The Hyundai Creta has been a name that strikes fear in the hearts of its competitors, and it is a force to be reckoned with in its segment. The first generation of the Hyundai Creta dominated the roads of Kathmandu in sheer volume and made a beeline to the top. It seemed like you couldn’t go 10 paces without bumping into a Creta on the road. The immense popularity of the Hyundai Creta was carried forward in 2018 when the facelifted Hyundai Creta entered the market, refining the shortcomings of its predecessor.

However, compared to when the Hyundai Creta was launched in 2015, competition in the segment got much stiffer. There were more options in the market to choose from, and the lucrative nature of the segment meant that every car maker wanted a slice of the pie. So, in 2020 Hyundai introduced its second-generation Creta. Now, battling even more competitors, the Hyundai Creta is playing in a completely different ball game. In this review, we see how the all-new Hyundai Creta fares in the market that its predecessor dominated.

It looks like a different beast altogether.

And different does not necessarily mean good or bad. The majority of people loved the sharp cut design of the previous Cretas, it was also one of the reasons that made it so popular. However, opinions on the new look of the Hyundai Creta has been very polarizing. In fact, we were also slightly skeptical about the new looks when it was first revealed. But, with time the bulbous new design began to grow on us. Truth be told, the new Hyundai Creta is a lot better to look at when you see it in person.

Leading the new design of the Hyundai Creta is a massive cascade grille and split headlamp design. The designers have put in a lot of work, maybe a little too much. You get the ice cube three-element LED headlamps on top of which the LED DRLs are situated. The turn indicators, well they can be found down with the fog lamps. The bonnet features a wide and flat central dome, with four prominent creases that give it a little more muscle. The profile gets a sloping roofline that the dual-tone makes even more prominent. There is a strong shoulder line and prominent bulges above the wheel arches.

The designers have put even more effort with the radical rear design of the new Creta. There is a LOT going on in the back, it’s difficult to find the right place to start. At first glance, the rear looks like an amalgamation of bulges and creases cramped into a single design. The split tail lamp clusters are joined by a black insert that houses the HMSL (High Mounted Stop Lamp).

Inside, it’s a black and beige affair.

The interiors are plush and the materials used appear to be of high quality. The seats get leatherette upholstery and there is some leather applied on the door armrests, central armrest, as well as the gear knob and steering wheel. However, some of the plastics used (specifically in the center console, the lower side of the dashboard) could have been of better quality to provide a more premium feel. While the black and beige color scheme look great, the prominent reflection on the windscreen in the midafternoon was difficult to get used to.

Get into the driver’s seat and you will notice that you get a nice vantage point and great ergonomics. You even get a very useful dead pedal in the automatic. The only complaint, the steering only gets height adjustment; no reach adjustment provided. On the plus side, the leather-wrapped, D-cut steering wheel feels great and the MID displays a plethora of useful notifications.

There are plenty of useful and premium features in the all-new Hyundai Creta. You can drop your phone into a cabin in the center fascia where it can be wirelessly charged. Need to keep your can of coke cool? Chuck it in the cooled glovebox. Worried about the air quality? A cabin air purifier with a perfume dispenser is also included in the Creta.

The center fascia features a 10.25-inch touchscreen head-unit through which you can control the air purifier, music and media (Android Auto and Apple CarPlay), and more. The HD screen is super smooth with no lag and great visibility even in bright daylight. The Touchscreen also doubles up as a display for the rearview camera and features adaptive guidelines that indicate the path that the car is going to take (based on steering input). The right half of the screen has the parking sensor display.

For those who will be spending most of their time in the rear seat as passengers, the cabin is spacious and the seats get nice contours to keep you in place. 3 people can fit in easily, but only two side passengers receive headrests and 3-point seat belts. The middle passenger has to make do with no headrest and a lap belt. You get the most out of the rear seats if it’s just two passengers; that way you and flip down the rear center armrest that can hold two cups.

There is plenty of headroom and legroom but the cabin does seem slightly cramped. This can be quickly remedied by a flick and push of a button to open up the massive panoramic sunroof that spans the length of the cabin. Having the winter sun flood the cabin was indeed uplifting, and we fell completely in love with this feature. Rear passengers also get rear air-con vents.

Let’s get behind the wheels.

For the all-new Hyundai Creta you get either a 1.5L CRDi diesel engine, or a 1.5L MPi Petrol engine. Our test car was powered by the 1.5L petrol engine mated to a 6 speed IVT (Intelligent Variable Transmission). This mill produces 113bhp of maximum power at 6300RPM and 144Nm of maximum torque at 4500rpm.

Right off the bat, you can tell that the 4 cylinder 1.5 litre petrol engine is a refined unit. Press the brake pedal, hit the ignition switch (with the smart keys inside the car) and the engine fires up. The noise, or lack thereof, inside the cabin is impeccable. You’ll be hard-pressed to hear any strain from the engine.

To get rolling, all you need to do is press the release button on the gear knob, and pull it back to the D position. Release the brakes and you are off. Now, you have the liberty of choosing what to do next. You can turn the dial next to the gear knob to select eco mode. By doing this, you turn down the engine responsiveness, and the engine mellows. This is decent enough to get you around traffic in the city, especially where you can’t find an open stretch of tarmac. In fact, it is one of the few cars where the Eco-mode is quite usable. This significantly increases the fuel efficiency and you are burning fuel efficiently.

If you aren’t in a tree-hugging mood, you can switch to comfort mode. This firms up the steering and suspension a tad bit and the engine responds better to your throttle inputs. Naturally, you are having a lot more fun in this driving mode but things are still tame. Now, if you are in the mood to drive for fun, you might want to switch to sports mode. The engine holds revs for longer and eggs you to really release your right foot off the leash.

The steering gives more feedback and makes the driving experience more fun. You can also hear the engine really straining itself too. However, we seemed to find ourselves mostly in comfort mode. There was more usable power and the engine did not feel strained. There is also an “S” mode which makes the transmission more aggressive. This mode can be engaged by moving the gear shifter to the right. Use it when you’re in the mood for fun, or just temporarily to quickly overtake someone.

You also get traction control that allows you to choose snow, mud, or gravel. We didn’t get a chance to really use these modes and honestly, we don’t see if being used too much. The Creta sports a McPherson strut suspension with coil springs at the front and a coupled torsion beam at the rear works well to give the Creta a good ride. Road undulations are taken care of well until things get a little too rough. At high speeds, the all-new Hyundai Creta feels planted on the straights and around corners. Braking duties are undertaken by disc brakes in the front and rear, and they do the job with no drama.

The Bottom Line.

After spending a lot of time with the all-new Creta and putting it through the paces, we have a few crucial points to take away from it. First off, we have a new perspective on the polarizing exterior design of the 2nd Gen Creta. It might not be appealing to the large majority of people, but it is definitely a design that grows on you. Furthermore, it looks a lot better in person than it does in photos and videos.

Secondly, as expected, the all-new Hyundai Creta is chockful of features. The interiors are plush and things are made comfortable for driver and passengers. We especially liked the panoramic sunroof. Also important to note is the performance of the Hyundai Creta. The engine adequately handles the traffic and is great on the highways. While it doesn’t feel like a superfast car, it got the job done and we never found ourselves complaining. The suspension is also pretty balanced which made for a good driving experience.

With all this in check, we come to the crucial question. Is the all-new Hyundai Creta still king of the hill? Well, it isn’t that simple. Times are different now and there is a lot stiffer competition in the segment. Saying the Hyundai Creta has an easy way up would be quite a stretch. Nevertheless, the Creta name is still strong and the name itself will help get the car on the shortlist for prospective buyers. From there on out, the Creta has plenty to offer for customers to take the Hyundai Creta into serious contention.

The only weak link here is the love it or hate it design. There are times when it looks a little too busy, but as you get used to it, it feels like it is the next step to the transition in the design language of the future of cars. We will have to wait and see how that works for the all-new Creta. For now, we are pretty impressed with what the all-new second-generation Creta put on the table and we expect to see plenty of it plying the roads of Nepal.

Check Hyundai’s latest pricing in Nepal here