New Wagon-R Test Drive

Test driven New MS Wagon-R VXi with 1.0l K-series engine.

Looks:

Exteriors, As by Maruti Suzuki the new Wagon-R is developed by Input costs of over Rs.260Crores & In reality it shows to large extent as except from badge Nothing seems to be shared with the Old Wagon-R, only the common traits includes the Boxy looks & Ruler-drawn Straight body lines. Doors, Mirrors, Entire front-Rear sections are new, Wheels are also upsized to 14-Inchers in top VXi variants. Even gone are the Old-version design based Rear C-pillar Quarter Glasses.
Only the elongated nose looks somewhat out of place from the Overall design theme.

Interiors: With Doors closed & through All-around Tinted Glasses, its Interiors gave a typical Quality Glare, especially its Dashboard plastics & Seat fabrics-All enough to Put a smile & Anticipation to feel it onto the face of the looker there.




So, after opening the Door & entering into it noticed the Improved design & quality of the Interiors in Lovely shades of Light n Dark Grey, Aluminium finishes, etc.
Again each & every bit here, from Dashboard to Upholstery-Door Trims, etc every bits are new- with Huge Music system dominating the Scenario of whole dashboard there, another one is the Excellent looking Steering Wheel, Electrically Adjustable Outer Rear View Mirrors & As usual Perfect City Driving position of Wagon-R(same as earlier). Alongside it, below the Passenger seat is the Utility tray.



Also, at the sake of Interior Space reduced is the Boot Space from the Previous version.


In Short, Exteriorly & from Interiors the Car looks, feels Fresh & Styling is the word which you can now easily Associate with this new Wagon-R & both in the White, Glistening Grey & Greyish-blue colours she looks very desirable. As per me, the best shade amongst the all is the Glistening Grey shade.

Test Drive Experience:
Engine:
As the new Wagon-R now comes with the 998cc, 3-cylinder K-series engine from A-Star/Estilo.
So,Here comes my favourite 3 vs 4-cylinder engines clash;



So, after Twisting the key of this 3-cylinder engine powered car, the engine settled into a barely audible Idle. Then, Pressed the accelerator pedal to the max & again surprised by the Silence & vibe-free nature of the car at STAND-STILL.

Then came the actual driving Test,

Started from the Casual driving Style 1st, Putting the Oval shaped knob dominated Gear-lever into the 1st Gear via better but still somewhat Rubbery Gear-shifter & got onto the crowded Highway. As it was my consecutive TD immediately after the Ritz-D, I noticed this new Wagon-R somewhat Light & Easier to drive, with More direct, lighter & better Feedback providing steering than the Latter, but losing out on the Engine area, especially in the NVH stakes.

On straight performance runs, this unbalanced 3-cyl engine loses heavily infront of its parent 4-cyl K12M engine.
On flat-accelaration run in 2nd gear till rpm Redline, this engine felt very much Inconsistent & Unbalanced in the Power delivery with the front end of the Car Shaking & jittering alongwith the high NVH-levels, very similar to that of the Alto's with 796cc 3-cylinder engine.

So, Better was the Older 1061cc 4-cylinder F10D engine here with 64PS earlier than that of now with 68PS.


Driving Dynamics & Suspension:
But this is the Section where this Maruti's work shows, as this car felt very Planted & Car-like in Road-handling, Suspension & Stability areas with only High-feeling thing in it was its Tall-Roof not its Centre of Gravity.

A +1 over the Previous W-R.
Infact, IMO this car felt better & much-easily manouverable than Ritz in the City & till 70-80kmph speeds whereas the latter felt bulkier & large in same Road there.

And, During the TD the contributory features were:
-Aircraft-like Engine note on high Revs
-Excellent Sounding Music System.
-Great looking Steering Wheel with Good Grip.
-Properly Cushioned Seats.
-Super-Chilll A/C.
-Tilt Steering.
-Electrically Adjustable ORVMs.

While Not-so-Good Ones being:
-Dull Engine Performance as compared to its Rivals.
-Some Extra-wide Body Panel Gaps.




My Verdict:

With a ARAI Claimed Class leading Fuel efficiency of 18.9 kmpl, Its A good-looking car with good-features at a Price that's still 10-years Old(Thanks & hats-off for the Maruti for this hard-est job). Improved is the Character, Driving dynamics of the car, which's now more Car-like but Not-so-Good is the Retrogressive move of the engine in NVH & Torque-delivery manners, where I still appreciate the Old 1061cc one.
(Image source: AutocarIndia website)