There is not much on the WagonR on this site so I decided to write on this car as I’ve been driving it for 8 months now.
I bought the WagonR Primea in January end this year. I got taken in by the interiors of the car. Talking of the WagonR as a car, there is nothing new to say. In jist, the power to weight ratio of the car highly favours the power, as a result, the car feels good to drive. It gives you the impression of a powerful but light car. from outside the car seems to have too small wheels for it’s height but while driving you hardly notice that owing to it’s well balanced power train. The only problem of this car is also it’s advantage. It is the height of the car, it gives ample headroom but also makes the car wooble when cornering at above 50 speeds. Now, we hardly do that regularly. I stay in Delhi where the roads are better than average as compared to the other parts of the country & the average speed is also comparitively high. I have found the wobble a little scaring at times.
The same is applicable to the Duo. Only advantage being the fuel efficiency. There is one glitch here, the car seems to switch automatically from LPG to petrol when the engine is stressed, like overload or climbing a hill. The feeling is a tad dragging on LPG compared to the petrol drive. With the AC on, the car/saloon drags more on LPG than on petrol. That is acceptable, LPG drive is not for power but a fuel efficient cruise.
Coming to the Premia, let’s look at it part by part, Tyres:
It has a little wider set of tyres campared to it’s cousin the regular WagonR LXi/VXi. This is owing to the alloys that come as standard fitment, with the car. The wheel depth is low giving you the impression of tubeless tyres but they are not. The alloys do look impressive. Well cleaned & polished they look fantastic.
The WagonR Duo goes back to the normal WagonR tyres as before.
Seats:
The seats are alike the regular WagonR with only the cover changed to a better quality & colour. I’m afraid they are not very comfortable, Indica seats are comparatively much more comfortable. You come to realise that on long drives, Maruti has forgotten lumbar support.
These same seats, with the same colour velvet covers have been supplied in the WagonR Duo.
Interiors:
The interior is beige but looks cheaper compared to the beige of the sedans, I attribute this to the poorer quality plastics used by Maruti. If I may include the steering wheel under this heading, it comes with dual-colour leather cover, this is good quality stuff. The rear seats are split in 50-50 ratio with tilting capability.
In order to make it a 5 seater, Maruti has given a bench seat in the rear of the duo, that takes away the split seat USP.
While the interiors are WagonR Lxi-like (grey), the seats are beige, to me that looks a bit odd.
Comfort:
The car comes with keyless entry as a standard fitment, you can spend approx 1500 to get 5 sensors & the hooter fitted on your car. This is, I’m talking of MGA components not any local sensor or hooter, those might come cheaper.
The Duo does not have keyless entry. Let’s wait & see what comes with the VXi, it has not been released yet.
Basically this is a made over WagonR LXi that means no power windows, no day-night rear view mirror, I believe Maruti could have fitted these two to give the Premia a much better package.
The Duo LXi also does not have day-night mirrors, but, the side rear-view mirrors are better looking than before. The VXi is supposed to come with powered versions of the same.
Now, if we get to the WagonR Duo, the WagonR with LPG & Petrol option.
In a nutshell, the looks have been modified to make it look really smart from the rear but I have my reservations on the front grille it was not required to give it a Santro-like look, WagonR is different from Santro. The latest grille that was being supplied was the best so far, but the number plates coming to the center of the two ends has definately added to it’s get-up.
The greatest disadvantage of the Duo seems to be the reduction of boot space in this car. The spare tyre is lying there reducing the empty space. The LPG tank occupies the depression in the boot that previously stored the spare tyre. This also takes away your scope of fitting in good audio in the car.
Overall, the Premia is a fantastic small car to own, the Duo is better value for money.