[ashlil]

What Keeps Me Awake in the Nights:

1) Hyundai’s legendary contempt for Indian customers. (If you have any problem with their dealerships or products, you can go hang yourself according to Hyundai.)
2) Critical issues with Hyundai cars: systematically and willfully ignored by the company, possibly a manifestation of contemptuous indifference of Hyundai towards brown Indians. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...-response.html (Hyundai India - The occasional serious quality lapse and apathetic manufacturer response!)
3) Undervaluation of brown Indian lives seems to be the conglomerate wide standing policy: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ia-seltos.html (Brake failure issues in the Kia Seltos)

What I Dislike About the Car:

1) Simply overpriced. A car worth less than 15 lakhs on road is being sold for more than 15 lakhs ex-showroom simply because of lack of alternatives.
2) Even after paying lakhs of rupees more than its real worth, you do not get basic amenities like soft door pads, soft door armrests, illuminated switches etc.
3) Rear visibility from driver seat is not great.
4) Only two airbags (Bad exchange rate for your left kidney, no?)
5) Interior plastic quality is not great. To me it seems as good or as bad as my 2012 Wagon-R plastics.
6) White interiors! (Koereans’ obsession with white colour is not limited to skin tone only!)

What I Like About the Car:

1) NVH is great. I feel like I am riding a Volkswagen in Germany. (This was my primary criteria for my new car.)
2) Decent engine and gearbox. Serves my needs well.
3) Electronic assistance: Hill Assist, ESP, TC etc.
4) Nice and responsive touch screen head unit. Quite smooth to operate.
5) All wheel disc brakes* ( *T&C apply: Useful only when brake pedal kindly acquiesces to be depressed.)
6) Ride and handling is better than my 2012 Wagon-R.
7) Fuel efficiency seems good
8) Good paint quality* (*T&C apply: Maybe prone to bubble and rust later, for which company will assume no responsibility)

Following is a summary of my experience with Creta 2020 SX IVT. I got my hands on it on 25-Oct-2020 and so far I have driven it for about 300 kms. Below is the index with links to different sections, in case you would want to jump straight to a particular section. Please forgive the photo quality. I have only used my mobile phone for photos, which I find extremely hard to operate. I am much more comfortable with DSLR and I promise to post some photos from DSLR when I have more time.

1) Why Creta
2) A Tale of Two Hyundai Dealerships
3) Pre-Delivery and Delivery
4) Exterior
5) Interior
6) Driving Experience
7) Note on NVH and Conclusion

[ashlil]

Why Creta?

I have driven Maruti Suzuki Wagon-r since 2012 and loved it for the space and sitting comfort it provides. However, I like quietness and apparently that is something Maruti hates (along with safety ratings). Whenever, we went for a drive in our Wagon-R, I played some music for the sake of it, but Jagjit Singh could be shouting Maa Behen ki Gaali and I wouldn’t be any the wiser. The four poor speakers fitted to the four doors had to compete with engine noise, tyre noise, wind noise and traffic noise and they performed as admirably as I do against the Kenyans in the marathons. Another thing that I wished for was the automatic transmission. As much as I enjoy manual transmission, using it in the Mumbai/Thane traffic was becoming akin to dabbling with masochism (which, for the record, I detest, without any prejudice towards those who enjoy it). Being benevolent, I also asked for the wishes of my wife and seven years old son (Being the dictator of the household, I clarified that their wishes may not be fulfilled, for which I got threats of armed rebellion and that is another story). My wife stipulated that she does not want any low slung car. My son stipulated that there should be rear-AC vents and LED reading lights. Below are the summary requirements.

1) Must have a quiet cabin.
2) Automatic transmission with electronic assistance (ESP, TC, Hill-hold etc.)
3) Higher seating positions.
4) Rear AC vents and LED reading lights.
5) Must have Android auto.
6) Should have, at the least, all the features of the 2012 Wagon-R (a tough ask, would you imagine it!)

Point 2 and 3 meant that our choices were confined to cross-overs. (Although Honda Jazz and Baleno et al. have automatic transmissions and reasonably raised seating positions, they are devoid of electronic assiastance. ) So, the contenders were: Ford Ecosport, Maruti Vitara Brezza, Hyundai Venue, Kia Seltos, Kia Sonnet and Hyundai Creta.

Maruti Vitara Brezza: I considered this only before its price was known. The ZXi AT was 11.16 Lakhs ex-showroom. I just could not find any justification for this price. Ancient engine, ancient 4 speed gear-box, no ESP and TC and yet 11.16 lakhs! Compared to this, Hyundai Venue SX+ DCT is a steal at 11.45 lakhs ex-showroom.

Hyundai Venue: We took a test drive of this car. Both me and my wife were underwhelmed by it. For all the famed refinement of Hyundai’s, I found the cabin to be quite noisy. The road noise was just too much. Wife did not like the space. Space and seating comfort, according to her, was less than our 2012 Wagor-R. The interior quality was not upto mark. Didn’t feel like the interior of a 13 lakh car. Also, it did not satisfy point 5 of my requirements. Missing from Wagon-R feature list were: rear wash and wipe and soft doorpads.

Ford Ecosport: This was the car that I almost bought. I just loved it from the moment I test drove the Titanium+ AT. The NVH level was good. Cabin was quiet and the engine and automatic gearbox combo was just great. Space was a bit less than Wagon-r, but wife was happy with the Ecosport. My problems with the car were the deleted features. Consider the deleted features list: TPMS, Leather seats, Sync 3, Cargo management, rear seat fold and tumble etc. I could not digest the fact that I would be getting less than somebody who bought it in 2019 while paying more.

Kia Seltos: I had no intention of buying cars that are more than 4 meters long. Nonetheless, we stepped into the Kia showroom to have a look at the Seltos. We took a test drive of HTX IVT petrol. I depress the brake pedal and press the ignition switch. No sound. The RPM needle moves and that is the only indication that my efforts to fire up the engine was successful. I am impressed. So are my wife and son. The test drive was good and the road noise was the only thing that we could hear. I am tempted to buy it, but it lacks electronic assistance. I will pay nearly 17 lakhs for a car, but I do not get Hill-hold or ESP. I could not bring myself to book the car. Even my seven year old son understood my point (says a lot about the bean counters with MBA degrees at Kia) and did not pressure me to book it.

Kia Sonnet: By the time I was ready to book the Creta, Sonnet was also launched. I felt it was atrociously priced. To me, there is no justification for its price. Consider the following. The GTX+ DCT of Sonnet costs 10.148 lakhs ex-factory while the Creta SX IVT costs 10.135 lakhs ex-factory. Bye bye Sonnet. (On a side note, the brands that are known to be cheap internationally are taking us Indians for a ride. Examples: Kia, Toyota, Skoda, Honda).

Hyundai Creta: The Creta SX IVT was the only car which fulfilled all of my requirements except point 6 (It misses out on the soft doorpads of Wagon-R). The NHV levels are outstanding. It has got the automatic transmission with electronic assistance. Seating positions are good with ample space. It is grossly overpriced, though not to the extent of Kia Sonnet (I even canceled my booking because of its overpriced nature). However, when I thought about it, I could not find any alternative that would fulfill my requirements. The only other real option was Ford Ecosport. But, given that it does not have Android auto or Apple car play, I was unsure whether I could endure it for another 8 to 10 years. Also, this article (https://www.team-bhp.com/advice/how-...rk-out-cheaper) is quite valid and it pushed me towards Creta. I was unsure about the quality and I was dreading the wooden brake pedal issue. Then RavenAvi’s excellent review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...vt-review.html) came out, where he mentioned that the issue has been resolved. So, I decided to buy the new Hyundai Creta. (My earnest wish is that we get more well-priced and well-equipped options in this segment so that these cocky Indians-hating Koreans learn a lesson. Until now, however, it seems like I am wishing for the impossible).

[ashlil]

A Tale of Two Hyundai Dealerships

It should have been the best of times, but it was the worst of times. Once I decided to buy Creta, I approached Modi Hyundai (Thane). My nightmarish first innings with them has been documented in this thread: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ance-them.html (Illegal Practice! Modi Hyundai (Thane) forces customers to buy Insurance from them). Hyundai customer care did nothing for me and were quite happy to leave me high and dry. The end result of that episode was that my booking with them got canceled when I escalated the issue, but the customer care head and insurance head Mr. Ganesan of Modi Hyundai contacted me to express regret and promised me that my experience with them will be smooth if I decide to book my car with them again.

By this time I had contacted Index Hyundai of Mira Road (Thane). They promised to match my insurance quote. So, I booked my car with Index Hyundai on 2nd October 2020. I know from a birdie that I can get delivery of the car in two to three weeks even though dealers were quoting 6 weeks waiting. So, I push Index Hyundai for delivery on 25th October 2020 (Dusserah). My SA says she will try her best. On 4th October, my SA calls me to inform that the price of SX IVT variant has gone up by Rs11,000 and she will be sending me a new quote. This was not surprising at all. I get the new quote and I am pleasantly surprised that although the new pricing has been applied, they have deleted the handling charges. I am impressed. I keep in touch with my SA asking her whether they have placed order for my car with Hyundai. I had a feeling that these guys were too good to be Hyundai dealers and I was proved right the next day. On 5th October, my SA calls me and says that if I pay the full amount, they will place order and I can get delivery on 25th October. I told them that this is not something that should be done by a reputed dealership. On a slow-moving car, it is understandable if the dealership asks for full amount before ordering. But, on a claimed fast-moving model, what is the justification? I sensed that something was wrong and I decided to cancel my booking with Index Hyundai on 6th of October.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ganesan of Modi Hyundai had called me twice to express regret and was requesting me to give them another chance. So, I contacted Mr. Ganesan and told him that I would like to book the car with them if he would promise me a smooth experience. He assured me that he would handle my case personally, match or better my insurance quote and everything will be transparent. I am glad to say that he was true to his words and I am thankful to him for that.

[ashlil]

Pre-Delivery and Delivery

I booked Creta SX IVT 1.5 petrol car in Galaxy Blue with Modi Hyundai (Thane) on 6th of Octorber 2020. They placed the order the same day with Hyundai. On 7th October, they got the acknowledgment for the order. On 9th October, the car rolled out of the assembly line. On 11th October, I got the VIN number and car was allocated to me. On 17th October, the car landed in Modi Hyundai stock yard and on 25th October, it was delivered to me.

Like a true bhpian, I had requested for a PDI. My SA offered to bring the car to the showroom and keep it parked on the upper level for me to do the PDI. It was already 19th of October and she wanted to register the car without delay so that I can get the delivery on the 25th. I saw no reason to disagree. I went to Modi-Hyundai (Thane) showroom on the 20th October to do the PDI (It turned out to be more of a PDA than a PDI). The car had 18kms on the odometer and it was in immaculate condition. I checked all electricals, exterior and interior as best as I could and I was not able to find any problem. I thanked my SA and asked her to proceed with the registration process. I asked her to ensure that no test drive is offered on my car. She assured me that it will be parked in the upper level car park and it will not come down from there. I sign the documents for registration and leave. Mr. Ganesan, meanwhile, had arranged a very nice insurance quote for me and he had kept in touch with me to make sure that things were going as per my expectation.

Finally, on the 25th, I reach Modi Hyundai showroom at 9:30 am in the morning. My car was being washed and fitted with mudflaps and mat. I waited for formalities, signed few papers and got the necessary documents. At around 10:30 am, I did the puja of the car at the showroom and I was handed over the keys to the car. I still find it funny that handing over keys to the car is a ceremony, as if I were getting a Nobel prize or something. It is merely a business transaction. (Next time I buy aloo, I will ask the vegetable seller to hand over the bag to me with a ceremony.)

Here is the break-up of the cost:

Ex Showroom: 15,05,900
RTO: 1,88,372
Insurance: 42,221 (Zero dep, Return To Invoice, Consumables, Engine cover)
Hypothecation: 1500
4th year RSA: 1205
FasTag: 600
TCS: 11,294

Total Onroad: 17,51,092

Extras

1) Exchanged the stock JK Ux Royales for Yokohama BluEarth RV02s. Got Rs 4000 per stock tyre. Yokos cost was Rs. 8400 per tyre and hence I ended up paying Rs 4400 for each Yoko. (Note: The stock JKs are not really bad. But, I feared that they will become hard and noisy after a year or so.)
2) Zapcart 7D floor mats (https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B08...?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
3) I have ordered black seat covers from Hyundai. Will get it fitted when they arrive.

The car during PDI. Not a well-lit area, but I took a torch-light with me anticipating this.


Washed and ready for delivery. After this number plate was fitted and key was handed over to me.

[ashlil]

Exterior:


I do not place much value on the looks. I am quite neutral towards the exterior of all cars. Having said that, I agree that Hyundai is going down the the wrong path as far as exterior design is concerned. Earlier generation Cretas were easier on the eyes than the current generation one. Surely, there cannot be any justification for the outlandish grill, save a bored designer! If you ignore the grill and rear glass area, it is your run-of-the-mill cross-over silhouette. So, the bored designer took this silhouette and and added creases, curves, glass, plastic and grill to make it look as bad as possible. Or maybe there was an internal bet going on to see who can add/delete stuff to make it look worse and get away with it. Whatever the reason, there is little to love about the exterior. The paint quality seems good. I do not have a paint thickness gauge, but to my eye the paint looks uniform. The shut-lines seem alright except for the bonnet. Overall it is like a person with healthy muscles, flawless skin and a good uniform skin-tone, but with a disagreeable face and a heavy bottom. I do not mind the looks: neither of persons nor of cars. Just for the records, I do not like (nor do I mind) the looks of Kia Seltos either.

Why would anybody think that this is good?


DRLs work well, even light up the corners to some extent in the absence of cornering lamp


The LED headlights are just about adequate in the night. Nothing spectacular.


Fog lamps do not make much of a difference to the lighting up of the road.


Not everything is blue and it is a good thing.


Yokohama BlueEarth RV02 tyres.


The shutline of the bonnet area is not great.


Donning team-bhp sticker with love.

[ashlil]

Interior:

It is easy to get into the driver seat and the driver seat itself is a comfortable place to be in. Once you are in the driver seat, it is quite easy to find your ideal driving position. The driver seat is height adjustable, which helps the y-axis challenged people like me. In fact, of all the cars that I have driven, I liked the driving positions of Maruti and Hyundai cars the most. With Ford and Tata, I was not able to find a likeable driving position in a reasonable amount of time. The steering is good to hold, but you are likely to miss the reach adjust if you intend to keep your arm on the armrest. If they did not provide the reach adjust in the steering wheel, at least they could have made the armrest a bit longer. But, Hyundai does not give a two-pence damn. Visibility from the driver’s seat is excellent. I would have wanted the side view mirrors to be a size bigger, but they are quite adequate as they are. The internal rear view mirror is day night, but manual, which is a shame. It seems like Hyundai is artificially downgrading the SX model to charge more for SX(O) model. They should have deleted the panoramic sun roof and should have provided six air bags, steering reach adjustment, auto-dimming IRVM etc. The gear knob area is quite uncluttered thanks to the electronic parking brake. Given that the manual brake pedals fail in Hyundais, I am quite concerned about the electronic parking brake, but so far I have had no reasons to complain. The accelerator and the brake pedals are quite well spaced in the footwell and there is absolutely no problems in operating them. Ergonomically, it is hard to find faults with this car.

Passenger seat is similarly easy to get into and ingress and egress are geriatric friendly. There is ample space for passengers to stretch their legs. There is no hint of claustrophobic feeling. The cabin width makes sure that your are not touching arms with the driver (not very romance friendly car). The view from passenger seat is quite decent, frontal as well as lateral. Even with famed Hyundai fit and finish, I find the plastic cover of gear knob console loose on the passenger side.

Rear seat is wide. We are a family of not so well fed people and hence we have no problems seating 3 in the rear (we never had a problem in our Wagon-R, either). Middle passenger might complain of a hard backrest. I feel this should have been made better. The transmission hump at the rear is not very prominent and hence middle passenger will not face much difficulty. For me (and my family) space is ample and there is no way our knees touch the front-seat backs. There are LED cabin lights at rear-top -left and rear-top-right with individual switches and they can serve as reading lights. Then there is that panoramic sunroof. None in my family is wowed by it. It is just there and sometimes we open the sunroof cover in the evening. Overall, the rear is a comfortable place to be in and if your are only two people in the rear, then you will travel in some luxury.

I have read many reviews which state that the plastic quality of Hyundai is great. I do not concur. To me, they are as good or as bad as the plastics in my erstwhile Wagon-R. The whole cabin is made up of hard scratchy plastics and it feels quite pathetic. Seems as though Hyundai bought used marriage hall chairs and melted them to make the Creta interior. Not even a bit of soft touch material anywhere.

The smart key with Keyzone cover.


Steering is quite nice to hold but devoid of reach adjustment (shame).


Gearknob console is uncluttered and I quite like it.


Footwell area is good and pedals are well spaced out. Notice the 7d mats.


Hard white plastic. Exact opposite of what I would like here (soft black leather)


At the very least, no blank switches. Good.


This is the plastic that covers the passenger side of gearknob console. Notice the bad fit and finish.

[ashlil]

Driving Experience

The 4 cylinder 1.5 litre petrol engine in the Creta SX IVT is a refined unit. Press the brake pedal, hit the ignition switch (with the smart keys inside the car) and the engine fires up with a minor growl when the engine is cold. If the engine is warmed up, you will be hard pressed to hear any engine sound at all at idle. The RPM need settles at about 800 during idle. Press the release button on the gear-knob, pull it back to D position and release the brakes. The car will start gently rolling. The electronic parking brake automatically disengages when the gear is in D position. I am worried that this might spoil my habit and I will face problems when I drive a manual.

Within city traffic, there is enough juice for me even in the ECO driving mode. In fact, I never felt the need for any other mode in my driving so far. Maybe when I am facing some steep ghats, I will go for sports mode, but for now ECO it is. So far, I have not felt that the CVT is hampering my driving in any way compared to my Wagon-R manual. I also have not felt any rubber-band effect in city traffic. I should add a disclaimer that I am not at all a spirited driver. I enjoy driving, but I enjoy it in a peaceful and relaxed manner.

I have driven on the highway to Lonavala and Creta cruised quite coolly on highways on those trips. I did not attempt any fast driving (I reached maximum 90 kmph for only a short while, since the car is still in break-in period) and I did not overtake any fast moving vehicles. But, I felt there was enough power on tap for my needs. There were times when I felt a delay of about a second in acceleration, but those were few and far in between. So, you can feel the rubber-band effect if you try, but it is well controlled. Highway manners of the car seemed manageable, except for the light steering. The steering has just too much play for my liking. Ride quality is decent. It is at least better than my 2012 Wagon-R.

So far, there have not been any problems with braking. The brake pedal has been behaving nicely and the couple times I had to brake hard, it did not disappoint me. I will keep a keen eye on braking performance of the car and update you if I find anything untoward.

One nice thing about this car has been the fuel efficiency. In city driving I get about 9.4 kmpl and on highway about 17.2 kmpl (both numbers are from the MID). And this is with the completely new engine. Hoping it will improve further as the engine opens up.

[ashlil]

Note on NVH:

Since this is the most important parameter to me, I thought I will create a separate section for it. Trust me when I say that I spent all that money just for the NVH. I cannot stand noise and I was disappointed with the NVH performance of most Indian cars. Every time I travel to Europe, I envy their quiet cars. Even the European Volkswagen cars have superior silent cabins, forget about the Mercs and BMWs.

Out of all the cars that I have ridden in India, only the new Creta is almost European in its NVH performance. You can barely hear the engine noise inside the cabin while on the driver’s seat. So, you can definitely not hear the engine noise while on the rear seat. Wind noise is absent even at 90 kmph (I have not gone beyond 90 as of now). Tyre noise is minimal, but depends upon the road. On well laid tarmac, there is hardly any tyre noise. On uneven bumpy roads, tyre noise is audible, but not excessive. Traffic noise is also audible, but not excessive. I wish they had provided acoustic control glasses (but hey, Hyundai does not even provide illuminated window switches!). NVH wise, it is definitely superior to Kia Seltos HTX IVT.

Now when Jagjit Singh sings “Tum itna jo muskra rahi ho”, I am able to hear him and that is the reason I have a musrahat in my face too.

Conclusion:

Hyundai Creta satisfies most of my criteria and hence I am enjoying the car. It is grossly overpriced, but there is no alternative. Because most car manufacturers in India are not paying attention to NVH and general refinement, people with these things on the top of their list are having to pay through their nose in addition to facing Hyundai’s contempt. Although I am smiling every time I drive the car, I am quite apprehensive about the future, given Hyundai’s abominable customer service. Hopefully, it all works out. In any case, I will document my experience with Creta on this thread.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Turbohead]

Congrats Ashlil on the Creta SX IVT! Your review is very much needed as there is no official review from T-BHP about the CVT variants on both Seltos and Creta! The blue actually suits the car real well! Hope you have a happy and trouble free ownership!

I guess honeymoon period isn't applicable to you. One of the few people out there who acknowledges how overpriced our cars are in the market and can call a spade a spade! I find it so hard to believe that the plastic quality isn't upto the mark. I guess it'll grow on you eventually!

[Sahilrai166]

Congratulations Ashlil on getting a new Creta. At launch I found the exterior design to be very quirky but later the design did grow on me and day before yesterday I've booked the Creta SX in phantom Black

[ashlil]

Originally Posted by Turbohead

Congrats Ashlil on the Creta SX IVT! Your review is very much needed as there is no official review from T-BHP about the CVT variants on both Seltos and Creta! The blue actually suits the car real well! Hope you have a happy and trouble free ownership!

I guess honeymoon period isn't applicable to you. One of the few people out there who acknowledges how overpriced our cars are in the market and can call a spade a spade! I find it so hard to believe that the plastic quality isn't upto the mark. I guess it'll grow on you eventually!

Thanks Turbohead for your wishes. The plastic quality was a shock to me as well since I have been hearing about great Hyundai plastic for quite some time now. It should, however, be remembered that I did not do any scientific measure of plastic quality and hence I might be wrong in my judgement.

[CEF_Beasts]

Congratulations on your Creta, the galaxy blue looks pretty nice on the car.

But it’s really sad that Kia and Hyundai are dominating this segment and no other company is able to make a breakthrough! Seriously we need more options to choose from. Kia-Hyundai have made a monopoly combining the Seltos-Creta and Venue-Sonet they are selling almost 44000 cars a month! Would love to see other manufacturers come in with better products.

I liked the fact that you mentioned the negative factors of the experience in the start of the thread itself.

Wishing you several happy kilometres with your Creta.

[PrasannaDhana]

Ha! Finally one Creta owner who feels what I felt about those ultra hard plastics which actually felt cheap and budget grade. But I witnessed a base model diesel and thought the superior models will get some soft touch plastics atleast at the frequent contact points. Looks like it isn't the case.

Creta may be overpriced, but you should also remember it has great presence, a brand value and actually terrific resale value. Only car after the Innova that doesn't seem to depreciate is the creta.

There are 1 lakh km run, 4 year old Cretas demanding 9+ lakhs on used market .

Congratulations on the purchase! I sincerely wish you don't get to experience any of the Hyundai issues that are being reported in our forum by the existing users.

[fhdowntheline]

Congratulations on your new Creta SX IVT and welcome to the Creta-2020 league.
By the way, why do you have so much angst about the braking failures ? It isnt the case that every second Hyundai sold (or a Kia for that matter), is suspect in terms of its braking. I would never hesitate to recommend a Kia Seltos to anyone if they like the car in terms of design/features. As long as the potential owner is mindful that occasional issues have been reported in certain variants.