Test Drive Suzuki Wagon R 2000 - 2003 Hatchback
City +.
Modern urban car must satisfy the mass of contradictory requirements. It must be compact outside and spacious inside, dynamic and easy to control, while ensuring active and passive safety, functional, but with pronounced individuality. Economical - by itself. All this is difficult to combine into one. But sometimes it is possible ... Honestly, I am not a fan of small urban cars, for the most part they are sadly monotonous - the shape and design are clamped with a rigid functionality framework, the chassis is designed to the coax of compactness, and small supercountful weakness motors are at all a melancholy.
It was with such a mood that I approached the car dealership where it was supposed to get on the SUZUKI WAGON R + test. However, at first sight of the machine (otherwise you can not say), the longing was dispelled.
Outward Wagon R + turned out to be very nice. This impression did not even spoil the cubic forms of the body, the height of which is more width - the car will not reproach in the absence of individuality. Dynamic sidewall, diagonal headlights, predated front bumper and 14-inch alloy wheels work on the image of a sort of cheerful fastener.
Recently, many manufacturers orient their small urban models for women buyers, emphasizing this in a kind of design, - a man who manages such a car looks somewhat defiant. You can't tell you about Wagon R +, it will be appropriate to look at his steering wheel.
It should be noted that Suzuki Wagon R + was initially created for the inner Japanese market - there the owners of short cars, occupying little parking space, use tax breaks. And the body was formed obviously from engineering and utilitarian, and not aesthetic considerations. But it turned out quite successfully, the model is well exported. Moreover, it is sold in Europe and in versions from Opel and Vauxhall - under the name Agila ...
It's time to get acquainted with Wagon R + closer. Turn the key in the castle of the driver's door, I swallow it ... However, it is strange, the rest remained locked. Is there no central castle here? But the car is in the richest configuration, including full electric car and air conditioning. Finally, I notice the button on the driver's door panel ... now it is clear - when you alone in some unpleasant place sit down in the car, the unfinished passenger does not go to you (especially relevant for women's drivers).
Ease of entering the output is above all silence: a low threshold and a high doorway allow you to perform this procedure without bending and getting dirty without fear. Ergonomic and in German rigid seats have a sufficient range of adjustments in length and angle of tilt backing. Landing is almost a bus vertical, it has its advantages: I sit high - far looking, which makes it possible to rebuilt in the traffic jam.
Under the front seats there are convenient drawers, in which you can add all things - usually it is just lying under the chair and rolls out at the most inopportune moment.
The steering wheel has a comfortable cross section and is located at an optimal angle, but if it does not like its position, nothing can be done - there are no adjustments. The front panel is made of high quality, pleasant to the touch of plastic. The dashboard is simple and concise: the speedometer, the tachometer (its presence is justified - the transmission is automatic), as well as the fuel level pointers and coolant temperature. The readings of all devices read perfectly. The microclimate control is carried out using a single rotating knob. In the usual position, it adjusts the air temperature coming from the stove, and if the knob is pulled on itself, the air conditioner will turn on, it copes well with his duties, but somewhere in its depths it is quite noisily put the dampers, and in the recirculation mode in the salon it still penetrates Outer air. The outer light controls the rotating handle to the left of the steering wheel, it also includes the inner light - it is enough to pull it on itself. All - as on Opel cars.
Access to the rear row of seats is quite convenient, but only two people will be able to freely accommodate there, threesome are closely. If in front - a man with an increase in 180 cm, sitting at the back will have to hug the back of the seat in front of him. But in height, the stock is just huge. The trunk is not very large, the maximum of a large sports bag will fit, but if you fold the back seat, it is quite possible to carry the medium size refrigerator.
I expected problems on the go, because Until now, I did not come across automata that would well work in a pair with a small volume engine (Motor at Wagon R + four-cylinder, with a volume of 1.3 liters and a capacity of 75 hp). But already leaving the gate of the salon, I understood - there will be no special difficulties in relationships. Wagon R + smoothly starts immediately after the brake pedal is released, and then very accurately and without lag reacts to the movement of the gas pedal movement. If you accelerate smoothly, switching occurs around 3000 rpm. / Min. And the motor does not annoy your sound, if you get a pedal to the floor (Kick-Down), a box, a little thought, makes a reduced gear, and the engine is spinning up to five thousand. The dynamics at the same time - at quite a decent level, it is possible to draw in the stream, and even the first to leave the traffic light.
It should be noted that the engine is spinning so happy that it is unwilling to remember the famous SUZUKI sportsbiles. True, at high speed, he buzzes so that he already interferes with a relaxed conversation in the cabin.
When moving in traffic in STOP & GO mode during braking, the automatic disbuts the engine and transmissions rather hardly, which is accompanied by a tangible impetus, and on the highway with alternating small slopes and lifts at a constant speed of about 120 km / h plays the third and fourth gears. There is, however, the overdrive-off mode, which turns off the fourth gear, but the motor operates at maximum revolutions - with the above-mentioned sound. In general, on the noise in the cabin, the engine occupies a leading position, in second place - shocks on the arms of sand and pebbles from under the wheels (there would be no lingers), on the third - aerodynamic noise, which wake up at a speed of 110-120 km / h.
WAGON R + hard and energy-intensive suspension, due to which good handling and small rolls are provided in turns, which is very important for a sufficiently high car. For it, it is necessary to melt shaking on the irregularities and excessive repetition of the road profile. Upon exceeding the permissible speed of passing R + behaves very securely: the front smoothly slides outwards, and the gas reset corresponds to the return to a smaller radius. At the same time, thanks to small rolls, there are no concerns that the car can turn over.
Steering has an electrical amplifier whose degree of aid varies depending on the speed of movement. So, when parking, efforts are minimal, and with an increase in speed, a noticeable return appears (its magnitude could be made more). The brakes are very effective, but due to the powerful amplifier, a tender treatment of the pedal is required. However, they quickly get used to the peculiarities of their management.
So what is Suzuki Wagon R +? City car? Oh sure. Roomy interior, comfortable input-out, high landing with excellent visibility, turning economical motor, good automatic ... But there is an interesting moment. You may not pay attention to the fact that in the course of the test to Wagon R + there were some complaints. But they do not apply at all to the city's city modes! And only because Wagon R +, as it turned out, does not object to be removed from the city. And whether the claims are great? Motor noise is so at speeds for a hundred. The automatic transmission plays - the same. Stones are knocking around the arches - there are no stones in the city. The rest is a completely rustic car. It would be nice only to change the name, Wagon R + sounds somehow coryato. Opolevskoe - Agila (from English Agile - promotional, fast, movable) - of course, more appropriate. But since it is already used, I suggest another city plus.
Text: Alexander Nidenz
A source: Motor magazine [№10 / 2000]
