I have been driving a Santro since 2001, and am happy about the vehicle. The car is really good with sufficient space, comfort etc for a small family in a city and is available at the rt. price. But the service centres are a smart lot. In fact the dealers make more money by servicing than by selling new cars. During warranty period, it is sure that they will never ask you to replace any parts as it will be at company’s expense. But once the waranty expires, they will always point out something or the other, that needs replacement, atleast 3/4th of which actually don’t need a replacement. In my case, I have been servicing it at Sharayu Hyundai at Navi Mumbai (I bought the car also from them), and they make it a point to extract the maximum, each time I happen to visit their service centre. Despite regular servicing, the mileage of my vehicle had dropped from 13-14 to 10-11 and they have no good reply to that, except that it varies from 10 to 13. For even a small repair or replacement the labour charges are so high, that u’ll feel like complaining but they have their own rate list. I wrote a complaint to Hyundai also, but they neither have taken action nor they have replied me.
Maruti service is much better and cheaper. Only problem is that they don’t have good cars to sell, except Swift. I have heard that they are coming with a new Zen and a new Salon (mid price). I was planning to upgrade myself, but considering the servicing factor I would like to look forward to buying a Maruti rather than anything else, though I like both Honda city and Fiesta. But both r very costly to service and service centres are very few and far.