Hyundai Alcazar long-term review, 13,500km report

The Alcazar, I’ve come to realise, is stuck in an unenviable position in the Hyundai India line-up. On one side, above it, you have cars like the recently updated Ioniq 5 and recently axed Tucson (RIP), whose main job is brand building. And on the other side is the Creta, which needs little explanation. The SUV that today defines Hyundai now comes in NA petrol, turbo-petrol, diesel, electric and sporty N Line guises. And the Alcazar? It’s mostly relegated to being the ‘three-row version’ of its little brother, forced to walk the thin line between sensible and aspirational. It doesn’t help that its distant relative, the Kia Carens Clavis, came along with even more space. Or that other 3-row SUVs in this segment are larger, with more powerful engines. But as we discovered with our previous long-term Alcazar in 2023, it’s much more than just the sum of its parts.

As I’ve discovered in my time driving around Mumbai, it’s managed to add utility without ever feeling too ungainly to drive. Like all Hyundais, it has a light steering, making getting around traffic easy. Yes, the DCT is a little clunky at low speeds, but it’s a small hump to get over for an otherwise smooth experience. And though efficiency is not great by any means, it’s a vast improvement on the old 2.0-litre naturally aspirated petrol the car had at launch; remember that?

There are also perhaps a few too many commonalities with the Creta – most notably the interior, which feels a bit too plasticky at this price. And the new touch panel for the media controls means I’m always accidentally turning on the radio when trying to adjust the AC vents; the buttons were just fine, Hyundai! But as Ameya noted in his Alcazar long-term report, they really tried to set it apart with this facelift. I love the changes outside – the ‘H’ motifs in the DRLs, and connected tail-lamps, both of which lend it a far more upmarket look than the Creta, as do the ‘spinning blade’ 18-inch wheels.

I’m not usually one to carry lots of passengers, but one evening a family dinner popped up and I was pleased to volunteer chauffeur services. But here’s the thing; we were five adults, and given I barely ever even open the rear doors, I forgot our long-termer had captain’s chairs and not a bench. I thus had to relegate one relative to the third row, which is not spacious for adults. Luckily, dinner was just 15 minutes away, and since Hyundai did away with the charging console between the seats, it’s now easy to just walk through to the back seat. Still, it makes me wonder if the whole captain’s chair craze in SUVs is worth it, given the compromise to utility that results.

I love the Creta, and everything good about it carries over to the Alcazar. If you’re shopping in the XUV 7XO, Safari, Hector Plus segment, don’t dismiss this simply for being a Creta derivative. It could actually be the reason to choose it.