Clash of Segments: Hyundai Santro vs Maruti Alto K10 - Which Car To Buy?

Entry-level variants of the Santro or top-spec Alto K10, which one offers better value for your money? We compare them on paper

The new 2018 Hyundai Santro was launched recently in India in a segment which is saturated with choices. In a bid to simplify things, we compare the Santro with the Maruti Suzuki Alto K10. To keep things fair, we shall only compare specific variants of the two cars that have a similar powertrain setup, fuel type and don't have a price difference of more than Rs 50,000.

Here are the basic differences between the Hyundai Santro and Maruti Suzuki Alto K10.

HYUNDAI SANTRO	MARUTI SUZUKI ALTO K10
Compact Hatchback: The Santro is bigger than the Alto K10 on all accounts and also comes with a 1.1-litre petrol engine that makes 69PS of power. It should be the more spacious car among the two too.	Entry-level Hatchback: The Alto K10 is an entry-level hatchback and is smaller than the Santro. It has a 1.0-litre petrol engine under the bonnet that makes 68PS of power.
Warranty: The Santro comes with a standard 3 years/1,00,000km warranty.	Warranty: The Alto K10 comes with a standard 2 years/40,000km warranty
Traditional rivals: Tata Tiago, Maruti Suzuki WagonR and Celerio, Datsun GO	Traditional rivals: Hyundai Eon, Renault Kwid, Datsun redi-GO

Engine

Dimensions

With the basics out of the way, let us have a look at the variants of the Hyundai Santro and Maruti Suzuki Alto K10.

While both the Santro and the Alto K10 come with an automatic transmission and a factory-fitted CNG kit, we will not be comparing these variants as they are priced too far apart. Instead, we will focus on the some of the manual transmission variants as they are priced closer to each other.

Variants

Hyundai Santro D-Lite vs Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 VXi (O)

Hyundai Santro D-Lite	Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 VXi (O)	Difference
Rs 3.90 lakh	Rs 3.88 lakh	Rs 2,000 (Santro is more expensive)

Common features: Driver airbag, electric power steering

What Santro offers over Alto K10: ABS with EBD, MID

What Alto K10 offers over Santro: Front fog lamps, manual AC, audio system with CD/USB, 2 speakers, keyless entry, front power windows, 12V power outlet, central locking, body coloured bumpers, door handles and ORVMs

Takeaway: While the base variant of the Santro does not get creature comforts like air conditioning and an audio system, it is still the winner as all variants of the Santro get ABS with EBD as standard. Maruti Suzuki does not offer ABS with EBD on any variant of the Alto. Since ABS is an active safety feature, which means it can prevent a possible crash, it is a must-have in our books to be recommended. Also, since even the Santro comes with a driver airbag only and not a passenger airbag, we would only recommend it to buyers who will drive the car alone.

Hyundai Santro Era vs Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 VXi (O)

Hyundai Santro Era	Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 VXi (O)	Difference
Rs 4.25 lakh	Rs 3.88 lakh	Rs 37,000 (Santro is more expensive)

Common features: Driver airbag, manual AC, body coloured bumpers, 12V power outlet, front power windows

What Santro offers over Alto K10: Rear AC vents, MID, ABS with EBD

What Alto K10 offers over Santro: Front fog lamps, audio system with CD/USB, 2 speakers, Keyless entry, central locking, body coloured door handles and ORVMs

Takeaway: Once again, the Santro is the winner due to the presence of ABS with EBD. The rear AC vents are the icing on the cake. The Alto K10 comes with quite a few features, but the absence of an essential safety feature like ABS with EBD takes the prize away from it.

Why buy the Hyundai Santro?

• Premium quality interiors: Hyundai has given the Santro premium interiors - you might even mistake it for a car from a segment above.

• Size: The Santro is bigger all around compared to the Alto K10 and that means you can fit more people in comfortably and also haul extra luggage.

Why buy the Maruti Suzuki Alto K10?

Since the Alto K10 is not available with the safety net of ABS even as an option, we won’t recommend it. However, here are some of its strengths:

• AMT & CNG at a reasonable price: While the Hyundai Santro also comes with both of these features, the Alto K10 offers an AMT gearbox and the option of a CNG kit (not available together in the same variant) at a much lower price point (the difference is 1 lakh for both).

• Maruti’s after-sales support: While Hyundai isn’t far behind in this department, when compared to Maruti, the Korean carmaker just cannot compete with the number of touchpoints Maruti Suzuki has across India.

Read More on : Hyundai Santro AMT