[Chhanda Das]

Originally Posted by shashanka

It is rare to come across anyone adding torque wrenches as a car accessory.
We didn’t opt for the Creta only because as an engineer I am biased against the FWD layout, except in small hatch-backs where this lay-out shines. We too (my wife and I) are dedicated to touring & have written an account of our trips to Uttarakhand (Naukuchiatal – Far from the madding crowd) elsewhere on these pages.

Thank you very much for your liberal appreciation of my efforts. The number of times that I have seen even experienced mechanics ruin the threads on nuts and bolts due to overtightening them was far too many to keep count of. Maybe this general lack of torque wrench usage is one of the reasons why vehicles in India start to show their age earlier. The sad part is that even authorized service centres rarely use them.

I am not an engineer by any stretch of the imagination (I have degrees in Political Science) but I am biased toward RWD vehicles too, especially on hilly terrain. My earlier Ambassador and my Grandfather's Landmaster too were RWD cars. Sadly, there are not many RWD options nowadays, all things considered.

I just checked out your largely pictorial account of your Naukuchiatal tour and it helped me reminisce quite a few old memories from decades ago especially when my Grandfather gifted me a copy of the book Man-Eaters of Kumaon. I guess Darth and a black M&M Scorpio make you a Star Wars fan. A special mention must be made of your K9 family members. They seem awesome

[naveen.raju]

Amazing report and list of tools that you carry around with the car.

Am still using the 2015 1.6D Creta and absolutely loving it. There's been few hiccups in between but still holding on to it. It's the engine that's one major factor.

I do have a question for you. Last week, I had this long drive. AC cooling was fine, but the amount of air sort of started to decrease, but fan sound was there.
After driving for around 2 hours, opened the bonnet and this pipe was frozen (image attached).



On reaching the next city, switched off the car and checked with the passerby on the nearest hyundai dealer. Got the place and while driving, AC was working fine. Checked the pipe and it looked normal. Sort of a defrost happened when I switched off the car. Didnt bother to get it checked. Worked fine for an hour and it slowly started to decrease - Same issue.

But on our return drive (3 hours) with fulltime AC, it was normal. What could be the reason?

[srikanthmadhava]

Thanks for the great detailed review. You have in-depth knowledge and understanding about your car.

Could you please elaborate on the below, this is something I would like to add to my 2020 Creta. Any info or links would help.

Originally Posted by Chhanda Das

the power window buttons apart from the one for the driver's window are not illuminated but this feature can be easily added with some suitable genuine Hyundai spares.

[Chhanda Das]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Amazing report and list of tools that you carry around with the car.
Am still using the 2015 1.6D Creta and absolutely loving it. It's the engine that's one major factor.
I do have a question for you. What could be the reason?

Thank you very much for your kind words of appreciation. It means a lot coming from you since your reviews of your Creta were some of the first that I had checked out during the initial days of my research in 2016 before getting my car in 2017. Your Creta's 1.6 diesel engine is by far the best performer amongst all first-generation Creta and hence your decision to hold on to the car is completely understandable. Moreover, as the saying goes, they don't make them like that nowadays

About the temporary issue with your car's air conditioning, sadly, I am unable to reach a definitive cause. However, I can make a few speculations as to what might have caused the issue. Since the issue got fixed by itself, we can rule out any refrigerant gas leakages. Here are my speculations in no particular order :-

1) the block-style expansion valve of the compressor may have been stuck open and the shutting down of the engine somehow managed to dislodge and reset it. This is quite a rare occurrence.

2) maybe the cabin air recirculation mode was off or the diverter vent flap did not close properly due to dried mud, etc. At the same time some road debris like dry leaves, a piece of paper like a leaflet, etc got stuck within the air duct for the sirocco style blower fan for the AC. The best way to confirm this hypothesis is to check the AC air filter where the remains of the debris would have accumulated.

3) the thermistor inside the cabin is another aspect that can go wrong and this is apparently a not-very-uncommon problem in Hyundai vehicles where some cabin air fresheners, perfumes, etc cause the thermistor to get damaged and send wrong cabin air temperature readings to the AC control module. I hope that this is not the situation in your case or else you might have to replace the thermistor.

4) sometimes debris (usually disintegrated rubber gaskets/seals) from somewhere within the AC system manages to get dislodged and gets stuck inside the evaporator coils resulting in ice formation caused by blockage. As per mechanic accounts, this was apparently seen in some initial batches of the first-generation prefacelifted Creta. I hope that it is not applicable in your case as that would mean an expensive replacement. The part itself is not that expensive compared to the labour charges involved since the entire dashboard has to be opened up to access the evaporator coils. I know all this because I administer a Facebook group about the Creta where some of my fellow members have faced this issue.

These were some of the reasons/explanations/speculations that I could come up with. I hope that the issue that you faced was just a random electrical gremlin and is somewhat unlikely to occur again. However, please let me know if it occurs again. Also, kindly check and clean the AC air filter. I hope this helps. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Originally Posted by srikanthmadhava

Thanks for the great detailed review. You have in-depth knowledge and understanding about your car.
Could you please elaborate on the below, this is something I would like to add to my 2020 Creta. Any info or links would help.

Thank you very much for appreciating my efforts but I still have a lot of stuff to learn about my car and vehicles in general.

If I recall correctly, I seem to remember reading something about a genuine Hyundai Tucson illuminated switch part somewhere that could be used as a direct replacement but sadly, I cannot find it now. However, our fellow Bhpian a4anurag has made an excellent post (link below) about upgrading to illuminated power window switches for the first-generation Creta but sadly, I do not know whether they would fit in your 2nd generation 2020 Indian Creta (Su2i). You would need to compare part numbers for confirming this. However, I am optimistic about their suitability for your car too provided that you are able to procure them. I hope this helps
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-...ml#post5133353 (Hyundai Creta 1.6L CRDi SX(O) - An Ownership Log - Update: 1,00,000 km up!)

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by Chhanda Das

Thank you very much for your liberal appreciation of my efforts. The number of times that I have seen even experienced mechanics ruin the threads on nuts and bolts due to overtightening them was far too many to keep count of. Maybe this general lack of torque wrench usage is one of the reasons why vehicles in India start to show their age earlier. The sad part is that even authorized service centres rarely use them.

I am not an engineer by any stretch of the imagination (I have degrees in Political Science) but I am biased toward RWD vehicles too, especially on hilly terrain. My earlier Ambassador and my Grandfather's Landmaster too were RWD cars. Sadly, there are not many RWD options nowadays, all things considered.

I just checked out your largely pictorial account of your Naukuchiatal tour and it helped me reminisce quite a few old memories from decades ago especially when my Grandfather gifted me a copy of the book Man-Eaters of Kumaon. I guess Darth and a black M&M Scorpio make you a Star Wars fan. A special mention must be made of your K9 family members. They seem awesome

You've nailed it when you say that even authorized service personnel often don't use a torque wrench - even when the manual specifies it! And the number of nuts & bolts with stripped threads due to over-tightening is legion. Oh yes, Darth was indeed named by my daughter after the film.. And Darth Vader was certainly a character to reckon with!

Regards,
Shashanka

[Chhanda Das]

AVN update

One aspect about my ownership of Blaze that I forgot to share earlier is about the stock audio, video and navigation (AVN) system of my first-generation petrol 1.6 prefacelifted 2017 Creta. Hyundai provides three free software updates for the AVN system within the first three years of ownership of the car after which they charge INR 1500 per update. My son did all three free updates by himself at home without any help from Hyundai service personnel. The last software update for the AVN system in my car was done in October 2020.

All 3 updates were bought online for INR 0 each


Image taken by my son during the last update

During the early days of 2018, personnel working at our preferred Hyundai service centre didn't have the latest software updates for our car's AVN system but they showed my son how to access the AVN system's Engineer Mode which resulted in my son accidentally discovering the fact that my car's AVN system was actually running on Windows 7 CE operating system while fiddling with the AVN system later.

Engineer Mode

Basic Windows computer with touch input in my car

I will add more updates here in the future once I make/remember them. Wish you all happy and safe drives ahead

[reinhardt93]

Interesting. I would have thought they would use android or their own software. Anyways it's now time to install Need For Speed II SE on your AVN.

[Siddj38]

That was a really interesting read and very detailed as well. Would love to incorporate some of these additions to my car as well.

Do you still manage to get stuff from aliexpress? If yes, how?

[Rocketscience]

Originally Posted by CEF_Beasts

Nice and crisp review .

Even we have a Aug 17’ Creta SX+, in Sleek Silver with the 1.6L NA petrol mated to the 6 speed torque-converter.

Dislikes:
- The light steering just doesn’t weigh up at higher speeds.

- The car starts feeling like a boat, almost floating at 70-80 kmph due to the soft suspension. All these three factors combined together make it a poor performer out on the highway. So we haven’t really taken it out on the highway at all! 60 kmph feels like 80 kmph in the car!
- Cross-winds affect the car really badly! Was driving on the BW Sea-Link and the cross-winds were seriously shaking the car.

As an owner of Creta 2017 model, but in diesel, I strongly disagree with the above mentioned negative points.
Either there is something wrong with your suspension or steering, because in fact this is the first car of mine where I can literally feel the steering increasing its weight from 60 to 70 km/h or so and it is very composed at high speed
Sure, the weight feels a bit artificial but it feels surefooted.
Secondly, the car feeling like a boat above 70 km/h was really shocking to me as even at speeds double that the car is absolutely planted and surefooted.

I mean sure this is no Polo, GTI but ride handling and stability is very well balanced, and there should be no room for complaints in even enthusiastic expectations at decently high speeds.
One might still complaint in handling at super high speeds in corners and that could be fair, but feeling like a boat. I literally thought this review was for some other car.
Same goes for the crosswinds
In my around 70,000 kms of experience with this car this was never an issue.

[Chhanda Das]

Originally Posted by Siddj38

That was a really interesting read and very detailed as well ... Do you still manage to get stuff from aliexpress? If yes, how ?

Thank you very much for your kind appreciation of my efforts. Sadly, I cannot order anything from Aliexpress ever since the Government of India banned it after the Galwan valley clashes. Even though I can still access the website, both VISA and Mastercards keep getting declined due to "Local Conditions". I have not been able to find anything even remotely close to Aliexpress since then

[gtonsing]

Originally Posted by Chhanda Das

Thank you very much for your kind....Snipped.....
About the temporary issue with your car's air conditioning, sadly, I am unable to reach a definitive cause. However, I can make a few speculations as to what might have caused the issue. Since the issue got fixed by itself, we can rule out any refrigerant gas leakages. Here are my speculations in no particular order :-

1)......
2)......
3)......
4) .......
Snipped

Amazing review and what knowledge. If I didn't read you have a Political Science degree, I would have concluded that you were an automobile engineer or mechanical atleast. Very good read and very comprehensive. Thank you for bringing this view to us.

I also have a 2018 SX(O) Auto Creta petrol and I have mentioned this problem I faced with the air conditioner and this is what happened.
I was driving in the evening in Bangalore and the AC became very cold at around 22 degrees on the knob on Auto mode. So I turned it up to heat the cabin to 30, still it was cold. Then I switched it off.
When I reached the place I needed to go, I did what I need to do and came back and restarted the car and still it was cold. So I switched off the AC completely and went home.
The next day, in the morning hours, I went for another drive and the AC then was not cooling at all. So switched off and opened the window and drove and went back home.
The day after, I took it to a Bosch service center and we both sat in the car and tested. Worked perfectly in cold and heating perspective - we tested both ranges of the temperature for well over 30 mins and worked perfectly.

I then had the AC unit and filters etc cleaned as I was going on a long drive the new couple of days. Full AC drive for more than 400 kms one way in a coastal region with 4 people in the car, no complains from the cooling perspective - it has not come back again till now and its been more than two months since I first noticed the issue.
I really wonder what caused it to behave in the way it did.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by gtonsing

I then had the AC unit and filters etc cleaned as I was going on a long drive the new couple of days. Full AC drive for more than 400 kms one way in a coastal region with 4 people in the car, no complains from the cooling perspective - it has not come back again till now and its been more than two months since I first noticed the issue.
I really wonder what caused it to behave in the way it did.

There is a sensor sitting on top of the cooling coil , that sensor is probably on its way out. Sensor in itself is rather inexpensive but you do need to remove the whole dashboard to access it. Hyundai makes it's interior bits very well so even after a full dismantle session and refit nothing would creak or rattle.