Wagon-R is a well-designed, balanced car. But quality control on Maruti products is going down.
Piece to piece variation is very high. I have two Wagon-R Lxi - one gives me 14.7Km/litre and the other 11.8Km/litre on the same usage conditions. The steering feel of both the cars is very different.
The concept of Warranty needs to be changed. Any manufacturing defect (not due to wear/tear) should be a liability of the company, regardless of time. I found the car wobbled on applying brakes - the defect was in the front disk brakes. We found pitting on the surface of the disc, which is due to incorrect alloy and/or defect in the making technique. Due to this the brake shoes also went bad. This car was purchased in Aug’2000 and had done only 6800 kms in one year. The company at first refused repairs under warranty, since the vehicle was 6 days over the one year warranty period. On raising a hue and cry, they agreed to change the disc, but not the brake shoes (the shoes cost is much higher than the disc). It took 5 visits to the workshop to get this done.
Who wants this kind of warranty. If due to a manufacturing defect, other parts get damaged, should the manufacturer not repair those under warranty ?
In case of a defect in the vehicle under warranty, one has to find time to take the vehicle to the workshop and get it repaired. Instead of buying a vehicle with higher warranty (time+mileage), I prefer to own a vehicle which I donot need to take to the workshop (except regular servicing). Who’s got the time, there are better things to do in life !!.