Nov 06, 2008 07:13 PM
13216 Views
(Updated Nov 06, 2008 11:19 PM)
I bought the Santro AT as our second car for my wife. I drive a Hyundai Verna CRDI SX (read my review on that wonder machine at https://mouthshut.com/review/Hyundai_Verna-148887-1.html )
We had owned a Santro manual transmission before - and needless to say, were absolutely delighted with it. Since it is a well appreciated quality car in India, I am not spending time to type much about the Santro in general. Since my wife preferred an automatic to a manual, and since the best hatchback in India had that as an option, we went for it.
Purchased in June 2008, and now 4 1/2 months later, we are sure we made the right choice. The car is an absolute delight to drive. For those who haven't driven an automatic before, here are some facts:
About 80 to 90 % of the cars in the US are automatic. They are by no means 'city cars' or 'not meant for heavy use' etc. as wrongly mentioned by some other reviewers. In fact, in India, you will get more fuel mileage with the automatics on the highways, than in the Indian cities. In the cities, they offer excellent convenience. We will talk about that later.
Automatics don't have a clutch. Think of them like the Kinetic Hondas - (in fact more advanced) - gear changes are automatic. So you have only two pedals on the floor - an accelerator, and a brake. You must still use only your right foot for both the pedals - since you must press only one pedal at a time. The left foot must not be used at all (rest that on the foot rest provided in the Santro!).
There are the following positions on the gear lever:
P: Park (Keeps the car locked in one place - whether the engine is on or off. This is unique to automatic transmissions. There is no similar mode in a manual transmission car).
R: Reverse
N: Neutral
D: Drive (Normal driving mode. Gear changes are automatic based on many factors - load, how much you press the accelerator, etc.)
Two more modes usually never used:
1: 1st Gear
2: 2nd Gear
These two are used when you are climbing uphill or downhill and want the car to behave like a manual transmission in 1st or 2nd gear.
Most practical advantages:
Superb convenience - No clutch issues - like you may have read in the other reviews
Simply put into D and take your foot off the brake - and the car starts rolling forward at about 5 km/h. Then you need to press the accelarator to drive at normal speeds.
The car will not roll backward at most slopes (while climbing ramps, etc.)
You will never damage the gearbox because you don't know when to change gears. The electronic cum hydraulic auto gearbox does this automatically for you.
You will never damage the engine due to high rpms since the car will automatically shift to a higher gear at the right time.
In the thick of Bangalore, or any other Indian city traffic, you can relax - because all you have to do is take your foot off the brake, and the car will inch forward in very slow traffic. You don't even have to press the accelarator if you don't need to go beyond 5 to 10 km/h crawling traffic - very common in Bangalore.
Disadvantages:
Since in Indian cities you will travel very slow, usually below 60km/h, the mileage will always be 8 to 9 km per liter.
If you drive on open roads where you can exceed 60km/h (that's when the car moves into its 4th gear - the overdrive), you will get a much better fuel mileage. I have not yet measured this - but am sure of it.
The car is very reliable. The same gearbox is used in i10 - and i10 has 3 automatic variants that you can choose from - all use the same gearbox.
There's more - unlike other car makers, Hyundai sells the same quality cars in India, as what they export. So you get the same high quality auto trans gearbox as what is exported. That says it all!
I drive this car once in a while, and must tell you, reminds me of the superb convenience I used to have when I used to drive a Corolla in the US. In India, it adds all the more convenience due to slow moving and stop and go traffic.
You can take it to the highway too - absolutely nothing different from the manual Santros - and you will get more fuel mileage on the highways than in the city since most of the time you can exceed 60 km/h and the car will be in overdrive (the 4th gear in AT).
Go for it!
