True to the title of a book that chronicles the first years of its existence, the original Santro really was a car that built a company. A quirky-looking car from an unknown Korean manufacturer (Hyundai was a lightweight in the automotive world in 1998) should have faded into oblivion. But, in reality, things couldn’t have turned out better. The Santro was a runaway success and quickly established Hyundai as a household name in India. The ‘tall boy’ set the foundation for Hyundai’s meteoric growth and today the Korean carmaker is India’s second largest.
In the 16 years it was on sale, the original Santro sold a whopping 1.32 million units in our market. And now, after a gap of four years, there’s a new Santro in town to take the story forward. The first signs of big success are there, with the new model managing to get 32,000 bookings within a month of launch. Now, if Hyundai can hold on to all those bookings that will be an even greater achievement because the new Santro is not exactly a budget hatchback as the original was.
Prices start at Rs 3.89 lakh and top off at a fairly substantial Rs 5.64 lakh (ex-showroom, India). But do note, the prices will see an upward revision after the first 50,000 bookings. In effect, the Santro’s positioning is more i10 than Eon.
On offer are a petrol-manual, a petrol-AMT (Hyundai’s first-ever AMT) and a CNG-manual. We’re going to put both gearbox versions of the petrol Santro under the scanner to tell you if it delivers on everything that matters.
The new Santro has been launched in five trims but only the petrol-manual car is available in all five options. The petrol AMT and CNG models can only be had in mid-spec Magna and Sportz trims.
The entry D-lite trim (Rs 3.89 lakh) is absolutely barebones and includes few features beyond its electric power steering, multi-info display, and folding rear seat. Era trim (Rs 4.24 lakh) cars add in body-coloured bumpers, air-conditioning, rear air-con vents, front power windows and a 12V power socket. Central locking, rear power windows, and a day/night rear-view mirror are some of the features on the mid-spec Magna (Rs 4.57-5.23 lakh) cars. However, not all Magnas are the same, with only the AMT version getting a Bluetooth audio system and steering audio and telephone buttons. A 7.0-inch touchscreen is the talking point on the well-specced Sportz trim (Rs 4.99-5.64 lakh) that also gets larger 14-inch wheels with full wheel covers, fog lamps, electrically adjustable mirrors, remote locking, and a rear defogger. A rear wash/wipe is exclusive to the fully loaded Asta (Rs 5.45 lakh) and it’s also the only one with a passenger side airbag, rear parking sensors, a reverse camera, speed-sensing auto door lock, impact-sensing auto door unlock and front seatbelts with a pre-tensioner and load limiter. Reverse sensors will be rolled out across the rest of the range to meet new norms in 2019 but it’s disappointing that lower versions don’t go above the minimum requirement of a driver’s side airbag.
Base trim Santros don’t get an audio system, Magna-spec AMTs get a simple Bluetooth unit but it’s the Sportz and Asta cars that go the whole hog with a 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system. It’s a very impressive system in touch response, layout and user friendliness. There’s no onboard satellite navigation but you can use maps via Android Auto and Apple CarPlay that it comes bundled with. Sound quality is fair.
Let’s first get this out of the way. Good as the new Santro is, it’s not as revolutionary a product as the original was back in 1998. Sure, the new car is built for a different time and even a different buyer but it conforms to what’s expected in the class rather than changing the game.
But such a comparison is for an automotive market observer. A car buyer will have a lot to like in the new Santro. It’s easy-to-drive, comfortable, refined and even feels relatively premium. Even the AMT version, that’s garnered 30 percent of bookings so far, works well as a city car. And Hyundai has packed in quite a few features too; you do pay considerably for the goodies on higher-spec models, though. We’d have liked to see more safety features as standard and even things like alloy wheels and more adjustment for the seat and steering are missed. Pricing frankly isn’t as aggressive as we would have liked, especially the higher variants which can get expensive. However, factor in the standard three-year/1,00,000km warranty, three-year roadside assistance programme and the promise of low maintenance costs, and the Santro’s price tag becomes a little easier to justify.
Whether the new Santro will live up to its tag line of ‘India’s favourite family car’ or not, remains to be seen, but it sure has most of the ingredients in place.
from Autocar India https://ift.tt/2P8f1xk
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