Folks,
I own this car from September 2006. I have been driving this car for the last 6 months, and I belive have enough to contibute to this review site. I am writing this review with no bias so as to help if anyone who needs to make up his/her mind if he/she is looking to buy a new WagonR.
Having enquired about the car soon after its release, I went and talked to BIMAL and Pratham motors in bangalore, I decided to buy from Pratham motors, as I some got impressed by their marketing skills. Later it turned out to be my mistaked. Customer orientation wise Bimal is a step ahead of pratham motors.
Some facts about Pratham motors which I found through my experience.
(1) Always delays work. Once I had a call from pratham telling vehicle is ready and pls pay the bill and collect the same. But when I reached there, only I found it will take another 3 hrs to complete. I had 2 bad service repair experience with these guys.
(2) Quality of service men:- Very poor, if your bonnet doesn’t fit well, he uses hammering to do the same, instead of adjusting the screws or whatever.
(3) Take in too many vehicles and the time and attention given to each vehilce is very less
(4) vehicle handing is very rash
(5) for service pickup they need atlest a week in advance notice.
BIMAL folks may not impress you by talking, but you wil find out once you interact with them. I had given my second service to Bimal, and found them much better than Pratham. They need only 1 day notice for service pickup and Quality of service too can be found out after driving your car. The service advisor too looks to be more trained to handle technical snags of the cars.
Now coming to the WagonR DUO
To be very frank I also don’t like the WagonR looks. But who cares. in a city like bangalore with bumper to bumper traffic, a city where cars without dents and scrathes can be found only in showrooms. And of course I was looking for economy. LPG does exactly what I want out of my car.
Following were my guiding factors before I converged into WagonR DUO(my budget what within 7 lacs)
(1) I am not looking for any sports car(good bye swift, getz, fiat palio .) or a luxury car.
(2) Need a reliable engine with a reliable service network - nothing other than maruti
(3) I don’t care much for looks, and I am a engineer not a part of any fashion industry and neither does my city looks so good or infact any city in india
(4) Fuel economy - Fall in the prices of hydrocarbon fuels are a very rare pehnomenon, it always goes up only.
(5) maruti fitted LPG kits also carries the warranty.
(6) wanted lower running costs.
After using the car for 6 months I have found the following
(1) Quality of plactics and the quality of steel(meaning the guage or thickness) is too less adding a higher probability of dents or plastic breakge during any unfortunate incident.
(2) Luckly spare parts costs is lower and if u buy from JC Road, u will get it more cheaper(u do get geninue products there too, lower cost is due to greater turn over)
(3) LPG mileage in bangalore rush over traffic is around 10-11(with A/C), highway traffic I got around 17-18(without A/C). By theory LPG gives around 10% lower mileage due to volume reasons. Also LPG is proven very good for engines at higher speeds. May be ie is the reason why WagonR’s auto mode swithces to LPG only at higher speeds. LPG can have "Cold starting" Problems- always advisable to put in auto mode, ie start in Petrol and into LPG once u catch up speed(or engine RPM)
(4) Petrol mileage - never checked;D - Don’t store too much petrol if u always plan to drive in LPG- Petrol has a property of "getting richer" once stored without using. This pheomenon is harmful to engine parts in the long run.
(5) Since petrol & LPG torque(and hence power) differs, I feel some times difficulty in judging the right time to change the gears. The 1st gear biting point too varies. A/C with LPG, belive me is very difficult with your car fully loaded. Take car in a slope. Sometimes while overtaking I need to switch off A/C to gain more power while driving in LPG.
LPG gives 57 Bhp
Petrol gives 64 bhp
(6) best part is full LPG(22.4 Kgs) and petrol(35 lrts) and u can drive up to 800 km Non stop
(7) LPG has the following problems
a- More maintanence
b-a little lesser resale value.
c-Max capacity is only 28 Kgs. legally u can fill only up 80% and hence its fixed at 22.4 kgs. The remaning space left to the gas to expand. LPG expans upto 600 times when the container is open to sun.
d- suffers from "cold starting" problems when the gas condeses.
e- Gas gets vapourised on its path and at times can create fuel blockage, creating sudden jerks and also may bring down the storage capcity(temporiraly until its fixed).
LPG gives the following advantages
(1) Much greener than Petrol
(2) Safer than diesel. May folks think that LPG is dangerous. Lets come to science. Disel is more dangerous - its only to be compressed to ignite. LPG needs atleast a spark to ignite. During a collosion, Disel has a much higher chance of getting ignited.
(3)40% cheaper, but adds extra maintience, lower resale value and initial cost, - break even may be 25000 to 30000 kms.
(4) proven to be very good to engines at higher speeds.
Best part of the new wagonR is that it has an integrated rear spolier which the older models lacks. But lacks bootspace & rear speaker due to LPG tank.
Hope u enjoyed reading the same