[Hurrycane12]

I dont think that the Baleno was a failure; the initial pricing of the car was quite exorbitant and there were other multinational cars available with better features and competitive pricing. On reduction of cost Maruti did make up but i guess it was a bit late as the market had taken off. Being a proud owner of a Baleno i think its a very good car...hence cost does not really matter

[ECM]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

@ECM, all products have a life and after that, they get phased out or are replaced by (supposedly) better products. This is normal and there is nothing to be mad at MUL or any other manufacturer.

When I bought the Baleno in 2005, I did not think they will phase it off, because MUL usually takes it own sweet time to phase off products (unlike say Honda who are very pro-active in this regard). But, I should have seen it coming, given the low sales from introduction till price-cut and the very act of cutting prices should have rang a bell.

For me, I got an awesome car at a great price and given Maruti A.S.S., I don't need to worry about spares/service for years to come. So, as far as I am concerned, it makes no difference whether they still sell it or not.

I have absolute no complains for Baleno,super car with great pickup,nice ride followed by super FE only thing is atleast I did not belive that they will pull it too fast after seeing how they handled Esteem and Zen.I still call it a fiasco by MUL on Baleno part because their launching price was too high,when they realised that this is going to become a white elephant they reduced it and car became popular among us,then they should have added other features what members are discussing here but they phased it out,SX4 has a poor AC,try a ride in Baleno and compare the cooling effects,its way way ahead.SX4 I found is little bumpy in compare to Baleno,only plus side to me is a ground clearance.
Don't be in a hurry to buy it,price will surely going to drop for SX4 in the 2nd half of 2008.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by carboy

So which company's car would you switch to, if you had to switch?
Is there any company which never stops production of a model?

here is a guess - Ambassador from Hindustan Motors!!!!!

[ECM]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

here is a guess - Ambassador from Hindustan Motors!!!!!

You've hit the goal ,can't stop laughing.

[IronWolf]

Originally Posted by leodelg

This thread isnt about SX4 vs Baleno. They are two different cars with very little in common. I wanted to know what others thought about the Baleno. And if most of them agree with me, then I thought that we could may be form a hit squad and beat the living daylights out of these so-called auto journalists... jeeezz!!!

Bringing everyone back to the topic..

The only 2 reasons i see why the Baleno had to be phased out.

a) Ugly Rear.
b) Did not really pick up in the Market (possibly due to reason a. and overall old styling).

The car is just sheer value for money. Reasons!

Lots of Power / Torque / Juice Upfront.
Nimble handling.
Favorite car among top Rallists.
A/C which can be compared only to the S class.

[ankit.jhamb]

@ECM:I totally agree with you.maruti which was known for cosmetic changes in new models took a major step by discontinuing baleno.had they retained the baleno name for sx4 then it would have been a different story.
while purchasing baleno over accent the main consideration was MUL policy for their models.there was not a single case (except maruti 1000 &esteem)where they had totally discontinued the model.and think about the versa/gypsy they are still available ,,then why not baleno

[ECM]

Originally Posted by ankit.jhamb

@ECM:I totally agree with you.maruti which was known for cosmetic changes in new models took a major step by discontinuing baleno.had they retained the baleno name for sx4 then it would have been a different story.
while purchasing baleno over accent the main consideration was MUL policy for their models.there was not a single case (except maruti 1000 &esteem)where they had totally discontinued the model.and think about the versa/gypsy they are still available ,,then why not baleno

Ankit thanks for understanding my views and this will surely going to hurt MUL's prestige in longer run for sure.This old fav.line fully fits SX4's entry,Shivaji once said (while winning one fort with hard battle and in return losing a life of his brave senapati)Gadh(SX4) aala magar sinh gela(Baleno).

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by IronWolf

A/C which can be compared only to the S class.

While the Baleno AC is good without a doubt, I wonder if this comparo holds true today.

That particular S Class comparison is quite a few years old. Since then there have been loads of new cars launched in India and I'm sure some of them have wonderful ACs too.

[ankit.jhamb]

Originally Posted by ECM

Ankit thanks for understanding my views and this will surely going to hurt MUL's prestige in longer run for sure.This old fav.line fully fits SX4's entry,Shivaji once said (while winning one fort with hard battle and in return losing a life of his brave senapati)Gadh(SX4) aala magar sinh gela(Baleno).

yes,how can you forget that when the baleno sales picked up after 2004 ,it was the only model which maruti had for the indian market (not sure of vitara)it didnt have any vehicle above the baleno.

[Hurrycane12]

I guess the GV started coming around 2005 but not advertised at all here too he price tag was a issue. Now with the new GV launch there is a new price tag too.

[gendarmee]

Well, from wat i know baleno didnt do that very well coz of competition from the old honda city and low mileage and also the maintainence is higher than a a mercedes apparently acc. to a leading motor mag.

[IronWolf]

Originally Posted by shuvc

While the Baleno AC is good without a doubt, I wonder if this comparo holds true today.

That particular S Class comparison is quite a few years old. Since then there have been loads of new cars launched in India and I'm sure some of them have wonderful ACs too.

Shuvc, I have not sat in a S class so I would not know

But you got a baleno and you know the answer to that one, once you put the A/C on. I am not sure how much better it can get.

[skunk]

Originally Posted by leodelg

Hehehe... oh yea!! But on a serious note, has anyone tried to fit an aftermarket ABS on the Baleno? Will Maruti do it if we bugged them? I know airbags are out the question, but why can't ABS be added?

Abroad (where it was sold as a Suzuki) it was also available as a hatchback and as an estate - and it was certainly equipped with ABS, SRS and so on. If one was really interested, I am sure that these parts could be retrofitted.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by gendarmee

Well, from wat i know baleno didnt do that very well coz of competition from the old honda city and low mileage and also the maintainence is higher than a a mercedes apparently acc. to a leading motor mag.

You are right about competition from the OHC, which is definitely a looker and a nice car. Infact add competition from the Lancer too, another looker. And the Astra etc. Given such competition, the pricing was ridiculous and no wonder it failed - I am not surprised.

But, the low mileage and maintenance part that you mentioned (or quoted from some auto-mag) is really over the top. Check out the OHC/Baleno/Lancer threads and you would know that the Baleno is among the most FE of these cars. Maintenance costs are high for SGP stuff which are replaced only in accident-maintenance, not general maintenance. Check my 20K km report for the maintenance costs I incurred. And whoever compared it to the Merc, must have been smoking something really wild.

Originally Posted by Surprise

If I have a option to buy Baleno at 4.xx (with ABS), I would sell my swift for it. Impressed with the looks of the car (including rear), but budget was a constrain then.

Did you mean a new Baleno at 4.xx or a used one ? If its a new one, aint it asking for a little too much ? But it never came with ABS anyway.

Originally Posted by typeOnegative

Quite correct. Which is why it is better to pay more for the City.

Yeah, but then we here are not the average buyer drooling over a brand-name and ready to pay ridiculous premiums for that. If we were, would we have people here who actually buy a Fiat, knowing well that it does not have any A.S.S. worth the name or that he will have to wait for months for a spare or that it would have depreciated by 25% by the time he drives it home from the showroom ?

[Ram]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Would I choose a SX4 over a baleno? NEVER!

...what I would like?

Baleno bundled with other features on the SX4 like ABS, airbags, steering audio controls etc. Now that would have been a bliss.

Originally Posted by skunk

Abroad (where it was sold as a Suzuki) it was also available as a hatchback and as an estate - and it was certainly equipped with ABS, SRS and so on. If one was really interested, I am sure that these parts could be retrofitted.

The parts certainly can be still acquired abroad and retrofitted.

Our Maruti Baleno was called the Suzuki Cultus Crescent in Japan.
It was called Suzuki Esteem in Singapore.

It was meant to fight the Toyota Corolla.

There was a Baleno GT sedan, powered by a Mazda-BP 1840cc engine, putting out 135 bhp.

There was even a Peugeot XUD engine powered diesel Baleno sold in Europe.

And of course Balenos in Europe could be ordered with Airbags, ABS and full time all-wheel-drive.

Airbags in the Baleno

ABS in the Baleno

All-Wheel-Drive Baleno

The all-wheel-drive Suzuki Baleno Altura had EBD (Electronic Brakeforce Distribution).
EBD regulates the brake-fluid pressure to the rear wheel brakes, based on signals from rear-wheel transducers.
The algorithm accounts for varying loads that the Altura Wagon may be subjected to.

The full-time all-wheel-drive Balenos with ABS also had an inertial "G"-sensors for sensing deceleration. This G-sensor was bolted to the floor under the console, in an all-wheel-drive Baleno.

Ram