Hyundai Creta: The good gets even better

Poised, polished, sophis­ticated and classy, the Hyundai Creta calmly seated itself on the throne of the compact SUV segment when it entered the scene back in 2015. Although the segment posed some pretty tough competition, the Creta was able to make a big impact. It crunched some serious sales numbers, which is evident from how often you see one of these on Nepali roads. Three years later, the compact SUV segment is still popular, and with new rivals like the Jeep Compass, the Creta has even more competition. Luckily, Hyundai has come out with a facelift for the Creta. They’ve listened to the feed­back of its audience and given the 2018 Creta some valuable changes, with both the exterior and interior now tweaked.

Exterior

The Hyundai Creta has always been a looker. The strong, slightly boxy design screams of masculinity and goes a long way in giving it the appeal of a proper SUV. Hyun­dai rightly decided against the popular notion of making the compact SUV under the four meters in length. Over­all, they’ve stuck to the same urban styling for the Creta but with some improvements in the 2018 avatar.

Up front is where you’ll find the biggest change, where the grille has been slightly tweaked and fitted with a new cascade grille. The hexagonal front grille wears a thick chrome border and silver horizontal slats. The bi-focal projector headlamps (on the top spec models) look splendid and the DRLs wrapping the fog lamps on the vertical bumper inserts is an eccentric design that gives more character to the front fascia of the new Creta.

The side profile remains sleek with the 17-inch diamond cut alloys stylishly carrying the Hyundai Creta. The chrome finish on the door handles, the prominent shoulder line, and side body cladding give it some extra flare. If you look closely, you will also notice that the raised roof rails have been replaced with ones that have a flusher fit. Around the rear, the stylish split tail lamps fit well with the overall design but there isn’t a lot of other changes to talk about here.

Interior

It’s when you step inside that the changes really become evident. The base E trim retains its standard safety fea­tures, like dual-front airbags and ABS; but now the seat gets height adjust and a front sliding armrest. However, things get more exciting in the higher spec models.

The smart electric sun­roof, wireless phone charger, six-way power driver seat adjustment, and cruise control are segment firsts and go a long way to reestab­lish the premium stature of the Hyundai Creta.

It is a spacious affair in the cabin, with plenty of space for all occupants. The dash is beautifully laid out. The 7.0 inch touchscreen info­tainment system comes with Apple Carplay and Android Auto and Navigation.

Then there’s a wearable device on offer too. The SX(O) variant comes with a fitness band, which doubles as a smart key. It is a great looking acces­sory and serves many purposes utility wise too. The car can be opened and started by just wearing this band on your wrist (no need for the key). It also displays the time, has an alarm and functions as a sleep monitor, step counter and calorie counter. It’ll show incoming calls as well. This is a first-in-segment feature.

Performance

Inside the bonnet, there aren’t many changes. We drove the tried and tested 1.6L Dual VTVT Petrol engine that revved smoothly and went forward with vigor. Gear shifts were smooth on the six- speed man­ual transmission we were driv­ing and it made for some good driving fun within the city. It is a calm and composed machine on the road, but you’re not going to find yourself eager to get into any impromptu races with the Creta.

It scores high on safety and features, with things like elec­tronic stability control, vehicle stability management and hill start assist control included in the package.

Verdict

It isn’t easy to dethrone the Creta and Hyundai have made doubly sure of that with the facelift. The list of segment firsts such as the very welcome sunroof, wireless charging and power seat adjusters are the exclamation points that reiterate its position as a luxuri­ous proposition for the Nepali automotive segment. Rest assured, the Hyundai Creta facelift still impresses.