Hyundai Santro: Sharing nostalgic memories & stories of ownership

Once I drove the Santro, I appreciated the tallboy advantages, torquey motor and interiors that were better than the Marutis.

BHPian iampulo recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

My Santro Story

We bought our Santro Xing XS model in 2005. It was the top variant with a chrome finish and all power windows. I must say I would check out every Santro visible in our township just to reaffirm that our car is still the topmost trim. I shall always be indebted to that car because I used to sneak in and drive the car in stealth mode. I learnt how to start a car, how to reverse, how to drive, and how to corner into a gate/narrow lane in Our Santro. All without my father's slightest knack for knowledge. It's only when I used to bruise the car or scrape it, did I reveal it to my father. Embarrassing to say, but my father gave me a Driving License (via a broker, all I did was mindlessly signed some papers, and never went to RTO) because anyway he couldn't stop me from driving our Santro in his absence, and he was afraid I might get into some legal trouble!!

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

The Santro had created quite a buzz in the market when it was launched in the late 90s. My friend & I went to see it at a dealer and were shocked by how ugly it was. Told the dealer "save your money, cut your losses and forfeit the Hyundai dealership for another brand". How wrong could we have been.

The Santro was the ultimate ugly duckling, although later it seemed improved because we got used to it & Hyundai brought out facelifts. Once I drove the Santro, I appreciated the tallboy advantages (ingress, egress, seating position), torquey motor and interiors that were better than the Marutis. At the time, there was "Maruti fatigue" among many existing / future car owners who simply wanted something different from Maruti's lineup.

Additional reading:

• Great tribute & history of the Indian Santro
• Must-read book by BVR Subbu, a powerful personality who was instrumental in Hyundai's Indian success story.

Here's what BHPian dhanushs had to say on the matter:

What a right way to put it!

I however love the facelifted Santro Xing! What a change that was. I have a lost but not forgotten list of cars, which, I couldn't own, but like to own or rather collect and this is one of the few cars on the list.

Here's what BHPian sidindica had to say on the matter:

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.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.