Hyundai Creta vs Tata Curvv: Can The New Tata SUV-coupe Dethrone The Hyundai Bestseller?

The Curvv has debuted in a price range where the Creta has been a bestseller for a long time. But does it have the essence to beat the Hyundai compact SUV? We find out

For years, carmakers have been battling each other to change their market status by providing better features, more potent powertrain options and more competitive prices. This rivalry has now come down to design, it seems. While the compact SUV segment has more-or-less been dominated by Hyundai Creta since its launch, Tata has debuted its Curvv SUV-coupe in a similar price bracket, highlighting a distinct design, hoping to be a bestseller in this segment too. But, does it have everything to make people embrace the changes? Let us find out.

Key

With the launch of the Curvv, Tata updated their outdated plastic key with something that looks more premium and goes well with this new offering. The Curvv gets a key that has an aluminium surround and a glossy finish that feels premium to hold and operate. It has buttons for locking, unlocking, remotely opening the boot and even turning on the lights of the car, making it easier to locate the car when you lose your way in the dark.

The Hyundai Creta comes with a brown key with a brushed aluminium finish on the buttons which can be used for locking, unlocking, opening just the boot and even remotely starting the engine. The key has a good fit and finish but feels a little less premium than the Tata Curvv, mainly due to the lack of soft-touch materials. 

Looks

The Tata Curvv features a design that has been unseen in any mass-market segment. The Curvv has an SUV-coupe design with a sloping roofline that tapers towards the rear. It gets 18-inch alloy wheels which are big enough for a compact SUV. On the Curvv though, these wheels look small in comparison to its huge proportions. On the other hand, this distinct design makes a lot of heads turn. 

In comparison, the Hyundai Creta was first launched in 2015 and from then, the compact SUV has never been away from the bestselling cars. A lot of this can be attributed to the bold looks of this SUV that makes it look towing over the other cars, exactly what the Indian masses seem to like. Comparing its road presence with the Curvv, the Creta looks more proportional and traditional as compared to the Curvv and hence grabs fewer eyeballs. However, this design is more sensible and appealing to a wider spectrum of buyers.

For us, the Curvv is essentially the better-looking SUV and something that is more attention-catching. But design is subjective and you can pick whichever you like better.

Boot Space

Both the Hyundai Creta and Tata Curvv get fairly good boot space. In our thorough tests, we found that the Curvv’s bigger boot makes it easier to store a few more bags than the Creta. The taller boot also ensures that the bags can be stacked on top of each other, resulting in better utilisation of the space. Tata has also equipped it with a powered tailgate which makes it more convenient to access the boot and is hence a cherry on top.

On the other hand, the Creta’s boot is wide and shallow, which eats up some space and after keeping a large bag, we were only left with enough space for smaller cabin-sized backpacks. If you are picking the Creta, we advise that you use smaller cabin-sized suitcases to maximize the use of this boot.

The Curvv’s bigger boot and a powered tailgate make it the clear victor here.

Cabin: Design & Quality

The Curvv’s dashboard design is fairly sleek and minimal. The Tata Curvv comes with a simple layout with horizontal lines, ambient lighting, and a carbon-fibre-like trim, which gives this cabin its no-nonsense design. The dashboard also features a 4-spoke steering wheel with an illuminated logo. However, one thing to note is that the steering wheel is prone to scratches and you will need some kind of protector to save it from the scratches.

In comparison, the Hyundai Creta features a dual-tone black and white cabin which has an asymmetrical design. One side of the dashboard is just the dual integrated 10.25-inch screens (one for the instrumentation and another for the touchscreen) below which is a copper-coloured trim that gives it an added contrast, and the other side is just a gloss-black insert. The AC vents are sleek and are surrounded by black bezels which extend further away from the vents. 

We feel that the Curvv, with a cleaner dashboard design, is visually more appealing than the busy dashboard design of the Creta. 

However, the story changes entirely when cabin quality comes into play. The Curvv gets a lot of soft-touch leatherette materials on the dashboard and door pads, which make the cabin feel more premium than the Creta which lacks leatherette materials on its dashboard. 

However, the Creta has a better finish inside the cabin than the Curvv. The AC vents, window control buttons and cabin lights buttons on the Curvv feel finicky. The materials used on the gear knob are also not on par with the rest of the cabin. The Curvv’s cabin has a few panel gaps, around the gear lever, and around the glovebox.

The Creta, on the other hand, has consistent cabin quality, with an excellent fit and finish. The cabin of the Curvv might look more modern, but with its cabin quality, the Creta takes the lead in the interior department.

Cabin Space

Talking about the front seats of the Curvv first. It gets leatherette seat upholstery, the colour of which differs from variant to variant. The cushioning is a bit softer than the Creta’s seats, however, the seat backrests are a bit short. This will feel weird the first time you drive the Curvv, but will not be uncomfortable in any regard. 

The Creta gets a white and grey leatherette seat upholstery with orange piping which looks clean and premium, while giving an added contrast. The downside is that keeping the seats clean will be a difficult task. The cushioning is nice and the seats envelop you, giving you a comfortable feeling.

Before we comment on the rear seats, let us come back to the fact that the Curvv has an SUV-coupe design. Such a design eats up the rear-seat head space and passengers taller than 6 feet will feel cramped up. This cramped-up feeling will be enhanced more as the windows are smaller for the rear seat passengers, which reduces visibility. 

To add to this, the Curvv’s rear seat is not wide enough to accommodate 3 passengers. However, if you do accommodate 3 passengers, the centre passenger’s head has a high chance to brush against the roof as the seat hump in the centre will leave even lesser head space. Ingress and egress also is difficult in the Curvv due to a higher floor and the sloping roofline. This can make it harder for elderly people in the family to get in and out of the car.

The Creta, on the other hand, has loads of space on the rear seat and can accommodate three average-built passengers better than the Curvv. The white and grey theme makes the cabin feel airy and the headroom is also not an issue here. The ingress and egress are also fairly easy due to its big doors and traditional design. Clearly, the Hyundai compact SUV provides a better rear-seat experience than Tata’s SUV-coupe.

Features

The Hyundai Creta and Tata Curvv are both feature-rich cars. Here is the detailed features list:

Common features in both cars include ventilated front seats, a panoramic sunroof, a wireless phone charger, electrically adjustable outside rearview mirrors (ORVMs) with auto-fold function, paddle shifters, a cooled glovebox and auto-dimming inside rearview mirror (IRVM). 

The Curvv gets a bigger touchscreen and an additional speaker over the Creta. The Creta, on the other hand, gets powered driver and co-driver seats with 8-way adjustment levels, which is two more than those in the Curvv. A remote engine start function and puddle lamps are also present in the Creta.

In our experience, the screens of Tata cars have shown lag and glitches, which can happen in the Curvv as well. However, there were no glitches during the time we had the Curvv. One thing that we like about this screen is that it supports wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, which the Creta doesn’t. The Creta, with its 10.25-inch touchscreen, only offers wired Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and wireless connectivity is limited to the smaller 8-inch touchscreen present in the lower variants.

The features of both cars are almost on par with each other, and you won’t feel anything lacking in either of these models.

Practicality & Charging Options

In The Tata Curvv, you get bottle holders on doors and a small storage space under the front armrest. However, the cupholders are placed inside the glovebox which are of no use while driving. The rear passengers get cupholders in the centre armrest, but no seat back pockets, or any slot to keep their phones.

The Creta, on the other hand, gets more practical storage spaces inside. These include two cupholders on the centre console, 1-litre bottle holders on all doors, an average-sized glovebox to keep essential stuff and a small storage space under the centre armrest. The rear passengers get cupholders in the centre armrest, seat back pockets, and a slot below the rear AC vents to keep their phone or wallet.

In terms of charging options, the Curvv gets a type-C, type-A and 12V socket for the front passengers, but due to these ports being placed a little lower behind the gear knob, plugging in a wire becomes difficult. The rear passengers get a Type-A and a Type-C port for charging their phones.

The Creta also comes with a type-C, a type-A and a 12V charging socket in the front, which have been laid out in a better fashion than the Tata rival. Here, the rear passengers get two Type-C charging ports. Both cars also offer a wireless phone charger in the front. 

Being the more traditional offering, the Creta offers better storage options, and the execution of the charging options is also better.

Safety

Let us take a detailed look at the safety features available with both the cars:

Like the comfort and convenience features, both the Hyundai Creta and Tata Curvv come with a lot of safety features. These include six airbags, ESC, TPMS and even level-2 advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) with features like adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist. Now, the ADAS on both cars work similarly and are well-calibrated to the Indian road conditions. 

The Curvv, however, comes with a 5-star crash safety rating from Bharat NCAP and the Hyundai Creta has not been tested yet. 

Powertrain Options And Ride Quality

The Creta comes with naturally aspirated and turbocharged petrol as well as a diesel unit. The Curvv, on the other hand, gets two turbo-petrol engines and a diesel one. Before moving ahead with the verdict, let us take a look at the details:

Comparing the turbo-petrol powertrain options available on both cars, the Creta produces way more power and torque than the Curvv’s units. The diesel powertrain option of the Curvv, however, is slightly more potent than the Creta’s diesel engine.

In our test, we drove the Creta’s 115 PS naturally aspirated petrol engine variant with a CVT gearbox and the Curvv’s 125 PS turbo-petrol engine variant with a manual gearbox option. Let us start with Curvv’s drive experience.

The Tata Curvv’s turbo-petrol engine gives a more enthusiastic drive experience when compared to the Creta’s naturally aspirated unit, and that’s understandable. This engine is refined, and the power delivery is smooth and linear. It has also been tuned well for city driving, which means that you do not have to shift gears continuously to get the required power. What is a downer is the fact that the clutch is a little hard for a petrol engine, and getting used to this clutch takes some time.

Hyundai’s 1.5-litre naturally aspirated engine has been a workhorse on the Creta since its inception. In its current-spec avatar, the engine has become very refined and easy to drive which can chug along gently on everyday roads and highways alike. Like other CVT options, the Creta also builds speed gradually and the gearshifts do not feel jerky. However, if you want an enthusiastic driving experience, it is the Creta’s 1.5-litre turbo-petrol option that will be a better choice for you.

Now, let us talk about the ride quality on both cars. Like other Tata cars, the Curvv too is comfortable on bad roads. However, on open and smooth highways, there is constant movement inside the cabin, which is not very confidence-inspiring at the curves and triple-digit speeds.

On the other hand, the Creta is a little more planted which makes it take corners in a more confidence-inspiring manner. Getting to triple-digit speeds can take slightly longer, especially when accelerating from 70 or 80 kmph. The ride quality on bad roads, on the other hand, is slightly jerky in comparison to the Curvv and if you try to speed up on bad roads, a lot of sound makes its way inside the cabin, which hampers the drive experience. However, at slow speeds, the Creta absorbs those cracks and potholes well, and very little movement is felt inside.

All in all, comparing both the urban SUVs, the Hyundai Creta comes out to be a better option for highways and city rides. The turbo-petrol option in the Creta also packs in a lot of punch than the turbo-petrol options of the Curvv, and it gets better transmission options as well, which gives it an edge over the Curvv.

Verdict

So, which one should you choose? Let us take a final look.

The Tata Curvv is a newer offering in the market and comes with a design that is striking and will spark conversation amongst the younger masses. It gets a minimalistic cabin, a lot of features, and a better boot space. But, a compromise has been made in the rear seat space, which makes it not ideal for a family-oriented buyer. So, if you are someone who is young and wants to have a first car that stands out, the Tata Curvv will be a good option for you.

On the other hand, the Creta packs in a traditional SUV design that is more timeless than the Curvv’s style. It gets better space for four passengers, all the features you need, and a comfortable ride quality. The Creta always was, and still is, more appealing for a family, which makes it the more sensible choice for a lot of buyers.