Upgrading From a Wagon-R

[joe_antony]

Hi Everyone,

I am very happy to become part of TAI. This is my very first post. Let me give a short introduction about my garage. I have a Wagon-R vxi(2005) and a TVS Victor 2003, and a Hero impulse 2012. I am a more of a biker when it comes to ride alone, day-to-day commute to office, short trips within city etc I use my bikes only. When I travel with family only I prefer to take the car. Due to my drive pattern I have clocked only 30k in my Wagon-R so far in this 8 years . The car is in pretty good condition, except the age shown in interiors like seats have worn out etc. Recently with family we did a 700km tour, and the car handled it pretty well, but still we felt the 'comfy' part was missing. In all these 8 years first time I started thinking about upgrading the car. Then I thought first I should ask people about it before taking any rushing decision, so this thread.

So this thread is intended to ask following questions :

1. Is it wise to upgrade the car having just 30k clocked? (it's in good condition but we feel we need a slightly better comfortable ride quality)
2. Can we improve the comfort by doing a suspension overhaul and can we do something to improve the comfort of the seats ( I have no idea if we could do this in the first place)

 

[vikyjoshi]

Hi Joe, Welcome to TAI.

Though you have not travelled much in your car (30K) your car is 8 years old. Upgrading is not a bad idea.

Two things:
There are lot many improvements that have happened in course of eight years in car industry.
WagonR have been upgraded upteen number of times by suzuki and probably you may face issues in sourcing parts for your car like mirrors, tail lights headlight assemblies in the near future. So it is better to upgrade your car.

Suggest you go for a petrol car, as your driving is not much. A Sedan or a bigger Hatch would serve your purpose. You could even upgrade yourself to a Safari.

I had wagonR for 5 years and later on upgraded myself to Safari last year.

 

[karthick raja]

Hi Everyone,
1. Is it wise to upgrade the car having just 30k clocked? (it's in good condition but we feel we need a slightly better comfortable ride quality)
2. Can we improve the comfort by doing a suspension overhaul and can we do something to improve the comfort of the seats ( I have no idea if we could do this in the first place)

So, how frequent you will use the car in upcoming days and whether it is really necessary to upgrade I mean whether the ride quality is really unbearable Since you mentioned that the car was in proper shape, its wise to wait till when you feel the need for upgrade is must.
Regarding suspension replacement, I would suggest you to hold up as you gonna replace the car soon and parts availability is an issue since it is several generations old.

 

[generalmax]

Joe ,
You must know that current Wagon R is so different from the 1st or second generation Wagon R. The sound levels you observe inside your current car is very high than the current one .The NVH level and build quality had seen a sea of change.To keep it simple why don't you take your Wagon R to a Maruti dealer and get it valued.
At the same time take a TD of the current Wagon R .If the price they quote is acceptable for you I would just recommend a current generation Wagon R by adding another 2 or 3 lakhs.

If not the above,
Tyre changes and suspension work will definitely change the way you ride.This may cost anyway near to 20 K.

 

[Releesh]

^^ Spares will not be a problem for Maruti wagon R, especially in Chennai !!There is not much mechanical issues going to come in a 30K Km run Wagon R.
As you know, car is a depreciating asset and a new car value will be reduced maximum in first 2 years.
If you really want to upgrade your car then the options are,
- Go for a used car. Good used petrol sedans will be available in Rs.3 lakh to Rs.5 lakh.
- Wait for next 6 months and watch out for the new cars. Many new cars will launch in auto expo and within the next 3 months you can understand which ones are success and make a decision. There will not be much reduction in resale value of your current car

 

[joe_antony]

- Wait for next 6 months and watch out for the new cars. Many new cars will launch in auto expo and within the next 3 months you can understand which ones are success and make a decision. There will not be much reduction in resale value of your current car

Thanks Releesh, when I bought my car the options were less than the fingers in one hand. Now a days one needs a lot of research to narrow down a set of cars as options. Yes, waiting till the auto expo makes sense to see what new stuff are coming up. I think going for a new car makes sense for me. Thanks again for your valuable suggestion

 

[joe_antony]

So, how frequent you will use the car in upcoming days and whether it is really necessary to upgrade I mean whether the ride quality is really unbearable Since you mentioned that the car was in proper shape, its wise to wait till when you feel the need for upgrade is must.
Regarding suspension replacement, I would suggest you to hold up as you gonna replace the car soon and parts availability is an issue since it is several generations old.

As my kids are growing up I think there will be more usage of the car, and I think as you suggested upgrade will be wiser especially considering the car lacks safety features. Thanks for the inputs.

 

[joe_antony]

Hi Joe, Welcome to TAI.

Though you have not travelled much in your car (30K) your car is 8 years old. Upgrading is not a bad idea.

Two things:
There are lot many improvements that have happened in course of eight years in car industry.
WagonR have been upgraded upteen number of times by suzuki and probably you may face issues in sourcing parts for your car like mirrors, tail lights headlight assemblies in the near future. So it is better to upgrade your car.

Suggest you go for a petrol car, as your driving is not much. A Sedan or a bigger Hatch would serve your purpose. You could even upgrade yourself to a Safari.

I had wagonR for 5 years and later on upgraded myself to Safari last year.

Thanks for the valuable inputs, Yes already some of the spare parts are denied mercilessly so I have to live without them even now. As you suggested I think upgrade is the best choice I have.

 

[Bopanna]

I'd say you can squeeze 10 years easily out of that WagonR of yours. So upgrade now only if you have concerns like capacity, safety, high maintenance bills, or low FE figures. Otherwise, wait a couple more years. With your low mileage, you should be able to get good resale value later too.

 

[Releesh]

+1 to Bopanna's words

joe antony @

Can you please confirm which spare parts you mentioned and where they told it is not available.
I am using 2006 esteem and living around 35 km away from Kochi town. most of the spares except the body parts readily available here in the nearest MGP store(3.5 K away from home). If something not available there, they should check in whether it is available in any of their near by stores and they supply within one day.If not available any of their stores they will order it and we get it within 10 days.

 

[joe_antony]

I'd say you can squeeze 10 years easily out of that WagonR of yours. So upgrade now only if you have concerns like capacity, safety, high maintenance bills, or low FE figures. Otherwise, wait a couple more years. With your low mileage, you should be able to get good resale value later too.

Hmm.. safety is the only concern, all others are fine.