Introduction

The entry-level hatchback segment is getting all the more crowded with new contenders entering this space. Despite this, the Maruti Suzuki WagonR and the Hyundai Santro have always been a household name and are here to stay.

We pitted the WagonR ZXi AMT and the Santro Sportz AMT against each other for a comparison test. Let's see what the real-world fuel efficiency figures of these automatic variants are as compared to the ARAI-rated figures, which stand pretty close at 20.52kmpl for the WagonR AMT and 20.3kmpl for the Santro AMT.

City Fuel Economy

Do note that the WagonR here has a more powerful 1.2-litre K12M petrol engine producing 82bhp and 113Nm of torque, while the Santro gets a 1.1-litre Epsilon MPI petrol mill churning out 68bhp and 99Nm of torque. The Santro managed to outnumber the WagonR's city fuel efficiency by delivering 11.41kmpl, a little more than the Maruti's 10.69kmpl in the same run.

Highway Fuel Economy

However, the tables turned in our highway fuel efficiency tests, as Maruti's tall-boy managed to sip lesser fuel and returned 19.41kmpl. On the other hand, the Hyundai went 17.7km with every litre of petrol it consumed.

Conclusion

With these figures, the WagonR with a tank size of 32 litres can go for around 404km overall, while the Santro with its 35 litre tank can march on to about 432km before it has to refuel again. All these figures have been obtained with the cars performing in the same conditions on the same route. However, these may vary from owner to owner depending on various driving conditions and other parameters. Nonetheless, if you want to know more about the comparison of these two hatchbacks, click here for the comprehensive evaluation test.