I bought my WagonR in 2004 from Indus Motors in Kochi, and to say that there were not very nice would be an understatement. To get the idea you would have to buy your car from any other dealer and then bang your head repeatedly on the door, followed by various acts like gouging out your eyes and running on hot coal. However, I will restrict this review to technical matters concerning the WagonR.
One issue I will mention is that the warranty from the authorized service center means nothing, and you will still have to go to the parts manufacturers to have the defective items fixed/replaced (lots and lots of paperwork).
GEAR BOX
The gear box is a standard five forward gears, one reverse configuration, with two (!) overdrive gears. The gear throws are quite long, and getting into first requires some effort. Also, if there is a front passenger, you will definitely be in trouble trying to shift into first as they will have to move first. So, asking the front passenger to scoot over would be one of the first things you do along with adjusting all the mirrors. Gear change from first to second is not too bad, but changing into third is notchy. Change into fourth and fifth gears are not too much trouble. So much for the good news--the reverse gear is a royal pain. It is very difficult to engage and requires repeated tries, and then only if you are lucky. Imagine trying to get into that last parking space.
CLUTCH
The clutch is quite grabby and smooth engagement is quite difficult. What’s more, it has become quite mushy after the first service (manufacturing defect and/or service center from hell (see top)). You don’t have to depress the clutch to start the vehicle.
ENGINE
The peak torque occurs at a relatively high 3500 rpm (compared to 3200 for the Santro), so you will be doing a lot of shifting. Peak power is a limited 64 HP at 6500 rpm, but is pretty good for a vehicle of its class. I was able to get 100 km/hr easily after 500 km. The engine is relatively quiet, unless you over rev it. It has an unbelievable 16 valves in the engine, which is rare even for performance cars in other countries (for instance, the Palio has just 12 valves).
The fuel tank holds 35 liters of fuel, and I get about 13 kmpl within the city, and I suspect the highway fuel efficiency significantly higher, but I have no numbers for this.
BRAKES
Brakes are power assisted and ABS equipped, and perform well.
HANDLING
There is excessive body roll for even moderate speeds. This should be expected for a tall boy design, but is disconcerting nonetheless. There is significant understeer. This is not a driver’s vehicle, not by a long shot.
The wide pillars obstructs view during turning, and rear view is also limited, so backing up is a real problem without another person assisting you. While the turning gets easier with experience, reversing will always be a problem.
BODY
There is significant vibration and noise when traveling over rough roads. The rear door in particular is not secured properly, and is a considerable annoyance at speeds more than 40 km/hr.
STEERING
Power steering is quite effortless since it is electronic, but doesn’t provide any feedback. However, as the vehicle doesn’t handle all that well, you won’t be pushing it to corners for fun. Still some feedback would have been helpful. An adjustable steering like the Getz would be nice, though I suspect that would be too expensive. I found the steering position on the WagonR uncomfortable.
SEATING AND COMFORT
The seats are nothing to write home about, but are OK for short trips. And you are sitting quite high in the driver’s seat and not at crotch level like an 800. Getting in and out is so much better than a car or the Omni. Looking down on all those unfortunate people in cars makes driving in traffic less tedious. The rear seats have very little leg room, but the front seats can be adjusted to suit your height. The front seat can only hold one person (unlike, say the Omni where another guy can squeeze in). The rear row can hold three people (according to Maruti), but due to lack of leg space and width I wouldn’t recommend it except for the shortest of trips.
The fuel tank can be opened by a lever located near the driver’s seat, which is quite convenient.
ACCESSORIES
The LX model doesn’t come with a tachometer, which is perhaps unfortunate, as the engine noise is not a good guide for speed. There is no place to mount the rear speakers, but with some ingenuity it can be placed into the side walls.
STYLING
The tall boy design draws admiring glances wherever I go, so I can’t agree with people who say it doesn’t look good. Styling is very subjective, and if most people think it is good, it is a good looking car.
MANEUVERABILITY
This is the real advantage of this car--it will go practically anywhere due to its compactness. It is really fun to squeeze the car through the narrowest of gaps--around obstacles in roads and narrow side roads. The only issues are the height due to which it tends to roll over in very uneven places, and the low clearance (~ 165 mm), which causes the underbody to scrape when going over some obstacles.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The reverse gear shift needs to be fixed--it is unacceptable in a vehicle which claims to be an upscale model. This is vehicle ideally suited to travel within the city, and especially shines in the smaller roads where any restriction can hold up larger vehicles. Combined with the tiny turning radius and the K-car dimensions make it the almost perfect intra city transport, except for the low clearance and huge height.