[iampulo]

Do look at this Santro Gone But Not Forgetten Series of Hyundai Santro! Its a nostalgic ride:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmmA...annel=evoIndia

My Santro Story:

We bought our Santro Xing XS model in 2005. It was the top variant with all chrome finish and all power windows. I must say I would check out every Santro visible in our Township just to reaffirm that our car is still the topmost trim. I shall always be indebted to that car as because I used to sneak in and drive the car in stealth mode. I learnt how to start a car, how to reverse, how to drive, how to corner into a gate/narrow lane in Our Santro. All without my father's slightest knack of knowledge. Its only when i used to bruise the car, or scrape it, did my I reveal it to my father. Embarassing to say, but my father gave me a Driving License(via a broker, all i did was mindlessly signed some papers, never went to RTO) because anyway he couldnt stop me from driving our Santro in his absence, and he was afraid i might get into some legal trouble!!

[GTO]

The Santro had created quite a buzz in the market when it was launched in the late 90s. Me & my friend went to see it at a dealer and were shocked by how ugly it was. Told the dealer "save your money, cut your losses and forfeit the Hyundai dealership for another brand". How wrong could we have been

The Santro was the ultimate ugly duckling, although later it seemed improved because we got used to it & Hyundai brought out facelifts. Once I drove the Santro, I appreciated the tallboy advantages (ingress, egress, seating position), torquey motor and interiors that were better than the Marutis. At the time, there was "Maruti fatigue" among many existing / future car owners who simply wanted something different from Maruti's lineup.

Additional reading:

- Great tribute & history of the Indian Santro

- Must-read book by BVR Subbu, a powerful personality who was instrumental in Hyundai's Indian success story.

[fhdowntheline]

Ah, Santro, my first "purchased in India" car. I remember checking out the Palio, with its gorgeous body but indifferent sales staff, the Indica DICOR DLG, with its incrediblly unrefined cabin and engine and finally, the car that we almost closed in on but not quite- the still ubiquitious Wagon-R. The sales lady from Sai Service took our regrets with a smile, and handed out a complimentary umbrella. I made amends a few years later by purchasing my DZire from them. At which time, I was told that she was now a senior manager in the dealership (no wonder).

But back to the Santro, so it was finally at Kothari Hyundai (Tilak Road) in January 2003 that I finalized my white baby hatch. On the very first day, while turning right on to the traffic, a two wheeler came in from the wrong side and dashed my right rear door. Thankfully it did not leave much of a mark and I pretty much drove it without any repair. But I felt happy for the instant "ordainment" into the real world.
My car had a couple of technical niggles through its ownership period. One was discovered very early on when I took it to the service station for the first service. The SA said that the water pump may need to be replaced as he did not get a good "feel" of the car engine note. Mind you he did hook up the OBD diagnostic which did not come out with any fault. But it was purely his intuition based on experience. I was ok with it since it was all under warranty. A few years later, the car started to give out some sputtering while driving, and the problem this time was due to the clogged fuel injectors, presumably due to the newly launched "premium" fuel that I occasionally used. So I was told to stick to non-blended fuel strictly. But that apart, the car turned out to be a steady, if not exciting performer. On highways, it could hold its own, although never meant for high speed driving, it wasnt as wobbly as one would conventionally think.
It was equipped with a Kenwood tape audio whose front plate I used to diligently remove while parking in unfamiliar places for a long time. It went to places like South Konkan, through non-existent roads, and yet did not flinch. Was sad to part ways with it but then it made way for another workhorse, the Dzire VDI. That car deserves a thread of its own.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by GTO

... At the time, there was "Maruti fatigue" among many existing / future car owners who simply wanted something different from Maruti's lineup. ...

What a right way to put it!

I however, love the facelifted Santro Xing! What a change that was. I have a lost but not forgotten list of cars, which, I couldn't own, but like to own or rather collect and this is one of the few cars in the list.

[sidindica]

This was the official launch brochure in 1998, courtesy zibby and shreyfiesta. Notice carefully, Hyundai was way back planning to launch a semi automatic version of the car as well (yes, the clutchless manual or IMT) but it never happened.

[iampulo]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

It was equipped with a Kenwood tape audio whose front plate I used to diligently remove while parking in unfamiliar places for a long time.

Same here, my father was equally worried when our car was parked outside, in our trips to relatives/festive outings that he used to remove our so precious SONY VCD series multimedia player front plate along with car documents. My Uncle had his JVC stereo system. And to be honest, I was jealous of the JVC system too, because it had DVD read feature!

[iampulo]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

What a right way to put it!
I have a lost but not forgotten list of cars, which, I couldn't own, but like to own or rather collect and this is one of the few cars in the list.

Would love to see your list of cars, Sir!

[mayankk]

My brother went out and bought one Zipdrive way back in 01-02, I think, without any discussions with anyone. Ultimate sacrilege it was, as the existing car a jellybean 97 Zen LX, if I recall correctly. I didn't touch it for many months, but once I did, the sheer departure in comfort - whether its suspension or the power steering, or the peppy engine - sort of made me give up the Zen by about 2004-5.

Once brother shifted base out of India, I got an essentially new car with all jing-bang installed(Sunfilms, xplod amp and woofer, 2150 helmets, xplod stereo) for my MBA. A lot many parties, commutes, and "bhai gaadi de de please, date hai" happened with that.

The car was absolutely joyous in Delhi traffic, as well as highway runs, and also had a full header back free flow installed in it. Sounded like a Lamborghini going at full chat, at 80 itself!

The most reliable car I have ever owned, or been owned in my immediate family.

[Aagi_88]

It still feels like yesterday our first personal car
Hyundai santro 1.1 ziplus Ls variant coming home on 7th july 2002, i was 14 at that time so didn’t know the performance and driving characteristics of the car but since i got behind the wheel i feel it was one of the best engines with low end tourque. It was good long 16 years of hassle free ownership covering over 2.5lakh kms with only major maintenance being the engine mounts clutch and tyres and once a full body repaint, apart from this everything was stock, in 2017 we got our brezza zdi home and santro had tyre replacement and some other maintenance due. Dad being a practical person didn’t want to spend money which is more then the actual value of the car, so finally in july 2018 we sold of the car. Attaching some final parting shot of the car

[TheHelix0202]

Dad owned a top-end white Xing back in 2007 in H'bad. Never got a chance to see or ride it. But I did enjoy Hyundai's showroom brochures and leaflets.

[rsidd]

My parents replaced their old Santro with a new Santro a couple of years ago. They don't drive much any more but are happy with it. Hyundai really messed up on this: they were in the "tall boy" space before Wagon-R, but Maruti is still going strong with the latter. A good modern Santro would certainly have a market. Maruti is selling 20,000 Wagon-R a month. A modern Santro that still retained what made it attractive could easily sell at least half that, which would make it the #2 or #3 selling car in Hyundai's stable.

[Azalactone]

Originally Posted by sidindica

This was the official launch brochure in 1998, courtesy zibby and shreyfiesta. Notice carefully, Hyundai was way back planning to launch a semi automatic version of the car as well (yes, the clutchless manual or IMT) but it never happened.

I remember this brochure. I saw it in early 1999 when my father had visited the Sharayu Hyundai showroom at Navi Mumbai. The Santro really was a far superior product compared to Maruti 800,Zen. It was probably the first car in India to get MPFI engine. Actually we should thank Hyundai for bringing in the competition. I believe they were the first car company to start the concept of "Customer Service" with a dedicated call centre team.

After i checked my friend's Santro Xing in 2005 i regretted choosing Alto over Santro Xing in 2004. The Santro's 4-cylinder 1.1L epsilon engine was butter smooth compared to Alto's 3-cylinder 0.8L F8D.

My first encounter with Santro was in 1998 at Vadodara. In school someone's father had bought a Silver Santro DX. Everyone surrounded the car and were completely gazing and curious.

Those days when the competition had finally arrived at Maruti Suzuki's doorstep were very exciting. Hyundai Santro, Daewoo Matiz and Tata Indica completely took Maruti by surprise. Infact these products forced Suzuki to launch the Alto and WagonR. I firmly believe if it weren't for Hyundai, Suzuki would be still selling us outdated products like they do in Pakistan.

Maruti Suzuki's sheer arrogance was when a top manager claimed that they knew Indian market more than anyone and India didn't need MPFI engines. The competition forced them to rethink.

[JediKnight]

Santro was my first car purchased in 2005. Served me perfectly for 9 years. Perfectly reliable and never let me down. When my wife was pregnant with my first child, she went into labour at 3 AM in the morning. I took her to the hospital in the Santro. On that day Santro started on half a crank, utterly reliable as always. I remember thinking to myself what a great car this is.

[rsidd]

Originally Posted by Azalactone

I firmly believe if it weren't for Hyundai, Suzuki would be still selling us outdated products like they do in Pakistan.

Maybe not outdated, but expensive! I had a look at Pak-Suzuki's website. Currently 1 PKR ≈ 0.3 INR. They list Alto starting at 21 lakh PKR (~ 7 lakh INR), Wagon-R starting at 30 lakh PKR (~10 lakh INR), and Swift at 40 lakh PKR (~13 lakh INR)!

Competition has been good for pricing in India, as well as quality and variety.

[achyutaghosh]

One key factor that is not talked of but am sure led to the success of Santro in India was it's killer AC. In fact, we still have the current gen Santro and the AC reputation went a big way us going for it.