Wagon R - Tale of our Lifeline

Wagon R was the lifeline of our family since 2010. Hailing from a middle class family, Wagon R was always an affordable dream back then. This was the first four wheeler for us and this car really matched Honda brio's tagline - "It loves you back". She is still strongly servicing our city needs and occassional highway runs without breaking much sweat and zero breakdowns. When thought of car, may be by mid 2010, i (self announced automobile journalist) started investigating to all available hatchbacks in and around 4L bracket. Alto, i10, Swift (beyond budget,but still) , Wagon R and Zen Estilo where considered seriously. Indicas and few others were omitted for reliability and brand concerns. Alto was eliminated easily as the car is too basic and has no wow factor. Dad was font of Maruti cars, as he elder brother worked in "Popular Maruti -Cochin" . I had a huge crush on Swift but it was beyond our budget .Also swift was considerably wider incomparison with other cars and road to my house is kind of small for Swift. I10, Wagon R,Zen Estilo,Santro and Chevrolet beat was shortlisted in final round. I10 was eliminated due to poor FE figures and interior rooms. Another major reason was being "Non Maruti" to avoid i10. Same applies for Little chevy as well. In addition to Maruti badge, Wagon R and Estilo grabbed Dad's attention as it offered high SUV like seating position with a clear road view. This was the most attracting factor to settle for a tall boy car , as Dad is also a newbie in driving. Now Santro ,Estilo and Wagon R were the only rides left. Santro was avoided due to dull interiors and they were too many on roads. FE concerns and non Maruti badge was also a deciding facto to omit Santro. It was quite simple to choose between Wagon R and Estilo. Estilo was almost inferior in all aspects as compared to newly launched Wagon R. Heart and brain together said Wagon R. A White Wagon R VXI was then finalized and bought home on dussera holidays of 2010. Delivery an buying experience was seamless as my uncle is an employee of Popular Automobiles. Despite of huge festival rush and popularity of this car, we managed to get the car delivered within 1 week of booking. We spent around 4.10L OTR-Cochin. Only floor mat was given as freebie. I had no idea about PDI back then and obviously we didn't had one. Wagon R was a hot piece in market. Huge success of previous generation vehicle gave grant opening to new K Series Wagon R. Maruti also retained the good elements that impressed customers from previous car which made it instant hit. Also it was a new face on roads with love it or hate it design theory (obviously Indians wholeheartedly loved it). I personally has a neutral opinion about looks and design of this car. This car is all about practicality. Design is boxy and tall boy. You won't find the cuteness that we expect in an urban car. This one is a good people mover with ample interior rooms . Compact dimensions make it easy to maneuver in city conditions. Parking is also a bliss. Dashboard, interior plastics,door pads , console ,fabrics had the upmarket feel and offered "wow" for us, whose eyes are only familiar with Maruti 800s ,Zens, Santros and Indicas. Build quality was acceptable for competition but not the best. Uneven panel gaps is still eye sore. Under seat storage was a blessing. Glove box are small and there are no proper space for water bottles. Door pockets are thin and useful for documents only. There is no major cabin storage space even for your wallet and mobiles. There is alloted space for mobile on rigjt side of steering but your modern 6" smartphone won't fit in. Seats are comfortable and car can afford 5 average sized passenger. Leg and headroom is best in class now and then. You can easily stuff people in this cute little box.Sadly, at 180L, boot is a miss. It was sufficient for our needs till date, but may not be the case with everyone. Music system by Nippon is a mediocre unit by today's standard, but was a fancy when we bought it. It gets a USB switch, which requires a USB adaptor . Almost every dealer now and then is unaware where to get this Adapter. We are still using aux/cd to listen to our music. ( Time for an upgrade) Coming to engine and dynamics,feel free to get disappointed if you are an enthusiast. 3 cylinder 998cc 67hp/90nm engine has almost zero low end torque. You need to workout gears to get going. Overtakes has to carefully planned. Car really struggles in Ghat sections with full loads. Cable type slick shifting transmission is okay to use but not great as such. Mid range is strong and keeping revs post 2500rpms gives you decent pull. Post 4000rpms, engine gets vocal and tone isn't really enjoyable. Top end is also dead and there is no point in revving it to redline. Once you knows engine and start adjusting to way it responds, everything is easy. Body roll due to tall boy structure makes the car a really poor handler and high speed dynamics are null. Steering is well tuned for city conditions but dead with no feedback for higher speeds. Brakes lacks the bite,but has enough stopping power as far as this car is concerned. Cruising at tripple digit speeds are difficult. Ideal speeds would be 90kmph . 155cc Air conditioner does a good job. But I strongly feels that air vents positioning aren't proper and it takes time to cool rear seat passengers. Overall the engine and dynamics of this car is well suited for a family man. FE used to be around 13-15kmpl in city conditions and 16-17 on highways. Boy, you'll always fall on love with the seating position of this car anyhow. What a view ?? Only two or three Services were done at Popular. Dad was not satisfied with service centre performance ( by this time, uncle left the firm).For a front wheel bearing fault,they knowingly or unknowingly diagnosed it as "tyre issue" and asked us to switch to Bridgestone tyres instead of Appollo accelere ( which was just 14k kms old) by paying 15k . A local workshop fixed issue with a bill of 1k and Appollos ran for another 18k kms. Thus we cutted the relation with showroom service and started to go for local mechanic service. 9 years and 50k kms, service bills are around 3-5k on average with semi synthetic oil. Suspension mount bush is one major thing which is getting replaced in every 10k kms, which is odd for me. Serious concerns about the quality of products!! Car is still young and we still care it as brand new. So no plans to replace and it serves the purpose almost brilliantly despite of all cons. Shows no major signs of aging too. She looks showroom condition once washed and waxed!!