A good, not soo bad, and now not soo Ugly - Wagon

With the objective of buying a new car, I recently testdrove the Wangon R Lxi. Its a good car for a family of 4. Not more. And if you are planning on relatives then the kids better stay at home. It helps having a small car these days, especially ones that women can drive easily ( im married soo...), and this is one car they will surely love, maybe not for its looks but for its handling in traffic. Its a breeze. So if ur wife knows how to drive and if you feel it is a good idea to share the wheel once in a while then u shud look at this. Its much more refined than a santro in more ways than one. Here are my observations. Its got good interiors, handles well, can seat 4 comfortably (5 is a lie) and has good economy. The suspension smothers bumps reasonably well for a small car ( no where near the palio). Its easy to maintain, offers good economy and good resale. The gearshift is vague and imprecise. But u'll manage if you are a sedate driver. The engine has a good torque spread so pulling off in lower gear is not a problem even with the a/c on. The EPS takes away from the steering feel, but then this is not a sports car and so is fine. It is this feature that is a boon in traffic. The A/C is great in summer. But the blower does announce its hard work at higher speeds. Best maintained at 2 mark for a quiet cabin. Anyone taller than 5.10 and with a foot size of 9 - 10 ( im 6F) wud find the accelerator pedal placement funny. Your foot sits at a weird angle to the pedal and my ankle gave me trouble in the short 30 min span. ( is there anyone else out here who has experienced this..? ). The seats are small car like as in an Alto and dont offer great support. But thats manageable. The pedal placement in the Santro is worse, with the brake and the accelerator close to each other. Braking on the wagon is good with sure stops. Spirited driving is not what u should look for. It serves the purpose of an easy point A-B commute in the city, in space,comfort and economy and for the occasional weekend getaway with the family. Its a great car if these are your requirements. A personal suggestion, change to slightly broader tyres of the same size. It wud help its manners. The Lxi is a value for money option and make sure u get a few freebies from the dealer. Hope you found this useful. will be back with another review on another car soon. cheers! JThe new styling exterior and interior, interior space, handling in city traffic,bad accelerator pedal placement, tinny feel, sloppy gearshift