Took delivery of Creta SX+ AT (CRDI) on Monday. Now that Memento moment has been shared, here's a recap of how it happened. Some of the inputs below may be well known in team bhp circles, but putting them in there from a new owner's perspective.
Booking / Delivery:
No booking per se. Talked to the dealer a week prior to delivery, took a test drive of diesel SX(O) manual - liked the eagerness of the engine. It's a shame SX(O) features cannot be had with an auto box so had to settle for SX+. Before the Creta purchase, my garage comprised of Honda City 1.5 Vtec (2008), so wanted an AT in the next car as 90%+ of my commute is in the city and it helps immensely with the stop and go traffic.
Before narrowing down on Creta, I had test driven Innova Crysta, XUV 500 and Brezza. I know the choices are all over the place but wanted to make sure the decision was an informed one - not sure I succeeded but having drunk water from many pitchers before buying one helps me sleep better :-)
Brezza (or Maruti in general) was largely discounted because of unimpressive quality bits in the vehicle, an uninspiring engine, and the absence of an auto box.
Liked the Innova Crysta a lot, but it's priced in the SUV territory for a MPV. Given that my commute is largely in the city, FE of 8-9 kmpl with the 2.8 liter engine variant would not have made much sense and I don't strictly have a requirement to lug 6 people around.
XUV 500 was a let down. Engine refinement is absent in the AT version. The engine sounded like it struggled a lot before upshifts. The overall interior quality was also not in the leagues of Hyundai / Toyota. XUV does not give the rider a premium experience though it's loaded with features in the top spec variant.
Considered Duster and Ecosport in thoughts only. Apart from Duster being distributed by a single dealership in my city (strongly believe in buying merchandise if there are at least two vendors to service the product), the distasteful interiors of the refreshed version doused any hopes for its consideration. Ecosport has an impending refresh, so that contributed to its elimination.
This brings us to Creta. In short, Creta is a horse that doesn't have too much against it. It easily fits as a safe choice. A refined (and powerful) diesel engine, well appointed interiors (at least in the driver's zone), a decent AT system (no DSG mumbo jumbo), good boot space and 3 years unlimited kms factory warranty.
Circling back to the delivery experience. A day before delivery, went to the stockyard to see the available cars. There were two Whites in diesel AT. One had 49 kms on the odo and Dunlop tires and the other had 9 kms on the odo and Bridgestone tires. Picked the latter. Inspected Form 22, took pictures of VIN (decoded month and year of manufacture), Chassis and Engine numbers and asked the sales person to block the car. Back at the dealership, gave them INR 5,000 as token amount and got information on insurance plans, loan paperwork requirements etc. Tried very hard to knock something off from sticker price or get some free accessories but they didn't budge. All I got was car mats and mud guards, which I am told are given to all customers. Before leaving, the sales person handed over the receipt for INR 5,000. Surprisingly, the receipt listed the vehicle as i20 instead of Creta. The sales person said they need at least INR 10K for Creta receipts. I handed him another INR 5,000 and requested that he should have brought the minimum deposit requirement to my attention instead of deciding to issue an i20 receipt of his own volition. Got the receipt issue sorted and left the dealership.
Next day, got the finance formalities completed and the vehicle was washed and ushered into the delivery area by 1pm. Conducted a PDI to the best of my ability. It looked fine. The car dealer's company name sticker had an E pasted backwards, brought this to their attention multiple times but they failed to fix it. I lost track of it in the midst of paperwork etc. as well. Tells me a lot about their attention to detail and customer focus - they probably won't be my choice to get the vehicle serviced. I have 5-6 Hyundai dealers to choose from in my region, so that's a good thing. They laid out the cake and other goodies for the ceremony. My family flanked me for the photo shoot. Point-and-shoots and cell phone cameras were out, and I was ready to be blinded by the flashes. Wait, did I talk about car insurance? Oh...let's take a step back.
On my way to the dealership on the day of delivery, the sales person called me and inquired how I'd like to pay for the insurance (cash / cheque). We had discussed online / offline options the day before and I had apprised him that I'd let him know what I decide. I informed him that I have already talked to the fellow who's been insuring my Honda over the years and I'm going with him. What? How? When? Apparently, that was not an option on dealer's table. I HAD to buy insurance through them. News for me but matter-of-fact for them. Apparently, Creta being a hot cake (his words) it is, Hyundai wants to sell car insurance through their network. I refused. Called the Hyundai 1-800 helpline and they conferenced me in with the dealer to sort it out. Dumb. I have already spoken with the dealer. Why do I need a helpline if I still need to sort it out myself? All this was happening while I was being driven by my BIL to the dealership. Eventually, hung up the conference call. Reached the dealership and asked to see the GM, Sales. Both the GM and my sales person come and greet me and inform me that Creta buyers have to get insurance through Hyundai / dealer. The fact is it truly was news to me. At no point was I ever informed that this was non-negotiable. Long story short, we refused to take delivery and were prepared to walk away. This knocked sense into them and they relented. I was prepared to ban Hyundai from my stable for the next decade on principle. It should be sufficient for Hyundai that they are selling their car at sticker price, which I have never paid for any car before this. I refuse to be strong armed into buying accessories or insurance from the dealer if I do not so desire. Called my insurance guy, provided the relevant details to him over call and he emailed the insurance cover note to me. Shared the same with the dealer so they could complete the invoicing and prep the gate pass and sign off the vehicle for release.
Back to cake ceremony. The strawberry flavored delicacy was sliced, pictures snapped, hands clapped and decibel levels in the area rose. Signed the feedback forms, got demo of the features and took official delivery of the vehicle.
Initial driving impressions:
1. Auto box is confused at lower speeds. It tries to find the optimal place to be in but takes a little while to get there. Turbo lag below 2k rpm is evident.
2. NVH is good. There's no insulation under the bonnet and still it does not sound all that bad in the cabin. Lower speed revs are audible but cruising speeds are albeit quite quiet.
3. It sucks Hyundai skimped on features with Creta. No FE figures, very few buttons are backlit (it's hard to locate buttons past sunset), mirrors don't auto fold on engine stop, only 2 airbags and plenty of other feature related gripes. At least they started giving 17 inch rims on SX+ AT (starting April I believe), so that's a plus. But, really, lack of feature on top end AT model is a big letdown.
4. The audio quality is decent. Much better than top end Innova Crysta. When bluetooth streaming is happening, the quality dips (as expected).
5. The seats are fabric and comfortable. Don't plan to get seat covers in the near future. North India's heat makes leather harder to live with. All seat related settings are manual.
6. Navigation system is responsive but not very friendly. The address needs to be punched in state->city->street->locality format. With advent of Google Maps, it's counter intuitive to drill down to an address based on individual fields. It's so boring that I gave up trying to feed in my work and home addresses. I guess I'll use it again when I really need its help.
7. In high traffic situations, I prefer to use the manual driving mode so that I can keep the car in right rpm range and gear. Engine struggles to find the right gear with constant braking and acceleration.
8. Cornering lamps are very useful.
9. Fuel tank took about 51 liters of fuel on first filling. No FE reporting means the only way to figure out consumption is to read the kms covered and measure it against fuel filled (have to take it to near empty to be accurate). My 8-year old Honda City provides that information but not Creta.
10. Boot space is good. Spare is not an alloy. No trunk mat was provided. Considering getting this:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/speci...697151350.html
Not sure if there's a difference between Chinese ix25 and Indian Creta.
11. Keyless entry is convenient and practical. No need to take the key out of the pocket during the trip. With key in your pocket, approach the car and hit the small button on the handle, car unlocks. Push start button to start the car. Journey ends. Hit the stop button to stop the car. De-board the car, close the door and hit the small button on the door handle to lock the car. The key stays in your pocket all this while. Super convenient. The front passenger door handle does not get this feature.
It's still early days of my ownership; will share further thoughts as I have more experiences with the vehicle.
24th July 2016, 13:35
(2)
Thanks
), they look premium and really bring out the looks of the car especially on a Black Creta.
