My father was a Maruti fan

My father owns a Wagon R for last year and he isn't someone who is very keen to grab knowledge on automobiles and he mostly feels bored of my talks about Cars, Quality, Build, Drive dynamics etc. He always asks me to focus on my work instead of wasting time on Youtube where he doesn't realise that I have around 12000 subscribers now.

Despite acknowledgement of the quality provided in VW in my Polo & T-Roc he has always had an opinion that a common man cannot afford these vehicles for their higher maintenance and service costs which I have always denied because of 15000 KMs service interval & wrong priorities of spending money by any middle class common man. It is not like my father cannot afford Rs 10,000 annually on a car service being a retiree and getting a good pension.

Why Tiago and Polo were cancelled?

My father's requirements are very basic. He needs to replace his Wagon R with a car that can travel from A to B easily, cheaply, easy egress and ingress, space & roomy within 8 lacs budget.

Tiago & Polo were immediately cancelled because of the poor head space as compared to tall boy Wagon R. I tried to convince him a lot on safety, driving dynamics etc for Polo CL or Altroz XZ but all was in vain. His inclement was toward Ignis or Wagon R itself. 

I am repeating that we drive together daily in my Polo or T-Roc with babies too for an evening outing with windows rolled up and without stopping or getting out anywhere, we just spin our cars for a drive to feel little fresh after a long day of work.

So here comes the Ignis for test ride

Yesterday itself, Lovely Autos Ludhiana sent top variant Manual Maruti Ignis upon calling them once. Full marks here to Nexa for being super professional. No wonder Maruti has 50% marketshare because they have a well oiled marketing+sales machinery. 

Zeta variant would have cost us around 7 lacs and with a Wagon R exchange + bonus, it would have cost only 5.50 lacs on road.

So here comes the Ignis for test ride

Considering Value for money, my father's limited budget, inclined towards easy ownership, mostly city driving and 3 stars in GNCAP, I was inclined towards Ignis too instead of buying any other car if now VW. I took the Test Drive first and I found the car adequately powered while pulling 4 members with AC on. I liked the top variant as it was fully loaded with convenience and safety features too despite its questionable 'Heartech' platform. 

However, real fun started when my father took the Test Drive. He immediately started to pin point how poorly the interior was build starting from light doors, flimsy and flexy plastics etc. He find the car congested on the width too and said that his Wagon R feels more wide. He was impressed by the drive quality either and was comparing it with Polo for the steering precision and stability. (LOL). I kept reminding him that salesman is behind us and he may not like if we keep on comparing it with VW. He found 4 cylinder 1.2 NA Engine zippy too but no way he was ready to spend 7 lacs on road on Ignis.

I reminded him that perhaps all Maruti Cars will feel like this these days and he immediately cancelled the program to buy any car from Maruti. Now we will see if we can raise our budget and check Honda Amaze, Altroz or Nexon. 

Pros and Cons

Likes about MS Ignis
- Compact size for city driving.
- 180mm Ground clearance is a boon to drive.
- Boxy shape outside leads to generous space inside for a small family.
- Fuel efficient.
- Dual Airbags and ABS.
- Great engine that offers punchy performance.

Dislikes about MS Ignis
- Sheet material of the doors are very flimsy.
- Back seat angle could have been a bit better.
- the Interior plastic quality is no match to its Korean or European competitors(even the Hyundai Eon interior feels better to me atleast).