All New Maruti Suzuki WagonR Tall, Trendy & Tough

We got to drive the top end ZXi variant of the 1.2 litre model that comes with a manual transmission. The automatic AGS technology is offered in both the 1 litre and 1.2 litre models of the new WagonR.

Exterior Design and Features

What I like about the new WagonR is the fact that the company has retained the tall boy looks that have always excited its customers. But now they have fine tuned the looks to make it appear as a stylish family car that can appeal to the young and not so young alike. The exterior design now looks robust and appealing with a modern architectural grille. Then there are  the dual-split headlamps and fog lamps. The side profile gets all smart with its flared wheel arches.  The new WagonR gets electrical retractable and adjustable ORVMs with side indicators, roof antenna, full wheel caps, rear wiper and washer. The B and C pillar black out tape, body coloured door handles, body coloured bumpers and body coloured ORVMs enhances the looks of the vehicle. The rear too is now a little more attractive, especially with the vertical tail lamps. The top end could have done with standard alloy wheels.

Interior Design and Features

Since the new WagonR has been built on the 5^th generation HEARTECT platform, it has resulted into several safety related enhancements and space. Compared to its predecessor, this one has a 35mm increase in wheelbase (resulting in more front and rear row space), 140mm increase in front width and 150mm width increase at the rear.

This model gets remote keyless entry and dual tone interiors. The cabin is spacious. Then there is an ‘X’ themed instrument panel with 3-D Cross section. You get a floating dashboard and smart instrument cluster. There are multi-finish accentuated AC Vents.

What a customer wants in India is lots of storage space in a car. The company has offered that in plenty with bottle and magazine holders. There are bottle holders on all four doors and the floor console. The co passenger side front seat gets an under tray and rear back pocket. There are seatbelt pre-tensioner and force limiter for the driver and co passenger. There is also a seat belt reminder with buzzer for these two.

The 2^nd row seats have a 60:40 split which ensures that you can increase the boot space accordingly from the level of 341 litres. The boot space by itself is quite large.  USB slots for rear passengers could have been an added advantage, especially now that we live in an age where children are obsessed with their electronic gadgets. Rear AC vents too would have been a good addition.

The Instrument cluster meter theme is white, with features like low fuel warning, digital tachometer, gear shift indicator and indicators for fuel consumption, distance to empty, headlamp on warning, door ajar warning, etc.

To make driving easy, you get day-night adjustable inside rear view mirror. Other features include steering wheel garnish, silver inside door handles, driver side sun visor with ticket holder, front passenger side vanity mirror sun visor, rear defogger, accessory sockets for front row with storage space, power windows on all four, and driver side auto down function, AC and heater,

You get tilt adjustable steering wheel and steering mounted audio and calling controls. To ensure that the new generation customers stay connected in this car, the new WagonR comes with next generation SmartPlay Studio Infotainment system. The SmartPlay Studio is a seven inches touch infotainment system that combines smartphone, vehicle and cloud-based services. In addition to listening to your favourite music, you can surf news, get the latest weather updates and also locate eateries around you. The infotainment system is Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatible.

 Safety and Performance

If you think that this new WagonR is a tall boy meant for some simple road driving, then you are completely wrong. I pushed this new machine on some very rough patches and it came out with flying colours. Since this new machine gives you 113Nm of peak torque and an 82hp of peak power, it’s no pushover. To top it, it also gives a decent fuel efficiency of 21.5 km/l, which is nearly 10% higher than the outgoing model. Features like speed alarm system, security alarm, rear parking sensors, central locking, child proof rear door lock, are good enough to make this an ideal family car.

Coming to the drive, the 1.2 litre engine performs well with very good acceleration and though I do not recommend driving beyond speed limits, I pushed it hard and realised that it travelled at high speeds without any wobble or any discomfort. The vehicle was planted to the road and body roll was too minimal to even fret about. The suspension has been tuned well for a comfortable ride. Ride handling is decent to say the least.

Since it’s built on the 5th generation HEARTECT platform, it increases safety of occupants through effective absorption of impact and dispersion of crash energy and assures stability. Use of 40% high tensile steel provides better strength, safety, rigidity and NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) performance. Safety features including Driver airbag, ABS (antilock braking system) with EBD (electronic brake force distribution), front seat belts reminder, speed alert system and rear parking sensors are standard across variants. The all-new WagonR meets all applicable regulations including offset, side crash and pedestrian safety norms.

Verdict

The all-new Maruti Suzuki WagonR will win several hearts from die-hard WagonR fans. First and foremost, the company has retained the tall boy design which by itself is a commendable thing. Along with that, they have also made it stylish both from the outside as well as from the inside. A lot of comfort and convenience have been added and the cherry on the cake is the new 1.2 litre engine.