Its been one year , 18000 km since I own this wagon R Duo,
My Expectations when I was about to buy Wagon r Duo:
Tall Boy --- for comfort Navigation 2. LPG for economy 3. Maruthi -- Easy and low cost to maintain and any one can put the hand into it and repair. 4.Under 5 Lakhs (infact under 4.5 L )
I mostly Drive in city infact 95% I drive in city.
*Cars I have test drove before choosing Wagon R and reasons why they have not been chosen
* 1. Santro--- Prime competetor for twagon r, finally I have to lose this because I have to compromise wit wagon R for its LPG version which is being fixed by maruthi itself, Ony of my frind owns a santro and he has fit the gas externally and the mileage was just 8-9 km in City and the pick up was aweful So i have to pick up wagon R only because it runs on LPG and has the same driving comfort as Santro.
* Things I liked in Santro :
a.Great pick up ( as it is a petrol version) ** b.Looks good than wagon R ( I feel so :) )
c. Less price tag 3.95 L (hyderabad) for its high end model which has
the features such as power windows and Music system included
d.Good for Zip drive.
But when compared to wagon R , the maintenance cost is low fo wagon R as its maker is Maruthi, and Wagon R has company fitted LPG kit.
2. Fiat Palio Stile:
I really fell in love with this car when I went to the showroon, there was a black car in the display and wow, tat was looking awesom, the 1100 cc engine with 14-15 km per litre with all the accessories include and with great interiors really made my self turn for that, but...
Low pick up...
Can be converted into Fiat approved CNG. but looses 30% of its pickpup
Was worried about the running costs.
Could not trust as it was just released.
so I have to leave fiat .....
* 3.Getz Prime:
* This car really rocks, with a less capacity engine and has the most better looks than santro and far far better than wagon R, the only and only reason why I have not choosen is the mileage and it has no LPG variant ... :( I love this car very very much.., .
4. Ford Flair
Good car, great looks , but more than 5 lakhs and I could dont trust ford for the running costs as we had a bitter experience with a Ford Icon two years back :( . I guess Ford is planning to launch a CNG variant ...but I am not sure... I love this car but could not afford its maintenance costs.
5. Maruthi ZEN
I didnt like the new model. :(
so after these all options I opted for Wagon R ,
Now I Start my experience with this car.
Good points :
-- Very silent engine, belive it or not it is more silent than santro even in gas mode.
-- Has a very less turning radius -- Smooth Ride -- Good LPG mileage 10.5 km per liter in traffic with always A/c on -- Very very chill AC. -- High Ground Clearance
Need Improvements in
-- Interiors , Very bad and low quality ... I think any other maker’s worst interiors would easily beat the maruthi’s best quality interiors of cars under 5 lakh segment.
-- Very Light weight so I feel that I would turn my car upside down for sure one day :) -- No power windows in the high end version if wagon R duo , we have to get the power windows fitted from a vendor. -- Not so good looks -- Very bad Gear box, I cannot even compare with santro or Swift , really uncomfortable and hard gears
-- Less LPG tank capacity
LPG price went up till 35 rs from 27 rs (hyderabad) .... so I dont have the advantage of LPG as I get 14 km per litre in petrol when compared to 10.5 Km per litre in LPG , when I do some calculation I get the difference which is very very thin, now I feel that I should have gone for Getz and run that on petrol. :(
I can handle the car very easily in traffic and also park it very easily,
If you are looking for a good pick up then Wagon R duo is NO NO. please go for santro or Getz.
Hmmm Couple of months back I ran over a dog at the speed of over 90 km/ hr , I could not dare to
apply brakes as the car would tilt itself and I ran over it and I KILLED that, my bumper crashed , and I think I have to replace that. so this is an example of high speed , cannot apply brake situation , less quality bumper , ( the size of dog is small, Iam really sorry for it ) so I adivce not to corss 85km/hr
I once touched 120 , but it took lot of time to reach there and tat was in petrol not in LPG , in LPG 110 was max and was difficult to acheive in our roads.
My dealer Saboo RKS malakpet is good till now .
my suggestions ( if any one cares to listen :) )
No good advantage I enjoy with LPG over petrol, I feel that I should have gone for GETZ prime
but if you dont care for the looks and not looking for a sports car pickup then you can easily choose wagon R , and you would have little advantage over petrol cars.
I drove over 18000 KM and I never felt tired even after driving 80 km in a stretch in traffic... sounds good kada... :) Over all , the Car is good and maruthi can make it better if it has good interiors.*