Comment on Nandu’s comment:
I agree with you that Santro’s spare parts are expensive. For example, ALto mirror costs 200 Rs while as Santro pair of mirrors with internal adjustment option costs 1500.
However, I do not agree with the problem with reversing car. I am not sure how it is bad as compared to other cars. I think the rear view mirrors and side mirrors of Santro are best in its class. At least the santro XG and XS.
Koul
I am an owner of Santro Xing XG for last 1.5 years in Bangalore. I think this is the best vehicle in its class.
Pros: Good interiors, good head space, good leg space, great side and rear view mirror, good handling, great mileage -- more than what Hyundai advertises.
Cons: Less dickey space, No rear defogger in XG - the best seller model of Xing.
Details: Till today, I used to think that Santro is over priced as compared to its Maruti competitor cars. But when today I checked the Wagon R Vxi and Zen Vxi, the interiors and features itself told me the story. Bottomline: Zen and Wagon R just have pathetic interiors. Alto is no better than Maruti 800.
The stick shift knob of these cars is just no match for Santro’s. It just keep moving all over. My father-in-law’s 1970’s Padmini has a better stick shift.
I hardly liked anything in Wagon R except its rear seat folding flexibility and its power steering. It has EPS & more than that the steering is very thin. That makes turning a wagon R more comfortable than a Santro with Hydraulic PS.
The worst thing in a Wagon R (and also Zen) are its side view mirrors. I have a habit of following lanes while driving, so I use all 3 mirrors of my car. In a Wagon R, I can see only half of the width of a vehicle which is over taking me in the lane on my right. That is so funny and shows how hastily (or indifferently) these cars are designed. (New) Zen Vxi’s mirrors are slightly better than wagon R though the vehicles behind you look so small that it is hard to judge the actual distance between your vehicle and the one behind you. When I compare the mirrors/stick shift and other interios of these two vehicles with those of Santro Xing XG/XS, there is just no comparison. If that is not all, lower models of Maruti cars do not have left mirror at all! Take that... Height of cost cutting. Inferior quality mirros are there all the way upto Esteem and Baleno, I have driven all these. May be Maruti can borrow mirros from Hyundai, if Mr. Jagdish Khattar is listening.
Both these cars look very patchy from inside, made with inferior quality plastic. Mats that dealers provide are just bad, doors look too light. Open patches of uncovered base of the cars are visible everywhere.
Mileage: Though I am not aware of the kmpl figures of wagon R and Zen, here are the figures of my 1.5 year old santro xing: 13kmpl in city (w/o AC) and that is in office time Bangalore traffic on roads filled with pot holes all over. Highway mileages: 18 (on Bangalore-Mysore type of highways) - 20kmpl (Bangalore-Chennai/Pondicherry/Kanakapura type of roads) w/o AC figures. Who gives more than that in a 1.1litre car?
What I badly miss in Santro XG is the rear-defogger that comes only in XS, though I am not sure how effective that would have been. Other than that, one problem in last 1.5 years and that is I was getting some rattline noise from my santro dickey which I got solved in 2nd attempt from Advaith Hyundai.
Top speed tried in santro: 115kmph. Because of its tall boy design, the car may not be as stable as I assume Zen would be, though I have not driven Zen at speed beyond 80kmph. Send me a mail at koulrc@yahoo.com if you need any more info about Santro Xing.
Pros : MIleage, Interiors, Looks
Cons: No rear defogger in xg