Team-BHP - Hyundai Santro : Official Review

Quote:

Originally Posted by adithya.kp (Post 4921725)

I am looking to buy an entry level 4 cylinder engine AMT. To my surprise, there are only 2 options in the market. Santro and Wagon R 1.2. (I am not interested in the higher segment cars like i10 etc). I have rejected Wagon R since I am not impressed with the overall quality. Also, never liked the boxy design ( No offense to the owners). I have zeroed in on Santro Sportz AMT. Have a few queries. Can someone help

1. I didn't quite like the design of the new Santro. The old one was way better. Hopefully they will do something in the facelift. Does anybody know the timeline for facelift?

2. Before any discount, the on road price is about 7.25 lac. This looks very expensive for an entry level hatchback. Has anybody bought it in the recent past?. What is the max discount one can expect?

.

If you are willing to pay 7.25L for Santro AMT, might as well go and opt for Ignis Zeta/Alpha AMT for about 50K-1L more. Dont go by its looks. Its a much better car , in fact better than most of the MSIL cars barring perhaps the Baleno and Brezza.

Quote:

Originally Posted by adithya.kp (Post 4921725)

2. Before any discount, the on road price is about 7.25 lac. This looks very expensive for an entry level hatchback. Has anybody bought it in the recent past?. What is the max discount one can expect?

3. This car turned out be a flop for Hyundai. Every other car in the segment (Or 1 segment lower/higher) is doing very well. We also need to keep in mind Eon is discontinued. I am wondering what could be the reason for this?. I am not too worried about this since, there will be some sort of an exclusivity. But just curious.

Wow! 7.25lac on road for a Santro :Shockked:
Why not the Tiago AMT? Much better car, solid built quality, awesome music system and selling in good numbers ( as opposed to Santro being a flop) and carwale shows on road Bangalore for XZA automatic 7.67lacs.
Maybe some discounts and some stretching from your end will bring it close to the Santro's price and you will be getting a much better car, overall. :)

@fhdowntheline. Never liked the looks of Ignis. Will reconsider it.
@Candy$Cars . You are right. A lot of people recommending Tiago for its build quality. Also, Tiago is doing much better than Santro in terms of monthly sales.
I am not worried about the build quality since it will be for city use only. What matters the most is the drivability. I read that Santro's AMT is superior to the rest. Can someone confirm?. Also, if true, is it way superior to the rest or slightly better?

Quote:

Originally Posted by adithya.kp (Post 4937765)

See. I drive an AMT (Tigor the cousin of Tiago) and have driven many AMTs.

All AMTs currently beings old in India, barring the Celerio and Alto K10, have nearly identical feel in terms of gear shifts and calibration.

The Celerio and K10 AMT are exceptionally jerky. If you want to avoid AMT in a small car, i would suggest you to avoid these two.

Santro AMT is smoother than Tiago/Ignis AMT but not by a very big margin.

What is more important is that with Tiago you get a more safer vehicle with better build quality, and with Ignis you get Maruti's legendary after sales service and that gem of a 1.2 Ltr engine (best in the segment). And IGNIS is not as unsafe as other MSIL vehicles, scoring a low but somewhat acceptable 3 stars in GNCAP (SA IGNIS exported by MSIL).

So take your pick between Ignis and Tiago. Don't worry too much about looks of Ignis, they will grow on you. And once you are inside and driving the car, looks won't bother you anyway ;-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by adithya.kp (Post 4921725)

Santro Sportz AMT is a good package if you overlook the price factor. Few things that go against it are not VFM price tag, 1.1 L engine that feels slightly under powered and a lighter build. If you can stretch your budget a bit then Grand i10 Nios Magna AMT is a great option to consider. It has almost all basic feature list including driver seat height adjustment. Plus you get a bigger car with a more powerful 1.2l kappa engine along with better ride quality. If you haven't test driven it yet, please do so as it might change your decision for the better!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M (Post 4954343)

2nd free service at 5000 kms and a bill charged for Rs. 4800 which includes wheel alignment, synthetic oil and filter change which alone comes up to 4000. Is this justified? I assumed wheel balancing labour is free but apparently not.

I got my 2nd free service done in October and the bill was around INR 1000. Wheel alignment was not required or requested.

That looks very high. https://www.hyundai.com/in/en/connec...ice-calculator says 1163. That includes wheel alignment. Add GST, and about extra 1500 for synthetic oil.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M (Post 4954343)

The general opinion is that its overpriced. (By comparing to the 1.2 liter cars such as Tiago, Ignis, Wagon 1.2) . But I was looking at 1.0 liter cars from the competion. They are also expensive. Here is the price comparison. (Price taken from carwale. This is not the final price. Because usually the insurance they quote is double the direct insurance. And I am sure all of them offer discounts. I have used sports AMT for Santro, because Asta doesn't have any major feature. For the rest, I have used the top end AMT)
Santro : 7.29
Celerio: 6.93
WagonR1.0: 6.70
Kwid: 6.43
S presso: 6.12
So it doesn't look that bad. Santro is a 1.1 liter 4 cylinder engine. And presumably has a better AMT, better fit and finish, interiors. Should it not command a premium or is the premium it commands very high?

Quote:

Originally Posted by adithya.kp (Post 4965826)

Santro : 7.29
Celerio: 6.93
WagonR1.0: 6.70
Kwid: 6.43
S presso: 6.12
So it doesn't look that bad. Santro is a 1.1 liter 4 cylinder engine. And presumably has a better AMT, better fit and finish, interiors. Should it not command a premium or is the premium it commands very high?

IMO, the Santro can get a premium over Wagon R and Celerio. But not Rs. 70,000 over the Wagon R and Rs. 37,000 over the Celerio.

If I am buying for my wife or daughter, I will accept a premium if Rs. 25,000 over Celerio. That too not easily, since I am a happy MSIL customer for decades and their cars have been easy and much more affordable at maintenance compared to my experience with Santro Zing (a loveable car too). But if my wife or daughter insists on Santro, I can pay Rs. 25,000 extra.

What if I am buying for myself? In all probability, I will buy a Wagon R without bothering to get a quotation of Santro (unless the Santro is cheaper than Wagon R). Of course, the Santro too seems to be a good car. I am not debating that. We are just discussing the premium.

I have a Santro which I got in Oct 2019. I got the Magna variant for around INR 4.9L after discounts. This variant is decently loaded and given the interior fit and finish and how nippy it is in the city traffic, I found it quite VFM.

Regardless, I think Hyundai dug its grave by calling the Santro, well, a Santro. If this was packaged with a different name and as a premium A segment hatchback things may have been different.

I'm looking for some inputs here. To set some context, we currently have two cars in the family - a 2018 Hyundai Creta Petrol AT and a 2014 Hyundai Grand i10 Petrol MT.

The Creta is used mostly on the highways and for weekend outings. For daily city driving (mostly errands), we use the Grand i10. Given that Bangalore traffic won't get any better and the fact that my parents are aging, we are planning to replace the Grand i10 with an AT hatchback.

Back in 2014, the main reason why the Grand i10 made it to the garage was primarily because of its fit and finish and refinement, which were great for the price point and for 2014 standards.

We are on a strict budget, and the new Santro fits the budget perfectly. My main question is, is it too much of a compromise/step down from the Grand i10? It won't be easy, but if it is too much of a compromise, I can convince my family to stretch the budget for the Nios AMT.

I will be going for a test drive sometime next week, but I just wanted to set the right expectations before I go in.

Points to be noted, In general, I did not enjoy driving Marutis AMT cars, and their fit/finish/refinement is not par for the price. Major stigma against Tata cars at home, so the Tiago is out of the picture. We've owned two Hyundais, and we have several in the extended family, and we have had no reason to complain.

I have a similar question as above.

Planning to replace 2010 Figo petrol (run 40,000 km) with Santro/Wagon R. Running will be very little. Will be driven mostly by my grandmother once or twice a week.

How come the sales figures for the Santro have gone down?

It’s selling 2-3k units only per month.

Is there something that I am missing?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tgo (Post 5097659)

It's an average product, hence the numbers are very small. There is nothing in it to wow the buyer.

Wagon R is a much better option, since it has 2 engine options to choose from. Also, WagonR has better seats and is more practical compared to Santro. It'll fetch you better at time of sale.