SIX SUPERB MONTHS WITH MY SANTRO XING eRLX. Review on Hyundai Santro Xing eRLX

Our new Santro Xing eRLX (XO variant) is already six months old (didn’t we bring this beauty home only yesterday…or so it seems). So…it has to pass through the mandatory (and almost ritualistic) scrutiny, more so now because I am a newly hooked member of the MS community and honestly eager to broadcast my opinion on the net.

So friends, I have rated my Santro on 10 counts, of which there are 7 pluses and 3 minuses. Okay…we begin with the pluses:

(+) Superb mileage. I have driven my Santro for about 7000 kms so far, and I am thrilled by the frugality of the engine. For the first 2000 odd kms, when the engine was not tweaked by the service engineers, the Santro clocked 12-13 kms/l, and now, close to the second service, I’m getting 15-16 kms/l within the city and 17-18 kms/l on the highway. True, I use the AC sparingly – about 30 - 40% of the driving time. And I don’t slam on the accelerator hard while on the highway (I keep close to 80 kmph). Still, by any standards, these are brilliant mileage stats.

(+) Effortless driving.True to its name, the Xing is quite peppy to drive. Excellent manoeuvrability, cuts through clumsy traffic like a hot knife on butter. Parking is easy. The power steering is quite responsive. Having driven the Santro now, I find my old Maruti 800 somewhat tiring to drive. Some strain on the engine (though only at low speeds) is noticeable with the AC on.

(+) Powerful braking. Braking is sweet, smooth and effective. Actually too effective to be comfortable in heavy, bumper-to-bumper traffic. I had a bitter experience once when I suddenly braked hard in heavy traffic and a motorcycle nastily bumped into my (or rather my car’s) proud posterior leaving a few scratches! But on the highway, you can rely on Santro’s braking to decelerate from 100 kmph to 30 kmph very quickly. DO NOT TRY THIS HOWEVER!

(+) Acceleration and top speed.Though the acceleration is nothing to go ga-ga about, top speeds, as I have furtively tried out on long n’ lonely stretches of the 6 lane superhighway of NH 8, are in the range of 135 – 140 kmph. Ooh la la! And the Santro doesn’t bat an eyelid at this speed. No shakes, no jerks, no jitters. Umm..as smooth as cream. Leaves competition (Wagon R, what else) far far behind. Only once I encountered a Tata Indica which whooshed past me effortlessly at, maybe, 150 kmph.

(+) Transmission.The gear lever is quite smooth, though some extra effort is needed to engage the 5th gear. Gear change is hassle free, and ‘gear searching’ is almost unnecessary. You can rely on correct gear engagement everytime. Now that 6 months have passed, I find the lever needs some lubrication to maintain its earlier smoothness.

(+) Interiors.Nothing has faded or broken so far. The shine is still there. The power window on the right side gives a whirring noise, which I am sure, can be fixed on my next visit to the service station. Boot is quite ‘bootilicious’…er..I mean spacious.

(+) AC.Hmmm…Better than most of the Marutis, but not really way ahead. Takes some time to chill, particularly if the car had been parked in sunshine. Sunshine car no doubt, but ‘sunshine’ AC…umm...well. But once the interior is chilled, you really have to lower the blower fins and reduce blower speed to level 1.

Now the minuses

(-) Ground clearance. Many Santro owners may not acquiesce with me, but I have found that the Santro needs a higher ground clearance. If you are not very careful while driving over speed breakers (particularly the steeper ones), be prepared to be occasionally terrified by an abominable grating and screeching sound emanating from the Santro’s celebrated underbelly. I have experienced it on a number of occasions. The problem is aggravated if the Santro is carrying more than one person. On one occasion, the impact was so severe that the fuel gauge was dislodged within the fuel tank, and had to be fixed at the service station.

(-) Suspension. The driver has really no problem. The passengers on the rear seat though complain of a jerky ride over the not-so-smooth kind of roads/streets. This is a common problem with the Santro, and I have sensed the same.

(-) Inaccessibility of rear power window control.The switches should have been positioned behind the front power window control, on the handle bar of the right door. You really have to search for the switches awkwardly with your left hand without taking your eyes off the road. Once, I had a female colleague of my wife sitting behind me on the rear seat, and while searching for the switches, I accidentally…..well...some embarrassing stories are best left untold.

So, that’s my Santro for you.

Thanks as always for reading my stuff. Ratings and comments welcome.

© Sudipto Chakravarty 2006