One and only Xing. Review on Hyundai Santro Xing

Not a long time ago, 2 months to be precise I was at the 'car-roads' in my life, deciding on my first car. The car had to be spacious with good looks and excellent pickup economical, oozing with style and easy maintenance to boot! A car that would place me in cloud 9. Getting greedy....a philosophical friend advised.

I had heard and seen the santro in its earlier avatars and it was not even in my wish list. First step was to call up the dealers for a test drive appointment. Most of them were gracious (sales savvy?) enough to drive down to my home at Tambaram a southern suburb of Chennai.

Indica

First to come in was a Tata Indica. The Indica was the cutest of the lot and running on a phenomenal efficiency with Diesel. First thing to hit me in my face was the gear. For quite some time I was not sure whether I had put the right gear or even done it holding the Clutch! On closer inspection I found that the visibility on the Indica was comparable to a 'tank' that you regularly see in News channels. The driver literally feels like he is driving a tank looking out thru a tiny opening.

You would get used to it sir - The salesman assured me.

But hey no wonder there are so many Indicas on the road that have dents.60-70% percent of the Indica I saw on the roads had ugly dents. Some after a minor rendezvous with a cycle!

Palio

Agreed this car was the technically superior to the others. The driver has a decent view. It was also spacious and pickup was very good. The sore point was the '>' projection at the back like a C-Segment car in which the boot has been cut sideways. But the sales person started going paler when I took up the topics of fuel efficiency, maintenance and resale/running costs in the future if the Palio goes the Daewoo way.

''We will buy it back from you sir'' - The salesman chipped in. But the particular dealer I was with did not have any name in the user car market and it was easy to imagine what would happen later if I were to believe this salesman's words.

Maruthi

Zen, Alto and 800 are too cramped and small for tall families. I still remember the pains after traveling for a few hours on a Zen sometime ago. The Wagon-R was better off but it looked like a matchbox with the lid removed partially.

My other inspections included the Ford Ikon Flair and the Toyota Qualis which were fairly great machines with only my budget going against them.

With all options running out, Santro was the final call and frankly I did not have any expectations and was ready to submit to fate wiz driving an Indica.

But lo and behold - there was this stunning beauty gliding into the lanes onto our house. It was not tall and boxy not anymore. More curved almost looking like an Indica on the sides. The front was a stunner and a vast improvement over the previous versions. The changes were visible in the back as well with the cute looking eyes (stop lights) like a starry bride bedecked in fine jewelry waiting for her groom-to-be.

The interiors were plush and spacious - almost like an Indica. My aged parents and tall brothers had no fuss getting in and out of the car. The ride in the Xing was like a dream and the car zoomed thru the traffic with a stunning pickup reserved for bikes. The boot was big enough to hold a couple of medium sized suitcases with other minor assortments. It was double foldable to accommodate those large suitcases from the occasional airport trips. After the ride it just snuggled into the limited parking space in our house like a purring cat...Enough to bowl my wife over from her Maruthi leanings.

After driving the Xing for 600Kms now I can still say that the car rides like a dream and snuggles up cozily in the tiny parking lots at my office and home. It still leaves all the ambys, Indica-Ds, Qualis and maruthis behind after a signal crossing. It sips fuel like on diet giving me 12+ in city conditions with moderate use of AC. This should increase after the 1st service due this month. I do not need to downshift gears vigorously in traffic. The third gear would do unless there is a signal or other such stoppage. Also the car had taken about half a dozen scrapes a couple of them major and the body is still intact except for the beading and paint part. Even that is not visible unless you look carefully.

But everything has its downsides right? - The Xing though bigger and plusher than its earlier avatars still lacks the width at the back for 3 adults to sit comfortably. The pickup and performance diminishes with AC on and I need to downshift even for a brief stoppage or to overtake other vehicles. The ride at the back is still bumpy (compared to Indica) on bad roads though I could not complain much here having driven mostly in the driver seat :).

I have also 'seen' the test model of the next version Hyundai Getz zooming on the GST road looking more like the new Zen from the behind as well as in height. And then I know I have not made a bad decision in going for the one and only Xing. With its shortcomings, the Xing is still a car that makes you smile as you drive it around or park it. As my philosophical friend pointed out ''Nothing is perfect'' - For my budget and expectations the Xing was the tradeoff choice that kept everyone of us happy. Thank you Hyundai Motors for such a wonderful machine. Hope you keep the Santro's rolling in the years to come.