New Hyundai Santro vs Maruti Celerio: Detailed comparison

Exterior: Design and dimensions

The all-new Santro is based on the discontinued i10 and shares many design elements from it. Also, the new Santro is marketed as a tall boy hatch but actually has lost 30 mm of height than the older Santro. With the deep creases around the body, the car has been made to look modern and trendy at the same time. The front features a chrome lined grille belonging to the Hyundai’s signature cascade design policy and it gets a black cladding that also houses the fog lamps. The overall design is kept simple yet modern and certainly looks fresh. The car measures 3610x1645x1560 mm (LxWxH) and has a wheelbase of 2400 mm.

The Maruti Celerio on the other hand is among the top selling cars of the company and is designed in a minimalist manner. The front grille house the company logo with a chrome strip at top and is flanked by big headlamps on the either side. The bumper houses the two fog lamps with the sides being plain. The rear is again a clean design with tail lights on both sides of the tail gate and a number plate housing in the bumper. A decent family hatchback look we say. The Maruti Celerio measures 3695x1600x1560 (LxWxH) and has a wheel base of 2425mm

Interiors and features

Now Hyundai has assured that the Santro is filled to brim with features since it’s the newest product in the segment. The all-new Santro gets dual tone interior and is the first car in the segment to offer a 7-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support. The  rear AC vents is another segment first feature and the AC comes with a Eco coating, making the cooling more effective. The company has also fitted the car with many safety features like the driver-side airbag, ABS, EBD across the variants. The high variants also get a higher number of airbags, speed sensing door lock and unlock, reverse parking and more.

Talking about the Maruti Suzuki Celerio, the car has got ample of interior space. The interiors too are kept simple like the exteriors but aren’t too shabby also, especially considering the price range of the car. Unlike the Santro, the Celerio does not get any touchscreen infotainment system and is equipped with basic audio system which does the job. The top end Celerio gets two airbags, ABS, seat belt warning but lacks on parking sensors among others.

Engine and transmission

The old Santro’s 1.1 litre four-cylinder petrol engine finds its way back in the new Santro. It has been reworked and is available in petrol and CNG versions. The petrol powered engine produces a maximum of 68 Bhp power and 99 Nm Torque. It’s mated to a 5-speed manual or AMT automatic transmission. The Santro is the first Hyundai car in India to get an AMT transmission. There is no option of a diesel engine as of now and is unlikely to happen also, since experiments with the Ignis and Celerio by Maruti didn’t yield the desired results.

Fuel efficiency

Now, this is one of the most important aspects Indian car buyers look at when buying new cars. The Hyundai Santro with its 1.1-litre petrol engine returns a maximum of 20.3 km/l, which is quite good. The Maruti Celerio on the other hand has an ARAI certified fuel efficiency figure of 23.1 km/l. This is among the segment best, making the Celerio an extremely frugal car to own and run.

Price

Hyundai has kept the prices of the new Santro low as promised by the company. The Santro starts at Rs. 3.9 lakh for the base variant (D-lite) and goes all the way upto Rs. 5.45 lakh for the top variant (Asta). There are a total of 5 trim levels and 9 variants available but a point to note is that the base variant Santro does not come with AC functionality. The Maruti Suzuki Celerio meanwhile starts at Rs. 4.21 lakh and goes all the way up to 5.32 lakh.