[AKSarkar1]

I guess today is a day of nostalgic posts on this forum but no complaining! We owned a Green Santro briefly and as a kid I was almost embarrassed by the car but it was the definition of a beater car. It was used and abused on our Mumbai roads but still took it all like a champ and never left us stranded ever! While my former kid persona hated the Santro, the adult in me today definitely appreciates how reliable that car was.

Funnily enough, the day we got our first Mercedes we happened to run into our Santro outside the parking of a wine shop. The car was loaded with crates of alcohol (probably not legal) but yet serving its duties as faithfully as it did with us. Had a quick chat with the wine shop owner and the friendly chap was as amused as us on the coincidence and happily offered me a free beer

[Archisman]

Thanks for starting this thread. I am a Santro lover and I have two Santros currently, one Santro GS (2009 make) and a new "Santro".
While the new namesake is a refined car and has a better driving experience, it lacks the road presence of the OG Tallboy. The view from the drivers seat is wonderful and gives a sense of authority. It towers over the new hatchbacks like i20 and the like.
My OG Santro is going to stay in my garage for some time to come.

A link to a thread related to my beloved Santros
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ucks-fuel.html (I won a Santro in an Indian Oil-Hyundai contest, by filling 2000 bucks of fuel!)

Sorry in advance for hijacking the thread

[mohan41]

I have 2007 Santro AT. Back then, I think that was the only hatchback AT car available in market. It is a torque converter AT with poor FE but still runs smooth (touchwood)

What was the reason to stop the new Santro? Heard the new Santro AMT was much better than other AMTs in the same category.

[iampulo]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Once brother shifted base out of India, I got an essentially new car with all jing-bang installed(Sunfilms, xplod amp and woofer, 2150 helmets, xplod stereo) for my MBA.

Yes, SONY XPLOD series was the hype those days and we used to flaunt it to everyone!
These days even when Tata customers say they have Harman systems, the mass jealously seems to have lessen.

Originally Posted by TheHelix0202

But I did enjoy Hyundai's showroom brochures and leaflets.

Those were really attractive outlets. I used to go for service and sneak away those leaflets. From the launch of i10 yo Fluidic Verna, they really made the market crazy.

Originally Posted by Azalactone

Maruti Suzuki's sheer arrogance was when a top manager claimed that they knew Indian market more than anyone and India didn't need MPFI engines. The competition forced them to rethink.

Markets and Time balances everyone. Credits to Hyundai, Daewoo, GE and later on Chevrolet and Ford to keep the competition hot.

Originally Posted by sidindica

This was the official launch brochure in 1998, courtesy zibby and shreyfiesta. Notice carefully, Hyundai was way back planning to launch a semi automatic version of the car as well (yes, the clutchless manual or IMT) but it never happened.

Amazing. Semi-automatic. That's sheer ambition.

[haribalram]

Thanks for this thread, it takes me down the memory lane. My first ever car, the Santro Xing XS Silver. It served me well from 2004-2018 and nearly 1.3L kms on the odo.

I had looked at couple of options, like Zen, Opel Corsa SAIL, WagonR before (wisely) picking the Xing. It was one of the elegant looking hatchbacks then. The previous iteration, ZipPlus was the much ridiculed one.

Me and my wife, literally learnt to drive a car in that one. That daily drive to ITPL Bangalore, the dreaded single lane Marathahalli bridge, 1st gear stalls, BMTC volvos bull dozing their way through..... It had a few battle scars by the time, I sold it.

Great VFM car, solid for what it was worth. The gear and the clutch, butter smooth then. I had installed a Sony HU with a CD changer box (10 CDs), below the pillion seat. All antique pieces now.

After nearly 15 years of driving, I got an exchange of 1L for it when I replaced it with the Ignis.

[Mechb63]

My dad had a Satin Grey colour Hyundai Santro Xing XG purchased in 2007 IIRC. It was the first car purchased in India and was simply amazing for what it was. We had installed some sony Xplod speakers and a Sony head unit as well.

She served us well for 5 years until somebody broke a pipe from the fuel tank to steal some petrol.

It still had a lot of life left in it but with the need for a larger car and me quite far from turning 18, the car was sold off and replaced with a Chevrolet Aveo CNG.

[BhaskarG]

Originally Posted by mohan41

What was the reason to stop the new Santro? Heard the new Santro AMT was much better than other AMTs in the same category.

I think the reason is that the new Santro could not compete against the new WagonR this time. People shopping at that budget found a bigger looking car to be more tempting.

And yes, the AMT unit of the new Santro is still a much superior unit when compared to its competitors. Shifts are smoother and faster than any competitor. But that appealed to only those customers who had been looking for a small automatic car. The rest, well, they had reasons to look elsewhere.

[Ragu_Durai]

This is my first ever post in Team-BHP and that is about the first ever car which we bought in 2004 and used for about 140k kms when we sold it in 2013.

Our Santro Xing XG


Here are the scanned images of original brochure that I have with me even now .

[vredesbyrd]

Lively green was a nice colour and it was so damn rare!
I remember my then crush's dad having a bambi beige one. It was nice to have a Maruti alternative back then. Then there was the Matiz.

[Figo0202]

Like most of the college pass outs I was looking for Jelly bean zen in 2008. I was getting frustrated as was not able to get my hands on decent zen. One of the used car dealer practically forced me to have a look at silver 2006 Santro Zing. With half heart I went to take its test drive and the practicality just blew my mind. Within few days I was owner of that car and boy it served us well and I went to meet my future wife in it so it will always have a special place in my heart. Nothing needed apart from the regular maintenance. Sadly had to let it go in 2016 but I still see it on the road serving current owner.

[voldemort]

Originally Posted by GTO

The Santro was the ultimate ugly duckling

The initial version was ugly, but I felt the Xing looked very neutral.

At the time, there was "Maruti fatigue" among many existing / future car owners who simply wanted something different from Maruti's lineup.

Guilty as charged! Back in 2005, a Hyundai Santro Xing XO replaced our ancient Maruti Esteem as a beater.

The reason we bought the Santro was primarily because we wanted to avoid Maruti. We felt Marutis were too low to the ground (and for some reason we didn't even consider the WagonR).

As for our Santro, you know how, when you buy a brand new car there's that initial honeymoon period of excitement, and that sense of occasion? Yeah well, with the Santro everybody at home (including me) lost that excitement within a week. It was boring.

However, we kept her for 5 years and it was absolutely reliable.

- Must-read book by BVR Subbu, a powerful personality who was instrumental in Hyundai's Indian success story.

Thanks! Added to my reading list!

[rahi]

Way back in 2008, when search was on for family's first car was on, got chance to travel in distant relative's red santro. Was impressed with its wonderful cooling and thump with doors shut. That made my mind. Won't lie that maruti fatigue wasn't a decisive factor (checked wagon R though but boorish behaviour of sales lady put me off).

The car never gave any problem and is reliable till date. The car is sparsely used. We still have the car with us and recently applied for RC renewal (need to share experience in relevant thread).

Lots of happy memories and travel experiences..

[srikrishna717]

Santro Xing XP was our first car after returned from a 2 year stay at U.S. This is a car which received lot of "ugly looking" comments when it was launched. But all those comments took a back seat by the sheer reliability and the "family car" reputation it built over few years. Very pleasant to drive, good visibility and always there type of car! After I moved over to City, my wife drove it for several years and we together clocked around 1.3 lacs kms on this sweet car before we sold it.
Thanks for sharing, this brought back very fond memories

[msdivy]

Hyundai & Daewoo entered the Indian market and Daewoo had a better perception in India with their cars - Cielo & Matiz. Matiz offered the same interior space at a far better mileage figure. In fact, Hyundai was struggling with its ugly cars. They had to rope India's biggest star at that time as part of brand building. While Daewoo India was doing well, the parent Daewoo wound up in Korea and they had to end India operations. Since then there is no looking back for Hyundai.

On the looks, Santro went through multiple iterations and settled down with the Xing variant. Santro was finally a good-looking hatchback.

PS: I know a couple of folks who bought Santro just because of SRK.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s9rJfUcP6c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imjeuiaB_fY

[RROD]

First car I had booked in 2005 with my own salary.The car was booked and was ready to be delivered in another 4 or 5 days
I would have sleepless nights just imagining driving the car.
During this time I was called and asked to travel to the US on a project the following week.
So I had to cancel to booking :(
Even today I like this car.