[abhibh]

I am not a santro owner but i got a chance to drive it for 800KM and i loved it. Its a pure delight. Highway performance is ok if u drive at 100 - 120 at 140 its dangerous. I drove from Chandigarh to Delhi, Delhi to Gurgaon, Gurgaon to Faridabad, Faridabad to someplace 50 - 60 km and came back to Chandigarh.

The best thing about the car was its power steering and Turning radius. Bad thing its front seats as my back started paining.

The most amazing thing was FE it was 20+ in the whole trip which included 550+KM highway driving and 200+ km city type driving.

Just take it easy and as other suggest its a tall boy so dont go beyond 130 - 140.

Overall a great car. Well Done Hyundai

[namit]

Driven my santro to Jaipur and it gave an FE of 20+ without a/c.

Just be carefull not to forget that its a car with high centre of gravity so be cautious on uneven roads and turns.

Do not go beyond 110+ i would say.

Happy journey man .........

[Samurai]

I use Santro strictly as a city car, it is hard to take it on the highway when my other car is a Baleno.

But mine is an Automatic. However it is much better after I installed Universal K&N, the highway performance is acceptable.

[javed406]

I got lot of valuable inputs from the bhpian regarding tubeless tyre. I think that is a must for highway driving.
Samurai, what is the cost of K&N filters and does it affect the overall warranty of the car?

[rks]

Yes, tubeless tyres are strongly recommended for highway runs. They grip better, give better handling (less sidewall deformation upon hard cornering) and above all do not deflate suddenly, giving you time to bring your car under control at high speeds. Further, if you carry a portable air compressor, you can simply fill up air and drive to the nearest puncture shop; no need to change the wheel in remote locations.

The Santro is a good car for Indian highways. The main advantages are its oustanding reliability and maneuverability, perfect for our narrow and crowded highways. You can park in the narrowest of spaces, overtake with ease, cut lanes and corner at good speeds. Ghat roads are no problem at all, although you may need to switch off AC for sharp climbs like Ooty or if you want to zoom up the hills. You can drive at speeds of up to 120 kmph without any problems. Higher speeds are not recommended anywhere except on Expressways. I do 120-140 on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the car holds its line except when there are exceptionally strong crosswinds; this Saturday I ran into very strong crosswinds just prior to some heavy thundershowers near Lonawala and the car swayed about a little at high speed, but nothing very alarming. It is not advisable to brake hard at speeds exceeding 120 kmph, at least in my old Santro (the Xing has better brakes); that is why I do these speeds only on Expressways.

The main disadvantages are a relative lack of space for big families and if the driver is tall, there may not be enough leg room. I have chronic knee joint pain in both legs and after driving continuously for 3.5 hours or so my joints start to ache and I need to take a break. But the Xing may have slightly more legroom than the old Santro that I drive.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by javed406

I got lot of valuable inputs from the bhpian regarding tubeless tyre. I think that is a must for highway driving.
Samurai, what is the cost of K&N filters and does it affect the overall warranty of the car?

Details are here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...-n-effect.html

[mobike008]

I had a santro for ~ 4 years zipplus 1.1 and it performed flawlessly during this period without a SINGLE puncture during its 35K run, it ran on tube type stock tyres. some of the trips were:

Hyd-Bang
Hyd-Pune
Hyd-Vizag
Hyd-Tirupathi

And several other short distance 300km+ trips and never had a problem. So go ahead and enjoy the car, as long as you dont rip it thinkin' its a big sedan, you should be fine.

[Satyam]

Dear Javed nothing to worry. I have a Santro which joined our family on 15th Dec 1998. Since then it has taken us to Munnar, Kodaikanal, Tirupati, Gokarna, Rameswaram - Dhanuskodi, Trichi, Tanjur, Mahab, Pondy, Chidambaram, Shringeri, Shimoga, Waynad, Bnadipur, B r Hills, Otty, Mukambika, Mangalore, Kozikhode, Kanoor, Guruvayur and many more. Except Kanoor - Guruvayur all other places we have gone multiple times. Till date except once there has been NO problem at all. That one time because my service guy forgot to check the Carbon brush after 50K, I had some problem which was rectified by the local service station within two hours. The last time we went out for a long trip; to Rameswarm was on her 8th birth day; 15th Dec 2006.

There are times during these journies, when I have survived near accidents. During each of those instances the car has supported me proporly reacted to my actions to avoid any damage to my family. All travels till 2 years back was all on stocks. No modification. Only two year back we gave her alloy with tubeless and K&N Stock filter (we thought age is catching up with her let's give her some comfort).

Nothing to worry. Just drive carefully with common sense. As long as you are in a mood to enjoy your drive and your journey, it will be safe.

Go ahead and enjoy. have a nice trip.

[lohithrao]

@aseem: "Of course there is no upper limit to the car which one can own, but by itself," I agree with you completely.

GOne those old days where one used to think before going for those long drives. Today all the cars are capable of doing long distances only that comfort factor would be diffrent.

[DieselFan]

My Previous car was Santro LS 2001 model and it served me well for 6 years without a breakdown/unplanned maintenance. I have driven all over Karnataka in that car and was very impressed how it handled long distance driving. The only aspect you need to be careful about is it doesn't handle well on Curves at high speed. Also speedbreakers and potholes for rear seat folks can be very painful if not driven with patience.

[kkr2k2]

Originally Posted by suren181

@ javed: Go ahead, your Santro will surely take you places, no matter the distance or the road condition (but there has to be a semblance of a road atleast).

However one thing that you could think of is to g0o the tubeless way and upsize at the same time, it does help in minimising scary moments on the highway if your a driver who floors the pedal and translates in a better gripping on the road. Since your car is new you could contemplate a change in footwear, check out on the financials you could be rest assured of another 40 ~ 50k miles of tension free driving.

First thing i wanted to see in this thread, was where is our suren bhai

javed, you can take suren's words, he has a santro zip plus and i did see it performing well on high way, especially with those 'turanza' tyres and HR alloys. check suren's garage to have an idea about the mods on his car.

and oh!, he did lot of trips between hyderabad, chennai and pune with this family and recently with a lugauge carraige on the top. (like the taxi wallah!!)

Originally Posted by Absar

Santro is ok to drive on the highway, only thing is the car lacks quick pickup after say 100-120 km/h. But care is to be taken while turning at high speed unless the casr has good weight.
A

for this you can have performance spark plugs and respective wiring and a universal air filter at a later date, if you think its under performing.

[vkochar]

Javed, I have owned a total of 4 santros since 1998 ( 2 of them I still have ) - Zing & Zipplus, I drive my Zing daily in the city and occassionally to delhi which is 200 kms from agra, Its a beautiful car for cities but my advise, do not take it over 100 - 110, the car is meant for that speed. Also keep in mind that the car is ver comfortable if it is only 2, but tends to get a bit harsh if you hv ppl sitting behind. Rest assured as everyone has stated - its a very very reliable car .. safe driving - -