Hyundai Creta Long Term Review II | 5000 Kilometers Covered

Five months in Pune's dense traffic has painted a clear picture of how the Creta CVT is as a city car.

So the Hyundai Creta has settled in nicely to the CarDekho garage. Being the premium, feature rich crossover that it is, its keys have been much in demand. The first trip it took was a 500km round trip from Pune to Ratnagiri and back. With Muntasar using it to ferry his parents from Pune to his hometown. The second experience the Creta had was starring in our Creta Road Test video that’s already live on the CarDekho youtube channel. 

I have been primarily using the Creta in the confines of Pune’s traffic. In the city the Creta has fared admirably well. It’s light steering, light brake pedal and comfortable suspension make for a great commuter. The 360 surround view camera also keeps the four corners safe from pesky two wheeler riders cutting in front and behind the Creta in chock-a-block traffic. 

There are a couple of complaints though. The first is the seating position. I don’t quite like the way the driver's seat height is set. Even at its lowest position it feels a little two high-set for me. I can make myself some room to get comfortable but then I can’t reach the pedals properly. Or I can reach the pedals but feel like there is too much of a bend in my knees. If I could move the seat lower I could be stretched out more and have a shallower bend in my knee and be more comfortable for long stints behind the wheel.  And for reference I’m 5’10”, not tall but can't be classified as short either.  

The other complaint is the fuel efficiency figure. Being a CVT I was looking forward to a reasonable number in the city. But when the traffic is at its worst it seems even this CVT can’t get more than 8-9kmpl. If the traffic becomes a little more flowing this number does rise up to 10-11kmpl but not much more. 

I managed one weekend trip with my wife, which saw us drive to Karjat for the weekend getaway. The drive was along the expressway and then on the return leg we made a trip into Mumbai to drop some family off before returning to Pune. This meant a good bit of highway driving as well as some twisty roads on the way to our destination. 

On the Highway the Creta iVT is happy to sit at the speed limit with the ADAS system making the going all the more smooth. The ADAS is nicely suited to Indian conditions with not too large a distance kept between the lead car that you have people cutting in front of you and still enough of a gap left for safety. It also sits steadily in the middle of the lane and does not drift from side to side of the lane markings like some other ADAS cars we have experienced. 

While we are on the subject of the ADAS safety systems, I can also confirm that rear-cross traffic alert and emergency braking works as advertised. This was experienced while reversing out of a tight parking spot on MG Road, and despite my trust in the parking attendant’s ability to direct traffic around me the Creta alerted me as well as used the emergency brake function for good measure. It's a bit startling at first but better safe than sorry I guess.

Next time we will have a full trip report from Muntasar as he returns to Ratnagiri for another family trip. We will hear about how the Creta fares from a pure road trip perspective, so stay tuned for that.