[KL01toKA03]

I am planning to buy a new car within Rs. 25 lakh. Requirements:

• Should be a CVT or TC
• Top-variant with ADAS
• Low Service cost/reasonably reliable

The cars I shortlisted are the Hector Plus (6 seater) and Creta.

I drove the Hector Plus, and while performance is nothing great, I found it adequate for my usage which will be primarily in Bangalore city. The MG dealer offered a 2023 Hector for 24.5 lakhs after exchange.

Positives:

• Interior Space
• Loved the brown color interior in the 6 seater variant
• Friends who own the Hector seem to be happy with everything except fuel economy

Concerns:

• I've heard reviews about lag in the touch screen.
• Will MG be in India for a long time? I like to keep my cars for a long time.
• Cost/availability of service and spares
• I see that the Hector facelift was launched in Jan/Feb 2023. Is any facelift coming soon?

Creta

The top-end CVT is available for 21.5 lakhs after exchange

Positives

• Better brand
• No concern about availability of spares/service centers
• More fuel efficient compared to Hector

Concerns

1. Some reviews mention that a lot of road noise enters the cabin. No test drive was available.
2. Missing some good to have features like powered tail gate
3. Will it be comfortable for people for long distances?
4. Minimum 5 months waiting period (though that is not a deal-breaker)

Which car would be good for me?

[mpod11]

I own both the Hector and Creta and hence can elaborate on the differences on living with these vehicles.
Creta is the more practical vehicle to live in city traffic and usage. It is just the right size, is fuss free and satisfies all requirements for me and family.
Hector is from a segment above and superb value for money. Its cabin gives you the luxury experience you get in cars twice its price. It’s our go to car when we want to feel luxurious and drive to a 5 star.
So between the two, Hector is the one that feels more special with MG offering really good ASS - notch better than Hyundai.

[bijims]

The Hector Plus is a much bigger car than the Creta and can seat 6 or 7, with MG not setting the sales charts on fire, you can get a reasonably good discount on the 2023 models as well. However fuel efficiency is expected to be in single digits and if that isn't a concern for you, go ahead. About your concerns with the Hector, the touch-screen has slight lag at times, but it is nothing to worry about, MG is looking at partners from India who are willing to acquire a major stake in the company, there was news of JSW Group's interest in MG too, so if such a deal works out, I don't think MG will have any issues. MG gets most of its sales from the Hector models, and if they can bring in some of their Global models, they can surely get more sales. MG has service centers in most of the major cities and spare parts availability isn't much of an issue, costs though are something I am not aware of. Considering the facelift is just a year old, it will take at least a year or two for the next facelift to come out.

[KL01toKA03]

Originally Posted by mpod11

I own both the Hector and Creta and hence can elaborate on the differences on living with these vehicles.

How are the servicing costs for the Hector? I would be comfortable spending 12-15k per year on servicing. Will it fall in that range?

[mpod11]

I have just had the 4th free service and the service centre threw in the 3M interior car cleaning for free. It was a sweet deal. I think service costs should be in that category but honestly haven’t had the opportunity to dig up the costs. In general, their sales and service staff are really professional and prompt.

[msd7]

Just finished my 50000 Km service last month. Had taken the 5 year/50000 Km service pack during our purchase.

Highly recommend to take the service pack. Have had to pay absolutely zero rupees for service and part replacement until now.

Have to tell you the car is approaching 5 year mark and still there have been no major hiccups, all the minor stuff had also been covered under warranty.

[sulliavi]

Creta is a no-brainer in this contest ! New creta is even more desirable now with all the bells and whistle of course with good waiting period Getting a base model creta is also a good option now which has most of the necessary safety features.

peace

[KL01toKA03]

Originally Posted by mpod11

I own both the Hector and Creta and hence can elaborate on the differences on living with these vehicles.

If you had to pick one car which would be used 90% of the time in the city, and still be comfortable for highway travel, which car would you pick?

Originally Posted by sulliavi

Creta is a no-brainer in this contest ! New creta is even more desirable now with all the bells and whistle of course with good waiting period Getting a base model creta is also a good option now which has most of the necessary safety features.

peace

I have reached a point where I don't know which car to choose. I can easily make a case for either car, but don't have compelling reasons to rule out either car. I took my children to the dealership thinking that they could help make a decision. However, my daughter prefers the Creta and my son prefers the Hector

Coming back to the point, the Creta definitely has more ADAS features, but the Hector has some good to have features like a powered tailgate and digital key.

[buzzy_boy]

I'd suggest waiting to test drive the Creta before making a decision. It won't be as quiet as the Hector, but I found the Creta to be a comfortable cruiser for 4 people.


Think very carefully about the FE. With the Hector, you'd probably spend ~20 Rs. Per KM on fuel costs. The same would be ~10 for the Creta petrol. That's a pretty substantial sum over say 50, 000 KMs.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by KL01toKA03

I am planning to buy a new car within Rs. 25 lakh. Requirements:

• Should be a CVT or TC
• Top-variant with ADAS
• Low Service cost/reasonably reliable

Which car would be good for me?

Both are good vehicles in their own right. Hector Plus is a six seater, and should be the vehicle to consider if you would be having passengers frequently. Other than that the Creta makes more sense to me.

Few major negatives of Hector for me-
Too soft suspension on highways. The car gets very bouncy at speeds >90 KPH.
Too large to handle for you in city traffic of Bangalore.
Performance is below average
Fuel efficiency would be quite low compared to Creta CVT
MG's afters sales has been exemplary, though I am not sure about their long term future in India.

Other than Creta, do check out Seltos IVT/Diesel AT. Has many more goodies compared to Creta and thereby better value.

If you are looking at 6 seaters the Carens too makes a great buy.

[i74js]

Originally Posted by KL01toKA03

How are the servicing costs for the Hector? I would be comfortable spending 12-15k per year on servicing. Will it fall in that range?

The accidental repairs are way too costly for MG products. Almost 200% of comparable products in the same segment.

- A rear bumper costs 30k + labour + paint

This has a direct impact on the insurance premium too.

Part availability during ASS is very limited due to weak inventory management, monopolistic behavior of the authorised service centre is very similar to JEEP.

The bottomline is that the cost of ownership is much more.

[ALTIMAed]

Originally Posted by bijims

The Hector Plus is a much bigger car than the Creta and can seat 6 or 7, with MG not setting the sales charts on fire, you can get a reasonably good discount on the 2023 models as well. However fuel efficiency is expected to be in single digits and if that isn't a concern for you, go ahead. About your concerns with the Hector, the touch-screen has slight lag at times, but it is nothing to worry about, MG is looking at partners from India who are willing to acquire a major stake in the company, there was news of JSW Group's interest in MG too, so if such a deal works out, I don't think MG will have any issues. MG gets most of its sales from the Hector models, and if they can bring in some of their Global models, they can surely get more sales. MG has service centers in most of the major cities and spare parts availability isn't much of an issue, costs though are something I am not aware of. Considering the facelift is just a year old, it will take at least a year or two for the next facelift to come out.

The tie up with JSW took place on 30th November 2023.

[Tanmay_868]

Originally Posted by KL01toKA03

If you had to pick one car which would be used 90% of the time in the city, and still be comfortable for highway travel, which car would you pick?
Coming back to the point, the Creta definitely has more ADAS features, but the Hector has some good to have features like a powered tailgate and digital key.

Disclosure- I personally own 2021 MG Hector and my uncle owns Creta bought few months ago.

Coming to experience with both the cars-
Hector feels as a car from segment above the Creta. It is more comfortable than creta especially at city speeds. Creta’s Music system is no match to Hector. Hector has additional features in form of Powered tailgate which feels very classy to use.

Both according to me have similar driving feel since Hector has 1.5 turbo and Creta is 1.5 NA. In city Creta may have additional mileage by just 2-3 kmpl since I regularly get around 10kmpl from Hector in intra-city use.
On highway though Hector can turn out to be very frugal. Just let it cruise at 100kmph (never exceed it) and car return astonishingly good mileage. Attaching pic below

Also the extra space of Hector will provide you greater comfort during long drives and your kids will definitely appreciate it since they will grow as years pass.

[KL01toKA03]

Thanks to all who responded. I think I will go for the Creta since it will be easier to maintain, especially since my wife is still not 100% confident in driving the Hector.

[FrozeninTime]

This is result of GST which has impacted state revenues and states are forced to find novel ways to increase their revenue so that they can meet their social security spending which is now out of control.