I purchased my WagonR LXI in July05 from Sagar Automobiles, Bangalore. I have completed the 2 free service so far and run approx 3000+ kms. I guess I hv waited good enough time to pen down my review of the car. Hopefully my review will be informative to all in general and those in Bangalore in particular.
Since I am 6ft tall, my choice of car was between Santro and WagonR only. The Swift had a long waiting period at that time and the Indica was ruled out because of Quality issues and diesel. Disiel is worth only if one travels above 1500km per month. I visited the Santro showroom first on Residency road and saw the just released ELRX version. The showroom experience was decent but not great. Next I visited Sagar Auto on Bannerghetta road. The showroom expereince here was better with salesrep giving dedicated attention and instantly offering a test ride.
Well my decision to go for WagonR was not on showroom experience alone. It had more to do with reported mileage of Santro owners which was less than WagonR. Secondly there are too many Santros on the road. Of course today I get to see more WagonR because of the great discount they are offering. Another reason for choosing WagonR is the great reliability of the Maruti-Suzuki cars and their good After Sales support.
Of course Santro is a great car too and compares well with Wagon R. I have rode both cars and both are nice to drive. The wagonr has more headroom and view is better.
Some of my points that I would like to share:
-Add a rear spoiler to the wagonR and looks improve to a great extent. That’s what I did. I added side graphics which increased the appeal.
-The seat hieght on the wagonr is more compared to Santro and for a tall guy like me it is a great boon while riding.
-The A/C is excellent except for the noise it emanates in the 3rd speed.
-The main disadvantage in the wagonR is that the rear has got split seats. For 2 people it is absolute delight with push back, for 3 it gets a bit uncomforatble.
-The luggage space at the rear is so big that 2 kids can sit and play in that area (though from safety it is not recomended !). Since I would rarely ride with 3 people at back, this was not a issue with me.
-Coming to the most important point....... mileage. In Bangalore kind of traffice, I am getting 15kmpl. Whereas on my Bangalore-Mysore highway run, I got 17.7kmpl.( I was touching 80-90kmph frequently). I think the mileage can easily stretch to 19kmpl if I drive around 70kmph.
-The headlight beam is good enough to provide the right illumination.
-The brakes are good and provide safe power braking.
-Gear box (1st gear) is not that precise from stopgo which sometimes can land you with angry stares from other vehicles at signal junctions.
-One area of concern in the wagonr is the tyres. The OEM tyre I got was JK radials. These are low profile tyres and Bangalore having potholed and cracked roads, I feel these low profile tyres can cause rim damage unless ridden carefully and slowly.
Santro on other hand come mostly with Bridgestone tyres which are very good for handling broken road surfaces.
-Wagonr has a computer controlled engine which gives indicattion of any failures.
The interiors of the wagonr are ok except for the dashboard where the design is just not good enough compared to Santro.
In summary for me reliability, after sales service and mileage was the important criteria and hence my choice was wagonr.