Hyundai Creta EV 6,000 Km Final Report: Only If The Price Was Right.

I don’t think I’ver driven any of my previous long-termers as much as I’ve driven the Hyundai Creta Electric. Two Pune-Goa trips, uncountable Pune-Mumbai runs and the daily commutes to the office and gym made this car as much part of my lifestyle as the device I carry around in my pocket. 

Usually, with such extensive use, there’s always something or the other in a car’s package that I would’ve wanted to improve on. Sometimes it is the ride quality, sometimes it is the feature execution, and sometimes the efficiency. However, I can say nothing like that with the Creta Electric.

Retrospection

It looks great, especially in the colour we have, and you can read more about the specs in our introductory report. Despite the spontaneous trips I made to Goa, the running costs never pinched my wallet, and you can read about the running cost difference compared to a turbo-petrol engine in the second report. Trust me, you’ll be surprised at the savings. 

Apart from the wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay missing from the package, there was literally nothing else for me to wish for in terms of creature comforts and tech. And even the smartphone connectivity is just an adapter away. There were no glitches in the tech package too, literally none at all.

An Exception

Although, just one week before the return of the car, the auto headlights feature did throw up a fault. It wouldn’t go to the automatic setting even if the toggle on the stalk was pointing at it. It just skipped the auto setting and went into either the parking lights or low beam setting. Now functionally, I didn’t face an issue per se, because the low beam, high beam and DRLs were functioning as intended. I just had to be sure I turned it off before exiting the car, because you tend to forget to do so once you get used to the auto headlights feature doing it for you.

Back To Retrospection

Other than this isolated glitch, everything functioned as intended. If I had to point out any other weakness, I’d have to nitpick and say that you’ll just need slightly extra effort to maintain the lighter tones of the dual-tone theme, as you’d have to in any other car. A periodic cleaning should do just fine.

Other than that, I have absolutely no reason to lament about its rear seat experience, ride comfort or even performance. But, there is one big factor that haunts me if I ever had to put my own money down on it.

The Price

At Rs 24.70 lakh (ex-showroom), the Hyundai Creta Electric is an expensive car. For context, it is more than 4 lakh dearer than the similarly-sized Maruti e Vitara, while being smaller than the mid-spec variants of the Tata Harrier EV and the Mahindra XEV 9S, both of which get a bigger battery with better real-world range. 

Sure, the Hyundai Creta Electric might just be one of the most sensible EVs at its price point with its contemporary looks, great battery management and a tech package you can blindly rely on. But that sensibility only lasts until you square the prices in, because justifying the premium for those traits is still a very hard task. If I wasn’t concerned about getting the most value for money package at this price point, I would surely opt for the Hyundai Creta Electric without thinking twice. But if you are budget conscious, there’s better value to be found elsewhere.

Kilometers received: 13,340 km

Kilometers driven: 19,500 km

Pros: Reliable tech, all-round package

Cons: Price