The Big Momma. Review on Hyundai Santro

Ziiiiipppp.........Zaaaaaappppp.............Zooooooooom.

We all witnessed it come here and then zip, zap and zoom soared the sales figures. But Hyundai has record of sorts. Had I been the CEO, I wouldn't have dared to be in India. Why? MUL is a huge player in India. It has a huge variety of cars in its portfolio such as Maruti 800, Maruti Zen, Maruti Esteem, Omni and even the Gypsy i.e. everything from small cars to an MUV. Then again, a sedan would still have been a good choice. Why again? M800 has huge sales figures, a back up of good service network - a household name. If as Hyundai CEO I had to roam on the roads of any city or village in India, I would have rejected any feasibility report handed by the best of agencies that would have told me to launch a small car, scared stiff by the quantum of M800 - almost every alternate car.

And yet, Hyundai launched the Santro, a small car and what an aggressive marketing they had! It talked of small car with attitude, roped in the energy actor - Sharukh to advertise their product, took advantage of the growing environmental concerns to quickly launch the computer chip control MPFI engine confirming the Euro-II and then the Bharat-II norms and later launched the more Zippier Santro Zip. MUL was completely taken aback by their attitude and the sluggishness developed because of their market monopolistic position.

The end result was that the Santro soon ate away the M800 pie. It achieved miraculous figures in a fraction of period what MUL had taken to achieve.

Santro had to necessarily be small and yet it had to overcome all the disadvantages of the Maruti namely:

• The cabin room should still be bigger.

  
  




• Getting in and out in M800 was difficult; especially for saree clad Indian women. Santro should not pose such difficulties.

  
  




• Engine needs to be bigger and more fuel-efficient.

  
  

So the clever Koreans went the Japanese way. If you can't expand sideways then the only direction left is upwards. So enter the Tall new small car - the SANTRO.

The Santro doesn't look good. When I saw my neighbours new red Santro, I almost said ''Chee''. It almost looks like my neighboring aunty - big and broad Panju, like Mrs. Doubtfire or The Big Momma or like Lakshmi Godbole (Chachi420). To be honest, it's not at all ugly and with time I started liking the looks. The car has a high waistline and the front is a short steep slope, almost 60 deg. Of course the front grille of the Zip drive (not Iomega's) makes it look a bit sober. The headlights are slightly cat like but more bulbous. The rear portion is attractive though. The vertical arrangement of brake/turn/reverse light combi is unique. The words ''Hyundai Santro'', ''Zip Drive'', ''Eco-friendly'', ''Euro-II compliant'' are often found on the back. The door mirror is only on the driver side. If you look from far, it appears like too much weight lies on the poor small wheels. It is also the least aerodynamic.

The insides are much more comfortable. Because of the tall design, aunty can get in and out easily. The front dashboard is apt with all the controls, knobs, hand brakes, hand gears easily accessible and dials well lit and visible. It accommodates 2 in the front and 3 at the back. But our neighbours are from ''khate pite ghar ke''. Only four of them can fit comfortably inside. I manage to squeeze in at the back, though. The driver seat is a bit uncomfortable as when I sit in front, uncle always manages to nudge me with his elbow, whenever he changes gears. So I have to shift leftwards. He also complains that the brake and clutch pedals are a bit too stiff.

The rear seats are tall and high above the ground. Hyundai has ensured that there is not just ample leg space but also ample headroom. It offers a clear view of the road ahead and pumps up the dignity - a feeling of superiority stemmed by ''looking down'' on others on the road. Forget M800 or Zen, even Honda City looks short before this Big Momma. One thing admirable is the cooling.

Under the short sloping hood is a big 1000 cc Epsilon engine with 4 cylinders. The disadvantage over Zen/M800 is that it has only 3 valves per cylinder as against 4 valves on other cars that can produce only 55 bhp as against 60 bhp of the Zen. And yet with that huge body and 3 valves per cylinder engine, Santro can be quite zippier. It accelerates from 0 to 100 Kmph in 17.23 secs faster than M800 and Daewoo Matiz, but slightly slower than the Zen. This zippiness is primarily because of the electronic module. The top speed is 137 Kmph - certainly not a speed demon. But then the car is fun to steer through the city traffic. The tires may be short but are wider and offers more stability than M800 at high speeds. The suspension is bit stiff and you feel the thuds as it rides on say a manhole cover or a speed breaker. It offer some 11 to 12 Kmpl efficiency in city and around 17 Kmpl on highways almost on par with Zen but the lighter M800 is more fuel efficient.

I am bit too confused whether too recommend it or not. It is good car definitely and the high sales figures say that too, but it has its set of flaws too that I have mentioned above. So on a tight situation I give it the batsman advantage and recommend it.