Maruti Wagon-R

The Maruti Wagon-R is a made for India version of Suzuki Wagon R.

The Wagon-R was born out of Japanese kei-jido-sha restrictions which dictated a limited length and engine size. This boxy, tall-boy design has now completed five years of presence on Indian roads.

Maruti's launch of the car was ill-timed. Despite being one of the world's first tall-boy designs (along with models from Daihatsu and Daewoo), the Wagon-R was not first-to-market in India.

The Hyundai Santro, a less avant garde version of the Hyundai Atos was the first tall-boy design to hit the Indian roads. It preceded the Maruti-Suzuki Wagon R by a two year lead.

The Wagon R's bread-box shape did not immediately cut ice with the Indian consumer and the car saw slow sales initially.

The car is powered by a 1061 cc four cylinder, sixteen valve, multipoint fuel-injected engine producing 64 bhp (47.7 kW) at 6200 rpm and 84 newton-metres (62 ft·lbf) of torque at 3500 rpm.

The car comes with a variety of trim levels. These include the LX (sans power steering), LXi (power steering), VXi (fully loaded) and the AX (automatic). The car normally comes with a 5-speed manual transmission and seats 4 (including the driver) comfortably. Light kerb weight (750–775 kg) makes for a nimble car with good acceleration and a top speed of Auto kmh|160|0. The car's fuel economy is somewhere in the range of 13 to 14 km/l (7.7 to 7.1 l/100 km) in city driving and 18 to 20 km/l (5.6 to 5.0 l/100 km) on the highway.

The car is priced between Rs. 350,000 (LX) to Rs. 485,000 (AX).

Now the car has found a market for itself, especially among young Indian urban professionals who don't mind its boxy slab-sided looks, but value its Maruti lineage. The car is currently among India's top five best-selling cars.

Maruti Udyog Ltd. has recently revamped its looks and introduced a new look WagonR which sheds the boxy look at the back. Also has been introduced the LPG version christened DUO which runs on petrol as well as LPG. Also the internal controls have been given a more sportier look with bright metal finish. Other features new in the Vxi (the top end manual transmission model) are Electrically adjustable outside Rearview mirrors. This is the first on any B-Segment car in India.

External links

* [http://www.marutiwagonr.com Maruti WagonR website]
* [http://www.indiacar.com/review.asp?mcode=m00510&model=WagonR%20Ax&bc=009&brand=MARUTI+UDYOG+LTD Review of Maruti WagonR] Maruti Suzuki