[volkman10]

NDTV's first look of Santro, ( EXCLUSIVE DETAILS)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=sLIQ4O1ZdZI

[FIAT3031]

Originally Posted by 9thsphinx

I beg to differ from the general opinion here.
I think Hyundai has got a winner here! I'm afraid I don't see otherwise.

I'd 2nd that opinion. Considering the current competition models in the market from Maruti: Celerio & Wagon R both which are not known for their beauty but Value for Money.
So in my opinion, the target customer (who is getting all the features of a higher segment in this car) will be much happier.

And we're all reacting to the images - I'm sure most us would have reacted to so many other cars (In my case I recall the Nexon which looked just like a Hulk version of Indica), however once they're visible on roads - the perception changes.

Also if we consider competitor Maruti models & their interiors - They're no where close to what Hyundai has to offer. [Maruti interiors cry of CHEAP plastic & cheap quality]

I'm sure use of HSS (high strength steel) will also add to the safety aspect.
(The new swift has scored 2 Star in NCAP, wonder what WagonR & Celerio would score)

Good job done by Hyundai !!

[.anshuman]

Just like how Hyundai had invited the media in past for preview drives of the camouflaged Grand i10 and Creta before the actual unveil and launch, this time too, they invited Team-BHP to showcase their all new compact hatchback - the Santro. The car is going to be launched on a date that will be exactly 20 years after Hyundai made their India debut with the original Santro.

We were taken to the Hyundai’s plant in Chennai for this event, where they let us have a quick look at the new Santro on the stage and even let us drive the car on a small test track. We were not allowed to click photographs or shoot videos, but they have released 2 photographs of the uncamouflaged car.





Coming to the car, it's based on a new platform and does not share anything with the i10 or for that matter, the old Santro, except the name. The new Santro is going to be positioned below the Grand i10 to compete with likes of the Maruti Celerio and Tata Tiago.

The front end looks heavily inspired by the discontinued i10. The headlamps are positioned in a similarly fashioned horizontal manner, and the bumper houses a huge black "Hyundai" grille and fog lamps. The ORVMs on the displayed Asta variant, were electrically adjustable. The tailgate holds a rear camera, while the rear bumper has black inserts and houses two parking sensors. The car will also come with rear wash, wipe and defogger options.

On the inside, the Santro will have steering-mounted controls for the infotainment system, which has a 7-inch touchscreen interface with Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and Mirror link connectivity and voice recognition. The touchscreen will double up as a display for the rear parking camera. The new Santro will come with AC vents for the rear passengers - a segment-first feature. These will be two vents that can independently controlled, but have a common air volume control knob, which can also be used to shut the vents. The front and rear seats had fixed headrests, while the material for the seats is PU type with fabric inserts in middle part. The car will not come with automatic climate control. The power window buttons are placed on the center console, behind the gear lever. I could not have a look at the boot of the car as the car was locked.

Ergonomics are top notch with good quality switchgear. Overall quality, including fit and finish, is easily a segment benchmark. It was the original Santro that introduced the "Tallboy" theme in the Indian market and the new Santro too has excellent headroom at the front and rear. I couldn’t get enough time in the car to properly judge the legroom, but the overall space felt ample by segment standards. The good thing is that the rear seat is slightly reclined and is not too upright, Hyundai's presentation pointed out that the rear bench has been kept flat to comfortably accommodate three passenger and there is some extra bolstering on the sides.

In terms of safety feature, the new Santro will have ABS + EBD and driver airbag as standard across all variants. The car will ride on 14" steel rims shod with 165/70 section tyres.

The full list of specifications and features has not been revealed yet. Still, we have learnt that it is going to be powered by a 1.1-litre, 4-cylinder, petrol engine, making 68 BHP and 99 Nm of torque. Hyundai's first in-house developed AMT will also debut in this new car. Additionally, the vehicle will be available with a factory-fitted CNG option. The CNG version makes 58 BHP and is equipped with an 8 kg CNG tank fitted in the boot.

Hyundai is offering a 3-Year/1,00,000 km standard warranty and 3-Year Road Side Assistance for the new Santro. Pre-bookings for new Santro will be 100% online, from October 10, 2018 till October 22, 2018 with Rs. 11,100 as the booking amount for the first 50,000 customers as an introductory offer.

Driving Impressions:
Hyundai had both, the AMT and manual variants available for the test drive, which was held on a very small and smooth test track with speeds limited to 80 km/h. Here are my observations from the 15-20 minutes of total driving time.

The 4-cylinder engine is smooth and a good change from the current trend of moving to 3-cylinder engines. The manual car has a super light clutch, probably the lightest I have experienced in a long time. The mass market is going to love it. The 5-speed manual transmission feels light and shifts are smooth, but the throw of the gear lever is on the longer side. The gearing is not as short as the old Santro's, which had a super-peppy low-end. Here, the gearing is taller and the low-end response isn't as sprightly. Still, it feels peppy enough and the engine feels stronger once it crosses the 2,000 rpm mark. For its specs, the car is adequately quick except at the top-end of the power band. The engine isn't as rev-happy as Maruti's K-Series engine. Low-end and mid-range driveability is good and the car pulls cleanly even from low revs. It's just that revving hard isn’t as rewarding. For city driving, the engine is going to be a good performer. With the light controls, especially the steering and clutch, and good driveability, it's easy to potter around town.

The road surface we were driving the car on, was sort of perfectly paved, and not a good place to judge the ride quality and with the limited speed that we were allowed to hit and the straight track, I don't have much to say about high-speed manners or handling. This car isn't sporty, but around the long curve of the track, it held its line well.

The good news is that the AMT is well-tuned. The gear selection lever follow the traditional pattern with R, N, D and + & - modes for tiptronic (manual) gear changes. The car starts smoothly, albeit with a bit of lag compared to the manual car. Still, there is no jerk at the start and during gear changes. The creep speed when you release the brake pedal with no accelerator input is higher than Maruti's AMTs and feels natural like a conventional automatic. Driven with a light foot, the Santro AMT upshifts early even as low as 2,000 rpm and the shift action is smooth. The gearshift logic is well-tuned. I tried a few different throttle inputs at different speeds and gears and the car responded well. It's just that you can’t completely ignore the fact that it's an AMT. So, gearshifts takes slightly longer and there is a pause in power delivery as is in the case of all AMTs. It behaves like a lazy automatic, which is a good thing with the smoothness of the gear changes and no jerks. With the A pedal pushed to the floor, the AMT lets the engine rev all the way till the redline before making an upshift. It even drops gears to take the revs up although the shifts happens in typical AMT (lazy) fashion. Flick the gear lever to the side and the car goes to manual mode, behaves almost like a clutch-less manual (which technically it is) except for the longer shift times. But, you can make your choice of gear, which may be preferred by enthusiasts for sporty driving.

This was a drive of only a few minutes and this is all I could observe.

[motorworks]

So Hyundai has done most things right, most aspects of the Santro are conventional, sales number oriented and not really a market revelation or something like that.

When they stopped the i10, they must have realised that they had lost an important car, in terms of market positioning. Maruti continued to make up the numbers in large thru Celerio and the Wagon R. May be Hyundai ignored this segment for long and had no real plans for whatever reason.
So one fine day some presentation must have pointed out loss of sales, and they must have thought lets do something immediate. And hence they have taken out the i10 platform, earlier engines and hurriedly designed a new car, which looks better than a Celerio, but not as cohesive as a Tiago.

Hyundai figures that people will go gaga over touch screens and gimmicks, so they do not bother with anything radical.

Not bashing Hyundai here, but what they have done is a very commercially based decision, nothing that sort of stands out.

Whats probably the most shocking is the way they have gone about with the features. So even if someone spends 5-6 Lakhs on a AMT, they would not get the passenger Airbag!

Now is the time for Tata to strike. Make dual airbags standard and call out the same in all marketing efforts. Tata has to do something like this to not cede market share to the Santro.

[rsidd]

Originally Posted by motorworks

When they stopped the i10, they must have realised that they had lost an important car, in terms of market positioning. Maruti continued to make up the numbers in large thru Celerio and the Wagon R. May be Hyundai ignored this segment for long and had no real plans for whatever reason.

Why would they stop an "important" car? They have the Eon below, and the i10 Grand above -- i10 sales were getting cannibalized from both ends.

So one fine day some presentation must have pointed out loss of sales,

Reality check:
Hyundai car sales (rather, shipments): 38016 in Jan 2017 (i10 was discontinued shortly after), 50000+ now. i10 sales 1234 that month, vs i10 Grand 12957 then (more than 10fold more!) and 12174 now. Eon 3990 then and 4663 now. Why would they have continued the i10?

and they must have thought lets do something immediate. And hence they have taken out the i10 platform, earlier engines and hurriedly designed a new car, which looks better than a Celerio, but not as cohesive as a Tiago.

No it's a new platform.

Not bashing Hyundai here,

So what qualifies as "bashing" in your opinion?

[DrPriyankT]

As a newly minted Grand i10 owner (sorry could not write the ownership issues due to new job pressure), I can understand why Hyundai is Number 2 in our market behind the gorilla named Maruti. They get the pulse of the customer very well. Good easy to drive cars with good quality interiors and a awesome price range.


I like whatever I have read about the upcoming Santro and feel it will sell around 12-15k units per month as it seems to have all it takes to take on the Celerio and the Tiago. Only worry for Hyundai should be that it should not cannibalize the Grand i10, but with the new i10 coming next year, it should be a short term issue.


I also feel that for us Indians, Hyundai is perceived a more premium brand than Tata, hence Tiago can have some sales going away from it. These are my 2 cents.

[volkman10]

The TVC of the New Santro!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8sWIsoCI1U

[Raonick]

Found one more high res image of the car while booking it on Hyundai's website. The image showed up when I chose the colour (Fiery Red) I wanted to book but it was later taken down. Here it is!

[Guna]

Originally Posted by Raonick

Found one more high res image of the car while booking it on Hyundai's website. The image showed up when I chose the colour (Fiery Red) I wanted to book but it was later taken down. Here it is!

If at all I ever buy this car, I am going to get the mask around the grill painted to the body colour. Here is a sample

[drmohitg]

I feel this is a step down for Hyundai in terms of looks. They are always known for great designs in their cars right from the cheapest Eon to the costliest Santa Fe. But this looks like a standard Maruti Alto/Celerio kind of a design with a body shell mounted on 4 wheels. Side profile is the worst angle to look at it. The earlier Santro used to be such a good looking car.

[vinair]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

The good news is that the AMT is well-tuned. The gear selection lever follow the traditional pattern with P, R, N, D and + & - modes for tiptronic (manual) gear changes. The car starts smoothly, albeit with a bit of lag compared to the manual car. Still, there is no jerk at the start and during gear changes. The creep speed when you release the brake pedal with no accelerator input is higher than Maruti's AMTs and feels natural like a conventional automatic. Driven with a light foot, the Santro AMT upshifts early even as low as 2,000 rpm and the shift action is smooth. The gearshift logic is well-tuned. I tried a few different throttle inputs at different speeds and gears and the car responded well. It's just that you can’t completely ignore the fact that it's an AMT. So, gearshifts takes slightly longer and there is a pause in power delivery as is in the case of all AMTs. It behaves like a lazy automatic, which is a good thing with the smoothness of the gear changes and no jerks. With the A pedal pushed to the floor, the AMT lets the engine rev all the way till the redline before making an upshift. It even drops gears to take the revs up although the shifts happens in typical AMT (lazy) fashion. Flick the gear lever to the side and the car goes to manual mode, behaves almost like a clutch-less manual (which technically it is) except for the longer shift times. But, you can make your choice of gear, which may be preferred by enthusiasts for sporty driving.

Looks like the Santro AMT comes with a electric clutch actuator and not a hydraulic one. May the electric actuator has a better response time and ensures smoother shifts?

[vishnana]

Typically AMT vehicles did not have the need for having 'P' mode due to simple mechanism like Manual gearbox. I mean if we want the mechanical lock we can engage 'D' mode to be ensured that wheel is locked in gear 1. What can be the need for parking mode in new Santro ?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Autocar India first drive impressions (Doesn't show the car!) of the new Santro -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NT-E-nrJ9M

[TheDoctor]

Originally Posted by Raonick

Found one more high res image of the car while booking it on Hyundai's website. The image showed up when I chose the colour (Fiery Red) I wanted to book but it was later taken down. Here it is!

Any idea on the cancellation policy? The advert say there are no cancellation charges, but the T&C link on the website says there will be standard deduction of Rs. 3000/ on cancellation.

[jaaz]

Hyundai is still not ready with the car, but they want the customers to blindly book the car. The response to enquiry is acknowledged with an email as follows:

Dear Xxxx
Thank you for your interest in Hyundai.

To download the brochure of your favorite Hyundai car, please Click here!

And, If you click the link, it will just take you to the website with no details of Santro Brochure.

Worse, is the SMS received from the company, where the link takes you to download UC Browser, with no trace of brochure. A call to the call centre is also waste of time, since they do not have any details, except an advice to book the car.

Come on Hyundai, delays do happen in our country, but you need not fool potential customers. Just acknowledge it.