Hyundai Creta vs Kia Seltos vs MG Hector vs Tata Harrier: Creta top variant cheaper than Seltos

The Hyundai Creta has just been launched. It is a fresh new model that also brings along with it a plethora of unheard features in this segment. What’s more, the price is just fabulous. Come to think of it. The only model that can give it some serious competition is the Kia Seltos. This being said, there are many other cars, bigger ones, that one might look for in this segment. Like the Tata Harrier or even the MG Hector. Both the H models are bigger than the Koreans and bring along with them their unique feature set too. In this story, we aim to tell you variant on variant, which trim will give you the maximum bang for the buck.

The Hyundai Creta has got E, EX, S, SX and SX (O) trims on offer. In this respect, the Kia Seltos has a bit of confusing variant names – HTE, HTK, HTX, GTK and GTX. However, the Harrier in this aspect is better – XE, XM, XT and XZ. We believe this has got to do more with the familiarity of the nomenclatures than anything else. The Hector has got Super, Smart and Sharp trims. With this out of the way, there is another thing that has to be dealt with. This is the fact that the Tata Harrier doesn’t have a petrol trim whereas the Hector doesn’t get a diesel automatic yet. Only the Koreans offer the widest range of powertrain options while the Hector is the only one here with a 48v hybrid. A trivia, the Hector and Harrier both use the same diesel engine, with the exception that the MG is still a BS4 while the others here are BS6.

A quick look at the features that the top-spec trims offer will give an insight as to what will be value-for-money. The newest car of the lot, the Hyundai Creta’s top model is the SX (O). Since the diesel is the one that sells the maximum, we have considered the same for all models here. For Hector’s sake, we are taking only the manual options here. So, there are rear disc brakes on offer, something which the Tata Harrier XZ+ doesn’t offer. The Hector diesel Sharp as well as the Kia Seltos HTX offer it. Since we are on the subject of safety, the Creta, Seltos and Harrier offers six airbags, while the MG has got only four. The MG Hector though is the only one that offers front parking sensors.

All the cars here offer a powered driver’s seat whereas the Hector has the biggest sunroof of the lot, followed by the Harrier and then the Creta. The Creta also offers ventilated seats for the front passengers, unique in this segment.

Wireless charging is something that the Hyundai Creta offers as an exclusive. Both the Creta and Seltos come with an inbuilt air purifier. The MG’s voice assistant offers the largest vocabulary of the lot. The biggest boot space too is of the Hector. Power-wise, as you can see, the Hector is the most powerful but then the Seltos/Creta as well as the Harrier claw back lost ground by offering drive modes; the Harrier’s based on ESP.

The top-spec Seltos and Creta are separated by Rs 40,000, with the latter being expensive. Given the features on offer, the Seltos makes more sense if you can let go of the ventilated seats and wireless charging. While phone makers are yet to come out with more models that support wireless charging, that’s one feature that can be ignored. The ventilated seats though maybe a dealbreaker given our climate conditions. Our choice rests on the Creta while the Hector could do better to offer an automatic and BS6 compliant engine at the earliest. The Harrier is a formidable choice now plus its warranty overshadows that of the Creta. We though feel that both the Harrier as well as Hector are a bit overpriced. The latter more so, given that it is yet to cross over to the BS6 fence. To make matters worse, there are next to no discounts on offer.