[Dr.Naren]

What I like:
1.Good looking well proportioned hatch
2.Spacious interiors
3.Peppy and revv happy engine with good performance
4.Neutral ride and handling
5.Feature loaded and VFM
6.Powerful stock headlamps

What I don't like:
1.Alloy wheel design
2.Rear seat has shortage of under thigh support
3.Bouncy ride at rear on broken roads/speed breakers

PRE DELIVERY

October 2015
Suzuki Baleno was doing good buzz in Indian automotive scene. We never had a plan to purchase it. I was following up with Baleno regularly. I liked the looks, features etc. I just had a remote thought that I would exchange my Grand i10 for Baleno, may be after a year!!

October 26, 2015
Baleno was launched and pricing was spot on. Baleno Zeta had all features of Swift ZXI/ZDI with few additional things like bigger tyres, automatic headlight, automatic day-night mirror, UV cut glass etc. Baleno Zeta variant was priced just 25 K more than Swift ZXI/ZDI. It was really a killer pricing and undoubtedly VFM.

I was watching the live launch event with dad. Dad was very impressed and I asked if we are going to buy. His reply was negative and said not anytime soon.

October 28,2015
I was getting ready for my work. When I was about to leave home, Dad asks me to visit Nexa showroom and enquire about Baleno. I was shocked. He told me to check the car, drive and make a booking only if car can be delivered in a week. We had a bad time, when we booked Ecosport and waited for months just to cancel it. So my dad doesn't want any issues and follow up with SA regularly to know the status. I knew all the variants and features. I told him about the same and he advised me to book Zeta variant. Now it's time for 2nd shock. I told ok, so Zeta diesel it is. Dad says hell no, we are buying petrol this time. I didn't expect dad to say petrol. All our cars were diesel except Maruti 800(1989 model and still running) and Alto K10(sold). He explained me the reason and it was logical. We have 2 diesel cars and it doesn't make sense to buy one more diesel car paying 1.3 lakhs more than petrol.

Nexa Experience
There are 2 Nexa dealers in Mangalore. I visited Bharath Nexa first. Test drive cars were not available and I checked the display car. It looked much more better in person. Showroom was crowded, SA attended me and answered all queries. I was quoted a 2 month waiting period. I thought of checking with other dealer, Mandovi nexa and take a call. I drove straight to Mandovi nexa, which is little away from city. Showroom was less crowded. I told them my requirement of delivery within a week. SA immediately checked the cars in transit and told they can deliver a premium silver zeta petrol in 4-5 days. I liked the colour and it is available only in S cross and Baleno. It looks much better than silky silver of SX4.Test drive car was not available and I had to wait one more day for it. Booking amount was 11k and fully refundable. So I decided to book and block that car in transit. SA promised me test drive by next day evening and refund the amount if I am not happy.
SA called me for test drive next day. I drove both petrol and diesel models. Petrol was so smooth and dead silent while diesel had more clatter(more than swift /sx4 diesel too). Gear shifts were slick in petrol and it was little notchy in diesel. I was used to driving diesel cars for thousands of kms. I took some time to get used to petrol. I was shifting early like diesel. I started revving and it did manage to make me smile. Engine note was sweet. I found the ride quality and handling a little better in diesel. Also I missed the mid range punch of diesel. I thought that I will get used to high revving petrol and it would be fun

Why did we not choose the top variant Alpha?
We alway used to buy top of the line variant because of safety features. Baleno has Airbags and ABS standard across all variants. Alpha costs 80k more than Zeta with additional features like touch screen navigation system,reverse camera,projector lamps with DRL, illuminated passenger side vanity mirror, different tail lamp design. I loved the front look of Alpha variant. Headlights are smoked and there is a chrome element which merges with chrome of front grill which looks really good. All lower variants miss this design. Dad believes normal headlights (halogen) are better to drive through fog. Yellow light has better penetration through fog than white light of xenon. We drive frequently to mysore and bangalore at night. I still wanted those headlights in Alpha. Also, we did not like those DR'S. It was way too bright. Zeta was cheaper and has more features compared to top variants of other cars.

November 2,2015
My SA calls me to inform that car has arrived. I asked him for PDI at stockyard. I checked the car inside out and couldn't wait to get my hands on this beauty. I made the full payment excluding road tax and accessories(which were not yet available). I reside in kasaragod which comes under kerala state and just 1 hour drive from Mangalore, Karnataka. Road tax is way cheaper in kerala than karnataka. So my plan was to get TP from mangalore and register it in kasaragod within a month. I was around 24 hours away from acquiring this baby and it felt like ever!!

November 3,2015
Delivery was scheduled at evening. Dealer got the insurance,TP from RTO etc during the day. I went to Nexa showroom with dad. We were explained about the features and other necessary details. There are a lot of settings to play with in MID. It was the first Baleno to be delivered in mangalore. Nexa has separate delivery bay. Keys were handed over along with a box of chocolates and 500 rs petrol coupon. I wanted to drive this baby first. My home is around 40 kms away from showroom. Dad followed me in our SX4.I had reset the trip meter and mileage display. I did not drive above 80kmph and mileage figure was 22 kmpl in MID for the first 50 km trip. Impressed!!

Team-Bhp Key Chain


My SX4 and Grand i10 with their new companion

[Dr.Naren]

POST DELIVERY

EXTERIOR
I did not like the looks of Baleno when Team-Bhp came up with first scoop. I called it as a funny looking swift with moustache(chrome lining on front grill). Gradually the looks grew on me. I loved all the angles except front. Front is not so exciting and more of a swift. Maruti could have worked on an aggressive front look too. Car looks beautiful from rear and side. It looks like a car from higher segment and stands out well in crowd.

Baleno is a well proportioned hatch. Paint quality is really good. Panel gaps are tight and consistent. Both A and B pillars get black wrap and it improves the look. Alpha and Zeta variants come with chrome belt line on windows, chrome door handles and chrome strip on tailgate. I am not a fan of chrome but it goes well with baleno except chrome lining on front grill. I like the front grill of base variant better. Tail gate looks neat without variant or Maruti badging. UV cut glass helps in accentuating the looks by providing a slight tint effect. Maruti could have given better alloys. It really looks like wheel caps from far. I am planning to change it with momo revenge soon.

Car weighs just 890 kgs and I was expecting a tin like build. To my surprise, it proved me wrong and build is OK considering maruti standards. It is definitely not in league of SX4(Fiat design?). Doors are not so light and door frame metal thickness is good enough. But tail gate is super heavy. Bonnet feels light compared to SX4 which has around 350 extra kilos.

Front view-bigger swift??


Looks better from this angle


Side views-really hot



Rear view-my favourite. doesn't it look like a mixture of polo, 1 series?


With all doors and hood open


Door frame metal thickness is good enough

[Dr.Naren]

INTERIOR

Maruti has given all black interior in baleno like swift. Plastic quality is above average and good enough for a maruti. It is nowhere near to Hyundai or VW. Baleno is equipped with many features like automatic headlights, automatic day night mirror, push button start, power folding mirrors, colourful MID etc. Power window console, steering wheel etc is same as in other maruti cars. It's high time maruti comes up with something "NEW". All doors get bottle holders and door metal thickness is good enough(more than grand i10). Silver inserts on door trim do look good. Foot well lamps and puddle lamps are also provided. Leather wrapped steering wheel is nice to hold. Audio system is good enough. Only Zeta and Alpha gets additional 2 tweeters. Glare reduction at night is better in automatic IRVM compared to manual. There is a greenish tint and works beautifully. UV cut glass also helps in keeping the cabin comparatively cooler when parked under sun.

Leather wrapped multifunction steering wheel


Automatic AC & Audio System


Interior shot at night


Fixed arm rest-not much of use, Sliding one should have been given


Driver side door trim


Rear door trim


Front and rear cabin lights


No rear AC vents, a charging port is present


MID
Zeta and Alpha variants get different MID. It is a pretty cool TFT display. There are many settings to play around like follow me home headlamps, security settings, footwell and puddle lamps etc. MID shows exactly which door is open.




Seats
Front seats are large and offer good support. There is ample under thigh support. Leg room and shoulder room is more than competition. Headroom is decent. Front seats have good travel and 6 footers won't have a problem. Baleno is very spacious.


Rear seats lack under thigh support and it is set straight like a bench. There are no counters too. Passengers tend to move sideways under hard cornering There is ample leg room, shoulder room and head room is average. Maruti could have given seats with better under thigh support and compromised little on legroom.


AC
Auto ac is powerful and chills down the cabin in few minutes. There are no rear AC vents and I do not miss them. Auto AC console looks premium.

Boot
Baleno has 339 litres boot space. It is more than swift dzire and 2nd largest for a hatch. Spare tyre is sadly non alloy and smaller size too. There is a boot lamp and hook for small bags.

[Dr.Naren]

ENGINE & TRANSMISSION

Baleno is equipped with 1.2 litre K series engine with VVT. This engine is smooth and revv friendly.It is very silent at idling and difficult to make out if engine is on. Low end is way better than Honda ivtec engines. Mid range is good enough. I am used to driving turbo diesel cars and tend to shift early. To extract juice out of this 1.2 engine, you need to revv and it's fun. Above 4000 rpm, car totally transforms and pulls madly all the way to redline. I love the engine sound and it doesn't get strained or coarse even at redline. I revv in 2nd gear all the way to 80 kmph atleast once during my drive just to hear the exhaust. I have not driven this car much. It has run only 2500 kms in 4 months. My sx4 and grand i10 has run around 6-7k kms in same period. Baleno is used only for short highway trips. I wish to drive more in this car. Gearbox is 5 speed and shifts are butter smooth. Clutch is light and easy to use. NVH levels are really impressive. There's nil vibration on steering, clutch and gear lever.

RIDE & HANDLING
I always had doubts regarding ride and handling for a car weighing just 890 kgs until I drove it. I was surprised to find a very matured suspension in baleno. Maruti has done good job on suspension to counter the light weight body. Suspension is on stiffer side, but not as stiff as swift. Ride quality is good and small potholes are absorbed with ease. I find the rear little bouncy on broken roads. I am planning to reduce the tyre pressure by 2 psi from stock and check. High speed stability is really impressive. Brakes do their job pretty well by stopping the car without any fuss. I can say, handling of baleno is good. This is not a corner craver like swift. But it is within control and won't throw any nasty surprises. Tyres offer good grip, but noise could have been lesser.

[Dr.Naren]

Service Details, Fuel Economy & Accessories

I have driven only 2500 kms till date and have completed my first free service which is just an inspection and wash. There is a maintenance cost program for Baleno. I For 3 years/60k kms, MCP saves around 4k from your pocket. I had serviced my car at local MASS in kasaragod.

MCP details for 3 years/60k kms plan


Fuel economy-It is very sensitive to throttle. I have driven it sedately and hardly touched above 80kmph except few spirited drives once in a while. MID shows average FE between 18-19 kmpl. Tankfull method FE is almost near to the MID figures, though lesser by 0.5 kmpl. Fuel efficiency drops by significant margin if you floor the pedal. I got a worst figure of 12 kmpl on a trip of 60 km with frequent red lining and WOT. I did not revv the engine beyond 2500 rpm for first 1000 kms.

FE after a trip of 123 kms


Accessories
I did not get even basic accessories like mats and mud flaps from Nexa during delivery. I was tired following up with them. So I ordered mud flaps, door side moulding from my local maruti dealer. Also I bought 3D Mats and illuminated door sills (yet to install) from Ebay. My local dealer got the parts in a week and I got it installed along with MGP LED parking light for front. Door side moulding helps in making the car look better.

Door side moulding


LED parking lights on


Illuminated door sills from Ebay


Future plans
1.Momo revenge alloys
2.Smoked headlamps
3.3M wrap on roof and ORVMs
4.FFE with headers

[Dr.Naren]

Additional Points-Let the pictures talk

Stock headlights are osram bilux Germany


High beam


Low beam


Note the LED parking light


Lot of space under hood-1.6 ddis anytime maruti?


Fuel injection system is LUCAS-TVS make


Yes-that's front crumple zone


Even petrol gets sound insulation


Adequate firewall insulation


Air filter assembly design is different in baleno compared to swift


Chinese make ABS(My SX4 has Bosch)


Tool kit-culprit of rattles from rear


Underbody picture-Exhaust system is different than swift and it has Suzuki embossed on muffler



Nexa App interface





There were lot of posts questioning the safety of baleno. A light weight car need not be unsafe. I had met with a major accident in SX4 and front crumple zones absorbed most of the impact(similar design present in baleno too). I had interacted with maruti engineers at cochin when they were testing baleno with booster jet engine. Team-Bhp was the first to publish the article about same. I was told by maruti engineers that body shell is same for export models too. Since baleno is exported to Japan and other EU counties, I doubt safety would be compromised here by providing different body shell. A crash test result should end this controversy soon.

A short video by Suzuki about new generation light weight platform

https://youtu.be/Sv9L7bt7ajc

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

[SRK]

Congrats for your Baleno. Very nice review.

Looks like you have opted for the NEXA Card. Given that you have purchased the accessories from outside, I don't think it has been much useful.
My NEXA app shows an id with 0 Loyalty points even though I haven't applied for one.

Like you, many people have been complaining about the bouncy rear. The solution to this problem given by the service centre is to maintain tyre pressure at recommended units. I am running 29 psi all around and can still feel the undulations, specially at lower speeds.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by SRK

Congrats for your Baleno. Very nice review.

Looks like you have opted for the NEXA Card. Given that you have purchased the accessories from outside, I don't think it has been much useful.
My NEXA app shows an id with 0 Loyalty points even though I haven't applied for one.

Like you, many people have been complaining about the bouncy rear. The solution to this problem given by the service centre is to maintain tyre pressure at recommended units. I am running 29 psi all around and can still feel the undulations, specially at lower speeds.

Thanks buddy!!
Nexa card is not useful at all unless you refer someone and they end up purchasing a car. I do run on 29 psi and low speed ride is still bouncy, thanks to stiff springs. I have lowered it down to 27 psi now. I will update after my next ride.
Cheers

[rattanw]

Just read this news that Baleno has crossed 100,000 bookings. The old horse Maruti never seems to get tired. Its almost like whatever model they launch, its sure to be a hellfire success barring a few exceptions here and there. Really, crossing 100,000 bookings in first six months has to be some kind of a testament to people's faith in their cars. Here is the link to that news article:

http://www.cartrade.com/car-bike-new...=daily-mailers

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by rattanw

Just read this news that Baleno has crossed 100,000 bookings. The old horse Maruti never seems to get tired. Its almost like whatever model they launch, its sure to be a hellfire success barring a few exceptions here and there. Really, crossing 100,000 bookings in first six months has to be some kind of a testament to people's faith in their cars. Here is the link to that news article:

http://www.cartrade.com/car-bike-new...=daily-mailers

1 lakh plus bookings with just 100 nexa dealers across the county is a achievement. Baleno zeta variant has highest waiting period of 9 months. Also monthly sales have decreased, thanks to exports.

[grkonweb]

Very detailed review. To me it appears to be a large hatchback. Getting the car delivered in a week's time, I should say, you're very lucky considering the waiting time currently prevailing. Enjoy the car & have many more happy miles!

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by grkonweb

Very detailed review. To me it appears to be a large hatchback. Getting the car delivered in a week's time, I should say, you're very lucky considering the waiting time currently prevailing. Enjoy the car & have many more happy miles!

Thanks!
Yes, I was lucky to have one unblocked car in transit and I immediately made the payment to block it.

[anuraglakhotia]

Congrats for your Baleno. And this is a good detailed review. What is the current FE that the car is displaying. Also, would request you to share pics of the illuminated sill plates once they are fixed. Would putting these sill plates void the car's warranty ??

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by anuraglakhotia

Congrats for your Baleno. And this is a good detailed review. What is the current FE that the car is displaying. Also, would request you to share pics of the illuminated sill plates once they are fixed. Would putting these sill plates void the car's warranty ??

Thanks.
Current FE display in MID is 18.1 kmpl for last 605 kms trip meter reading. I am surprised to see more FE in my petrol Baleno compared to my other 2 diesel cars. Sills should not void warranty, I believe. Also they have separate inbuilt fuse.