Like you would have read in my review of the Creta N Line (page 48), even nearly a decade after its launch, the Hyundai Creta continues to rule the midsize premium SUV segment. Every version of the SUV has only had it get more popular, bringing in phenomenal sales numbers year after year. And if the sales numbers over the past two months (15,276 units in February and 16,458 units in March!) are to go by, it isn’t hard to deduce the fact that the updated 2024 Creta will continue that bull run. And the SUV does warrant it all – in its latest avatar, the Creta is easily in its best form yet. It looks really good, feels more premium, is loaded with features and technology and continues to build on its core strengths, which is the space, comfort and brilliant powertrains.
And the Creta has now joined the TURBOCHARGED garage for a long term test! Any automotive journalist worth his/her salt will tell you, the Creta is a keeper. So when Hyundai India loaned us one, I had to pull rank and take it home. More so, because we’ve got the diesel version. Now, the Creta is one of the only SUVs in its segment to be offered with an oil burner – there’s a strong demand for its diesel version even today, as 50 percent Cretas sold are diesels! And a big reason behind the same is its phenomenal fuel efficiency. One of my close relatives residing in Gurugram has been driving a diesel Creta for four years now and refuses to drive anything else despite having multiple cars at home (including an Audi A6 diesel) given its fuel efficiency. In fact he never fails to boast about his Creta’s engine refinement and frugal manners and claims it returns close to 26kmpl on the highway consistently, which isn’t a figure you hear very often, not in the Creta’s segment!
Living with this new Creta is something I’m looking forward to thus, because it’s also been a while since I had a diesel SUV as my daily driver. And guess what – when I tanked it up, tank range displayed by the trip computer was a staggering 905km! Not a figure I’ve seen in a really long time, especially since the Grand Vitara strong hybrid. A day trip from Pune to Mumbai and back also affirmed the enviable fuel efficiency numbers – the trip computer was consistently displaying 24kmpl or more, which was also close to the actual efficiency, as I found out on tanking up again later that evening, to calculate fuel efficiency. Ours is the manual version, with a 6-speed gearbox but despite driving for over 400km on the day, including driving from Pune to Mumbai and back via the Expressway and through Mumbai’s infamous traffic, I had no issues using the clutch given its lightness. In fact I enjoyed using a manual transmission for as long – most new cars are equipped with automatic gearboxes which makes for convenience, but nothing beats using the good old H-pattern of a manual gearbox!
