[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by speedbuster

....and ppl in this forum believe that Baleno is the cheapest car to maintain

Actually , the service costs of the baleno are cheap .. But when it comes to accidental damages a few parts such as the headlamps , fog lamps , electric mirrors which are mainly SGP (suzuki genuine parts) are expensive .. But other parts like engine parts , radiator etc etc being MGP are pretty cheap compared to the rest ..

Actually from what i researched is that most of these SGP items are made by stanley which also the official supplier to HONDA .. So i guess honda parts should be equally expensive as the manufacturer seems to be the same ..

[goldie_malhotra]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Actually from what i researched is that most of these SGP items are made by stanley which also the official supplier to HONDA .. So i guess honda parts should be equally expensive as the manufacturer seems to be the same ..

Honda has been reported to source most of its parts for NHC from Thailand, where they are much cheaper ... thats why they are able to keep the costs down

[hrag]

Originally Posted by speedbuster

....and ppl in this forum believe that Baleno is the cheapest car to maintain

Its not as if every Baleno owner goes to an MASS every 10K km and says - "Normal service. No complaints - just change my bumpers, headlight assembly, radiator etc."

The parts quoted in the first post are only in special circumstances such as accidents. They are NOT an indication of normal service costs. While the costs of such parts are important, I don't think anyone would choose a car based on the fact that its bumpers are cheap.

[goldie_malhotra]

Originally Posted by hrag

The parts quoted in the first post are only in special circumstances such as accidents. They are NOT an indication of normal service costs. While the costs of such parts are important, I don't think anyone would choose a car based on the fact that its bumpers are cheap.

Thats quite true - but in Indian traffic conditions, where it is really tough to keep one's car safe from all accidents, one might need to keep these in mind as well.

Though, in most cases, the insurance should bail one out, regardless of the cost of the parts.

[Tech]

That's true. In Indian driving conditons, the more costly the car, the more each dent pains you. Besides on highways driving is reckless ! We've seen in umpteen times.

[venkatrx]

Lot of people say Baleno "is cheap to maintain" as one of its strengths. Guys, with lot of SGP/SGA i think the above statement seems incorrect.

I think insurance guys will pay only 50% for the 'electrial', 'plastic' and 'glass' spares. Is this true?

In this case with lot of city driving. The parts that I have listed down are potential candidate for damage.

For a simple comparision, the rough cost of all the spares that i have listed is interesting to compare with costliest at the top.

Baleno 2006 --- 33k
Aveo --- 24k
Baleno pre 2006 --- 19k
Fiesta --- 17k
NHC --- 13k

Guys, really interesting numbers i say.

[venkatrx]

Originally Posted by venkatrx

Baleno 2006 --- 33k
Aveo --- 24k
Baleno pre 2006 --- 19k
Fiesta --- 17k
NHC --- 13k

With numbers above, it seems that 'cheap spares' of Baleno is just a myth. I am really surprised that NHC seemed to have the lowest spares cost !! [This also might be one of the reasons for NHCs dominant sales in this category.]

Guys, we definitely need to voice our concerns to Maruti. Last week I spoke a manager in their call-center when they had called me to take the feedback as I had purchase baleno just a month back. He told me that he will report the high spares cost issue to his 'engineering team'. He was supposed to call me back about their plans of 'timeframe' for procuring all the baleno with in india and reducing dependencies on SGA/SGP.

I am yet to hear from them

[venkatrx]

Guys,

Usually I see a lot of arguments between the fans of Fiesta, NHC, Baleno......but with such disparities in 'spares cost' i hardly see any discussion.

Are there any NHC, Fiesta fans in here at all

And what about the Baleno fans themselves, the Baleno is great but no owner would like to get ripped by the exhorbitant costs of the SGA/SGP, so comon guys.....air your views.

[naveendhyani]

Originally Posted by speedbuster

....and ppl in this forum believe that Baleno is the cheapest car to maintain

hey guys i got this from the fiat-india site.



i guess these values tell us why people think baleno is expensive to maintain. some of these values for baleno were way above i mean roughly 10k above the market cost of what people have quoted on this forum. another cheap stunt i think.

[venkatrx]

Originally Posted by naveendhyani

hey guys i got this from the fiat-india site.



i guess these values tell us why people think baleno is expensive to maintain. some of these values for baleno were way above i mean roughly 10k above the market cost of what people have quoted on this forum. another cheap stunt i think.

Hi Naveen,

I am not sure about the date of pricelist show on the fiat website. That might have been quite true, as maruti baleno had a lot imported parts earlier [infact even now them seems to import a lot].

Just to give an idea when the customs related duty was reduced in budget 2006 from 15% to 12.5%. [Finance guys can throw more light on this]

+ NHC prices(for 7.7 L car) came down by 3k
+ Baleno prices(for 6.0 L car) came down by 8k

This clearly shows that Baleno imports more parts than NHC !!

BTW the prices I have quoted are the current prices which i got by calling up their dealers in bangalore.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by venkatrx

For a simple comparision, the rough cost of all the spares that i have listed is interesting to compare with costliest at the top.
Baleno 2006 --- 33k
Aveo --- 24k
Baleno pre 2006 --- 19k
Fiesta --- 17k
NHC --- 13k

One thing that I do not understand is, why such a huge difference between Baleno2006 and BalenoPre2006 spares cost ? I mean, it is not like, the 2006 model is a complete makeover or something. All I can see is that the yellow turn-indicator at the rear has become white in the 2006 model and it has climate control. What does this have to do with headlights etc which still is the same in both models ?
The pre-2006Baleno spare price seems OK when compared to the competition.

[venkatrx]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

One thing that I do not understand is, why such a huge difference between Baleno2006 and BalenoPre2006 spares cost ? I mean, it is not like, the 2006 model is a complete makeover or something. All I can see is that the yellow turn-indicator at the rear has become white in the 2006 model and it has climate control. What does this have to do with headlights etc which still is the same in both models ?
The pre-2006Baleno spare price seems OK when compared to the competition.

Hi Supreme,

The dealer told that taillamps and headlamps price difference is because pre-2006 is MGP/MGA and 2006 model is SGP/SGA.

For headlamps he told the new one has some kind of levelling device in it itseems.....But i still wonder with Baleno headlamps being so bad, how can it be so much overpriced compared to all others and that too by such a big margin !

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by venkatrx

For headlamps he told the new one has some kind of levelling device in it itseems.....But i still wonder with Baleno headlamps being so bad, how can it be so much overpriced compared to all others and that too by such a big margin !

hmmm ... but if it were due to the levelling device , then shouldn't it be all the EURO III models rather than 2006 models ? These prices are crazy ! I think I'll fix some SUV style rods upfront and grills for the tail lamps !!

Also, I wonder why the NHC headlamps cost 2600, but the VTEC fog lamps cost 18,000 (saw that sticker price in the accessories display) !!!!

[BUSA]

Originally Posted by shuvc

Also, I wonder why the NHC headlamps cost 2600, but the VTEC fog lamps cost 18,000 (saw that sticker price in the accessories display) !!!!

Buddy the fact of the matter is that fogs of the Baleno cost themselves at Rs. 14000 as they are SGA and the fogs of OHC and NHC all cost Rs. 18,000 as they are imported ones, wheras the headlamps of the OHC was cheaper then the NHC.

@shucv - I really dont think goin for SGA fogs is worth it because all fogs work and when they fuse they use the same bulbs buttttt if a dog hits your fogs whether they are SGA or MGA they will break. Instead buying fogs for Rs. 2000 from Hot Tracks or something would be better.

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by BUSA

Buddy the fact of the matter is that fogs of the Baleno cost themselves at Rs. 14000 as they are SGA

oh yes .. am not contesting that .. btw, I checked a few weeks back .. the dealer quoted 12,500 for the fogs (including labour - he mentioned that). some relief eh ?