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BHPian freakmuzik recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Here's to sharing my experience of purchasing an Ignis as a replacement for a 2010 Wagon-R VXI ABS. Though there is a lot of information regarding the car on T-Bhp, I've always felt there might be some tiny thing that might be of help to some tiny soul out there. What's the forum for, otherwise? Hence trying to put out a brief, yet, honest journey of this purchase.
Ode to our beloved Wagon-R
My memory from 2010 has me with my family being excited to take delivery of our much awaited Wagon-R VXI (with ABS & Airbags, for which we had to wait for 6 months), the smell of freshly-baked interior trims, the feeling of sitting over the plastic seat covers, of praying that everything be good with the car after reading all T-Bhp gyaan as a teenager. The first ride back home is still fresh in my memory.
The very last pic of our Wagon-R that I took in September, 2024
Prior to this, we had a Premier Padmini of 1989 make as our primary car. Later, in early 2010, we got a Yellow Nano from the very first list of bookings. And then came the Wagon R in White, the blue eyed boy. The car took us safely to so many places, almost all of Kerala, a bit of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. I did my first highway drive with a learners license in this car. It saved my sister from an accident and also became part of our whole life, being with us for a considerable part of our life and a lakh kilometers. It was my mother's favourite child as she used it the most and we couldn't fathom how it was nearly 15 years already.
But, leaving the emotional part aside, the car slowly started showing its age with few parts needing replacements and a few more that might have to be changed soon. There were a couple of spots of rusting and the boot space was really tight too. Plus, there's the matter of re-registration in 2025 as well. So we finally made a decision to part ways with our Blue-eyed boy and start looking for an ideal replacement.
What to look for?
Since my mother drove the Wagon-R the most (maybe not in kilometers covered, but time spent), it was purely her comfort in mind coupled with other general parameters such as:
With this list, we narrowed down to test-drive the following cars: Wagon R AMT, Punch AMT, Punch EV, Citreon C3 (1.2 NA), Exter and Maruti Ignis.
The (re)search:
Let me share my inferences from the test drives here (have shared some of these in another thread before, but I feel it makes sense to put it down here again)
Maruti Wagon R
Likes:
Dislikes:
Good evolution in all ways except for the perceived quality and seat-comfort!
Punch AMT
Likes
Dislikes
Citreon C3 (1.2 NA)
Likes
Dislikes
Punch EV
Likes
Dislikes
Hyundai Exter
Likes
Dislikes
Must say, the Hyundai sales team were amazing!
Maruti Ignis
Likes
Dislikes
The second round of test-drive that sealed our choice.
Overall analysis
View from Driver's seat - Ignis>Wagon-R=C3=Punch=Exter
Ride Comfort - C3=Punch>Ignis>Exter=Wagon-R
Perceived Quality - Punch>Exter>Ignis>Wagon-R=C3
Front Seating comfort - Punch>Ignis>C3>Exter>Wagon-R
Rear Seating comfort - Punch>Exter>C3>Ignis>Wagon-R
Boot Space - Exter>Wagon-R>Punch>C3>Ignis
Engine+AMT - Ignis>Wagon-R>Punch>Exter
NVH - Punch>Exter>Ignis>Wagon-R=C3
Regarding the pricing,
Wagon R ZXI+ DT AGS- Rs. 8.30 L
Ignis Alpha AGS - Rs. 9.02 L
Hyundai Exter SX(O) AMT - Rs. 11.20 L
Tata Punch Creative AMT - Approx Rs. 11 L (from carwale)
Citreon C3 Shine NA Manual - Approx Rs. 9.3 L (from carwale)
My mother still had a soft-corner for the Wagon-R brand but yet another thorough test drive of both these cars locked our decision. Booked Maruti Ignis Alpha AGS in Nexa Blue from Indus Nexa showroom in the Kazhakoottam By-pass. We initially booked it with Sarathy motors but later figured they only had a showroom in Kollam which they did not mention. There were a few more stuff that they weren't transparent about so we went ahead with Indus.
Ex-showroom: 8,06,000/-
Insurance: 25,651/-
Road Tax: 1,04,780/-
Extended Warranty (6 yrs): 19,588/-
Registration: 1155/-
Fastag: 500/-
Nexacard: 885/-
On-Road: Rs. 958719/-
Discounts:
Consumer offer: 50,000/-
Bonus Offer: 20,000/-
Exchange Bonus: 14,000/-
Net on-road: 8,74,719/-
Since I wasn't in town, I got my father to check the car out in the yard and take a few photos for me. I definitely couldn't ask him to do a PDI but witnessing the car with a clean paintwork atleast felt good.
We had a decent delivery experience as we had to settle with the day before Onam. They had to deliver 60 cars so one can imagine the kind of confusions and delays but, they did their level best. The car did have a few fingerprints here and there, they forgot to put paper mats inside and all that. But still, I won't complain as the experience was respectful in total. For folks wondering why we chose such a busy date, this was the only time that all four in our family were in town.
Continue reading BHPian freakmuzik's Maruti Ignis review for BHPian comments, insights and more information.