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Old 17th May 2019, 11:45   #16
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re: The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km

Congratulations on the car. I'm not personally a fan of Maruti Suzuki cars but to each his own. I don't get the entire "poor customer service" scene of VW India as mentioned by many people here. I guess that's just a South thing. I've been to three different VW dealerships here in North (Delhi NCR region) & I have never experienced any foul behavior from the staff. It sucks that you had to miss out on such a great car because of poor customer support. VW India should take strong action against these particular dealerships & their staff.
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Old 17th May 2019, 12:21   #17
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re: The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km

Congrats on the car and completing 2 years of ownership Xaos636. Great detailed thread.

As you have rightly mentioned, this car is an underdog in the 'warm hatchback segment'. Subtle changes like the blackout Suzuki logo and ofcourse, the new alloys transforms the looks. Your car, in that particular shade, looks stunning. You definitely have taste.

Glad to read that your car never had any big dents, even after being rear-ended twice. Hope it stays that way.

Do keep updating your thread regarding your ownership experience. Looking foward to the updates. Wishing you many more happy miles.
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Old 17th May 2019, 13:14   #18
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re: The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xaos636 View Post
....They did not charge me for brake fluid top-up, coolant top-up, two tissue paper box, windshield washer refill(along with 6 packs free for me) which they charge mostly and I was happy.

......Things to change and address to :

2. Coolant replace.
9. Brake Fluid Replace
11. Fill the windshield washer reservoir to the brim.

Replaced things include full coolant, brake fluid/clutch fluid, bleeding all 4 calipers...fully filled windshield washer with 10 packets of backup
Hello,

I noticed the free windshield washer offer has smitten you. Hope you noticed the coolant charge of 222Rs is barely enough for 1 Liter of coolant (see unit column). Engines of 1000-1500CC usually need 3-5Liters of coolant (Refer your manual). I am guessing the coolant was only topped off (if so, why?, where did it vanish?). And anti-freeze and hygroscopic brake fluid life is much-much more than 10K -20K Kms.

Please review your opinion of any (A.S.S) service experience w.r.t the owners manual and rate them on availability of service bay on-time, spares availability on time, capability w.r.t. to difficult to analyse/repair jobs, body shop/paint jobs & most importantly 'adherence' to OEM's O&M & repair schedule.

PS - If there is one thing you may want to deviate it can be replace air filter element every scheduled service irrespective of its condition, that is the single most important reason of bore lining & valve seat premature wear out.
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Old 17th May 2019, 13:59   #19
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The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS

Quote:
Originally Posted by neil.jericho View Post
This certainly is interesting, I look forward to your long term review of these tires. Can you share some pictures of the tire now that you have driven it for 26,000 kms? Was there any indication from the dealer on the expected life of the tires? Also is the pricing of the tires lower than that of the other more popular options?

That is very positively reassuring to hear and quite different from what we would expect from Maruti.
Actually the tire has run only 16k km. I had them changed at 10k km. Will post tire details once I do 20k km. Expected tire life per the dealer was 40k kms and the pricing is on par with Yokohama A drive R1. Rest big brands are expensive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by im_srini View Post
Congratulations on your "Booster-Jet", you seem to be one of the few truly happy Maruti customers (at least on this forum).

Once again, as Leoshashi has mentioned, almost all of them have now resorted to having throttle-body or port injection, in addition to GDI, to keep the valves clean.

The Booster-Jet does not have any injectors upstream of the valves, so I'm skeptical how a fuel injector cleaner will solve any kind of "gumming up" issue on the valves.

The only way this would work is to spray this cleaner into the intake tract further upstream of the head, viz. the intake valves.

In the good old days, BG-Carb-Cleaner used to be sprayed under pressure into the throttle body while the engine was idling for "carbon cleaning" - only a similar setup or application is likely to get the gunk off of the valves.

If you have access to a borescope, it might be interesting to see what kind of soot buildup you have on your valves at 20,000 Kms.

Getting an oil catch-can installed could probably reduce soot buildup on the valves, that's another popular solution on GDI engines for this issue.

P.S. : "Normal" fuel injector cleaners are meant for normal fuel pressures, i.e. 50 to 60 PSI, a GDI engine can have fuel pressures as high as 3,000 PSI; if you're going to use an injector cleaner, stick to the SGP product, I doubt it's your dad's injector cleaner.
I am not a very happy Maruti owner as I can see a lot of things needs improvement. I can rather be called a satisfied customer. I love the reliability and I hope it doesnt let me down. Many thanks for the inputs. I don't know if there are any ways used by MSIL to know the soot build up on the valves. I will ask them and get it checked, if necessary and yes, I will stick with the SGP injector cleaner. I did not consider the fuel pump pressures of these when considering STP or Liqui Moly. But Liqui Moly does say that it works fine on Turbo petrol's. But need a bit of research on that before trusting them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kumaranurag View Post
Congratulations on the car. I'm not personally a fan of Maruti Suzuki cars but to each his own. I don't get the entire "poor customer service" scene of VW India as mentioned by many people here. I guess that's just a South thing. I've been to three different VW dealerships here in North (Delhi NCR region) & I have never experienced any foul behavior from the staff. It sucks that you had to miss out on such a great car because of poor customer support. VW India should take strong action against these particular dealerships & their staff.
Its great news that VW is doing great in North. Some of my friends who have had issues with a dealer in Bangalore sent a mail to VW only for them to forward it to the same dealer to solve it. The dealer wasn't in any mood to address the issue. This was one of the reasons I did not try the Email way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChiragM View Post
Congrats on the car and completing 2 years of ownership Xaos636. Great detailed thread.

As you have rightly mentioned, this car is an underdog in the 'warm hatchback segment'. Subtle changes like the blackout Suzuki logo and ofcourse, the new alloys transforms the looks. Your car, in that particular shade, looks stunning. You definitely have taste.

Glad to read that your car never had any big dents, even after being rear-ended twice. Hope it stays that way.

Do keep updating your thread regarding your ownership experience. Looking foward to the updates. Wishing you many more happy miles.
Thank you sir. Will keep the thread updated
Quote:
Originally Posted by svsantosh View Post
Hello,

I noticed the free windshield washer offer has smitten you. Hope you noticed the coolant charge of 222Rs is barely enough for 1 Liter of coolant (see unit column). Engines of 1000-1500CC usually need 3-5Liters of coolant (Refer your manual). I am guessing the coolant was only topped off (if so, why?, where did it vanish?). And anti-freeze and hygroscopic brake fluid life is much-much more than 10K -20K Kms.

Please review your opinion of any (A.S.S) service experience w.r.t the owners manual and rate them on availability of service bay on-time, spares availability on time, capability w.r.t. to difficult to analyse/repair jobs, body shop/paint jobs & most importantly 'adherence' to OEM's O&M & repair schedule.

PS - If there is one thing you may want to deviate it can be replace air filter element every scheduled service irrespective of its condition, that is the single most important reason of bore lining & valve seat premature wear out.
Thank you for pointing this out. I was charged only for a liter of coolant and rest was not added on the bill for reasons not known to me. I had to go back once after 1000 kms of change to top up the coolant where I wasn't charged again and I can confirm that the coolant was flushed and new coolant was added and I do have some pics of the same, taken by the S.A back then. Required coolant quantity for the RS is 4.3L. The brake fluid was changed because of MSIL's recommendation. They do that for every cars from their stable. The recommended change interval is 20k km.

Last edited by Xaos636 : 17th May 2019 at 14:20.
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Old 17th May 2019, 23:00   #20
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re: The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km

You car looks so sinister I just love they way it looks. Maybe black chrome in the headlamps can complete the look.
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Old 18th May 2019, 11:27   #21
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re: The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km

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Originally Posted by vibmat View Post
You car looks so sinister I just love they way it looks. Maybe black chrome in the headlamps can complete the look.
Thank you. The issue with the chrome in headlight is that its inside the headlight and I will have to dismantle it to do something. A sticker on the outside of the headlight looks super weird as I have seen some with it. Have no other choice other than to keep it the way it is now.
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Old 18th May 2019, 21:00   #22
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re: The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km

Congratulations Xaos636 on owning the Baleno RS. How is the drivability of the Booster Jet Engine in bumper to bumper traffic? I would be buying a Hatchback sometime next year. The pricing of the Baleno RS and Alpha CVT is very close which makes it a tough choice to decide between the two. My primary use would be inside the City with occasional long trips.
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Old 19th May 2019, 19:41   #23
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re: The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xaos636 View Post
Thank you. The issue with the chrome in headlight is that its inside the headlight and I will have to dismantle it to do something. A sticker on the outside of the headlight looks super weird as I have seen some with it. Have no other choice other than to keep it the way it is now.

Good call, if at all they release some variant later with blacked out assembly, you can fit that OE part instead for reliability.

I have a query for all turbo petrol owners - someone I know is looking for a new car and may take a look at this as well, considering it's that fellows first car I need to advise him of 1.2 vs 1.0 , I happened to notice the rather expensive injector cleaner.

Considering this needs to be done every 20K I suppose for baleno RS, are other turbo petrols asking for this?

Quote:
Originally Posted by kumaranurag View Post
Congratulations on the car. I'm not personally a fan of Maruti Suzuki cars but to each his own. I don't get the entire "poor customer service" scene of VW India as mentioned by many people here. I guess that's just a South thing. I've been to three different VW dealerships here in North (Delhi NCR region) & I have never experienced any foul behavior from the staff. It sucks that you had to miss out on such a great car because of poor customer support. VW India should take strong action against these particular dealerships & their staff.
You are a lucky man, but I know many who weren't. (Peer experience matters)

Looking at their low sales and customers not wanting to service their cars with dealer once warranty expires(my friends included, they dread VW/Skoda ASS) , VW dealer is more likely to rip you off than a Maruti. Their low sales mean that VW has little control over the dealer as well, unlike Maruti whom the dealers are afraid of.

It is debatable that Baleno RS is a better product than Polo TSI , but Maruti service is miles ahead of VW whichever way you look at it.

Cars need a good ecosystem to support it through the 5 years that someone like me pays it's EMI , I don't think VW is there yet.
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Old 20th May 2019, 06:23   #24
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re: The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km

Quote:
Originally Posted by adi.mariner View Post
Congratulations Xaos636 on owning the Baleno RS. How is the drivability of the Booster Jet Engine in bumper to bumper traffic? I would be buying a Hatchback sometime next year. The pricing of the Baleno RS and Alpha CVT is very close which makes it a tough choice to decide between the two. My primary use would be inside the City with occasional long trips.
Thank you. The traffic drivability is better than 1.2 for sure. The linear acceleration helps in the same. The lack of turbo lag too is very much noticeable as you will feel its a much bigger engine doing the duty in bumper to bumper traffic. As for CVT, I would like to you take an extended test drive of both in traffic. The RS does have a light clutch and haven't felt uneasy in Bangalore traffic yet, but daily drives through the traffic might be difficult considering the traffic is going to increase as years pass by.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kosfactor View Post
Good call, if at all they release some variant later with blacked out assembly, you can fit that OE part instead for reliability.

I have a query for all turbo petrol owners - someone I know is looking for a new car and may take a look at this as well, considering it's that fellows first car I need to advise him of 1.2 vs 1.0 , I happened to notice the rather expensive injector cleaner.

Considering this needs to be done every 20K I suppose for baleno RS, are other turbo petrols asking for this?
Yes, if at all an OE part comes, I will change it, but I doubt if it will ever come.

The injector cleaner is specific for RS and GT TSI or Ecoboost doesn't use it AFAIK. Even with the injector cleaner, the costs are kind of manageable for me, as long as the car stays reliable. If considering the GT TSI, I would recommend to wait till the 1.0 TSI hits the market, which wont be long.

Last edited by Gannu_1 : 20th May 2019 at 08:04. Reason: Grammar + typo.
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Old 30th May 2019, 16:45   #25
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re: The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km

Congratulations Xaos 636. Presently, Baleno RS is the sportiest offering from MSIL stable and a competent one. It does most of the things right without any serious deal breaker. I guess even the thickness of the sheet metal is more in RS than regular Baleno leading to higher kerb weight. Wish you happy mile munching with the RS.
Regards.
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Old 31st May 2019, 10:02   #26
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re: The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km

Terrific review there Xaos636.

The Gun Metal Momo alloys look smashing and gels with the RS skirts.
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Old 4th June 2019, 02:56   #27
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re: The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuldeep31 View Post
Congratulations Xaos 636. Presently, Baleno RS is the sportiest offering from MSIL stable and a competent one. It does most of the things right without any serious deal breaker. I guess even the thickness of the sheet metal is more in RS than regular Baleno leading to higher kerb weight. Wish you happy mile munching with the RS.
Regards.
Thank you. I think that the bumpers maybe better made, but the doors are the same. So still some research needs to go in for that, perhaps a crash test would help.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Prodigy07 View Post
Terrific review there Xaos636.

The Gun Metal Momo alloys look smashing and gels with the RS skirts.
Thank you. Yes, the skirts and alloys are identically colored
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Old 15th August 2019, 09:03   #28
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re: The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km

Hey man,
Love your thread and the colour on your Baleno. Hope to see more updates soon.
Cheers
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Old 15th September 2019, 11:57   #29
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re: The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xaos636 View Post
She will be 2 years old this June 2nd, has done 26,000 km and has been a pleasure to drive this little pocket rocket around.
Great review and your title "The underdog" hit the proverbial nail on the head! As an RS owner myself this is one of the most under-rated fast hatches on the market. My car is nearing 50k in close to two years and I still love that little firecracker that sits over the front axle. As you pointed out, the handling is what actually detracts from a perfect experience. I have installed RogerAB buffers on all four coil springs which have made a big difference for me. Better is still desired so I am on the hunt for a compatible set of sporty dampers.

Excellent choice of alloys. I did think about going for 215s but then thought the better of it as I did not want to give the engine an unnecessary chore to overcome the added grip. As is, my HR alloys have added about 2kg of unsprung weight on each corner! I run on 205/55s instead. From your review looks like the 215s work out well too.

You can get the shark fin antenna from ER on Amazon. Here is the link. I have fitted the same to my RS.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuldeep31 View Post
I guess even the thickness of the sheet metal is more in RS than regular Baleno leading to higher kerb weight. Wish you happy mile munching with the RS.
Regards.
The weight increase in the Baleno comes from two factors:
  • The 1.0L engine is heavier
  • The hearttect platform has been additionally stiffened to handle the extra weight

Additionally except for stiffer springs everything else is same as the regular Baleno.

Drive on,
Shibu.

Last edited by shibujp : 15th September 2019 at 12:01. Reason: Eating my words!
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Old 26th September 2019, 11:14   #30
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re: The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sreesh1009 View Post
Hey man,
Love your thread and the colour on your Baleno. Hope to see more updates soon.
Cheers
Thank you. I will try my best to post all the updates here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shibujp View Post
Great review and your title "The underdog" hit the proverbial nail on the head! As an RS owner myself this is one of the most under-rated fast hatches on the market. My car is nearing 50k in close to two years and I still love that little firecracker that sits over the front axle. As you pointed out, the handling is what actually detracts from a perfect experience. I have installed RogerAB buffers on all four coil springs which have made a big difference for me. Better is still desired so I am on the hunt for a compatible set of sporty dampers.

Excellent choice of alloys. I did think about going for 215s but then thought the better of it as I did not want to give the engine an unnecessary chore to overcome the added grip. As is, my HR alloys have added about 2kg of unsprung weight on each corner! I run on 205/55s instead. From your review looks like the 215s work out well too.

You can get the shark fin antenna from ER on Amazon. Here is the link. I have fitted the same to my RS.

Drive on,
Shibu.
Thank you for the kind words Shibu. Its indeed one of the most underrated cars, probably because its a Maruti after all and the perception of common people about Maruti doesn't come alongside performance. Perhaps its the only car with the lowest turbo lag among manual turbo petrols on sale today in India. Thanks a lot for providing the link to the compatible shark fin antenna. That would be next on my bucket list.

I was looking at @Dr.Naren 's Cobra lowering springs and keeping a close tab on few users as well. Have seen an RS with Triple S lowering springs and his 17 inch wheels went inside the wheel well. So that wont be a logical choice and since I already have a hard ride combined with horrendous roads, I need to think a lot before doing anything similar. But great to know the coil spring buffers are working well. Do you have anything in mind for sporty dampers ? I am not sure if people have tried any reputed dampers on RS. Have seen AM Racing's posts on social medial on a race prepped RS, but not sure what dampers are used since the information provided was vague.

Update on Service: 30,000kms/2nd paid service. Total Cost: Rs.4872

As usual, I decided not to give the car for servicing in Bangalore. I drove back to Calicut, Kerala and met my trusted MASS and gave the car for PMS30. They had already procured the oil and oil filter since I had given them a heads up the previous week. Car was given for service by 6:00PM after they called me and informed that they would free a mechanic by that time and it was convenient for me as well. The car was ready by 7:30PM and I had waited at their lounge watching them work on my car. This time a big board has come up saying "No photo or video allowed". Overall, a decent job. They again did not charge for wiper fluid refill(the tank was almost empty) and coolant top-up. They did mention one screenwash fluid cost on the bill and gave me multiple sachets to keep with me. Air filter was surprisingly clean for Bangalore conditions and decided to dust it off and use it till 40k service and will replace irrespective of the condition. Got the cabin filter replaced and the Castrol FS oil continues this time as well since I am pretty happy with the same. Attaching the bill below.

The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km-4.jpg

One thing which required attention were the front brake pads. As I saw it, it did have some 5k-7k kilometers left in it. The MASS asked me to replace them before 5k kilometers just to be on the safer side(Mentioned 3k on the bill). The rear pads are still strong and should do another 15k-20k kilometers.

The front brakes on the RS are different from normal Baleno and the pads cannot be interchanged. The normal Baleno pads cost around 2k INR and RS pads are around 4.7k INR. I haven't decided whether to stick with stock or go aftermarket. That is a decision I will have to make in the next 5k kilometers. Not to mention, the RS pads are indeed out of stock with most dealers, but a couple of Nexa service centers in Bangalore has them, so it shouldn't be a tough job to get them.

Its highly unlikely that Maruti has decided to put a completely new set of brakes on the RS. So this front brake set up should match with some other car from their own stable. The rear disc setup is the same as S-Cross and I thought the front was of Baleno itself, but its not. Its not of S-Cross's either. That's one thing I need to find out, so I can search for those part numbers in future in case the RS pads are out of stock.
A similar thing happened on call when I asked for the rear pads of RS, the spares person told me its out of stock, but he did have one for S-Cross. Looks like they are also ill informed about parts sharing.
Attached Thumbnails
The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km-1.jpg  

The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km-2.jpg  

The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km-3.jpg  

The Underdog! My Maruti-Suzuki Baleno RS EDIT: Sold after 3 years and 35k km-5.jpg  

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