Brief comparison of Maruti Suzuki S-cross vs Hyundai Creta vs Renault Duster

Maruti Suzuki has dominated the budget car segment for decades now but enables to prove its worth in premium segment. The past experience of Maruti with cars like SX4, grand Vitara and Kizashi hasn’t been good as all the aforementioned failed miserably to attract buyers. Having said that, MSIL is trying their luck again in the segment with its premium crossover S-cross and to improve the buying experience Maruti has set up the NEXA dealership range. Launched in the country yesterday, we pitched it against new launched Hyundai Creta and compact SUV benchmark Renault duster to check how it turns out on paper.

Price:

Maruti Suzuki launched S-cross at an introductory price range of Rs. 8.34-13.74 lakhs which seems a bit high for a crossover but looks competitive when we compare it with other two cars. The prices of all the cars go all away from 8 to 13 lakh, the entry level variants of all are fairly priced while the price difference of top variants are not much either.

Engines:

On displacement, S-cross and Creta both has the largest engines at 1.6l while Duster gets the 1.5l TDCi diesel engine with two states of tunes. Maruti’s premium crossover is available only with diesel engine whereas other two are available with petrol. In diesel, Hyundai Creta is the most powerful with 126bhp power of the three vehicles while S-cross comes at second place 118bhp and Duster with 108.5bhp at last spot.

Among all three S-cross delivers the class leading torque at 320Nm followed by Hyundai Creta at 260Nm. It must be noted that Renault is offering Duster with 2WD and AWD disguise while other two are available only two 2WD. On fuel efficiency, S-cross is the most fuel efficient of the lot

Diesel:

Petrol:   

Note: Maruti Suzuki S-cross is not available with a petrol trim that’s why N/A is written there.

Space and Dimensions:

To start with, All these cars not fulfills the sub 4m category criteria hence won’t be getting the benefits or tax rebates. The Renault Duster is longest, widest and tallest vehicle among the three. All the vehicles in the comparison are closely matched in other remaining aspects.

Interior and Features:

Nowadays, the carmakers look to target huge audience by making value for money products which include attractive design, upmarket interiors and long list of features. All three emerge as a richly equipped cars but duster slightly lags behind the competition.

Maruti Suzuki S-cross: 7 inch touchscreen Smartplay infotainment system with multimedia support, telescopic steering wheel with mounted control, reverse parking camera, engine start/stop button, 60:40 rear seat spilt, cruise control, automatic climate control, dual front airbags, ABS, EBD, anti-pinch windows etc.

Hyundai Creta: touchscreen infotainment system with navigation, 2DIN audio system with 1GB internal memory, automatic climate control with mood changing bar, 12V power sockets, multi function steering wheel with tilt function, six airbags, ABS, HAC, ESC, VSM, rear parking sensors impact sensing auto door lock/unlock and reverse parking camera with display guidelines.

Renault Duster: 7 inch MediaNAV touchscreen system, Harmon Kardon audio system with 10GB storage, under steer control, AWD, rear AC vents, dual front airbags, ABS, brake assist, anti-slip regulation, electronic stability control etc.

Hyundai Creta has an edge over the other two in terms of features that is accompanied by modern cabin ambience.

Conclusion:

In terms of sheer value for money, Creta beats the other two in terms of features, design and safety. For those who are into performance, Duster is a perfect answer to them while S-Cross looks good in patches.     

Sandeep Singh