[Resolved]  Maruti Suzuki Wagon R — Very poor quality car

Sub: Abysmal performance of Wagon R

I have been thinking over last many months whether I should write to you or not. Having talked to Authorised dealers Sai Service many a times to resolve problems with my Wagon R and understood that these are inherent problems of Wagon R, I have given up on them and decided to appeal to you directly.

I had purchased a Wagon R in December 2006 (no. MH-02-AU-8038) with 3 year extended warranty from Sai Service, Andheri, Mumbai.

In the feedback form itself, I had mentioned about very poor quality of gear box which was much poorer than earlier versions of Wagon R which I have driven a lot as we have three other Wagon Rs in our family. But, this new version was nowhere near them. I was surprised that there was no response to this feedback form. I had also pointed out to poor quality interiors which were noisy etc.

In my subsequent services through Sai, I always mentioned poor gear box with rough edged changes, lot of efforts to shift gears and sometimes getting stuck in traffic for a movement.

I have a sever mileage problem too. My Maruti Esteem, much older than Wagon R gave much better average than Wagon R. I am driving cars since last 34-35 years. Whatever my style of driving and traffic condition, how an old Esteem could give better average than new Wagon R always beats me.

My locks becomes jammed every monsoon and one has to use all tricks to open or shut locks from the levers on the door.

Recently, I had a flat tyre and when I used the jack, I found out to my horror that even quality of jack has been compromised and its threads are faulty, requiring a really muscular person to use the jack to raise the car before attempting to change tyres. So, here again, there has been compromise in quality. Cost of jack handle has been compromised and it is very difficult to use it.

My contention is -
• Suzuki has compromised heavily on quality in trying to sell Wagon R at lower prices.
• Its customer feedback mechanism has become a mere record making exercise and nobody in Suzuki takes it seriously anymore.
• Dealers know this problem of gear box and poor average etc but don’t know what to do about it so complaints don’t take us anywhere.

Considering these problems, I moved to Honda for my second car after Esteem. I hope your people will understand that today's world is nobody's monopoly. First time users may not find any problem with Wagon R, but experienced users know the difference and even earlier users of Wagon R when they drive this new version are shocked. I have my own relations vouch for it.

I close by hoping that I will hear from your office soon so I can get over my disappointment. Or else all I can do is to put this car on sale to get over my frustration.

Yours sincerely,

Ratan Sharda