2021 Hyundai Santro Review: Carrying Forward The Legacy?

2021 Hyundai Santro Overview: Top Models

The Hyundai Santro is the oldest-serving car in the carmaker’s lineup. It marks the entry of Hyundai in India back in 1996 and quickly became the golden egg of the company for the last two decades. Hyundai reintroduced the latest version of Santro in the Indian market after a long gap of four years since the discontinuation of the Santro Xing and the new-gen offering has come to prove it’s worth our wait.

The 2021 Hyundai Santro impressed us with its well-crafted design on the outside, high level of convenience and comfort on the inside and good engines lying underneath. So now, you wonder how good the new Hyundai Santro actually is. Let’s find it out in our in-depth Hyundai Santro review.

Before going into details, let’s take a brief look at Hyundai Santro variants - top models given in the table below:

2021 Hyundai Santro 360 View: Exterior Review

Front View

In its latest avatar, the Hyundai Santro looks completely different from the previous-gen model. Based on the company’s latest design philosophy, the Hyundai Santro features a large grille along with a sharp bumper and swept-back headlamps at the front. At the time of its launch, opinions about the massive front grille of the Santro were polarizing. However, it is quite attractive from the front that can turn some heads on the crowded roads surely.

Side View

At the side, the Hyundai Santro gets dynamic z-shaped creases at the front fenders along with a prominent beltline. The new Santro is equipped with a dynamic silver-coloured R14 steel wheel that drives the sporty appeal of the hatchback car to a greater level.

Rear View

As for the back, the Hyundai Santro sports stylish tail lamps with bumper reflectors complement that also enhances the sportiness of the vehicle. The dual-tone bumper looks imposing and make the rear look wider than the earlier version.

2021 Hyundai Santro Dimensions: Length, Width, Height & Wheelbase

Hyundai Santro is one of the famous urban small cars so there’s no wonder its length measures below the 4m mark. The new Santro gets a 3,610 mm length, 1,645 mm width, 1,560 mm height along with a wheelbase of 2,400 mm, thus making it grown up in terms of size compared to the preceding version. With a width of 1,645 mm, the Santro is essentially the widest car of its segment, which translates into a better shoulder room on the inside.

2021 Hyundai Santro Interior Review: What Does It Have To Offer?

If the exterior of the Santro may make you confused, it’s the interior of the car that will turn the haters into fan indeed. The latest Santro comes with a very spacious cabin, for which its tallboy design is of great help.

Comfort and Seating

Moving inside, you’ll be completely impressed by the fit and finish as well as the high quality of the materials. The elephant-inspired centre console looks good with a dedicated storage area to hold some knick-knacks. The front seats are very supportive and comfortable while the rear bench-type seat should offer better under-thigh support. The small hatchback can offer adequate room for five people on a single drive.

Like any other Hyundai cars, the Hyundai Santro is equipped with a lot of comfort features that's the icing on the cake for the model. It offers most of the necessary features you expect from a city hatchback. The highlighting features on the interior of the Santro comprise of motor-driving power steering, front and rear power windows, a 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with smartphone navigation, steering-mounted controls, power outlets, rear seat bench folding, rear AC vents, remote fuel lid open and remote tailgate open among others. Having said, the Hyundai Santro comes with all the bells and whistles that make it a good car in the segment.

Safety Features

At its new generation, the Hyundai Santro has improved a notch higher on safety compared to the older version. The new Santro adopts 63% of high-strength steel on its architecture. The safety features list of the Hyundai Santro includes dual airbags, rear parking sensors, rear parking camera (for higher-spec variants), ABS with EBD, speed sensing auto door lock, high-speed alert, driver & passenger seatbelt reminder, engine immobilizer and more.

2021 Hyundai Santro Performance: Engine Review

Powering the Hyundai Santro is a 1.1-litre Epsilon MPI petrol engine that outputs 69 PS of power and 99 Nm of peak torque. The transmission duties are taken care of by either a 5-speed MT or a 5-speed AMT option. As for the CNG variants, the car offers 60 PS of power and 85 Nm of torque. The engines start on a smooth idle when you turn the ignition on. As the Santro’s cabin offers well-controlled levels of NVH, one can experience quite a comfortable long drives with the engine’s calm nature. The overall experience is quite good thanks to the sufficient torque generated, light clutch and slick-shifting gears.

The introduction of the 5-speed AMT enhances the performance to a whole new level, especially at the bumper-to-bumper traffics. With light steering and a small turning circle, the Santro would let you twist around the narrow streets in Mumbai so easily.

2021 Hyundai Santro Mileage: Is it fuel efficient?

Be it a Hyundai car with CNG mode, the Santro is quite a fuel-efficient hatchback you can find in the Indian space. While the purely petrol-powered Santro can return 20.3 kmpl as claimed by ARAI, the Santro CNG can deliver 30.48 km/kg.

2021 Hyundai Santro Price: Is It Affordable To Buy?

Hyundai Santro is one of the most affordable cars you can buy in India. Currently, the Santro is going on sale at the price of around Rs 4.67 lakh to Rs 6.35 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

In essence, the Hyundai Santro obviously gets a lot going for it. It is a more premium tallboy that offers better features and interior qualities compared to its rival Maruti Wagon R. The engine is refined and frugal enough while the AMT is a well-sorted option. The ride and handling quality is superior. There’s not much to complain about in a car of its price except for the better-tuned brakes.