[MetalBuff]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Sorry guys, they will not offer projector lights/HID as an accessory for S Cross for its lower variants ( Sigma, Delta, Zeta). Confirmed.

Similar will be the case of Baleno too.

Agreed and it has been confirmed by my RM (for the Baleno atleast) as well as the wiring harness is a bit different.

Cheerio,
-Shivang Gandotra

[carwatcher]

After going through the last few pages, I am wondering what is stopping Fiat from disclosing the weight of the just launched Abarth Punto . They surely win some praises here.

Disappointed with the decision of Suzuki that projectors won't be offered as an accessory. Are they not aware that all these items are just a click away and there is huge after-market accessory industry, which was once started by launch of which manufacturer's cars? It's Maruti themselves, in case they have forgotten. So who are they showing attitude to?

IMHO apart from S-Cross's alloys these would be the most popular modification done by customers and why not? They would definitely complete the half finished work started by MSIL of differentiating the Baleno from Swift/Dzire by shortening the grill, by installing projectors.

[MetalBuff]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

Disappointed with the decision of Suzuki that projectors won't be offered as an accessory. Are they not aware that all these items are just a click away and there is huge after-market accessory industry which was once started by launch of which manufacturer's cars, its Maruti themselves in case they have forgotten, so who are they showing attitude to.

These definitely would have sold like hot cakes for both the S-Cross and the Baleno. At 30-35K a pair, MSIL could have pocketed some cool profits!

If there is any car that needs these projectors more than any other, its the Baleno or it could get mistaken for a Swift/ Dzire from the front

Cheerio,
-Shivang Gandotra

[shibujp]

Originally Posted by MetalBuff

Hey Shibu,

May I request you to please post a link to the Baleno's construction video for the benefit for all of us? Hope that helps us in a way.

Here you go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv9L7bt7ajc

Drive on,
Shibu.

[madhav14]

Whoa!! That's a very long discussion on the weight and safety of the car.

Had a detailed view and a short TD of Baleno today at Hitec - City NEXA branch, Hyderabad. Here are my observations. I'm looking to buy this car in exchange to my 2013 model Swift Vdi.

1. Plastic Quality is definitely not premium. It is a little bit better than the swift, and many swift parts were used (which we all know), but it's not seriously that bad either. That said, i20 has much premium cabin.

2. The ride is good, suspension working silently on bad roads, car is definitely more eager, responsive and punchy than my Swift right from the first gear.

3. There is no light weight flying off or unstable feel which we get in entry level hatchbacks. It feels reasonably planted (took the car up to 100kmph), stability and planted feel similar to swift (short TD, hence couldn't observe in detail) and no much body roll in the corners.

4. Engine noise is filtering much into the cabin when it is revved more than ~2500 rpm

5. The car definitely looks sexy from the outside, especially in the side angle, with those UV coated glasses giving a light blackish green tint.
I liked the red colour very much. It somehow resembles Merc A-Class to me when viewed from sides

6. Checked the sheet metal quality in detail after seeing all these negative responses here, and compared it to my swift back to back as both cars were parked beside - Surprisingly, I found the quality to be reasonably good, and a bit better than the swift. Same goes with the paint job (Just my opinion though).

7. I'm 5'10, set my seat in a relaxed position, still couldn't rest my arm properly on the arm rest. It is placed too backwards.

Having said all this, anyone remember the feeling we get when we enter our old car to drive back after test driving a new car? A feeling that we are sitting in a decade old trash can or something? I didn't get any sort of that feeling when I sat back in my car after the TD. There is no wow factor with the interiors, though they felt a notch higher than the swift (especially that blue illumination and high graphics MID between the dials - they are awesome).

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Sorry guys, they will not offer projector lights/HID as an accessory for S Cross for its lower variants ( Sigma, Delta, Zeta). Confirmed.

Similar will be the case of Baleno too.

So they make sure that the component that makes the car a great looker has to be held to just the top variant, because the lower variant buying Junta does not deserve to have their car look great. On top of that if they will go and get some mods done outside then MSIL will reserve the rights to void warranty!!!

Extremely disappointing, the fact that you had mentioned that this will be given for S-Cross had me have my hopes high, but without those lights the front looks just like Swift(Totally upto masses to agree or disagree)

On top of that they decided the CVT aspirant would be happy with a Mid base version, because he anyway probably does not know how to drive a car with Manual box, or he is looking for a car for his wife or GF(When did gals think too much about LEDS and DRL's as per Maruti). A big Negative and a thumbs down MSIL.

The reviewers then come back and tell everyone that CVT is just mediocre to drive, am i the only one who thinks that MSIL isusing Baleno Delta version buyers as Guinea pigs to see if the CVT will actually sell or should they stick to the AMT tech.

[RavenAvi]

Team,

Akash1886 of the TAI forums confirms that the introductory starting price of the Baleno has already been hiked by 4,000 rupees and now the Baleno Sigma petrol starts from Rs.5.03 lakhs, ex-showroom Delhi.

Delhi BHPians can confirm this from their nearest Nexa dealerships.

[shivasuma]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Team,

Akash1886 of the TAI forums confirms that the introductory starting price of the Baleno has already been hiked by 4,000 rupees and now the Baleno Sigma petrol starts from Rs.5.03 lakhs, ex-showroom Delhi.

Delhi BHPians can confirm this from their nearest Nexa dealerships.

Wow, that's the quickest price revision I have heard of. Looks like Maruti is going the Hyundai way, looking at the response for the baleno.

[abbey4u]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Team,

Akash1886 of the TAI forums confirms that the introductory starting price of the Baleno has already been hiked by 4,000 rupees and now the Baleno Sigma petrol starts from Rs.5.03 lakhs, ex-showroom Delhi.

Delhi BHPians can confirm this from their nearest Nexa dealerships.

That's the price of Noida and gzb. Noida prices are usually higher than Delhi

[madhav14]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Team,

Akash1886 of the TAI forums confirms that the introductory starting price of the Baleno has already been hiked by 4,000 rupees and now the Baleno Sigma petrol starts from Rs.5.03 lakhs, ex-showroom Delhi.

Delhi BHPians can confirm this from their nearest Nexa dealerships.

Originally Posted by shivasuma

Wow, that's the quickest price revision I have heard of. Looks like Maruti is going the Hyundai way, looking at the response for the baleno.

Originally Posted by abbey4u

That's the price of Noida and gzb. Noida prices are usually higher than Delhi

Yes. The prices were changed at least in Hyderabad. Here, they increased the ex-showroom price by 2,000 and more annoyingly, they have increased the price of insurance from 26,000 to 33,000

Apart from that, added Rs. 6,600 for accessories and Rs. 11,000 for extended warranty which were not there in the 1st day's price sheet.

So, the price here increased from 9.66 lacs to 9.85 lacs

Of course, we can opt out from extended warranty, but the price hike in insurance part was a shocker to me. So, I strongly conveyed to my RM of NEXA that this is totally unfair, and if I'm booking the car, either Maruti should give me at Rs. 26,000 price or I'm getting insurance on my own (I own an insurance broking company anyway).

[WRXXX]

Originally Posted by DieselAddikt

2. Lighter cars are less safer. Why ? Simply because we are not talking about a Mclaren or a Ferrari here. We are talking about mass produced cars which costs a few thousand dollars. No carbon fiber / high tensile light weight materials will go into the manufacturing of these cars because they come at a price. Yes, there are lighter cars that are safer, but not any that we get in India.

While there are genuine observations the above one is making too many assumptions even when Suzuki is going all over the place advertising that they use high tensile steel in the body frame. But I agree with the point that car that is not structurally safe doesn't benefit from airbags(read : Datsun Go for example).

At the same time outer body is just an indication but not the truth about the underlying frame strength which is the skeleton of the car and thats the real thing protecting the occupants (frontal beam, side impact beam, roll cage and chassis which are not seen by just opening and closing the doors).

But point taken and
Lets wait for the crash test results then

[DriveOnceMore]

Originally Posted by WRXXX

At the same time outer body is just an indication but not the truth about the underlying frame strength which is the skeleton of the car and thats the real thing protecting the occupants (frontal beam, side impact beam, roll cage and chassis which are not seen by just opening and closing the doors).

But point taken and
Lets wait for the crash test results then

On the same note, have you watched the video in the post above?
They have shown that (@ 2.59 sec) that they have reduced the front and rear cross members in size. I am not sure, but that frontal member works with firewall in absorbing the shock in case of crash. Am I right?
If yes then it makes me worry.

But I also believe the R & D engineers of Suzuki and quite sure that they must have done good structural analysis. I won't post anything more about safety of Baleno unless any further crash test reports are revealed.

[madhav14]

Originally Posted by DriveOnceMore

I won't post anything more about safety of Baleno unless any further crash test reports are revealed.

I'm curious to know - when are these crash reports of Baleno expected?

[DriveOnceMore]

Originally Posted by madhav14

I'm curious to know - when are these crash reports of Baleno expected?

Anytime starting from January 2016 - the time when Baleno starts hitting the foreign shores.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

Slight addition, Hyundai did export cars to Europe earlier but decided (or rather forced) to stop since the cars started failing crash tests.

Major correction there, Hyundai exported cars from India to U.K, Australia & New Zealand (the Getz & i20-first gen) since both regions use RHD. The LHD models were manufactured in Turkey for rest of Europe. Now, the RHD models that were exported were the same as the ones locally made except for minor variations in features & interiors. The Getz did indeed score 4 stars in ENCAP during its era which was more than a few sedans of that era (at that time there was no fail or pass per se, just star ratings of 1-5. Its successor the i20 with 6 airbags scored a full 5 stars in 2008. Of course the Indian models which did not have 6 airbags obviously will not get the same score but build quality wise it was the same since the U.K, NZ, Australian & Indian variants shared the same kerb weight. The export variants just had better engines like the 1.4 & 1.6 GDI for Getz & 1.4 GDI for i20 & thus certain differences in total weight.

Now from what I understand since the demand growth in India rose substantially, India no longer seemed a viable global export hub, plus the Grand i10 + the current i20 began as Indian spec cars (i.e not as well engineered) which was the reverse of what happened earlier. Hence it was decided that the Turkey & Czech plants will each produce both LHD & RHD models for Europe while India will cater to South Asian region. Only the India-produced model of Elite i20 failed Aus-NCAP (due to non-availability of electronic assists like ESP, lack of 6 airbags & other new-age assists like LDW etc, on the face of it, it had very little to do with body rigidity per se, although clearly it may be inferior to the Turkey made i20).

Originally Posted by atnyia

Here is a huge debate about the safety aspects of MSIL cars in general and Baleno is the current target. I have owned Getz and every other car from Maruti/Hyundai feels tinny to it. Wagon R is a special mention. MSIL has this sore point and let it be.

Agree, the Getz makes most Hyundai cars (except Elantra & above) seem not so solid or well handling. While the Elite i20 & Grand i10 are great to touch, feel and shut, the Getz is a whole level above. They compared Swift to the Getz when both sold alongside each other, I'd say there is no contest as to what wins.