The Hyundai Creta has long been marred by its high price tag, but now looks great from RM95,888.
The Hyundai Creta was introduced to the Malaysian market last year, offering a blend of practicality, style, and advanced features. However, with an initial price tag of RM149,888, many potential buyers hesitated to take the plunge. The market has clearly shown an interest in this class of small crossover with rivals like the Honda WR-V and Perodua Ativa doing very well. It was just the asking price that the market plainly couldn’t get around. Now, that changes
Hyundai has pre-registered their Creta models in order to improve their appeal and we think they’ve done a great job with pricing and enhancing the package overall. Pricing for the Creta now starts from RM95,888 – which means a huge percentage of potential depreciation has been absorbed by the distributor. If that weren’t enough, they’re also throwing in a free leather seat upholstery upgrade and window tint too.
These pre-registered Cretas are essentially new old stock offered under the Hyundai Promise used car programme, which means you get excellent condition, low mileage cars with warranty coverage up to 5 years or 300,000km and free service for 3 years or up to 50,000km from the date of registration. While that means the selection on offer will have warranties already running, on the plus side you could pick-up a Creta for even cheaper than expected as pre-owned units that were used as demo vehicles and management cars are being priced as low as RM85,888!
How Does It Stack Up?
Its primary non-national competitor is the Honda WR-V and the Hyundai Creta compares pretty favourably against this rival. Starting with the powertrain, you get a 1.5L 4-cylinder with port fuel injection sending power to the front wheels on both crossovers. Both vehicle use proprietary variable ratio transmissions with the Hyundai featuring its Smartstream ‘Intelligent Variable Transmission’. In terms of output, the two cars are neck and neck with the WR-V offering 5% more horsepower at its peak. However, the WR-V still comes equipped with rear drum brakes where the Hyundai Creta steps it up to ventilated disc brakes all around for better braking power.
However, in terms of dimensions, the Hyundai Creta has the Honda beat. The boot space of the Creta is 416L where the WR-V offers just 380L. The wheelbase and length is also much better on the Hyundai with 5% and 6+% more offered on the Korean crossover.
Besides that, the Hyundai Creta is available in just one pretty high specification variant. This means you get a full suite of safety equipment including 6 air bags as well as Hyundai SmartSense advanced driver assist systems including Forward Collision Avoidance Assist, Blind-Spot Collision Avoidance Assist, Lane Keeping & Following Assist, Leading Vehicle Departure Alert and High Beam Assist. Some of these features are not available on the basic version of the WR-V.
You also get Android Auto and Apple Carplay on the Hyundai Creta and there’s a reverse camera on this 8″ infotainment system. There are 3 USB ports for charging and rear air cond vents for all passengers to be comfortable. Paddle shifters allow for more direct control of the drive and there’s also user selectable Drive Modes (Eco, Normal, Sport, Smart) to dial the Creta in to your preference.
At this new price point, the Hyundai Creta finally makes a lot of sense in the Malaysian market. If you’re already in the market for a sub-RM100K crossover, head to your nearest Hyundai showroom and see if a pre-registered Creta fits your criteria. What’s more, there’s a special contest running that gives you a chance to win a pair of business class tickets to South Korea for a 4 Day / 3 Night trip that includes a visit to Hyundai Motorstudio Goyang.
