Hyundai Motors was the first car company to challenge our Maruti’s small cars and over the years the Santro has deservingly become the largest selling small car.
Hyundai unlike Daewoo decided to design their small car in house and what a mistake they made!! Though the Santro was the first tall boy here, it was actually Suzuki with their Wagon R that pioneered this concept.
EXTERIOR
The Santro with its rodent like toothy grille and huge frog like bulbous headlights looks absolutely hideous. In fact the grille and headlamps give the car a very wicked look. Thankfully, Hyundai had to change their trademark toothy grille to a horizontal one due to adverse customer reaction. The overall design of the car does’nt flow smoothly, it tends to go in jerks. Moreover, it seems as if the front and rear were picked up from 2 different cars and bolted together to make the Santro. The rear however, unique for India saves some face for this car. The neat vertical tail lamp treatment is very cool. Viewed from 3/4 rear , the car looks like a dog standing next to a light pole and ready to do you know what!!. The design suddenly seems to end seeming as if the designer forgot to finish the car properly. Overall, the design seems to suggest as if the makers were confused on what to do.
INTERIOR
The interior continues with the confused look. Rotary air vents give the car a retro look and the instrumentation is basic but housed in a weird petal shaped dash. Overall fit and finish is pretty good. The central console, unlike the Matiz one does’nt extend to the floor and sliding switches for the HVAC unit make the interior look down market. The ergonomics of the car are’nt good at all. The tall boy design means that one sits high on the car and it gives a panoramic view of the road outside making one feel like he is in control of everything. The front seats are comfy providing good under thigh support. However, the position of the foot pedals-steering-gear lever is not optimised. After a long drive, one ends up with a painful right ankle thanks to the weirdly positioned accelerator. The gear lever suddenly comes into ones hand.A neat touch is the dead left pedal for the left foot but then how often is it used? The foot pedals are too close to each other and many times you may press the accelerator and break to gether!
ENGINE
The 999 cc 4 cylinder 12 valve Epsilon engine produces a decent 55bp@5500 rpm and a fantastic torque of 84Nm@2500rpm.The car is a breeze to drive in the city due to the healthy bottom end torque. The car will easily pull off in third gear with AC on at low speeds of 20 kmph. The Santro is a breeze in the city and pick up is really good with the car scampering to 100 kmph is quick time. Post 100 kmph the car loses steam. Due to its tall boy design the aerodynamics are’nt that good and wind resistance is pretty pronounced taking its toll on top speed and fuel efficiency. The gear shift is smooth almost like a hot knife goes through butter. The short slick throws make shifting a real pleasure. Easily the car with one of best gear shifts in India today.
RIDE QUALITY
The ride quality is not all that good on bad roads. There is nothing wrong in the set up of the suspension but the tall boy design necessitates stiffer damper settings on the suspension and that takes away comfort. On bad roads the rear seat gets uncomfortable and passengers get thrown about. Again due to the design the handling is not confidence inspiring and the car gets wobbly after 90 kmph giving one the feeling that it could topple over on tight cornering. Due to this the car is not a fun to drive car.
COMFORT AND SPACE
The space is good in the car with the front being very roomy but the rear leg space is not as good as the matiz. In fact, apart from head room the matiz beats the santro in interior comfort and space. The Santro has a huge boot and is good when it comes to load carrying.
DEALER’S AND SERVICE
The Santro I drive is my brothers and he can’t stop praising the dealers. Full marks to Hyundai for providing a very efficient and motivated dealer network. (Are you listening Daewoo??)
CONCLUSION
The santro despite its short comings is a good car to buy. The tall boy design means getting in and out is easy. You don’t have to bend into this car as you would in a Zen. It’s really helpful for women wearing saris and the elderly as they don’t have to bend into this car to get in. However , its NOT a fun to drive car. The engine performance is good but the ride quality and poor ergonomics take away the fun from driving.This is not a car you would feel like looking at after you come home from a hard days work and even if u do it would’nt bring a smile on your face.
You can buy this car if u can digest its looks.Also once you are in the car you don’t have to look at it!!. Its got decent performance, fantastic AC, decent fuel efficiency and its a good all rounder.