This is my 3rd update on my Santro Xing AT. A couple of weeks back I gave my car for the 2nd free service.
After the 2nd service, the fuel economy has improved marginally. Now it gives me around 10kmpl with AC and around 12 kmpl without AC in the city. I have never driven it out of the city so I can’t comment on the fuel-economy on highways but I am guessing it will give between 14 to 15kmpl on highways.
The ride quality is also good considering the state of roads (if you could call them that) in Bangalore. The automatic transmission is smooth and does its job very well. The power steering is a boon and helps navigate the car in the dense traffic.
Regarding speed, the maximum speeds that I normally get to drive in daily commute from home to office is between 30 to 50kmph. However, I got the chance to go upto 80kmph on the Outer Ring Road once. I did not feel any lack of pickup or acceleration because of the automatic transmission. In fact, I was easily overtaking many bigger cars (like Esteem, Honda City etc.).
I still don’t have any complaints about this car and would recommend the Automatic transmission to anyone who wants total peace of mind and enjoy driving in the crowded and unruly traffic on Indian roads.