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Hyundai Kona EV owner test drives a Creta Electric: First impressions

26th February 2025, 18:00 by R Patil

The Hyundai Creta Electric is an excellent value for money offering. My personal view is that Hyundai vehicles overall are more accomplished and reliable as of now

BHPian shankar.balan recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

So today the Hyundai folks popped by at my request with the Creta EV for me to test. Prabhakar of Trident Hyundai in Kudlu Gate is most helpful.

Intent:
I m only going to talk about the driving impressions and yes, the sound.

Basis:
I spent 35 -45 mins in the driving seat and drove all over my neighbourhood. Across all the bylanes and unmarked speed bumps and those elephantine covered hume pipes and construction related debris and general uneven bumps and potholes and everything.

Sound:
The music system is from Bose. But it has only 4 speakers. It is not as immersive as the BE6 or XEV9. The noise insulation in the cabin is perfectly adequate but not in the same league as the acoustic glass of the Mahindra Twins. Yes there is only wired Carplay. But this is easily sorted with the Otto Dongle. It's not a concern at all, in my view.

Seating, View and Comfort:
Very comfortable. Plenty of legroom. Useful dead pedal. Plenty of stretching space. Very good under thigh support even for me at 6ft 2inches height. Seats are supportive. Great door side arm rest for the right arm. Great centre arm rest which both passengers ca. share easily.

The Electrically operated front seats with height adjustment are a huge boon and as Ive remarked before, this is a facility which is very rarely offered to us in India. And it really means so much to the front passenger to be able to adjust the seat height! However, the lower back lumbar support offered by my Kona is better.
The view from the front seat is perfect. The A Pillar thickness is comfortable - no blind spot like the Mahindra EVs.

Steering:
Everyone is fond of saying that Hyundai steering is poor. I think the Creta will prove them wrong. It feels well weighted at low speeds and has a heft which I like. And yes, while it may not offer the point and shoot of a Ford, it is perfectly adequate for what is after all, a comfortable family wagon.

Range:
The 51KWH battery range says 473kms. This car inspires enough confidence for me to attempt Ooty from Bangalore on one charge. Whereas in my Kona I will definitely stop and top up in Mysore.

Performance:
Not as Blistering as the Kona and the Mahindra EVs. But in my view the 253Nm Torque and 173 Bhp is more than sufficient. Being an FWD there is a certain amount of torque steer when one takes a tight turn and accelerates.
But my Kona though it has only 136bhp, gives me 395Nm of Torque which you can feel from the get go.

The Mahindra Twins are ‘much wilder’ than the Hyundais. However, let us remember that we need to be able to use all that power in the real world while obeying the law and keeping within the prescribed speed limits. For this, the Hyundai Creta EV is more than adequate.

For the most part one will happily buzz around in Eco mode (as I do) and when one feels like upping the game as one does, now and then, click into Sport Mode and watch the fun. The drive mode selector knurled knob in the centre feels of good quality and solid. Far nicer than the ones in the Mahindra Twins.

The steering mounted braking regen controls are excellent and behave just like my Kona. Yes the paddles themselves are slimmer but the regenerative braking effect with the three levels is the same as my Kona. I use these like I use the paddles in my ICE car. They are fun!

The Drive Selector Stalk on the right side of the steering is nice and fat and of good quality. Despite driving rapidly and not looking closely at this while driving I never mixed up the indicator stalk and this stalk. So that is decidedly NOT an issue one needs to worry about at all.

Suspension, Handling and Braking:
This is a good highlight. It drives over these bumps and potholes without any fuss and fanfare. It inspires a lot of confidence when it is taking the thrashing meted out by the Bangalore road conditions. A very comfortable and well composed ride. No skittering about on uneven patches. Whoever sat and did the suspension tuning, has understood Indian conditions well. I appreciate this effort a lot.

It handles very decently for a family wagon. It is NOT a speed demon nor a sports car so it is incorrect to score it on those parameters. It doesn't pitch and sway as one might expect. It is not a corner carver. So lets evaluate it for what it is. Yes it is a crossover/ SUV but it is very car-like in all respects.

Braking is fuss free. Excellent responsiveness. Not spongy. Feels taut. And stops rock solid. Extremely confidence inspiring!

Verdict:
My short verdict is that this is an excellent value for money offering. The Top Spec is in at 26.60 Lac on road. Which is fine and makes the whole thing very affordable when compared to more or less all those other EV's out there. A fair price for what it offers.

I prefer Hyundai to Tata. And despite my having enjoyed my drive with the Mahindra Twins, my personal view is that Hyundai vehicles overall are more accomplished and reliable as of now. Their Testing Processes are more evolved and thorough and they generally won’t take short cuts.

Long story short, why bother spending 45-65 lacs when there is a very accomplished alternative at half the price?

The competition to this, in the form of the e Vitara, will be well worth watching out for as well.

Truly, this looks like it heralds the beginning of the affordable, accomplished, ‘EveryMan’s EV’ segment. And for anyone who wants to be prudent and watch the ‘paise’ , this segment is the most pertinent one.