mumbai to Greater Noida and back, we couldn’t resist putting it through our five labours and see how it performs.

Speaking of SUVs in India, the Hyundai Creta is clearly a good looking car. Based on Hyundai’s Fluidic Sculpture 2.0 design language, the SUV has a good road presence owing to its smoothly creased hood and triple slat chrome grille. Moreover, the massive front bumper design and LED-infested sweptback headlights lend it a fair amount of aggressive stance. 

For a starting price of Rs 9.29 lakhs, the Hyundai Creta is indeed one of the most practical SUVs around. The five-seater SUV is available in one petrol and two diesel engine options. The 1.6-litre petrol and diesel engine options generate 121bhp/155Nm and 126bhp/265Nm, respectively. Both the variants are available in six-speed manual and automatic transmission options. The Creta is also available with a smaller 1.4-litre diesel engine which generates 89bhp/224Nm of torque and is limited to a six speed manual transmission.

The standard feature list in the Creta includes follow-me-home headlamps, a front console armrest with storage, map pocket on the front and rear door, electric tailgate release, rear AC vents, front seat back pockets, power windows and motor driven power steering with tilt function. Starting with the ‘SX’ variant, it offers bi-functional projector headlamps, cornering lamps, LED positioning lamps and push-button start. Interestingly, the rear view camera with steering adaptive parking guidelines display is offered in the ‘S+’ and higher variants, while features like front fog lamps, rear defogger with timer, rear center armrest with cup holders and rear power outlet for the smartphone generation is standard right from the ‘S’ trim. The Creta clearly has a lot more to offer in its segment.

Although Hyundai Creta claims to be a five-seater, on long trips a four member gang would be apt as only two grownups can sit comfortably at the back with the rear armrest down for that additional bit of comfort. Adding a third member can be a bit of a squeeze.  The front seats are well cushioned and adequately big to offer comfort behind the wheel. The Creta offers ample boot space of 475-litres which can comfortably accommodate three large bags along with a few smaller ones. However, Hyundai has limited the 60:40 split rear seat set up to the SX+ automatic variant which unfortunately limits the luggage space usage for other variant users.  Except for the base variant, luggage lamp is standard across all trims to make it easier for you to search for your luggage.

The biggest problem with SUVs is the usability, especially when you live in a metropolitan city where having a space is luxury. The Creta perfectly delivers in this regard as it manages city driving as well as highway runs comfortably. The automatic climate control ensures that you do not break a sweat navigating through city traffic or travelling to a hill station with your folks on a hot Saturday afternoon (assuming that not many of us are early birds, especially on a weekend!)

As for entertainment, Hyundai  offers a seven-inch infotainment system with navigation facility and a six speaker audio system with Bluetooth and 1GB of onboard memory, however, this is available in the S+ and higher variants. The navigation system is quite useful when you decide to head out towards uncharted horizons and most importantly, it is less distracting than using the maps on your smartphone! The touchscreen interface is intuitive and convenient for use, thereby allowing easy access to music and other functions. To further keep your eyes on the road, Hyundai has offered steering mounted audio controls and Bluetooth handsfree across all variants except for the base trim.

Yes, the Creta is pure joy to drive. The steering is light and responsive enough for low speed as well as high speed runs. Based on the monocoque platform, the body-roll is minimal when taking on corners at different speeds. The 1.6 litre diesel model especially is quite potent. Sure, there is no snap in your neck during acceleration, but with zero to 100kmph coming up in around 11 seconds, the Creta can easily keep up with cars costing as much. The manual gearshift is pretty light and effortless, however the clutch is slightly on the harder side.

Although the Creta is a decent performer, it scores additional brownie points within the city limits, while the regular long trips is not its forte. Long distance drives spanning over two days can fatigue the occupants. Moreover, it misses out on the important details like distance to empty and average fuel economy even in the top-spec version, thereby leaving the driver guessing on how far it could go before the next fuel station arrives. Those out on a long drive would clearly not want to be stranded with an empty fuel tank on an unknown route. However, on a positive side, the Creta purely impressed us with the fuel efficiency figures and it is safe to say that we did manage to extract a minimum of 18kmpl on pure highway runs with the 1.6-litre diesel engine mated to a six-speed manual transmission.

For an SUV which starts at Rs 9.29 lakhs, the equipment and feature list in the Creta is quite modest. However, what is unsettling is the fact that Hyundai has decided to offer only dual front airbags and ABS with EBD as standard across all variants, while other important safety equipment like electronic stability control (ESP), side and curtain airbags (total six airbags), vehicle stability management control (VSM) and hill start assist control (HAC) are limited to the SX(O) variant only.  Moreover, for an SUV which goes all the way up to Rs 14.6 lakhs, absence of cruise control function is disappointing.

That said, the Hyundai Creta does make up for the lost pointers with the rear AC vents, charging points at the front and back, navigation system, rear armrest with two cupholders, front armrest with storage and two cupholders, etc. Although an electric driver seat would have been too much to ask for, its presence would have made the SUV a lot better than its rivals. Although annoying for a few, we are all in favour of the infotainment system which allows Bluetooth pairing only when the vehicle is stationary and the hand brakes are active as a safety protocol. The screen also does not play movies when the vehicle is in motion, so looking at a brighter side, everyone else in the vehicle gets to play movies of their choice on their hand-held tabs!

Hyundai Creta is undoubtedly a well-built product from the Korean car manufacturer and we can vouch for it as the one driven by us did not have even the slightest of the unwarranted rattling or squeaks. However, on the pricing aspect, the Creta carries a slightly steep pricing and clearly commands a premium over its competitors. As for drivability, it is more refined for city use and has been designed for customers who want a bigger vehicle for their everyday commute. Whereas for long drives, the Creta can be a decent choice for one day long trips but with four occupants only. Although the 1.6-litre diesel is adequately powered, it is just apt for the occasional highway runs, while a bigger 2.0-litre or more option might have made it a better choice on long distance drives spanning over a day.

Overall, the Hyundai Creta does score well in terms of practicality and people carrying. Yes, it does miss out on a few bits, but then, you have a brilliant handler which offers space, quality, reliability and efficiency, all under Rs 15 lakhs! For us, the Creta ranks as a true urban SUV and as rightly said by Hyundai, it is indeed an SUV for the new generation.

Photo credit: Kaustubh Gandhi