[Horizon85]

Originally Posted by prathirajkumar

Spoiler Alert:

Maruti Suzuki India is planning to increase the prices of all its cars from January 2016 including the Baleno hatchback. The increase will vary model-wise, and the maximum increase will be up to Rs 20,000.

Here in Bangalore, Baleno is a very rare sight. I see one in a week maybe. The price hike makes me wonder if the dealers here are hoarding stocks to make more money.

[ajayishanku]

great review as usual, Baleno strikes as a great premium hatch, the only area of concern is how 'light' this 'flash of light' really is . It might be the latest fad among car manufacturers, and as strong as the competition but people in love with the European build quality will find it odd and will raise safety concern no doubt.

As a user of Celerio, Honda City(nhc) and Polo I can vouch for the fact that solidly built cars always exude quality that can't be covered by plasticky/tech gimmicks.

[Vivek chava]

Hello Folks ! I am Really glad to be a part of Team bhp ! I'd like to thank the Mods for approving my membership . This is my First post .
I took delivery of my silver baleno petrol Delta Recently ! No doubt it is a good car but Here's the issue that I've faced ! I did do a pdi when taking the delivery and found the car to be in perfect shape but only to my surprise after a week I have noticed really small dents on the doors of the car without actually causing any physical impact , like the ones on the swifts and dzires ( Really small ones )
I was wondering if the thin sheet metal is the Cause or they were present even at the time of delivery (maybe Did not notice them ) ! So far the Drive has been really good . Peppy , Refined petrol engine , Well sorted out suspension but needless to say interiors(Build Quality) are not upto the mark .

[djpeesh]

Took delivery of my dad's new Baleno CVT this evening.

Overall, pretty nice package. I've only driven 20 kms so far and the seats are comfy, the music system is nice and the air-conditioning is powerful.

The problems with the CVT, especially the rubber banding do exist but for the city, it's a great car. I still felt that the i10 automatic that this car complements is peppier, at least from my initial impressions.

Swapping the XUV500 with him for the weekend so will get to know the car better and hopefully will be able to give you guys a better sense of the CVT, given that the review is sparse on details of this particular variant

I can't seem to add pictures as it keeps giving me a security error. Will add them later.

[qr20de]

Saw a grey Baleno on the road yesterday and looks amazing! The side profile with the accentuated wheel arches really does make the vehicle stand out!

I am not so sure whether the red and blue would do justice to its classy look.

[maverick.munish]

This is it then.
Finally the review is out and as always it is wholesome and informative.
Was inclined towards booking the Delta trim to upgrade from my current Ritz VXi 2013, however the specs configurations have now made me realise that the best VFM would be the Zeta trim.
Off to book the same at NEXA.

Thanks a ton for the infographics and the detailed reviews.

Originally Posted by Vivek chava

Here's the issue that I've faced ! I did do a pdi when taking the delivery and found the car to be in perfect shape but only to my surprise after a week I have noticed really small dents on the doors of the car without actually causing any physical impact , like the ones on the swifts and dzires ( Really small ones )
I was wondering if the thin sheet metal is the Cause or they were present even at the time of delivery (maybe Did not notice them ) !

Vivek

Did you ask the dealer about these dents.
Could be due to manhandling by the staff at the dealership. Also are there any paint abrasions that you noticed.
I am planning to buy a blue colour Zeta trim. A little apprehensive now about these dents.

Please do let me know the outcome of your talk with the dealership around these. Thanks in advance.

[mpm2015]

Originally Posted by Horizon85

Here in Bangalore, Baleno is a very rare sight. I see one in a week maybe. The price hike makes me wonder if the dealers here are hoarding stocks to make more money.

Baleno is a rare sight here in Kochi too.

As for hoarding stocks, we should be able to catch this by looking at the year of manufacture in VIN/chassis number of the car I guess. Experienced members please comment on this. Thanks.

[Vivek chava]

Originally Posted by maverick.munish

Vivek

Did you ask the dealer about these dents.
Could be due to manhandling by the staff at the dealership. Also are there any paint abrasions that you noticed.
I am planning to buy a blue colour Zeta trim. A little apprehensive now about these dents.

Please do let me know the outcome of your talk with the dealership around these. Thanks in advance.

Hey there ! I have had bad time with the dealership but I am gonna ask them soon . No paint abrasions though but the sheet metal is really thin . If you are looking for premium quality build and interiors look else where buddy ! I felt interiors and the build quality like a downgrade from a grand i10 ! There are no two ways about it . The car drives and handles roads well , quite a looker and spacious as well.

[sidzzone]

Excellent review as always, rating the thread 5 stars!

Maruti was always associated with producing cheap, VFM cars that were reliable. With the Baleno, they have redefined themselves. Definitely a step above their earlier products. It is already setting the sales charts on fire. Wouldn't be surprised if it pips DZire in sales numbers (after sometime of course).

[W.A.G.7]

Finally, they have a nice car that might one day eventually replace the Swift. Even though I didn't like it in the pictures initially, I was impressed when I actually saw that in the showroom. Overall, I feel it's a nice competent hatchback that could be one more game changer for Maruti.

Regarding the rubber band effect of the CVT, I feel that most of the time, the car would be used in the city; so this would not matter much to most of the people. I would surely try out the automatic variant before coming to any conclusion.

Awesome review as well.

[Waspune]

Mods,

Any reason for not including Fiat Punto in the competitors' list, given that Bolt, Swift and Liva have been included, which IMO dont belong to the premium hatch category?

Its a genuine question

Originally Posted by mukul32

Excellent review, Aditya. Thanks, and rated 5*.

As for the performance, I feel Maruti have just about gotten away with the 74 BHP motor due to the weight, and anyway the talk of performance of this car was always going to be more about the weight than power or torque. That it still manages to be competent, and in case of the petrol, class-leading, is very good. However, I still don't understand how a 'premium' car gets an underspecced diesel motor. Since the time news had come that the YRA will get the 1.3 Multijet itself, I had taken for granted that it would be the 89 BHP spec. When the official specs were announced, I was in for a shock. It just didn't make sense. Maybe they wanted to reserve the higher state-of-tune for the Ciaz and S-Cross, but that's underpowered there too in turn. And a Ciaz buyer won't turn into a Baleno buyer even if they have the same and equally powerful engine. Both have a different market of their own.
Though, there is news that an 89 BHP Baleno could be coming in soon, and that would make things far better. With considerably low power, the car is on par with its rivals. With more than enough of it, it should be a completely different beast.

Bro, Underpowered is a very subjective term. For a car that weighs just 960 kgs, the 1.3 Fiat engine in 75 BHP guise is more than enough, not underpowered at least. Whe you compare with other cars in the segment, they weigh substantially more as well, so HP/Weight ratio comes out to be similar. In fact, when you compare this ratio with that of Polo, you would see that Baleno in better on it. I am sure it would be able to do 0-100 sprint in around 12 secs which is again comparable to Polo, and at least Polo isnt underpowered, or is it?

And as you said, Maruti seems to launch the 90 Hp version, and should really be hoot to drive. Maybe a sports version, with stiffer suspension and a more precise steering like that of swift.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Vivek chava

......I have noticed really small dents on the doors of the car without actually causing any physical impact , like the ones on the swifts and dzires ( Really small ones )


........but needless to say interiors(Build Quality) are not upto the mark .

Well, you are the the 3rd one from who I am hearing similar story about the small little dents.

A close friend of mine picked up the Baleno and pinged me about this on yesterday and said even if he presses the body panels with his finger, the dent remains like a dimple and the metal doesn't get back to retain its shape.

He mailed Maruti and then a TSM got in touch with him who asked him to try this on their Balenos. Incidentally, their Baleno has 10 such dents.

Seems like an issue that Maruti needs to address (Not just acknowledge) sooner. There was one Baleno that has come for Service which also had such dents.

I have seen many cases where on applying pressure to a body panel, it goes in but again comes out and retains original shape. The instances here are quite alarming and send a wrong signal.

He asked me to check with the Ertiga but I could never reproduce the same in that or even the 2006 WagonR.

[suzuki san]

Hi Guys,

Have just taken delivery this afternoon of a new Baleno Petrol Alpha from Nexa at Turbhe.
(I took delivery on behalf of a very good friend of mine who was with me but considers me "lucky" as I took delivery of his last new car as well. Who am I to complain!!)

We were told that the car would be ready at 11.00 - 11.30. Knowing how Nexa works we got there at 12.45 (also was not considered auspicious to take delivery before 12.00) and we had to wait for two and a half hours to finally get delivery. Keys handed over at 15.15.

The showroom had quite a few people walking in and inquiring about the Baleno. There were not enough salesmen present to attend to all of them.
The showroom was nice enough but really "bare bones". They could have put in a few potted plants, pictures/paintings on the wall and maybe even some vertical blinds on the front windows to hide the continuous stream of trucks outside. There was also insufficient seating for the number of people in the showroom. As soon as we got up from our seat someone else would jump in!!
We were offered tea/coffee and I was surprised to see that we only got half a cup of coffee. Water was served in a glass (not bottled) and tasted strange. Last time I visited Nexa at Andheri it was chilled bottled water served by a waiter wearing white gloves. No such thing here.
As it was well past lunch time we were offered a sandwich. However, it never materialized!!
Also at Nexa Andheri the salesmen or RM's or whatever were dressed in suits (some) and ties. Missing here. I think only one salesman had a tie on.
One large TV screen kept showing the accessories available for the S Cross.
All in all, not a very "Premium" experience.
As per our RM, he has personally sold 45 Baleno's in the last month. 430 Baleno's from this particular showroom. Waiting period is now 3 to 4 months depending on the colour chosen. I saw a red Baleno there and did not like it at all. It used to look OK on the Swift but not on this car. However, I am not a "red" car person anyway and no offence intended to any owners with red cars.

I had the TBHP checklist with me and went over nearly all the points.
There was a mistake on the invoice of the VIN number but this could not be corrected as it is supposedly set by Maruti. Got it changed manually and endorsed. When we brought it to their notice they discovered that it is a mistake on several cars and not just this one. They thanked us for bringing this to their notice.

The car had approx. 11,000.00 worth of accessories fitted including door visors (I personally don't care for these), door rub rails (I did not like the chrome inserts on the rub rails), carpet type matting, steering cover (useless) and a few other bits.
Sad to say that the carpet type matting was only for inside the car.
The boot section had an "el cheapo" purple plastic bubble type matting. Supposedly that's what comes with the set.
Although the carpet matting has holes for it to be hooked onto the floor, I could not find any hooks to attach it to.
The "Baleno" logo is only on the front mats - not the rear.

I checked the car minutely and it appeared to be free of any dents or dings, scratches or abrasions. Glasses checked for scratches, chips etc. All OK.
I also checked all the fluids personally much to the disgust of the salesman who kept telling me it had all been done. All levels were OK.
No rust noted anywhere in the engine bay.

They were unable to give us the warranty booklets for the battery and tyres. Said that they were covered by Suzuki under the car warranty.
Original Insurance policy and all invoices were given to us.
The fuel tank was empty and when I asked about the 5L petrol coupon was told that they (Suzuki) don't issue that any more and that there was a petrol pump close by. However, on pushing the matter, a 5L can of petrol appeared and was filled in the tank.
Mileage on taking delivery was 41Kms which I guess is OK.
No garland was put on the car before delivery. A small box of "Ferrero Rocher" chocolates was handed over with the keys (no actual keys - just two remotes) and a few pics clicked.
No dashboard statue was offered and when we asked for one we were told that it's not their (Suzuki) policy to do this. Strange, because Maruti offer you (or used to) a choice of dashboard statues. The RM kept insisting on pushing the fact that we were dealing with "Suzuki" and not "Maruti" but when we asked where we go for the service his response was : Any Authorised "Maruti" Service Station!! Duh!!
There is a small temple on the showroom premises but my friend wanted to bring the car to Iskcon at Juhu for the puja - which we did.
Finally drove out of the Nexa showroom at 15.30.
They charged Rs. 3000.00 (later reduced to 2500.00 after bargaining) for a "special" number. There was nothing special about the number. We just wanted it to add up to "4". When we asked for a receipt we were told that it was not possible. I am sure it does not cost more than Rs. 1000.00 for this.
A fairly good demo was given by the RM of nearly all the features of the car. However, as we were in a hurry he did not give us a demo of the head unit. Not his fault. I'm sure we can figure that out ourselves.

Initial impressions :
These have been written as various points come to mind and are not in any particular order. Apologies for the same.

1. I loved the dashboard, head unit and the MID. The average fuel economy was reading 11.0 Kmpl when we left and slowly increased to 13.3 Kmpl by the time we reached Juhu. The gear shift indicator is also quite handy but does take a few seconds to "adjust" and tell you which gear you ought to be in - small arrow shows up or down.
2. Light clutch and gear shifts are like butter. I also liked the arm rest which is positioned in such a manner that it does not interfere with gear shifting or the hand brake. Drivers seat has nice lower back cushioning - much better than the SX4. I felt under thigh support was slightly insufficient.
3. Pretty good A/C though I have to say that I had to set it at 18C - Auto mode to get the full effect. Almost comparable to my SX4. Cannot say how effective it was in the back as there was just the two of us sitting in front.
I found the climate control display to be rather small. You need to strain your eyes to see if it is on "fresh air" or "re-circulation" mode. Temperature setting is large and clear.
4. Acceleration seemed OK but cannot really comment on this as I never revved the engine to more than 2000 rpm.
5. The flashing of the projector headlights certainly attracts the attention of the driver in front as well as pedestrians.
6. Horn sound was also OK. Definitely a proper double horn. Need a thumb "extension" to press the horn button. A bit annoying.
7. Single touch on the indicator stalk and indicators flash three times for a lane change - nice touch.
8. The GPS was fairly easy to use and directions were precise. However, when we used a route other than what it recommended it kept telling us to take a U-turn. This I have noticed on my old MMI GPS as well. An SD card was inserted into the head unit before delivery and we were told that we would get 4 free map upgrades. We were also advised not to touch the SD card and that any map upgrades would be done during servicing.
9. We only used the radio. Sound quality was OK. Never tried out any proper music. We did not try to sync our smart phones with the head unit.
10. Sound insulation appeared to be OK.
11. I was surprised when I looked under the bonnet that there was no proper engine cover as such. I must have missed reading that in the review. There was an insulation sheet under the bonnet hood.
12. As already mentioned in the review, there is no protection at all under the engine and there is a large empty space between the engine and the radiator etc.
13. I found the ORVM's to be a tad small. I guess with regular use that will not be an issue as one will adjust accordingly. The IRVM was also restricted in it's rear visibility and with the rear seat head rests up it's even worse. Rear sensors and camera work well. However, the guide lines are not synced to the steering i.e. they do not show you where the car will go. Intuitive is the word I'm looking for, I think! The rear sensors can be switched off. However, the indicator light for the rear sensor switch is located low down on the dash and is well nigh invisible during the day.
14. The tyre pressure was definitely set to the high side (car was very bouncy) but we could not rectify the same as the air service at the two pumps we stopped at were not working. Will fill nitrogen tomorrow.
15. The spare tyre was a normal steel wheel with an MRF tyre rated at 80 Kmph. Large sticker saying the same is placed on the wheel where you cannot miss it.
16. Overall I found the interiors to be OK. Definitely a step up from Maruti's of old. I felt they should have given a rear A/C vent in this premium offering of theirs.
17. The ground clearance seems adequate. We went over the huge speed breakers near Ghansoli / Rabale without any issues.
18. Plenty of leg room in the back even with my seat pushed back. I am 5'11".
19. Loading and unloading heavy bags into the boot will not be an easy task.

Finally got back to Lokhandwala after 2 hours and my left knee was a bit sore dealing with moderate bumper to bumper traffic.
Maruti, Oh sorry! "Suzuki" why could you not offer the "Auto" box in the top end model??
I also found it quite stressful driving someone else's new car for such a long distance back from the showroom. I was watching each and every rickshaw, tempo, truck etc. in front and in my mirrors and keeping well clear of all of them.
That's about it for now. Any questions please feel free to ask.

Regards,
SS

[adik1984]

Originally Posted by suzuki san

5. The flashing of the projector headlights certainly attracts the attention of the driver in front as well as pedestrians.

Hi SS,

Are the projectors Bi-xenon or HID's or the ones which Ciaz have? I asked the same question to the RM at Nexa showroom, he said they are bi-xenon. I didn't buy his word, however couldn't get the answer as well.

Thanks

[suzuki san]

Originally Posted by adik1984

Hi SS,

Are the projectors Bi-xenon or HID's or the ones which Ciaz have? I asked the same question to the RM at Nexa showroom, he said they are bi-xenon. I didn't buy his word, however couldn't get the answer as well.

Thanks

Hi adik84,

Sorry but I have no idea.
I did not even think to ask about the headlights.
I just presumed they were the same as the Ciaz.
On another note, there is an "Auto" setting on the headlight switch which will switch on the lights if the sensor notes that you have entered a relatively darker area. This happened when we went under the "shade" of the petrol pump.

Regards,
SS