City Report
I have put around 3,000km since the Hyundai Creta arrived and a major chunk of that has been in the city, specifically Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. Our model is a diesel manual and it happens to be a comfortable everyday car with minimal engine noise and a comfortable cabin. That’s the bottom line of my experience living with the Creta so far. In this report, I am going to share all its features I liked and the real-world mileage after emptying the 50-litre fuel tank, driving entirely in the city.
The Creta gets a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder diesel engine along with a six-speed manual. I have found this pairing to be spot on – it doesn’t make crazy power and torque but is more than enough for Creta’s size and weight. I have said it in the introduction report and I will say it again, this diesel engine with the six-speed manual is quiet and smooth 95 per cent of the time. There is a noticeable amount of diesel clatter at low speeds as you row through the first couple of gears, but the Creta settles down soon after, becoming all quiet and refined.
As for its real-world mileage in the city, I filled up the 50-litre tank to the brim, reset the mileage display, and started driving the Creta as I have been doing since day one – no hypermiling and no going too hard on the throttle. The Creta covered 837.2km on a tankful before the next fuel-up. That translates to an indicated mileage of 16.8kmpl, which is rather impressive given that I rarely drove the car on the highway. Also, the fact that the Creta diesel manual can travel over 800km between visits to the fuel station is something that very few cars can achieve.
Having spent so much time behind the wheel, there are a few things about the Creta that I think are worth mentioning. Some features in our top-spec SX (O) variant have made my everyday drives much easier, such as Android Auto, dual-zone climate control, and a blind spot monitoring system with visuals built into the digital driver’s display. The latter piece of tech helps dodge unruly auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers, which seem to come out of nowhere.
I also like the retractable sunshades for the rear windows, especially during summertime. Over long trips, whoever has been in the second row has found them to be handy when the daylight is intense.
The 360-degree, multiple-view camera system on the Creta is excellent. The visuals are crisp and smooth, just about as good as they can get at this price point. Also, many a times, I ended up using multiple angles to park in the exact spot, which is a little tight, at my new house.
Then, the infotainment setup includes a 10.25-inch display, which I always use with Android Auto as soon as I get into the car. Even the stock user interface is extremely smooth and responsive with zero bugs. It’s a shame, then, that I still have to carry my USB cable to engage Android Auto because, unlike many similarly priced cars, phone mirroring isn’t wireless here.
Nonetheless, the upshot of having a wired connection is that I get a slightly better quality output from the Bose audio system, which doesn’t sound as rich as I would like but is good enough.
I have a couple more months ahead to explore everything about our Creta diesel manual. It is an excellent crossover with a nice engine-gearbox combo and a comfortable cabin. The next report will be all about its highway manners across an interstate road trip that I have planned. However, up until now, our Creta has been a solid acquaintance as my daily drive.
Product Details
Make and Model: Hyundai Creta
Version: SX (O) Diesel Manual
Distance covered this month: 1,652km
Fuel Efficiency: 16.8kmpl
Price: Rs. 22.70 lakh (when tested, OTR, Mumbai)
Pictures by Kaustubh Gandhi
