Team-BHP - BVR Subbu's new book! Santro: The car that built a company

I remember that the Santro and the Matiz were launched in the same time frame. Most folks initially felt that the Santro looked odd and that the matiz looked a lot more clean. But the way Santro was put together was very different and the quality levels too was way higher than the Matiz.
I personally had a feeling that people wouldn't see the Santro beyond its looks, but I was mistaken! The car proved its mettle and then the rest is history.

Awesome stuff !! The Santro was my first car that we got in 2003. It really was a hoot to drive and had a gem of an engine. I wish today's hatchbacks atleast try to regain that fun factor but sadly they are too focused on mileage. That said the Santro was no gas guzzler.
Ill always remember it because it survived the 26/7 Mumbai floods. The funniest thing was I had just dropped it off that morning at the service center which got completely submerged but yet theyre was no flooding whatsoever at my house :P

A decade old Santro is my father in law's daily drive to office. Just a 6km daily round trip and the car is still just shy of 30k on the odometer. I sometimes take it out for a spin when I pay a visit to wife's home.

What a torquey engine !!! So good that the 63 eager horses in Santro felt more powerful than the 103 ass's that they provided in my accent.

Santro is truly the car that built brand Hyundai, and probably one of their most honest offerings ever in India. Will definitely get a copy of the book.

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Originally Posted by Moto$apien (Post 4302744)

Seems to be a very good homage to the original Tall Boy!

16 long years .. wow clap:

Attachment 1694436

A good read here too

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Isnt this wrong? The Xing model came out in 2004 if I am not wrong and not 2008. Dad bought the eRLX version in 2006 and we had it for about 7+ years. I picked up a pre-owned Santro AT for my wife 2 years back. Car is well sorted out as we all know, except for the bumpy ride.

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Originally Posted by motorworks (Post 4303943)

The Matiz had better interiors, ride quality and also probably better feature set. However the biggest downer was the engine. I remember we taking for a test drive on steep incline stop it in middle and try to go ahead. With 4 people on board and even with de-clutching the car wouldn't climb.
My grandfather remembered these two cars for his entire life- One for having pogo stick like feel in the backseat(Santro 1st gen) and another a car that wouldn't climb(Matiz).

A small delay for those who ordered the book. Damn, I can't wait to get this baby into my hands, call for a pizza and start reading!

Quote:

Greetings from Amazon.in,

We're writing about the order (Order# 404-8492230-4752343) you placed on 09/11/2017.

We regret to inform you that your order will take longer to fulfill than originally estimated.

Unfortunately, the release date for the item(s) listed below was changed by the supplier, and we need to provide you with a new estimated delivery date based on the new release date:

B.V.R. Subbu "Santro: The Car That Built a Company"
Estimated delivery date: 06/01/2018 - 09/01/2018

One of Amazon's aims is to provide a convenient and efficient service; in this case, we have not met that goal. Please accept our sincere apologies. We will send you a confirmation e-mail on the date the item is sent.

Thank you for choosing Amazon.

I bought my first car more than a decade ago. The choices were primarily Wagon R and Santro. I never liked the shape of Wagon R (still don't). so Santro was my first car and impressed me much. So much that my second car was also a Santro. (3rd and 4th car are also from the Hyundai stable)

Santro turned me into a Hyundai loyalist. Some really fond memories with the brand!!

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Originally Posted by motorworks (Post 4303943)

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Originally Posted by av8er (Post 4329644)

If I remember well there was an article I read around the early 2000s which said that all the places where the 'Hyundai Santro' and 'Daewoo Matiz' were sold it was the Matiz which was ahead in sales but only in India the Santro used to sell more than the Matiz. From there till today, its come a long way.

Yep Santro did build Hyundai in India.

The Book looks like an Interesting read, but that would not make me change my view of the Santro. :)

Frankly in my view, it looked BAD and it still looks BAD. It had a bouncy ride though spacious compared to the Matiz. The Matiz is the one that I loved. Matiz failed not vs the Santro but as the rug was pulled under it's own feet as Daewoo failed globally and was not bought in India by GM. That is also why The Ascent overall did much better than the Cielo as the refreshed Nubira never made it to India. The Chevrolet Spark was after all the Matiz and did fairly well. For that matter the Optra was the next to next gen Cielo.

Santro is a part of our history now and sold very well. It took the fight to Maruti but it was Ugly.

Santro was bought by so many people after they had gotten over the looks of the car. But boy, was it a fantastic car to tool around in the city.
I had a love-hate relationship with this car. I used to borrow a friend's Santro while visiting NCR during 2002-2004. I totally loved the ease of driving, but hated the pain it gave me in the right ankle. I guess tall boy designs do not suit my body proportions, as I had the same problem with the Ritz and Wagon-R as well.

That apart, when the Santro was released, we were very taken aback that a car company would launch something that looked so ugly (we hadn't heard of the Pontiac Aztek back then :D) and so we developed a story to explain the Korean company's behaviour.

Korean engineers & executives came to India to survey the country, and decide which car to introduce. They went to all the cities - Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, etc etc and saw that the most common vehicle on the road was ... the autorikshaw!
They came to the conclusion that the autorikshaw was India's choice, and so designed a posh autorikshaw which came to us in the form of the Santro.

Looks like it's going to be a long wait. Amazon further delayed the delivery to
11th - 13th Jan'18. God knows what stopping them from delivery.

Quote:

We're writing about the order(Order# 402-6872232-1539551) you placed on 09/11/2017.

We regret to inform you that your order will take longer to fulfill than originally estimated.

Unfortunately, the release date for the item(s) listed below was changed by the supplier, and we need to provide you with a new estimated delivery date based on the new release date:

B.V.R. Subbu "Santro: The Car That Built a Company"
Estimated delivery date: 11/01/2018 - 13/01/2018

One of Amazon's aims is to provide a convenient and efficient service; in this case, we have not met that goal. Please accept our sincere apologies. We will send you a confirmation e-mail on the date the item is sent.

Thank you for choosing Amazon

Ah! the Santro, my first car. I still remember reading MPFI and a mileage advertised as 20+kmpl (did not book it because of the kmpl!). I was to decide between the jelly bean Zen and the Santro. One drive in the Santro was all I needed. It had better low end response and seating was not as bad as the Zen. I am 6' 1 and had a hard time making myself comfortable in the Zen. Compared to it the Santro was a breeze. And mine was one of the first "Red" Santros in Bangalore. Still remember the number (KA05P1393). This was in 1998. Had many people stop me in traffic and ask me about the mileage! A superb car at that time. I never found it ugly, only different.