The first thing that greets your eyes inside is the completely redesigned fascia. The steering wheel is all-new and so is the speedometer console. Contrary to the little changes on the outside, it is the interior of the car that has received the maximum attention and how. I particularly loved the design and background colour of the three pod instrumentation console. Even more impressive is the central flowing console which houses a smart integrated music system at the top followed by air-con controls at the bottom. The air-con vents on the extreme sides are of the rotary type and work well to cool cans positioned in the pop out can holder below them. The gear lever is much shorter and now works via a cable as compared to a rod earlier. This has worked wonders in the shift action. Legroom up front is class leading and the seats have a long travel of 240mm making it roomy for really tall individuals as well. A very thoughtful touch is the parcel tray location under the co-driver’s seat which can be taken out by lifting the base of the seat. Even with the front seat adjusted for my 6 foot frame, there was enough space at the rear for me. This has again been possible due to the liberation of extra legroom at the rear. 
Enough of the interiors, let’s get down to serious business now. The all-new KB10 engine, doing duty on the A-Star as well as the Estilo, has gained famed for its peppy as well as efficient nature. On the WagonR too, it seemed to perform very adequately. In fact, this little engine loves being revved and that is exactly what it was subjected to most of the time. The new WagonR weighs more or less the same as the A-Star which means performance figures ought to become better as compared to the outgoing model. It does lose out on engine capacity by 63cc, but definitely makes up on power and torque figures. The ARAI figures for fuel efficiency stand at 18.9kmpl, around four percent less than that of the A-Star’s. This means you can expect around 14-15kmpl in city traffic with the air-con on. 
The WagonR has always been a great city car and it continues to remain so. It was always practical and has only improved on this parameter by a huge margin. The light steering, so important for flawless city driving, is a joy though it does become a little lifeless at highway speeds. The WagonR’s platform is all-new which not only allowed for increased length and width but also for a completely new suspension set-up. Frankly, the current WagonR did lack on the suspension front as compared to its rivals. The new L shaped front suspension frame helps improve ride quality, especially with a full load of passengers, while also offering better lateral stiffness. The new rear suspension offers better load resistance hence reducing the old vehicle’s tendency to bounce its rear end like a pogo stick over undulated roads while being driven with a full load of passengers.
For the upcoming Indian summers, the air-con unit gets a bigger condenser thereby improving its efficiency considerably. Airbags and ABS are offered as options – thumbs up to Maruti for this safety initiative. Further, the new WagonR is E10 complaint, meaning it is ready for ethanol blended fuel as well. So, is the all-new WagonR one of those rare upgrades which can satisfy almost all kinds of prospective users? Most likely. With all these positive changes in place, the all-new Wagon R further manages to improve on its value for money tag. This blue eyed boy, as Maruti calls it, seems all set to steal the limelight in the tall boy segment for a long time to come.
