Myles Hyundai Creta SX Plus

Finally I got to drive the Hyundai Creta. Myles has few of them for self-drive rental and I had booked one for a day in Jan. But last minute, Myles upgraded me to new XUV500 as Creta was not available. To them it was an upgrade, but for me, it was 3000 Rs down the drain, as my interest was to explore the Creta and not XUV5OO.

Not willing to take bigger risk again, I booked Creta for just 2 hours last weekend. Thankfully this time I got the Creta itself, not a replacement. Myles has reduced hourly rental usage limit from 25kms to 10kms now. The car I got was not cleaned- was dirty on the inside and dirty on the outside- may be staff thought “why clean for just two hours rental- not worth our time n effort”. But then, I was happy to note Myles had bought a higher end variant- SX Plus, just one level below the top of the line SX O. So, one I drove had alloy wheels, push button start/stop, navigation, touch screen system, auto folding ERVM etc.

Creta has lots of power- about 125 PS, much higher than its competition (Duster, Ecosport, Scorpio etc). This power is almost close to Merc GLA’s cheapest variant with 134 PS, which is twice as expensive compared to Creta. For all practical purposes (minus the brand image), a Creta makes better value for money choice than GLA. but MyLes's stupid 100kmph limit spoils all the fun.

Display is pretty ordinary, covers all criticial information. Had trouble locating DTE. I like the way the door handle design integrates with dashboard.

I found two most irritating features in Creta

Irritating feature 1: Warning message that pops up every time engine is turned on-Every single time. The accept button isn’t active instantly- it gets active after few seconds. So every time you start the car, if you want to use anything on the display, you need to wait for few seconds and accept these terms. There’s got to be a way to turn this off (like make the owner sign on a stamp paper and then turn this thing off?)- It is irritating to keep accepting this for rest of your life with Creta. This is like every time you open your favorite website you need to read and agree to 100 line terms and condition- it is enough if one reads and agrees to T&C while registering. No need to show it every single time. It may be safe way to pass all the blame on driver in case something goes wrong, but is really annoying experience

Irritating feature 2: Audio Level default issue- even if I reduce the audio level to low during my drive, next time I start the car audio defaults to a very high level and I will be forced to turn it down again- need to do this every time car is started. Creta should remember last used audio volume level and start at same level.

The push button start is supposed to be cool, but you need to press both brake pedal and clutch pedal completely (even when car is in neutral) to start the engine. When in neutral I feel it should start as long as brake pedal is pressed. In a normal car with turn-key ignition, if it is neutral I can start it with one hand. But in Creta, we need 2 legs and one arm to start the engine. Where exactly is convenience?

Also I had trouble figuring out Distance to Empty indicator on the dashboard- tried all buttons and controls but couldn’t see that reading. An SX owner has confirmed in comments below that there is no DTE at all. Needed it desperately, as Myles guys gave me an empty tank car stating “There is enough fuel to go for 20kms, if you need more add it”. I find this empty tank to empty tank business very annoying.

I didn't test fuel economy of Creta as my drive was just about 20 kms.

Because I drove Creta one day after Audi Q3, I couldn't help comparing the both, though later is twice as expensive as Creta. Both have more than enough power- while Audi is even more powerful, gets sunroof, rear disc brakes, cruise control, Creta SX gets rear camera and navigation as standard, is marginally more spacious and has fog lamps. Creta has more engine and trip options, available in manual. Of course Audi is Audi, but if you are budget constrained or want a car that is a budget alternative, you can settle for Creta.