The Hyundai Creta is one of the most successful medium SUVs in our market and has been revamped for 2024, a feature that we carried a few months back. Now Hyundai has introduced a N-Line version of the Creta, a vehicle with lot of show, even though it promises a lot of go. This may definitely be a case of looks being only skin deep, but hey its’ a great point! Take the front grill for example, in black chrome, again unique to this particular car. You also get a new front bumper design with red inserts and a different front skid plate design. The sides also get the red inserts, as does the rear bumper. A rather large, sporty spoiler at the back also contributes to the SUV’s looks. The wheels are 18-inch with their own N logo and you do get twin muffler tips at the rear with the exhaust giving a rather throaty growl. You can’t miss the fact that tis is a N-Line – an overload of badges will remind you all the time!
Step inside, and the interior looks quite rich, provided you are a fan of black interiors. The perforated leatherette looks good, smooth to touch and the N-Line logo is woven onto the headrests. A dash of red adds a cool touch as do the metallic red inserts on the dashboard and the binnacle housing the twin 10.25-inch displays that double up for your instrumentation and other control centre displays. You do get JioSaavn Pro free for a year. What is interesting however is the fact that the lower N8 version comes with a dual dashcam fitted as standard, whilst the higher spec N10 has a lot more features but omits the dashcam. That’s a miss in our books, metal pedals not withstanding.
In terms of performance we must say here that mechanically there is not much difference here with the same 1.5-litre Turbo GDi engine giving 158 horses and 253 Nm of torque. But what sets the N-Line apart is the option of a 6-speed manual gearbox, in case your testosterone levels are still high and you want to rev her hard. We drove the manual – the clutch was light and apart from a couple of times when you really want to go till 6,000 revs just to hear it and feel some power, the DCT is a far better transmission that lets you simply slot it into manual mode and manually hold gears, if you so feel inclined. We would prefer to stick to the DCT here.
In terms of safety you do get 360-degree cameras and front parking sensors on the N10 variant. All versions get 6 airbags, all 4-disc brakes (with red painted calipers!), Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Electric Parking Brake (EPB) with Autohold, tyre pressure monitoring system and a host of other features. There is an option of 3 mono-tone colours including a matt grey and 3 dual-tone colours.
Pricing ranges from INR 16.82 to 20.30 lakhs, ex-showroom.
