Just last week, Maruti Suzuki launched the all-new Wagon R at an attractive price point. Priced from Rs 4.19 lakh to Rs 5.69 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), the new tall-boy hatch boasts a number of highlights compared to the older model – the most significant of which is the addition of a more powerful, 83hp, 1.2-litre petrol engine option.

The new Wagon R’s feature list has grown, as has interior room. What works in the new Wagon R’s favour is that it’s based on Suzuki’s Heartect platform, which underpins a number of cars from the brand such as the Swift, Ignis, Ertiga and Baleno. The platform has also cut the weight of the hatchback by 50-65kg, depending on the variant. That, in turn, brings a benefit the Wagon R’s target customer will certainly value - higher fuel efficiency.

The new Wagon R has an ARAI-certified fuel efficiency figure of 22.5kpl for the 68hp, 1.0-litre petrol engine, while the more powerful 1.2-litre motor’s mileage is pegged at 21.5kpl. Both these figures are the same for both the manual and AMT versions of the new Wagon R, and are notable improvements over the outgoing Wagon R’s 20.51kpl figure. The outgoing model was only available with the 1.0-litre petrol engine, though it did also come with a factory-fit CNG option that delivered 19.3 kilometres per kg of natural gas. The all-new Wagon R is expected to get a CNG variant at a later date.

Compared to its rivals, the new Wagon R is more fuel efficient than the new Hyundai Santro (20.3kpl) and Datsun Go (19.83kpl). However, it isn’t quite as fuel-efficient as the Tata Tiago (23.84kpl) and Maruti Suzuki’s own Celerio (23.1kpl).

Interestingly, the new Wagon R’s tank size is 3 litres smaller than its competition at 32 litres, which will affect range on a single tank of petrol.

Our first drive of the new Maruti Suzuki Wagon R showed the model retains the original’s formula while further strengthening its core qualities. The new-gen Wagon R may still be the car to beat in its segment in terms of spaciousness and sheer practicality – but only a real-world comparison with its rivals will prove just how good it really is.