[nikhilthemacho]

Hi All,

This is my review of owning a WagonR VXi since last 2 weeks and the overall dealership experience. I will start with my background of the need of a car and then move onto the process of selection then to delivery day and then driving results.

Car bought: WagonR VXi Petrol
Date of booking: 18th February, 2011.
Date of delivery: 25th February, 2011.
Cost (after discounts) : Rs. 4,34,300 approx. (3 year warranty)
Disounts given: 8000 + 2500 + 9000 MGA accessories
Car color: Metallic Breeze Blue
Dealer: Kiran Motors Ltd, Channi, Baroda.

I own a Bajaj Pulsar 150 DTSi since last 6 years. Never had a car in the family as dad always was in government service and a car always was at our disposal. But he retired a 3 months ago, and the need to have a car to commute, apart from a status symbol.

The need
---------

One thing which I was sure of was that I would be buying a mid-sized car. Reasons being: (1) Our budget was limited (2) Parking space is a constraint in my home. I started searching for information like car prices, technical specs, fuel efficiency etc by visiting websites of manufacturers. Made a document which listed all the prices of all the variants of every small car available in India. Then shortlisted two manufacturers namely Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai. Firstly because they are trusted names, more so than others especially when it comes to service and maintenance, and secondly because they are not very expensive to own and maintain.

I did consider Chevrolet Beat initially, but then opted out because of its lesser leg space at the rear seat. Given that I myself am 5'11 and my brother 6'2. Amongst Hyundai, was considering Santro, i10 Magna and had a fleecing look at i20 (because of the high price). Did not consider Santro any further because of older technology and lesser fuel efficiency when compared to other cars like WagonR and i10. Of course, i10 has the same engine as that of Santro with some newer technologies. But considered Santro to be quite an old car to be bought. So the final fight was between WagonR VXi and i10 Magna. Other lower variants of WagonR were rejected because wanted car to be fully loaded within the constraints of my budget. Similarly for i10.

Visited the Baroda showroom (Hyundai Downtown, channi area) for having a feel of the cars there. When it came to interiors, Hyundai's cars were really good and with a nice elegant finish. But the backside of Santro was found to be more attractive than i10's. i20 of course beat everyone else, but was out of my budget. So in looks, I felt Santro is better than i10.

Then visited the Kiran Motors showroom (channi area, Baroda) for a feel of Maruti cars. There had a look at Alto, Ritz, Wagon-R and Estillo. Alto was too small, did not like Ritz's backside blunt cargo look, Wagon-R was larger than Estillo and with a better efficiency and of course higher sales all across India.

The comparison between i10 Magna & WagonR was done on the following basis. WagonR VXi had a rear wiper, rear defogger, a lesser prominent bump for people sitting behind, lesser maintenance cost, fully retractable rear seats. While for the same features, I would have had to go for i10 Sportz model, which was over 5 lacs. So finally went for WagonR VXi. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure of my driving so did not take a test drive of any of the cars. Even though, I had read it umpteen number of times that TD is a must, but nonetheless relied on user reviews. The cost difference between WagonR Vxi and i10 Magna (if a stereo would have been installed separately in i10) was around 17,000 (taking into account all the different sort of discounts that were being offered by both the dealers). This difference wasn't much, but because of the features in WagonR, I went for it.

The Buying process
-------------------

There were a few things that did not go as I wanted them to because of family constraints like booking on an auspicious day, delivery on this particular day etc. Because of which the booking process was done in a haste. Paid 11,000/- and booked a Metallic Breeze Blue car. But before that, bargained for discounts. One trick that the sales guy tried on me, after I pressed for discounts, was that he reduced the price by a little more than 2,000/-. But what he was offering was without the 3rd year warranty. So it was no discount at all. I found that out. And he had nothing to respond! Finally, i got discounts of 8,000 (prevailing) + 2500 (corporate discount) + 9000 (MGA accessories).

Then fixed a date for delivery of the car. Being an extensive net researcher, I had taken the PDI checklist mentioned on TeamBHP's site with me. The salesguy was a sweettalking guy who wanted me to first make the whole payment and then get the delivery and that too without any inspection!! But because I had read so much about dealership experiences, I knew what to do in such situations. So I told him I want to see and check the car. He told me it was in the stockyard in Padamla (a nearby village on highway NH8) around 10 kms away. So I went there with my dad and two of his friends, one of whom is knowledgeable in matters related to cars. We inspected the car. The interiors were squeaky clean. No dust inside at all. Odometer reading of 4 km. Clean engine compartment. Checked everything in the PDI checklist mentioned on TeamBHP. Everything was fine. Even checked the VIN and checked the coding and found it to be a make of Feb, 2011. Even took the car on a short ride with uncle. All seemed fine. But there was a very thin hair line scratch which was hardly noticeable that too only in sunlight. Pointed it to him, and he said he will fix that up before delivery. Though nothing was to be taken orally, I agreed and went to the showroom. In the car I had seen a parking ticket mentioning the date on which that car had come to that stockyard - 29th Jan, 2011. In the showroom, I insisted on seeing manufacturing certificate. They were not very cooperative. But when I mentioned things like Form 22, VIN, etc they looked surprised and showed a certificate mentioning chasis and engine number. Though manufacturing date was nowhere mentioned. I became a little suspicious. Then the lady officer explained me the coding of Maruti (which I already had). Then I was convinced that the make is of February, 2011.

Then paid the remaining amount through a check and waited for the delivery. Got accessories fitted. One more thing that deserves a mention here is that on the documents, the sales guy mentioned only 6000 worth of free accessories, but orally he was saying 9000. So I asked him about this discrepancy. He said that Maruti may not allow so much to be given as free, but take my word we will give it to you with bills. So I was a bit skeptical about this, but finally got all the accessories worth 9000 installed. Which was a good experience Took the insurance of National Insurance (cashless facility) from Maruti showroom itself. Even though, it surprised me that for all the different insurer's like Royal Sundaram, National, New India etc the premium was same. I questioned them a lot about this as well. So in short, I was a very very nosy customer for them ! In fact, when I first mentioned to them that outside am getting lower premium, one of the sales guy started saying that he will have to enquire whether Maruti guys would allow that or not! That was so dumb and infuriated me that how can they think of fooling me by saying anything. So when I confronted him he made some excuse and disappeared .


Finally got the delivery of the car, a complete demo, and also took a short drive of the car.

The driving experience
----------------------
Have been driving it out at nights almost daily to gain confidence. The car is really smooth. Haven't calculated the full tank efficiency yet though. The music system is decent, the perfume (made in Japan, by Car Mate is very good), the leather seat covers are elegant, the a/c quite powerful. One problem though is of the drivers hand brushing against the thighs of the co-passenger when changing the gear from 1st to 2nd or from 3rd to 2nd. Though I had known about this from earlier reviews.

On my first night out driving, the experience was good, but the parking thing took 20 minutes to do, as the space is really constrained and was new to it! But now, have got a better hold of it.

Delership review
----------------
Dealer: Kiran Motors Ltd, Channi, Baroda.

The overall experience would be rated at 7.5 out of 10.

Positives have been like the salesguy coming to home twice to pick the car for accessories and RTO registration.

Negatives would be a lot of waiting time for getting accessories fitted. Also, once you are a customer, you are valued a lot lesser than would-be-customer. I had to run after the sales guy to get my issues resolved after the payment was done.

Key Learnings
----------

1) Do ample amount of research about the car you are about to buy
2) Do ample amount of research about the dealer from whom you want to buy a car
3) Don't rush up in things like booking a car, making payments etc just because some auspicious day is coming
4) Make sure you take the PDI checklist with you (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...-kulkarni.html)
5) Though its your right to be cautious about everything, don't boss around too much because you still have to deal with them later for issues like registration, insurance etc. Exercise your right and caution, but be polite at the same time. If you don't like or don't agree with something, don't shout or yell, tell them politely the logic of the same.
6) Make sure all the paper work is correct and up to date.

So this was my experience of buying a car. Will keep you updated about new developments.

Take care.

[camchennai]

Congratulations Nikhil on your Wagon R.

Well written, please post some pictures and keep this thread updated with your ownership experience.

Happy driving

[nikhilthemacho]

Thanks Camchennai.

For fellow BHPians, I am also attaching the price list document which I had made for myself as a reference. Please note that this is not exhaustive, but covers most of the manufacturers of small cars and their ex-showroom prices.

I will upload some pics of my car shortly.

[mdsaab]

Congratulations on your wagon r.
You are one well informed customer, glad the dealer could not take you for a ride.
Wishing you many miles of joyful motoring with your blue eyed babe!
Drive safe!

[misquitas]

Congratulations on your new Blue-eyed boy. May you have many, many miles of enjoyment on your Wagon R. You date of delivery (25th February) is indeed auspicious to me as well -- it's my birthday.

Originally Posted by nikhilthemacho

Of course, i10 has the same engine as that of Santro with some newer technologies. But considered Santro to be quite an old car to be bought. So the final fight was between WagonR VXi and i10 Magna. Other lower variants of WagonR were rejected because wanted car to be fully loaded within the constraints of my budget. Similarly for i10.

I don't think the Santro has the same engine as the I10. The I10 Magna has a 1.2 VTVT engine, quite different from the 1.1 litre engine of the Santro.

The comparison between i10 Magna & WagonR was done on the following basis. WagonR VXi had a rear wiper, rear defogger, a lesser prominent bump for people sitting behind, lesser maintenance cost, fully retractable rear seats. While for the same features, I would have had to go for i10 Sportz model, which was over 5 lacs. So finally went for WagonR VXi.

When I went to buy a vehicle (I eventually bought an I10 1.2 Magna) in December 2010, I too have shortlisted the Wagon R VXI as it was packed with all frills and fitments. However, after test driving both vehicles, we (my wife, her brother and his wife -- all of us were in the test drive vehicles) immediately preferred the power and refinement of the I10 engine as opposed to the Wagon R engine.

Besides, the I10 felt far more comfortable (it is wider than the Wagon R) in the cabin and had a better boot space. The new Wagon R has a disappointing boot space and we preferred the boot of the older Wagon R.

In addition, we felt the I10's interiors were top notch in comparison to the Wagon R. Also, there was much less body roll in the I10 as opposed to the Wagon R and this is one feature important to my wife. If you want, I have documented my detailed ownership experience at:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2181271

The cost difference between WagonR Vxi and i10 Magna (if a stereo would have been installed separately in i10) was around 17,000 (taking into account all the different sort of discounts that were being offered by both the dealers). This difference wasn't much, but because of the features in WagonR, I went for it.

We too had to make a decision between a fully-loaded Wagon R and an I10 1.2 Magna. In the end, we decided that some of the fitments on the Wagon R (rear wiper, defogger, fog lamps, etc) did not mean much to us as we were rarely going to use them anyway. We preferred the I10 as it had a better cabin and slightly better boot space, more powerful and refined engine compared to the Wagon R, had much better fit and finish and seemed a far more solid package than the Wagon R. We felt that the Rs 15,000 extra for the I10 (as opposed to the Wagon R) was well worth the price.

Haven't calculated the full tank efficiency yet though. The music system is decent, the perfume (made in Japan, by Car Mate is very good), the leather seat covers are elegant, the a/c quite powerful. One problem though is of the drivers hand brushing against the thighs of the co-passenger when changing the gear from 1st to 2nd or from 3rd to 2nd. Though I had known about this from earlier reviews.

I have done three fuel efficiency tests on my I10 so far and the FE readings have been to my satisfaction -- 18.4 kmpl, 18.7 kmpl and 17.4 kmpl. It is good that you found the integrated music system decent. We found it quite poor in comparison to the integrated music systems on the Figo and I10 (Sportz and Asta).

Having said that, it is important that you are happy with the Wagon R and do enjoy every bit of your car. It is also good that you were well informed of every aspect while buying the vehicle, so that no one could take you for a ride.

Do keep us updated on your ownership experiences.

[SankalpDesai]

Hi Nikhil,

That's a thorough review of your buying process. What I really liked is the way you caught the salesguy from conning you into taking delivery without inspection and not showing the genuine discounts on offer. I believe that 'majority of sales professionals' in this trade are dishonest and would want to hide lot of things from customers. This can be because customers themselves are so gullible and leave everything in the hands of these sales guys.

Do post some good amount of pics of the exterior and interiors. Have a wonderful time with your car.

JSK

[Diesel9999]

Congratulations Nikhil on the new ride and the very well written buying experience. Wagon R has always been a very sensible car for city driving and some of my friends swear by it. In fact, one of my friends is into his 3rd Wagon R as he says that no other car gives him such convenience (the guy is 6ft 4inches tall)

I personally find the ride to be too stiff but no other complaints. Hope you have fun with your car.

[samarth.bhatia]

Hi Nikhil,

Congratulation on the new car!

Your buying experience is quite thorough with the details.
You did good in taking care to be aware of crucial factors like the list you mentioned (the right car, the right dealer, etc.). Also, I believe that you rightly said that its important to not lose it with the sales person during the buying process. They would not care as much for the customer once they make the payments. At the same time, it is also as important to get your point across. Kudos to you for that.

Do keep us updated on your experience.
It would be nice to see a couple of pictures .

Cheers and drive safe.
Sam

[nikhilthemacho]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

@Misquitas - Thanks for your careful points. In fact, I had read your complete review well before buying the car! :-). And your review did help me a lot in understanding shortcomings of WagonR compared to i10.

[DRIV3R]

Congrats on the Waggie, Nikhil.

One of the most practical family hatch, the Wagon R is.

Keep us updated with the happenings. And the pics please.

[Schoudhury]

Congrats Nikhil .
Wagon R is really a good vehicle to own .And the new one also looks kool .
I also had the wagon R in my list of cars, but the news of new one coming made me drop it from the list.
Could you please let us know what all did you get in those 9K accessors free .

Oh yes, without pictures a report some how feel incomplete ,so if you could do the needful.

Cheers and drive safe .

[nikhilthemacho]

@Schoudhary - So sorry about being lazy with regards to photos. Will do that. I bargained for 9k worth of accessories. In that, I was free to choose my own accessories, whichever I wanted to take. I opted for the following:
Carpet boxer floor mat
Mud flaps
Bumpers
Body cover
Steering cover
Art leather seat covers
Perfume
Sunfilm