Hyundai Santro Xing

It has been over 15 years since Hyundai made its entry into India. That also means it’s close to a decade since the Santro Xing has been out here in the market. Called the Hyundai Atos in many parts of the world, the Santro Xing was launched in India in 2003 and is being produced at the Hyundai factory down south in Chennai. Let us first look into the specifications of this car.

The Santro Xing is a hatchback powered by a 1086cc 4 cylinder engine. This is a little smaller than the engines offered on cars like Maruti Swift, Ritz and Brio. Consequently, the max power delivered here is also lower than the average 87PS delivered on those cars. The Santro Xing can give a max power of around 63PS at 5500 RPM. This translates to a max torque of 9.8 Nm at 3000 RPM. The car runs on petrol or LPG and has a fuel tank capacity of 35 liters. Speaking of dimensions, the Santro Xing measures 3565 x 1525 x 1590 with an overall wheelbase of 2380mm. The Santro Xing is available at a starting price of Rs. 3.03 lakhs (Ex-showroom, Delhi).

Manufacturer Claim On Fuel

Given that the Santro Xing is not as powerful as the other cars we have reviewed previously, the mileage offered on the Xing should technically be higher than those above. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case. According to ARAI certified test results released by Hyundai, the Santro Xing is expected to give 17.92 kmpl under standard conditions. Again, these are much better driving conditions compared to your regular city roads and so what you actually see on road could be lower than this. Let’s see if it is indeed the case from the test drive reports and user reviews below.

Test Drive and Customer Feedback

Gaadi.com in their review report say the mileage delivered is higher than what is claimed on the ARAI certified tests. The petrol version of the car was seen to be giving close to 23.7 kmpl on highways and on city roads, the delivered mileage is reported to be around 17kmpl. The overall reported mileage is thus close to 18.7 kmpl which is pretty healthy. The numbers reported are for the non-AC variant though which means with AC on, the mileage delivered could be lesser.

In a forum thread comparing the Xing with cars from other segments like Wagon R and Suzuki Swift, CarWale notes that the mileage on Santro Xing may be very comparable with the more powerful cars when AC is on. The poster claims the mileage on Hyundai Santro Xing to be in the range of 11-13 kmpl on city roads which is not exceptional by any means for a 1100cc car.

If you live in a city which has bumper-to-bumper traffic in peak hours (well, who doesn’t?), Santro Xing doesn’t look very promising. A team-BHP user who has reviewed the car after 500 kilometers of travel reports seeing just 10 kmpl – under heavy traffic conditions in Mumbai. However, let this not deter you. There are other members there who report a mileage as high as 18-19 kmpl as well. Depending on your variant (AC/non-AC) and the driving traffic conditions, the mileage could vary, but I am not sure if there is any car that can offer great mileage when there is bumper to bumper traffic.

ZigWheels has a number of positive reviews on the Santro Xing. However, not everyone has reported their mileage. One user who has done is extremely happy with the outcome reporting around 18 kmpl on city roads and 23 kmpl on highways. According to Drive Inside, the 164mm ground clearance on the Santro Xing makes it an ideal car for Indian road conditions. The FE is not bad either. They report an overall figure of 15 kmpl which is not bad at all.

CarDekho has a number of useful mileage review reports. Most users who have reported their mileage there claim to be seeing pretty decent numbers. For city road conditions, the reported figure (with AC on) is anywhere between 14-16 kmpl. For highways, the reported number is higher at between 18-20 kmpl. These are very good numbers.

Finally, let’s take a look at what MouthShut users have got to say. There are 329 reviews for the Xing with the customers giving the car an overall rating of 4/5 for fuel consumption. Looking into the reviews made over the past couple of years, the city road fuel economy is around 12 kmpl on city roads and 15-19 kmpl on highways. Not great but not too bad either.

So there you go. Would I recommend the Santro Xing for mileage? I am not very sure – the reported numbers are all over the place. If budget is a constraint, then I would pick this over the more powerful cars. But if I do not want to spend more on the likes of Swift, then Santro Xing could be my choice. What about you?