Spec Comparo: Hyundai Santro vs Tata Tiago vs Maruti Suzuki Celerio

Tuhin Guha Updated: October 29, 2019, 02:51 PM IST

The all-new Hyundai Santro has been launched in India. Here's how it fares, on paper, against its two closest rivals.

Dimensions

The Santro is the most compact of the three cars here. The Santro and Tiago both share a 2,400 mm wheelbase, the Celerio betters this slightly with 2,425 mm. The Tiago is the longest and widest at 3,746mm and 1,647mm. The Santro is the smallest with it being 3,610mm long and 1,560mm wide. The Santro holds on to its moniker as being the original tall-boy by being the tallest here at 1,645mm. The Celerio slots in the middle of the other two in terms of length and width.

Features and safety

The new Santro, in keeping with Hyundai tradition, gets a few segment-first features. It gets a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple Carplay/Android Auto. It is also the first car to get rear AC vents. The Tiago misses out on rear AC vents but gets alloy wheels and a smaller infotainment system but with segment best Harman sound quality. The Santro also gets reverse cameras. The Celerio and Tiago make do with only sensors. The Celerio get standard features for the segment but none of the cars here get climate control. In a misstep for the Santro, both the Tiago and Celerio offer alloy wheels in the top trim, unlike the Santro.

On the safety front, the Santro gets ABS and driver side airbag as a standard fit. Higher trims offer a front passenger airbag too. The other two cars also get these features on the top trim but the Tiago misses out on both ABS and airbags in the base variant. The Celerio is better with ABS available as standard.

Drivetrain

The new Santro is powered by a 1.1l four-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol engine that puts out 69PS at 5,500rpm and 99Nm at 4,500rpm. The engine can be specified with a five-speed manual transmission or a 5-speed automated manual (AMT) gearbox. Hyundai claims a top speed of 150kmph and a fuel economy of 20.3kmpl for this engine. A CNG variant is available which puts out 59PS.

The Tiago's motor is significantly more powerful at 85PS and 114Nm from a 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol. This motor returns 20kmpl. The Celerio petrol is most frugal here, its 1.0-litre three-cylinder motor averages 23kmpl and produces 68PS/90Nm. Both cars available with a five manual and AMT option.

The Tiago uniquely also offers a diesel option. The 1.05-litre diesel engine puts out 70PS and 140Nm and does 25kmpl.

Prices

Prices for the new Santro start at Rs 3.89 lakh for the base petrol manual D'lite trim level and goes up to Rs 5.65 lakh for the CNG-equipped Sportz trim. The most expensive petrol manual option is Rs 5.46 lakh while the AMT in the Sportz trim comes in at Rs 5.48 lakh. This makes the Santro the most expensive car here.

The Celerio has a higher entry price. The base LXi is priced at Rs 4.4 lakhs with the top-end ZXi (O), comes in at Rs 5.26 lakhs. The AMT version of the ZXi trim costs Rs 5.38 lakh. The Tiago is the cheapest car in this comparison. The barebones XB trim costs Rs 3.35 lakh while the top spec XZ variant comes in at Rs 5.07 lakh. The top XZ(A) trim costs Rs 5.59 lakh. The top-end diesel variant is priced at Rs 5.89 lakh.