Hyundai Creta vs Toyota Hyryder vs Skoda Kushaq
It’s very likely that the Hyundai Creta is right at the top of your shopping list if you’re looking for a mid-sized SUV, especially since it’s had a fairly significant mid-life update.
But how does it actually stand against something like the Skoda Kushaq with its focus on driver involvement on that slightly premium badge? Or can you get most of what the Creta offers, but in a far more efficient package like this Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder with its hybrid powertrain.
Styling
The Skoda Kushaq and Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder both do enough visually to give you that substantial SUV presence.
Despite the considerable part sharing they come from, these two have also managed to retain their identity.
Car Dimensions
But the Kushaq is the tallest and narrowest car here, which shows in its slightly top-heavy proportions.
The Hyryder, on the other hand, is very similarly sized to the Creta, but could do with the shade more presence in this mix.
Ground Clearance
The Hyryder goes the extra mile with its 210mm of ground clearance. The Creta and Kushaq are closer to the norm at 190 and 188mm.
The Hyundai Creta in this facelifted form isn’t perfect either. The heavily revised lighting and panels don’t quite gel with the more rounded profile that’s carried over.
With a sharp H pattern full with lighting and oversize grill and contrasting panels, give it a doll of more road present than the other two. It also looks the largest of the lot here, which many will like.
It’s likely that you will do quite a few road trips with your family in these cars, and the Creta is your good friend in this regard.
Boot Space
With its 433-litre boot space. It’s right at the top of the segment. As you can see, a family’s weekend luggage fits very easily in this. It’s got a completely flat loading lid.
It’s very easy to just put stuff in or just pull them out like this. Now, the Kushaq has 385 liters, which seems significantly less than the Creta.
You do have to lift it up quite high, considering it’s a deep space.
But once inside, you realize In terms of actual usable space, there’s actually not much difference, especially considering the wide opening that’s there and just the shape of the boot.
So with the Hyryder hybrid Powhatan, as you can see, there’s some compromise to be made. The battery pack, or at least a big part of it, sits in the boot.
Engine
The Hyundai Creta and Skoda Kushaq in India are both powered by 1.5 liter turbo petrol engines and pair with seven-speak dual clutch transmission.
Max Power & Max Torque
The Hyundai has a slight edge in performance at 160 PS against the Skda’s 150, and both make very similar talk.
The Hyryder 150 PS system output is misleading, as is the zero to 100 km/h time of 11.2 seconds.
Acceleration
In the real world, especially on crowded Indian roads, where medium throttle inputs are the norm, it’s not far behind the others here.
Now, you’ll know that Skoda and VW made their name with the performance and just the engagement that they offer.
But with the Creta, it’s very clear that Hyundai has more than caught up. It’s generally quiet.
Then you have the way the engine performs. To start with, it’s very linear in its power delivery for a turbo petrol. Even from very low revs, it pulls very clean.
It has a wide power band. And past 3500 RPM It really does pick up steam quite significantly.
There’s a one second difference in the 0-100 time between the two cars. The Kushaq does it in about 9.7, this one does it in 8.7.
But the main thing is that you don’t realize that performance. A big part of that is the Gearbox.
The Skoda seems to favor efficiency more than drivability. The Creta’s more tractable nature means that a good dose of power is always accessible, and when you do need downsets, the Hyundai is again more alert.
Gearbox
Both give you an S Gearbox mode that seems to bring more change to the Skoda, getting the Gearbox much closer and alertness to the Hyundai.
Now, where does the Hyryder stand in the middle of all this? It’s, of course, a very different experience. It’s quite grumbly.
There’s a lot of vibration, so that’s not very nice. But what these two cars can’t match is that immediate electric power.
So when you’re crawling in traffic where both these cars are not at their strongest, especially the Kushaq, it can feel a bit jittery and unsure.
It’s constantly swapping between gears. This is a slightly better. In that sense, the CVT and the electric power in the Hyryder makes it really very simple and smooth in city stop start driving.
But you always have that electric torque at your disposal, which really does help when you just want to make up speed.
This quite cohesive hybrid system also doesn’t feel out of breath on the highway. The engine is more in focus, but you always sense that the electric motor is supplementing it.
Drive Modes
Now, you get drive modes in the Hyryder and the Creta, and it’s a bit It’s more effective in the Creta, given how the powertrain is.
When you have the battery in a high enough state of charge, there’s also an EV only mode in the Hyryder that makes low speed manoeuvering simpler still.
There’s also a break Gearbox mode that is meant to aid in engine braking. The Creta also gives you traction modes that alter ESC and throttle responsiveness.
Now, the new Creta comes very, very close, but if you are looking for driver engagement, and that is quite high on a list of priorities, the Skoda is still the one that delivers the most.
And then just generally, that substantial feeling that I keep talking about, that’s as intact here as it is in the Creta and in the Hyryder.
But somehow with that, the push-up just manages to feel a bit more agile, a bit more lit. It changes direction a bit more eagerly than the other two.
And that really comes to effect, say, on a twisty set of road that you might encounter on a road trip, where you just feel a bit more confident.
The body movements, they’re a bit more precise. The car flows along the road a bit more confidently.
And then, again, in terms of high speed stability, the Creta is, again, very, very close. Last degree of security, that last degree of sure-footedness means that you feel that bit more confident. So on a road trip, this is still the car to get for you.
Suspension
At slow speeds, the Toyota feels pliant and comfortable, but you still do feel like you’re being bounced around a touch to watch over uneven road surfaces and portfolios.
The Creta is the most impressive in this regard. Hyundai has notably reworked the suspension of this update, and there’s now a solid, substantial demeanor to the Creta that was always missing earlier.
This pairs with some thoughtful suspension tuning that is comfortable in most road conditions.
There’s a soft edge to it that isn’t disturbed over rough patches, which is more apparent in the Skoda with its European light tuning.
The high rider soft suspension and light steering makes it a bit less sure around faster tours than the ML. It’s also more lean that you need to manage at these times.
Now, what that also means is that As you go faster, the Hyryder can feel the least tight down of all the three cars here.
You do notice a bit more vertical and sideways movement and also a bit more pitching and diving.
But if you don’t like driving these cars quickly, whereas most of you won’t, in that case, the Hyryder does a pretty decent job.
The Kushaq and Creta are also quite close to each other in efficiency. The Hyundai’s less stressed nature and eco do a similar job as the quite well-integrated cylinder deactivation function in the Skoda.
Fuel Efficiency
They also run quite calm at high speeds with the extra gears. So you see some impressive highway figures both doing around 16 kmpl.
But they don’t get anywhere close to Toyota’s hybrid system. Even in some very heavy traffic, the kind that electric motors don’t like, we managed over 17 kmpl. Also impressive was the over 21 kmpl we managed on the highway.
Interior Front
Now, the Creta’s interior, at first glance, at least, looks the most modern, unsurprisingly.
It also looks like it’s of the highest quality. That perception as quality is really quite great, considering you have all these light material, this copper highlighting, this textured finish here, and just the way that it’s laid out, especially with these seamless vents.
But look closer, and it’s a bit disappointing, considering that you don’t really get soft materials anywhere.
Aside from a few small patches here, everything is hard plastic, which is fine. I mean, the Kushaq is also similar, but what lets you down a bit is the finish.
It’s somewhat of a lower grade than what we’ve come to expect from Hyundai. Here in this company, it really does stand out, especially with the Kushaq it has a very premium-feeling cabin.
Yes, it doesn’t have any more soft surfaces than this.
But just the textures along the dash, for example, the various indents on the dash, just the way the air vents work, the latches, the switch gears, especially, considering a lot of this switch gears shared with lesser that really does stand out in the push-up.
But you have to contend with fiddly touch panels in the push-up for the climate functions and in the Hyryder for the audio controls.
Here, the Hyundai’s large tactile knobs and towel switches are a great help. They are much less distracting to use on the move.
But only there are some other odd cost-cutting choices, like the flimsy sunshades in the Creta and the sagging sunroof cover in the Hyryder, which the push-up manages to cover up a bit better.
But surprisingly, it’s the Hyryder that gives you the most amount of soft materials. So your soft padding right on the dashboard, a lot more around the doors and so on.
And the brown upholstery in the Toyota also helps it stand out. But letting it down is the switch gear.
Almost all of it is shared with lesser Maruti Suzuki and Toyota products, and really that does show at this price point.