1 year and four months is long gap from my previous reviews...!!Whatever I jot down my pen only if I find something affects me...here you go with my review on my Wagonr VXI (2002)/40k/1.35 lacsKMSwhich is bought it second hand from a Doctor.
Please understand I have '0" knowledge about cars, so when decided to go for iti took some help from my friends/reviews who are car "Freaks", I told them I have a plan to buy a Second hand car and no idea what to choose following are the valuable suggestions
Tata (Indica): Good when purchased new, but after 25, 000 KMS the car/engine is good for nothing so if some NRI sells you this car coz of relocation or something and if its less than 10k kms go for it.Also the spares are decently priced
Fiat(Palio):Not recommended for beginners, also has techinical glitches + rare availability of spares and requires search of expert mechanics
Hyundai(santro):Reliable engines but high maintainence compared to its competitors for a middle class family
Ford(Ikon):Cheap to buy but no resale + Highest maintainence in its class also not recommended for beginners.I included this since I falled within the budget of 1-1.5 lacs
Chevrolet (Spark) : At-par to maruthi, however no spread of service station and also not very much tried and tested
Maruthi(800/wagonr/alto) : Low maintainence, Easy/cheap availability of spares, wide spread of service station, tried and tested, success stories still continuing
So putting all the above points together no surprise I decided to go with maruthi no other brands tempted me little.
I want to bring in three points here to the readers
1)I learnt driving somewhere in 2007 in my driving class (15 days) after which I never touched a car, so more or less I literally dont know how to drive a car, so this review may not have core techincal stuff but just my experience
2)When you decide to go for a second hand car you should understand a point that you cannot expect perfection (if you need that you have to go for a new one), there will be minor flaws and only thing you have to ensure is, the price what ever you pay should have a value and flaws should be correctable/neither bother you.
3)As long as the car runs without any repairs and basicsare right (like breaks, clutches, seats, gear shift)be happy with that, Dont keep complaining on your cars with minor things like door noise, AC, music system, scratches etc..
So after few hits here and there I have become a decent driver after 500 kms, car driving is not a big deal all you have to have is Optimistic thinking and confidence, keep away your fear, just go for it...!! it comes ease :)
I discarded 800 since its too small and the production is stopped panic of parts may not be available in long run, Alto could have been a good choice but since I got a better deal I sticked with wagon r
Now about my car..
Space inside/interiors : Good space inside comfortable for 4, decent for 5, lots of room for luggage especially I like the feature or bending down the rear seats that makes it like a mini truck :).You can "AARAM se carry fridge, washing machine or house hold items, interiors are also made up of good quality plastics I could say this since because mine is a 8 year old car the wear and tear is very less coz of quality items used.Beautiful seat adjustments
However I noticed while gear shifting you have to touch the thys of the co-traveller parallel to the driver seats this I did not notice in indica/santro
Engine:Engine was not butter smooth alike santro/chevy but a good one, no noises and though if there is something wrong it could be done 40- 50% cheaper than its competitors, however I was lucky with it needless to say maruthi engines are reliable, here when I open the bonet I could see there is no rust in any of its mechanical parts (which I noticed in indica) which shows the good quality alloys used
Performace/power:The pick up was not that great for its category (1086 cc), it was just ok ok..!! compared to its competitors after I drived them later, the car is rock stable at 120 KM/hr well balanced you feel like you are driving at 70-80 (but in others you fee like you are driving at 50)
Control/comfort : easy to control, i am a 5'10 guy I feel the car is quite easily controble and comfortable, though I move my seat the (mid-sized) passengers in rear seat are quite fine.
Milege : with AC I get around 12/14 city/highway, without AC 13/15 city/highway.
Misc: AC is just fine takes around2-3 minutes to feel the comfort but takes around5 minutes to cool down in hot summers, gear shiftings are good my wife can change it without much efforts
Maintainence: very cheap for the past six months I spent around 3500 (service showroom they asked for 12500) including oil change and the car is fine from a lay man point of view
Service:This is the point to be noted, never give your second car to authourised dealer since they look for perfection alike new and screw up existing things, they try to replace things which can be corrected and used for sometime, also they always keep comparing new car which leaves a bad attitude towards your car.So look for expert mechanics/relaible and give it to them so that they could fine tune your car, as long as the car keeps running good change the oils n keep going never look for perfection/compare with new cars thiswould add to your bill amount.
Sum up :
I could say wagonr is quite good choice in terms of maintaince, reliability and quality, but if you look for hard core performance/mileage in its class its always a second call.
