The Santro was a big success. Over the years a bigger, more powerful engine and a comprehensive face-lift has consolidated the Santro’s position as the best-seller in this segment. The Santro Xing is a modern, well-engineered car, with plenty of innovative thinking like the ‘tall-boy’ design and a compact size. A minimal increase in length has increased boot space slightly, and the large, oblong headlamps and Volkswagen Polo-like taillights look very good.

 

The car has a good fitting and finishing. It has a ‘tinny’ feel in the metal. It doesn’t feel as solid as the Palio or Corsa, and the crumple zones (a safety feature) mean the sheet metal dents easily. The face-lift means the Santro looks fewer cartoonists, and has wider appeal. ABS is now an option on all variants, and there are now more features, including a spoiler on the XS version. Revisions have been made to the interior as well, eliminating some of the fussier detailing and leaving a high-quality, spacious cabin that is easy to use and understand. A high point is the ease of entry and exit, along with the tall seating position; combined with the vast amounts of head- and leg-room, this makes for a very practical interior. There is more than enough space for four, but five is quite uncomfortable in the narrow car. It isn’t ergonomically perfect either: the throttle is awkwardly placed, and in the top-line XS model, the power window switches for rear passengers are located between the front seats, and are difficult to reach.

 

The interiors have been tidied up and made more practical. There’s more storage space with additional bins and an enlarged boot which is at least useable now, if not the most spacious in the class. The quality of the interior plastics, switchgear and seat fabrics are as good as ever and feel a notch above the others.

 

The large windows also make for a pleasant, airy atmosphere, and not much noise filters through to the cabin, making for a fairly restful environment to travel. Equipment levels have risen somewhat, but each variant offers only a marginal rise in equipment for a fairly big leap in the price. A high note is the inclusion of a good number of cubby-holes.

 

The Xing’s 1.1 Epsilon engine is a refined little motor, not terribly powerful, with only 63bhp, but it’s tractable in urban conditions, helped along by punchy gearing. The engine doesn’t have much top-end whack though, and struggles to get to serious highway speeds. Still, it works well in stop-go traffic, where its slick gearshift, refinement and tiny turning circle make it as easy to drive. The auto version is easier still in the city, negating the need for shifting, but it’s a pain on the highway, where it hampers performance.

 

Fuel economy is superb, the manual version giving 10.3kpl in the city and 16.3kpl on the highway. Still, the flexibility of the engine and the short gearing mean that the engine does not need to be strained in the city; drive with a light foot and the Xing will reward you. The automatic version is more sluggish and thirsty, but it complements the car’s urban nature perfectly. It may have only three gears, but it is adequately responsive and makes city driving much easier.

 

Handling again is superb in the city, where the light, deft controls come into focus, but show it a highway and it scurries for cover. There is far too much body roll, and the ride can get choppy at the back, getting only worse with speed.

 

The Xing is very much an urban runner —the light controls, tight turning circle and good visibility make it easy to fight for vital inches in city traffic. However, the tall stance makes it highly vulnerable to crosswinds, especially on the highway, and it simply doesn’t have the composure of a European hatch. High-speed corners are quite unsettling, especially if there’s a bump or two in the tarmac, which will ruffle the Xing’s feathers very easily — it’s best to take it easy.

 

 

It is hugely functional, comfortable, and phenomenally easy to use in the city and always fetches a decent resale price. Hyundai has also built up a solid reputation for after-sales service, cheap spares and fairly reliable cars, which makes it an easy car to live with. The best variant is probably the XG, XK, XL, AT, XO; the XS adds only a spoiler, body-coloured handles and some knick-knacks for quite a steep premium, none of which will hold their value.

Filed under: Hyundai Cars in India