Hyundai Grand Creta Fills The Gap

With the launch of new, larger Hyundai Tucson recently, such a gap existed, and the Korean company has neatly filled that gap with a 7-seater version of the Creta, called – naturally – Grand Creta.

This newcomer is almost the same dimensions as the outgoing Tucson and will serve as an alternative to buyers needing the seating space but not necessarily wanting to stump up the asking price of the Tucson with its larger engine options and increased levels of specification.

“When you look at vehicle size, convenience and feature levels and pricing, the Grand Creta definitely had a slot to fill in our vehicle offering,” says Stanley Anderson, sales and operations director at Hyundai Automotive South Africa.

“The original Creta has done excellent groundwork since its South African launch five years ago and prepared the way for its bigger sibling. The new Grand Creta has a spacious interior and, with its longer wheelbase offers an excellent ride quality with extremely low noise levels. Together with the impressive list of convenience and luxury features, the Grand Creta presents a motoring package for the bigger family that will be attractive to many customers that are buying in this segment.”

The Grand Creta comes in two specification levels – Executive and Elite – and has a different look to its smaller counterpart. In fact, if anything, the Grand Creta looks like a smaller version of the flagship Hyundai Palisade.

With 20 cm ground clearance, the Grand Creta is happy to deviate from the tarmac and take on reasonable unsurfaced roads, the 15 cm increase in wheelbase also providing good on (and off) road stability. 

The Executive rides on 17-inch wheels and the Elite’s on 18-inch and these are married to a suspension setup that has reduced mass and consists of a MacPherson strut setup in front and a coupled torsion beam axle at the rear. 

Motive power comes from either a 2,0-litre Smartstream MPi engine or a Smartstream 1,5-litre diesel CRDi engine with options of a 6-speed manual and a 6-speed automatic transmission, driving through the front wheels.

The petrol engine generates 117 kW at 6 500 r/min and peak torque output of 191 Nm is delivered at 4 500 r/min. The turbodiesel offers 85 kW maximum power at 4 000 r/min and peak torque of 250 Nm between 1 500 r/min and 2 750 r/min.

Hs around 6,5 l/100 km from the turbodiesel and 8,5 l/100 km from the petrol engine for the manual and 8,9 l/100 km for the auto.

Elite versions have a 10,2-inch Supervision cluster and push button starting and features include a sunroof, automatic climate control, blue ambient lighting strips and curtains for the rear windows that slide out of the door panels.

Apple’s CarPlay or Android Auto are catered for by an infotainment system with an 8-inch touch screen in all derivatives and wireless charging in the centre console for smart phones is a standard feature across the range.

With the rear seats down, the cargo area offers 1 670 cubic litres of space, and with all seatbacks up, 180 cubic litres of space behind the third row. 

Standard safety equipment includes frontal and side crash bags for the driver and front passenger and two curtain bags and an Electronic Stability Program (ESP) for all versions.

Pricing:

All prices include a 7-year/200 000 km manufacturer’s warranty, a 4-year/60 000 km service plan and roadside assistance for 7 years or 150 000 km.