Maruti launched Wagon-R on Indian Road. The Wagon R is a styled car. It certainly looks weird to many, but the recent face-lift has improved the detailing considerably, improving the lamps, bumpers and grille, and giving it almost a mini-SUV look. Wagon-R comes with variants AX, LXi, VXi and LXi with Bharat III norms.

 

It is built on the same platform as the Alto. The external proportions suddenly start to make sense when you get inside the Wagon R, whose height and erect, slim pillars make for an extremely spacious, airy interior. It is well built, but feels quite tinny and Oriental, with a distinctly light, flimsy feel.

 

Headroom is exceptional and legroom is decent but the lack of width is very apparent in the tall-but-narrow cabin. The Wagon R’s airy insides will seat four comfortably, on airline-style seats that recline and fold to create a very flexible interior, but try seating five and the split-line at the rear is uncomfortable. Boot space is best in class and with the split rear seats folding forwards.

 

The dull grey plastics aren’t of the best quality —they look shiny and cheap. The dials are clear and easy to read, and the high-set driver’s seat is comfortable, with good under-thigh support and offers superb all-round visibility. There are plenty of useful cubby-holes and hooks in the vertically stacked dashboard, designed to hold everything from cans to cell-phones and plastic bags.

 

The car uses a 5-speed gearbox with one reverse gear. Gears 2 and 3 are great for city use and the car is able to slot into 5th by the time you reach around 50kph. That means very reasonable fuel efficiency. Efficiency thus get compromised due to the fact that you need to rev just that wee bit more when compared to say the santro, but the efficiency figures on the highway of 19+ kmpl is excellent. Within city limits though, 13kmpl is easily achieved. The reason for the significant difference is the tall 5th gear, which keeps the engine revving very low, as a result the top speed of 155kmph is achieved in 4th. The Wagon R is very easy to drive in the city, thanks to its electronic power steering (EPS), which is light and accurate. Though it lacks the precision and nicely weighted feel of a hydraulic system, the EPS is quite responsive. Moreover the gearbox is rubbery and this engine is quite noisy when extended and less refined than you would expect. One grouse about the gearbox is its play, its just too much and can get irritating at times; the gearbox is also a bit notchy. At times, engaging reverse gear could involve double clutching.

 

The Wagon R has a 1061cc inline 4 cylinder cast iron engine which is basically the engine from the Maruti 800 with an extra cylinder. It uses fuel injection, controlled by a 32 bit ECU. Like all other marutis, even this car runs 4 valves per cylinder and 16 valves in total. 4 Valve engines have a high revving trait and rather low bottom end grunt. This engine is no exception. It generates 62bhp at 6200rpm which is pretty much the red line. But, low down the engine seems very underpowered especially with the air conditioner on.

 

Equipment levels are reasonable on the Vxi model and include roof rails and fog lamps, but exclude essentials like internally adjustable mirrors, and no safety equipment is available at all. A fair amount of wind and tyre noise filters through, and refinement in general is acceptable but not great. The ride quality of the Wagon R is pretty good, but at low speeds you can feel sharp protrusions filtering through. As speed builds up, the Wagon R’s body control is impressive and it’s pretty stable on the highway. The Wagon R is a practical town car, very roomy and easy to drive, and frugal to top it off.

Filed under: Maruti Cars in India