Santro GL - Excellent Car in This Segment


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I have completed 44+K on ODO with my Santro GL purchased on Nov 2007. I came to conclusion after TD many vehicles in this segment. I would like to share my experience regards to my Santro since the car has completed 4 years now.

Exterior: This is better leave up to readers since today when the industry is flooded with too many cars each individual have their own perspective. I personally judge the car by its performance, maintenance cost, FE & very important the budget I have.

Interior: I am 5.7 and daily commute alone to office so I will say this is too much spacious for my daily need. However even on weekends I travel along with my wife, 1.5 year son and my mom n dad & is well suited for my needs. (Infact this car is always suitable for my needs but no car is made yet which is suited for my greed).

About the Santro GL: The car has excellent pick up in this segment. The car provides an ease comfort in bumper to bumper traffic in Pune City. Gears are like sliding a spoon on butter. FE is something which I am happy. I am getting a constant average of 13 to 14 in City & 18+ in highways with 100% AC on. Once while doing a Pune- Thane-Pune-Thane-Pune trip in single day I have achieved a FE of 22 KMPL on express way. This was done while my brother got transferred to Thane & helped him in shifting his stuff in Santro. This was after the 2nd free service at about 8K on ODO. The car was doing constant 80-90 KM speed during this trip. The ride quality is best at 3.80 L worth car. I myself have tried at speeds up to 120+ on express way & other certain National Highways but found that above 100 you need to hold a force to get a stable steering grip. In short above 100 I do not recommend this tall boy to run for safety purpose.

Modifications I have done: I have recently replaced the wheels with tubeless upsize (Michelin XM+ about 37K on ODO) and set of alloys (Star spokes) which is giving a better grip on road & of course a sporty look to the car. I have also upgraded my ICE to Sony HU (cdx-gt494u), Rear Speakers (jbl gt5-s396) and front speakers (Sony xplod xs-gtf10262).
I have done only the free servicing & the first paid servicing from Sanjay Hyundai dealer in Pune & post that I am servicing the car from a local garage near my house. The reason is he will do the servicing in front of me. I will seat on chair next to car & watch the person working n the car. This gives me 100 % reliability about the work done.

Some negatives –
The gear knob placement is acting like obstacle if an average tall person seats ahead. Basically the person has to sit in strict position without moving his right leg (Sawdhan position) else the gear knob hits his leg.

The stock light especially using a dipper is really painful. This is not sufficient for night driving. Many times while driving in city I have to use my high beam. I do have a habit when there is other person coming from front I switch back to dipper but in these terms Santro lights really sucks. I guess you must have noticed many Santro on road which uses high beam for the same reason.

I will upload the pics very soon….
 
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This is an excellent car. I was thinking of one as a stop gap car till I buy my next car. It is really difficult to find a good example in the second hand market. The very fact that people are reluctant to sell means they are happy with the car. And if the owner is happy, the car is good.
 
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Ours is also Santro XL , bought in 2006. Excellent car.Two things i dont like is steering becomes very light ,one has to hold it very tightly above 95+ and the accelerator ,brake and clutch pedal are in higher position
 

350Z

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Santro indeed is one of the best family cars. Even today, people are buying this car for its practicality. I remember the experience in my neighbour's brand new Xing a few years ago. Boy, it was such a pleasant and spacious feel inside. I can notice your car in your avatar, but do upload some better pictures soon.

I have done only the free servicing & the first paid servicing from Sanjay Hyundai dealer in Pune & post that I am servicing the car from a local garage near my house. The reason is he will do the servicing in front of me. I will seat on chair next to car & watch the person working n the car. This gives me 100 % reliability about the work done.
You can do it in authorized service centres as well. This is a good habit though.

Drive Safe,
350Z
 
Thread Starter #5
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You can do it in authorized service centres as well. This is a good habit though.
Sanjay Hyundai do not allow me to go into there working area to see what the mechanics are doing. Hence I decided to go for this alternative. Atleast I have a peace mind that the car is serviced properly. here the only pain is I cannot have all the things done under one roof. Like I service the car from garage. before that I take the car for washing. Post servicing I will take car to tyre shop to do the wheel rotation & alignment. But I am ok to do this since I have seen the positive results
 

350Z

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Sanjay Hyundai do not allow me to go into there working area to see what the mechanics are doing.
That’s strange. You should try out at some other service centre perhaps. The other process sounds quite time consuming.

Drive Safe,
350Z
 
Thread Starter #7
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I doubt if any of the other service centres will allow yu to there main area. They have a customer area from where you can have a view through the windows but its not clear as expected. Agreed that the process is time consuming but I service my car once a year at approx 7-8 Kms of running & spending 1 whole day is not an issue. I usually get the car washing done early morning & then come to garage for servicing. The servicing requires max 2 hours. so in all I spend 5 hours in total - 1 hr for washing, 2 hrs for servicing , 1 hour for wheel rotation & alignment & 1 hr for transit :)
 
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Goa Hyundai (where I bought my i10) has a customer lounge overlooking the complete service area. You can stand at the window and watch your car being serviced in the comfort of the AC. They however do allow you into the service area if required. Many times they actually call you in, specially if some part requires replacement which is not mentioned in the service schedule.
 
Thread Starter #9
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But you may not be able to check if the mechanic has put down all the old oil & put the new 3 Ltrs on new oil in chamber. ( i guess this is basic term for me :)
 
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Interior: I am 5.7 and daily commute alone to office so I will say this is too much spacious for my daily need. However even on weekends I travel along with my wife, 1.5 year son and my mom n dad & is well suited for my needs. (Infact this car is always suitable for my needs but no car is made yet which is suited for my greed).

I liked your statement in bold. In India, people purchase cars for status, rather cars are perceived as status symbol. Good that you went by your needs and not greed.

I am also looking at santro gls or alto k10 vxi.
 
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Hi. I have a santro too. With regard to headlamps I suggest you change your bulb to 90-100. I have also put in fog lamps from the dealier itself. It really helps. Check it out.
 
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indeed it is a great model. I still believe Hyundai should have updated this model. Its still a very good buy for that price. Till Eon launched , i have seen lots of new Santro's on road. Now, many of them might have opted for Eon rather than Santro.
 
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welcome to TAI and thankyou for sharing your ownership report.Santro is a great tall boy family car from hyundai.Have seen many owners crossing upwards 70K mark and still going on.

Which is the brand you are now using for 90-100 & what's the cost please?
You can go in for philips extreme 90/100 or you can also try out osram night breakers 55/60.Both provide good job with the lights thrown.
 

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