Mar 07, 2009 02:31 PM
12438 Views
Hey Guys,
Have been thinking about writing a review on my car from many days, I felt its the right time to pin down my thoughts.
My requirements:
Good Head room, leg room, ease of getting in and out for elders, A small car as 80% of the drive would be in City limits, Good fuel efficiency, Low on maintenance. Price of about~4 Lacs
Options:
Santro Xing, Indica disel, Wagon R, Zen estilo & i10.
Reason to opt for wagon R duo:
Suited all my requirements except for few minor ones on which I could compromise(like looks, power, good interiors)
*Looks:
*Beauty lies in the eye of beholder, for me the new wagon R looks quite dashing from the front, not that impressive from side & back. Looks like a mini SUV altogether. Good colors to chose from. I chose passion red, though silver & Black are also my fav color on cars
Lxi doesnt come with any look enhancing add ons like side body mould or wheel caps.
Nice curves on the body and looks as though they have tried to enhance the aerodynamics on the car compared to the earlier design. On the interior, the 3 spoke steering wheel looks quite impressive, Speedo looks big and an option should have been available to choose a speedo & tacho on the dashboard similar to Vxi.
Plastics are cheap, I have got big scratches on the dashboard and doors already due to metal objects just rubbing on to it. door trimming & seat colors are standard grey for all Wagon R Lxi, it doesn’t match with any color variants of Wagon R in my opinion. Lot of small features like cup holders, hooks which comes in handy at times
Comfort & Space:
Front seat comfort is quite impressive, I am 6 Foot tall and some what huge built & I feel the seating position is very comfortable even when compared to bigger sedans. A hand rest near the gear shift would have enhanced the comfort for the driver in my opinion. Power steering is very impressive on this car, Rear seat is very uncomfortable in Wagon R, the distance between the seat and floor is very less. This will make you sit in a very uncomfortable posture which wil hurt your back on a long drive.
Leg room at the rear depends on how much the driver is compromising on his comfort by pulling his seat to the front. Open the boot and there you go, your spare wheel is lying diagonally. 50% of the width is taken away by this spare wheel. If u are a music freak and want to put a speaker plank, forget your boot. Try Carrier on top for luggage.
*Performance:
*54 bhp on Gas is sometimes a pain when you are on AC/ or climbing a steep road. Else there is no significant difference between a drive on petrol and LPG. You need to drop in to a lower gear, say 2nd, when you slow down and want to regain your speed, this aint the case when driving on petrol.
Top Speed: 130 kmph(on Gas, with 2 passengers on board), 140 kmph(on Petrol).
Was stable at this speed, but its quite risky to hit such speeds as I am not at all happy with the brakes.
Fuel Efficiency: & some Maths
A year back.
Bought the car when LPG were priced at 37 Rs & Petrol at 56Rs
Mileage on petrol: 13 - 15, on gas: 10 - 12 kmpl
Cost/km on petrol: Rs 4, on gas: 3.29 Rs. So effectively 0.71 paisa per km savings compared to petrol.
1000 Km a month: A saving of Rs 710 per month compared to drive on petrol,
Amount I paid extra for Duo: 33, 000, So After 3 years 8 Months & 38, 000 km I will breakeven for the extra money I spent on the Duo.
Now.
Price of LPG: Rs 27.77, Petrol: Rs 46(in Bangalore)
Mileage on petrol: 15 - 17, on gas: 12 - 14(Yes, its very much true that your fuel efficiency increases after 3rd service at 10, 000km)
Cost/km on petrol: Rs 3.07, on gas: 2.13 Rs, savings compared to petrol have remained the same,
but cost of running has reduced to about 2 rs/km, which sounds very impressive for a vehicle which can carry 5 passengers(4 legally)
Problems faced so far:
Weak structure, had an accident once where in I rammed in to a parked bike gently, I had to shed out Rs 21, 000 from insurance on front grill, bumper, bonnet, Ac vents & paint job. Whom to blame? The brakes; the car was still new and I thought it would stop, but the wheels locked and the car skid for about 10 mts before hitting the bike. Not my fault.:)
Car used to stall in 2nd gear when running on LPG, complained during 1st service, but it was not rectified, wrote a mail to Maruti itself, their staff contacted my dealer and the problem was rectified, the problem was with soot formation in the gas intake. Stopped filling fuel at a HPCL outlet where I used to refil everytime, chose BPCL and till now havent got any issues of that sort.
Conclusion:If you are looking for an economical, environment friendly & a comfortable car to drive within city limits, go for Wagon R duo.
Very low on maintanance, 1st service: 800 Rs(oil change), 2nd service: free, 3rd: 1, 600rs for oil change and wheel balancing.
Another good thing, dont worry about the safety's fellows, Maruti have done a good job and have not compromised on the gas kit safety features. Auto switch for LPG/Petrol is an excellent feature. Does its job very well. You can hear when it switches over to gas with a click.Gauge for LPG is just an approximate value and you cant rely on it, may its just an "FYI" kind of thing. you have 5 led's, 4 green and 1 amber, on amber, time to refil but it will run about 40 to 50 km in amber.:)
Personally I am happy I made this choice, Now there are better variants to choose from like, i20, A-star, i10 Kappa, Vista etc etc, but Duo has its own USP which makes it a good car for city drive. Happy and safe driving.
