Hyundai launches 3 variants of Creta priced upto Rs 13.76 lakh

In the look and feel aspect, Hyundai have done a great job in executing the cabin of the Creta. The dual-tone dashboard is yet another India-specific change commissioned by HMIL, though we feel an all-black dashboard could have been offered as an option as well.

The dashboard of the Creta is neatly laid out with clear-to-read instruments and well-appointed plastics. As we highlighted in our preview, the Creta offers a feel-good experience right from the time you open the vault-like doors, and feel the leather-padded door armrests, the contrast stitching that accompanies it, the general quality of materials used and so forth: Basically, Hyundai have paid good attention to detail, what is otherwise ignored in this segment.

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The SX (O) gets perforated leather seats, while other variants get fabric upholstery. The compact SUV scores rather well on seat comfort, with both the front and rear offering adequate support for your back and thighs.

What also becomes evident is that at no time do you find yourself complaining about the space on offer. Put a six-footer up front, and a similarly-sized adult will have no problems seated behind them; the rear legroom is the first place to look at if you wish to compare the Creta to the sub-4 meter EcoSport.

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Coming to the boot, the Creta offers luggage carrying capacity of 402 liters with all seats in place. The Creta AT is the only variant to get a 60:40 split-folding rear seat, as other models get a single-piece rear seatback.

Still, sitting inside the Creta, you do feel like you’re in a car which costs Rs 13 lakhs, no doubt about that. That being said, a few features could have been included to make the package more complete. Features we thought were missing include cruise control, rake adjustment for the steering wheel, a fore-and-aft adjustable front center armrest, automatic day/night rear view mirror (considering even the i20 comes with this), split-folding rear seats on the MT variants, and lumbar adjustment for the driver’s seat.

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The Creta comes with three engine options of which we sampled two – the 1.6-liter diesel and petrol variants.

The 1.6L Creta diesel packs 128 PS and 265 Nm of torque, identical to the Verna with which it shares engines. However, engineers have calibrated this motor to match a sportier driving nature, which clearly showed within the first four gearshifts of our drive.

Outright performance feels marginally better than the Verna diesel, in that the Creta is more free-revving, and mid-range punch is more pronounced than the sedan. Post 2,000 rpm is where this engine really comes alive, with a steady wave of torque briskly helping you pile on the speed.

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Even off-boost, the Creta feels marginally quicker than a Verna, and is very comfortable doing 20 km/h in third gear, or 40 km/h in fourth.

Where this engine really shines though is on the highway, where it has no problems holding on to speeds north of 100 km/h, with the engine noise barely making its way into the cabin. Did we forget to mention that the NVH aspect, like other Hyundai products, is best by a country mile? For reference, the Creta ticks about 2,000 rpm while cruising at 100 km/h in 6th gear.

It is with this aspect – that the Creta feels extremely comfortable on the highways – that we feel Hyundai should have included cruise control, at least on this engine variant.

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The 6-speed box feels slick to use, and the clutch is much lighter than what you get on a Renault Duster. However, we felt the clutch travel to be a shade on the longer side, which is more of something to get used to than something of a complaint.

For those looking out to give the clutch pedal a miss, the 1.6-litre diesel variant of the Creta also gets a 6-speed automatic transmission. Simply put, this gearbox likes to be driven in an unhurried way, and seems to have been tuned for cruising and urban driving conditions specifically. Yes, it does feel a bit slow for the enthusiast, but for the sort of buyer it is aimed at (one who is looking at ease of use), the 6-speed auto does a fine job.

While it does come with a manual tip-tronic mode, we found it best to leave it in full auto mode, where upshifts usually occur at the 2,000 rpm mark.

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Coming to the petrol engine, which is expected to account for a minor percentage of sales. Again, the engine is shared with the Verna, and is the 1.6-liter Dual VTVT motor with 123 PS and 151 Nm of torque, but on the Creta it gets a 6-speed manual transmission.

The positive attributes of this engine are its NVH characteristics – it’s extremely smooth, the noise is well controlled and vibrations are non-existent. Sadly, things go downhill from here as this engine struggles to pull the Creta with any excitement.

With three people on board and the boot filled to 80 percent capacity, we found ourselves working extra hard on the gearshifts to get a move-on. The torque band of this engine is narrow – between 2,500-4,500 rpm is where this engine works best. In-gear acceleration even at speeds from 80 km/h in 5th gear feels very slow, and an overtaking maneuver almost always requires shifting down one or two gears.

The only takeaway is that the gearshifts feel very smooth as does the clutch. If you’re confident that you’ll be driving in an unhurried manner, and your monthly mileage makes no sense for a diesel vehicle, the Creta petrol is worth a look. Else, we wouldn’t really recommend it.

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Hyundai have actually achieved a well chosen balance between ride and handling, wherein the former is obviously given greater importance, but like other Hyundai products, the latter doesn’t take a back seat.

The McPherson strut at the front gets a Hydro Rebound Stopper for reduced rebound shocks, while the coupled torsion beam axle at the rear was re-engineered for Indian road conditions for better ride quality.

Ride quality on the Creta is comfortable to say the least in city driving conditions, and we found the SX (O) with the 17-inch alloys to be a bit more comfortable over bad roads. As speeds increase, the suspension shows its stiffer side, which brings us to the handling of the Creta, what we think is the best handling Hyundai in the country.

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