[Xaos636]

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.

Greetings BHPian's and all the readers. I start my first car review here on the forum with the Baleno RS.

Likes
- Great Engine. Superb mid-range with no turbo lag(I expected some turbo lag and was majorly taken away by the drive-ability of the engine).
- Space
- Brakes. All 4 discs. The only one in the segment at the time
- Headlights
- Loaded with features. UV Cut glasses are exceptional
- Comfort. Even rear seat occupants sits happy on long drives
- Maruti Suzuki Service
- 2 airbags and ABS with EBD as standard
- Futuristic looking MID display
- Great infotainment system with CarPlay and Android Auto.
- ISOfix mounts as standard
- Rear adjustable headrest
- Auto dimming IRVM
- Usable dead pedal
- Smooth gearbox

Dislikes
- Build quality needs improvement
- poor metal sheets on door, can easily get dents(I haven't got any though)
- Interior plastics have a lot of area for improvement.
- Cruise control could have been added
- No 6 airbag variant for India
- Slightly detuned motor
- Handling could have been more sporty with this engine which has tremendous potential.
- No rear center hand rest



We live in a world where at times, we have to listen to others as well and cannot take some decisions based completely on our own liking's. Once the family started growing and doing some serious long runs on motorcycles with wife, family were rightly getting upset regarding the safety of both of us doing loads of Bangalore-Kerala runs on a motorcycle and wanted us to upgrade to a car. I tried backing off for 6 or 7 months and then I thought like perhaps I should listen to them.

Early 2017, I was in the market for a car, which should be fun to drive, and should have decent space inside, because I would use the car primarily for my home runs to Kerala from my workplace in Bangalore, with mostly a full boot to and fro. As I would use it only for weekends and long drives (Full Hibernation mode from Monday to Friday), I wasn’t at all looking at a Diesel car, only a petrol. I was sure I would have to put the car on loan, at least half the amount of the car! After a good homework of what I would like to have from my next car, the hunt began. I remember test driving the Abarth Punto when it was launched in India and that suddenly struck my mind. The car was great fun to drive and if not that, something which comes close to it should be in the garage. I was strictly against an automatic car as I did not like my previous dealings with them. But all I tried were either Torque Converters or Maruti's lazy 4-Speed rubber band automatic. Hyundai i20 was also out of question since I felt the 1.2L VTVT was too lazy for my liking.

Plan was to test drive my list of cars from Bangalore, buy the car in Kerala as low road tax meant I save almost 80k INR. I used to drive monthly once to Kerala, keeping the Petrol bills and related stuff safely, because 'NOC/KA Road tax papers' are the first thing that Bangalore police is going to ask when they spot a other state registered car. They have let me go whenever they found enough evidences that the car hasn't been in KA roads for continuous 11 months, but still some insists to pay a sum of 100/- to sweeten their pocket. Anyway, the list of cars that made into my list were -

1. The VW Polo(Petrol 1.2 and GT TSI).
2. Honda Jazz(Manual)
3. Abarth Punto
4. Baleno RS

1. VW Polo(1.2 MPI and 1.2 GT TSI)



March first week 2017, the first one I drove in the list was the Polo 1.2 MPI and then the Polo GT TSI. I have been driving a Chevy Beat (Family car) for last 7 years and a legendary Maruti 800 1998 model before that. Went straight to VW Whitefield and was satisfied with their response. There was two 2017 Beetles welcoming me at the entrance. I was overwhelmed by the experience of the sales girl as well. She explained me everything about the car and all the details including VW finance and interest rates.

The 1.2 MPI was quick off the list as they had an old car for test drive and it was poorly maintained as well. Step on the gas and it doesn't have the oomph factor and the engine sound is something I hated quickly. After this, though I wasn’t very keen on an automatic, a simple test drive cleared my mind. Boy oh Boy the DSG gearbox does magic. It shifts faster than any human being could possibly shift on a manual. One thing I noticed in the test drive car was there was a shake of gear box area observed while shifting to 3rd and to 4th. Nothing serious to be concerned about, and I did not know of the DSG issues yet! Took all details and got surprised that they had 2016 models in March 17 and was offering insurance and some discount if I chose a 2016 model(Only 1.2 MPI).

The price was a little over 11L on-road and that is in the Compact SUV territory. I was sure I wanted a hatchback and not a wannabe SUV. I liked the Brezza, but lack of a petrol motor took me away from it. The Ecosport was about to get a face-lift, hence I did not want that too. Also were rumors about Ford exiting India back then. I have suffered enough with Chevrolet exiting India and I did not wanted to be in that situation again.

Left VW with a grin on my face and talked with the sales person and made them understand that I would be taking the car from Kerala only since the tax benefits and sales person even though may not be laughing inside, seemed OK with that.

The only negative they had was their service center. I was very much aware of their horror stories after little research. VAG is very well known for their absolute nightmare of services to customers, and I would rate VW India second from last, marginally losing to Skoda India on the last position. The only good response I got of a VW service is from a couple of friends who owns a Polo and a Vento, probably they are too much in like of the car, more than the service. Exceptional cars, pathetic service. Still I loved the car for the way it behaved. The rear seat leg room wasn’t great either. The transmission tunnel was way too high as well which caught my eye. But hey, I would be driving and the rear occupants would adjust, at least my mind was saying this!

Things began to take a different route when I visited VW Calicut. I went there to book the car on a fine Saturday morning with the booking amount. The 2017 model is what I get (no info of the same in VW India website), the showroom people said it came with 16 inch alloys(It was 15 till then) and a new spoiler. I was happy. Almost at the time of booking, asked the showroom guy about the On-road price. The guy quoted me around 30k more than what they said me a week ago through phone. The difference? The 2017 model came with as Sport Kit. It included roof sticker (black), side stickers on all 4 doors, some seat cover costing 15k and some other nit bits. I said why I would take a sports kit when I don’t want it. God I cannot imagine getting stickers on the doors, no matter how well they looked. Made it clear to them I do not want that and they said it’s a compulsory accessory. Really? Seat cover and roof stickers are compulsory? I noticed a change in their tone as well after this. They said they were selling around 1000 Polo GT’s per month from the very same showroom alone (Polo sells around 2k units all over India, per month). I don’t know what the reason for their comments were, and then they were clueless about delivery time. They had pending orders of 30 VW Polo GT’s as per the guy I talked to, and mine would come anywhere between 2-5 months. Really? Bangalore showroom said 10 days maximum for delivery. I put the DSG issues aside, I put the poor rear leg room aside, I put the poor service aside and still decided to go with the car, and the dealer here is just making sure I don't get one.

I wasn’t taking any of these. Talk about customer satisfaction. I knew if sales can give me headaches like these, what would the service give? It was a sad reality that I had to leave VW Calicut Showroom without booking the GT. The customer service was pathetic, extremely pathetic. I did not want to send a mail to VW directly for the disappointment caused by the dealer, as there were enough substitute cars available in the market. Polo GT went down the plans, the very same day.

2. Honda Jazz



Next, I was at Honda Whitefield. Me and my friend waited there for around 10 minutes and finally a lady turns up. I wanted details of Jazz and a test drive. I had driven the old Jazz plenty, but this is different, at least in looks. She made us wait another 10 minutes to arrange the test drive vehicle, only to inform later that it was not available. She promised me a call back and they would come to my home for test drive and took my number. A call never came and there went the Jazz dream. Really Bad from Honda. That engine was a gem, way too silent, but was very lazy as well. The same reason I let go of the Elite i20 was that I needed a little more mid-range. Hopefully this Jazz also did not have the performance I wanted and there goes the Jazz out of the list.

3. Abarth Punto



Here comes something that can be called as a hot hatch, looking at what’s written on paper and how it performs. I had driven this car way before, hence did not go for a test drive. This is one of the cars which pulls you down to the seat if you floor the pedal. But I was afraid of FIAT. They could pack their bags and go home tomorrow (I am suffering now with the Beat since Chevy packed their bags and left India). And the mediocre interiors, coupled with age old looks and ever changing Fiat dealerships made me tick this off from my list. I liked the engine and performance, but I needed a total package. So there goes the Abarth Punto.

4. Baleno RS



Now, why the Baleno? I was one of the guys who looked ahead of Maruti’s in India, because majority blamed the different quality of cars that Maruti Suzuki served in India and Suzuki served abroad, but all built under same roof. For example the Swift. I had to agree that the bumpers, doors etc of Swifts sold abroad are much better in quality and strength compared to the ones sold in India. Source? Myself. I have felt the difference personally on my couple of trips abroad. I was not very sure if this is for all their cars, then I thought I would investigate further. Called a cousin in Italy, where made in India Baleno's are sold and asked him to check out the car and give me a feedback. He assured me that it’s the same as we get here(he had seen the Baleno 1.2 from India in 2015 at launch time), but has a lower ground clearance, side and curtain airbags, a cruise control and certain other features which were absent in Indian version. Rest assured, the build quality was the same which was based on the new Suzuki TECT platform.

Now with Baleno in mind, need to fix which model. The legendary 1.2 NA Alpha, or the 1.0L Boosterjet powered Baleno RS. Went to Popular Nexa, Calicut for details. Talk about services. The customer relation manager's Ragesh and Gokul were superb. They knew everything about the car. I went there asking for the Baleno RS, with a request to test drive the 1.2 NA as well. Test drove both, I liked both. They let me drive both as much as I wanted. The 1.2L could do with a little better low end grudge, but I might be nitpicking. Refined, reliable and easy to maintain. RS has a different personality. More power, less turbo lag made it a better car in every aspect compared to the 1.2L. I remembered why I skipped the Polo MPI, Jazz, i20 etc and I cannot really leave the RS after leaving the GT and Punto Abarth as I was running out of options. Spacious interiors, could see the grin on mom’s face who sat in the back during the test drive. Superb boot space as well. I was happy, they were happy. The RS has tremendous mid-range which I could use on my drives, which includes 80% highway runs. Refined for a 3-cylinder, but less refined compared to the 1.2L engine. But hey, that’s how 3 cylinders behave. 101 horses and 150nm of Torque. Light weight aiding a superb power to weight ratio. The urge of the turbo once it cross 1.7k rpm mark, and not to forget the super slick manual gearbox and rear disc brakes. Tremendous bite and feedback on offer, there I have it. That’s my car!

Booked it paying 11k INR, with a waiting period of 3 months. Got delivery in 2 months itself, when the MSIL(Suzuki India plant in reality) Gujarat plant started operations and was happy. I paid half of the cash through Cash and rest half was loan from SBI. The process through SBI was quick and loan was approved in a day. I guided them not to send the money to the dealer till I personally inspect the car and they obliged.

Got her home on June 01, 2017 after 2 months of waiting and have clocked 26,000 kms till date. I am a little inclined towards the Japanese automakers for their reliability factor. I Had owned a Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki and now a Suzuki. None of them have given me any concerns about reliability till date. May miss the fun quotients as compared to Germans and Italians, but that’s a personal preference. The Baleno RS’s 1.0L Boosterjet engine is fully imported from Suzuki's Sagara Plant Japan. You get a made in Japan engine, but there is a catch. Do not expect the engine parts price to be anywhere close to the 1.2L NA, which is made in India. I would post more details regarding the same later. Rest assured, the car is superb, and the only thing I miss in this car so far is the Cruise Control.

Booking experience and Delivery.

Car was booked in April 2017 at Nexa Thondayad, Calicut with a tentative delivery date in July, with the usual 3 month booking period. Everything was prompt and straight forward, they never tried to add handling fees nor shoved the accessories down to my throat. I was crystal clear that I would take their tom-tom charger, floor mats and nothing else. They were fine, Fire red was the choice of color(Family decision), second choice being White. A month into the booking, I got a call from the relationship manager(RM) asking if I would like a Grey colored RS which was cancelled by someone and I fell next in their list. I was fine with Grey, but I was out of town and couldn't be back for a couple of weeks to process the loan requirements and hence had to decline it and told them I will wait for fire red. Late May 2017, MSIL Gujarat plant became operational and waiting period for the Baleno decreased. I got a message from RM confirming my car has been dispatched. I asked for VIN and he promptly provided it without hesitation. Car arrived by May 25 and I personally went and inspected it at their yard, was convinced, VIN matched and decided to make the loan proceedings. Went to SBI, who had a interest rate of 8.75% back then and a loan of 5 Lakhs was approved in a day. A very enthusiastic manager helped me here, he was very keen on cars and even said he will try to make it to the showroom on the delivery day.

Finally the D Day arrived and I started from Bangalore on June 02, 2017 in a KSRTC bus to get the delivery of the car later in the evening. I was straight out of night shift and got into the bus, but the excitement meant I never slept even a minute. Finally at evening 5, I went to Nexa with parents, wife and sister and got the delivery. Got a box of Ferrero Rocher and a cake cutting ceremony too were arranged. This was the first time I got something like this. Had took deliveries of Chevrolet, Kawasaki, Yamaha(twice) and never the experience were better than this.

The nice and polite RM came to explain me the car in detail, which I declined as I was already well thorough with the car, including the functions of the meter. I took an extended warranty of 4 years/80,000 kms along with this.











On-Road Price

Ex Showroom : 9,00,926/-
Road Tax : 72,874/-
Registration Fees : 150/-
Insurance : 24,951/-
Extended Warranty: 12,613/-
Accessories : 3250/-
My Nexa Card : 1,150/-

Total On-Road : 10,15,914/-

Exterior

The exterior design is of smooth lines rather than sharp detailing. The car definitely looks more aggressive than the regular Baleno thanks to different front and rear bumpers, new grill and skirting added all around the car. The fit and feel of the exteriors have been satisfactory so far. There is nothing much to complain here, if at all there was one then it will be the sheet metal strength. Overall fit and finish is acceptable. The panel gaps are even, but a bit big compared to immediate rivals. There has been no rattles or sounds coming from any exterior part, yet! Again, the car looks too long for a hatchback thanks to Maruti using a length that undercuts 4 meters by a whisker. This again translates into impeccable interior space, second only to the Honda Jazz.

The grill as well as the skirting gets same gunmetal grey color. The door handles are all chrome, so are the window lines on the bottom. A and B pillars are blacked out which further enhances the look. The headlights are blacked out with bright day time running lights and projectors for main headlamp means superb night vision, though it misses out on LED's. The tail lamp is all LED with a superb design when they are ON. The headlamps comes with auto function and lights up automatically whenever the light is low. Fog lamps are just decent, could have been improved though. The RS variant gets the same alloys as of standard variant, but is now painted in gloss black rather than silver/grey.

The front doors get a request sensor each, while the rear gets child lock. Boot door too has a request sensor which makes it easy to unlock if you were to access the boot alone. The OVRM's come with integrated indicators. They can be electrically operated and folded, but wont auto-fold/unfold along with lock/unlock. The mirrors offer great visibility of what's behind. Wipers used are normal, even gets a rear wash and wipe. They are all manually operated.

The Engine area. Huge space can accommodate a bigger engine easily.





Without the engine cover



Gets decent insulation



The Intercooler



The Turbo. Its made by IHI.



Side view



Rear bumper is different from normal Baleno. Looks much better here.




Gets skirting as stock!





Up sized tires align perfectly with rest of the car



Front grill painted gloss black



The headlamps. DRL's are always ON and the projectors works superbly well at low light.

[Xaos636]

The antenna. Shark fin antenna would have been much better and easy while using car cover.



The battery. Smaller engine, smaller battery.





The fusebox. Located next to the battery



Doors open very wide. Both front and back. Notice the decent sized bottle holders on all the doors





Rear disc. Works very well.



Rear chrome lip, now wrapped in gloss black





The ORVM's are just about good. Wide view is limited.



Decent wipers covering almost the whole windshield



Tri-nozzle washers are decent and tucked in neatly



Rear Lights











Door request sensors. Keyhole only on driver side.





Rear RS logo

Interior

The interior of the Baleno RS is exactly the same as of normal Baleno. Dashboard is all black with some silver inserts around AC vents and climate selection switches.
A, B & C pedals are well spaced out and comes with a very usable dead pedal. The interior space is among one of the USP's of this car. 5 adults can comfortably occupy the car even on long journeys without any issues. I just love black interiors than any other color and loved it on my Chevy Beat as well. The Quality on the inside could have been better. The dashboard area is all hard plastic and the driver door controls are all scratchy parts. I never kept anything there and still I can see scratches. They should have at least added some red stitching or colors to the inside to differentiate it from regular Baleno.

Front seats are wide and provide good support and drivers seat gets height adjustment. It has a healthy travel range which can suit all types of adults. Side bolstering is good, but there is room for improvement. Tall headrests does the job pretty well, although I dint like its design. Center armrest is provided and is useful to my driving position. Short drivers had said that its unusable for them.





Steering wheel carried over from Ciaz/Brezza. Misses out on cruise control



Its adjustable for reach and rake. Has a healthy range too.



The music controls and telephony controls





The old door switches. Works well though. Driver side switch is illuminated at night.



The push button start.



Push start illuminated at night

[Xaos636]

One of the best features of the car. UV Cut glasses. Helps massively in this hot climate.



The next one is the auto dimming IRVM. Brilliant if you ask me. I wish the ORVM's also had this function, atleast optional.



The Wiper switch and headlamp/Foglamp switches



Charger and USB console



The foot-well gets orange lighting



Arm rest and the storage underneath. Its comfortable for me, might be unusable for short drivers.





The seats. Good side bolstering and decent under thigh support(can easily improve that one). Huge head rest is a big turn off, but thumbs up for providing two adjustable rear head rest







The seat material



Height adjustment lever for driver seat



ISOFix child seat mounts for rear seat as standard



The height adjustable seat belts

Instrument Cluster and MID

The instrument cluster is one of the major USP's of the car and I right away looked into the color MID when I saw it the first time. Its striking and offers a premium feel than any other car in the segment.

Shows Fuel economy and Distance to empty



Average economy for the past 15 minutes is shown



Average speed for last 10 minutes and the driving time. This can be reset.



Clock with date



The blank area which shows parking sensor details and Low fuel warning



The various options



Parking sensors doing its job.



The torque and power graph. Torque graph tops out once the tachometer hits 1.7k rpm.



Key Fob warning



When pressing the clutch lever, meter asks us to push the start button to start the car



Door open warning. Shows all the doors including boot



The ugly meter reset and select knob. Should have been switches on the steering wheel



Once you turn the engine off, it displays your recent trip details

[Xaos636]

The Infotainment system is pretty good to my use. I am not a music person and the stock ones does the job for me. Comes stock with 4 speakers and 2 tweeters.



Has inbuilt navigation. Notice auto climate controls too





With Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, its a breeze to use mobile stuffs and google maps



Decent rear view cameras. Really good at low light as well.





The night view





The reading lamps. The center gets cabin lights too



The boot space is 339 L and smaller to only the Jazz I believe. That's a lot of space. Rear seats splits in the 60:40 ratio. I like the high loading lip since I run almost with full luggage's and nothing falls out once you open the boot after some 500kms. Its stays in place thanks to the high lip.



Drivers foot area. Very well spaced pedals and a very usable dead pedal



The sun visors. MSIL removed the mirror for driver side and no lights here like the normal Balenos. They saved something here I believe

Engine and Performance

The heart of the car produces 100.5 BHP and 150 NM toque from its 998cc Direct Injection Turbo Petrol. This is the first of its kind for Maruti Suzuki in India and the engine is directly imported from Japan. Push the start button and a cold engine fires up usually till 1400 rpm and settles down well at 900 rpm. You cannot really hear the engine from the car when idling. Its extremely refined for a triple. The car weighs in at 950 kgs and that helps in the performance factor. The engine just loves to be revved. There is enough juice till about 6,000 rpm, after which the rev limiter kicks in. There is no noticeable turbo lag from the engine and that helps in city driving very well. The car is detuned for India where we miss out on 10 more horses and 20 nm more torque. This is due to the poor fuel quality in India as per MSIL.

Mated to a smooth five-speed gearbox and an extremely light clutch pedal, this three-cylinder motor may not be as smooth as the regular Baleno's 1.2L petrol power-plant, but it's still refined by three-cylinder standards. It's silent till 2,000 rpm and after this, the throaty sound of the motor kicks in and the power delivery is very linear. The engine gets a fixed-geometry turbo-charger thereby reducing any kind of turbo lag which makes it a pleasure to drive around in the city.

The car can easily do higher gears at lower speeds without knocking and this is a boon in city traffic. Very minimal gearshifts are required and can pull in second gear in speeds as low as 7-10 kph. There is a noticeable strong thrust at around 2,000 rpm and this strong thrust continues until about 5,500 rpm ensuring a stunning mid-range. The 3rd gear ratio is a gem. It can pull you out on any speed and can be used for quick overtakes.

Being turbo charged, the RS has been tuned to deliver power to the front wheels in a seamless manner and this helps massively on highways. The RS is quick through the first two gears, the 3rd and 4th gears have longer gear ratios, giving the RS the capability to rev and stretch itself very freely. The feel and power delivery of the engine felt much better than some 1.6 petrol's, or on par with it to say the least. The linear power delivery helps massively on highways and you will find yourself quicker than other cars in no time. Very less gear shifts are required while overtaking even with 5 on board. All you need is stomp on the A pedal a bit harder.
The highway fuel efficiency ponders around 18-19 kpl provided you keep the needle at 100-120 kph. The city efficiency has been always around 12-14 kpl depending on how bad the Bangalore traffic is. A constant 90-100 kph on highways makes the meter display averages like 23 kpl which I think is very much accurate after my experience with the car for 2 years now.

To all those who drive this car, I have an advice. This is not a hot hatch. This is a faster Baleno, a much quicker one. This is more like a manual Polo GT TSI to be very honest, but with poor sheet metal strength, better brakes, more space and better handling than the VW counterpart. I cannot put it out better

Wheels, tires and suspension

The RS comes with 16" alloy wheels shod with 195/55 section Apollo Alnac 4G tyres and these are the same ones that comes with Baleno 1.2, but the alloys are now black. The springs has been stiffened up to accommodate the extra power, but hardly noticeable. I feel the car should have been lowered a bit. Indian conditions to blame for!

The stock wheels





The Momo Revenge 17 inches. Runs on Momo Outrun M3, 215/45/17. Exceptional tires. Superb wet grip as well as dry grip. 10 times better than stock Apollos.







Have done enough research before going for a tire upgrade. The 215/45/17 seems the perfect upgrade for the stock size keeping the below things in mind.

Brakes

This is by far one of the best things I like on the car. The brakes! Exceptional feedback, no fade or judders so far even after really long trips. It has discs all around and that does really help here. Rear disc setup is taken straight from the mighty S-Cross 1.6.





Ending the review with some images from various trips with the car

[Xaos636]

Service

Third Free Service(First oil change). Kilometer Reading : 10,000 km.Total Cost : INR 3393/-

The car has completed 2 major services as we speak, one at 10,000 km and the second at 20,000 km. The next one is at 30,000 km. Details below.

The car had a very small oil leak near head cover gasket which I started noticing around the 8000 km mark. The leak was very small that Bangalore service team failed to notice it. Had called Popular Vehicles & Services Limited, Calicut, Kerala and informed the same with pics. This A.S.S is one of the best I dealt with. The S.A Mr. Ajmal is one of the best knowledgeable S.A's I ever came across. He was quick to order the head cover gasket and agreed to replace it at 3rd free service which happens at 10,000 kms. The part arrived in a week and he called up for the service. I had opted for Castrol magnatec 5W30 Fully synthetic oil and the S.A already had the Japanese made oil filter ready.

Went in and came out in about 2 hours flat, this is after the oil and oil filter change and the head cover gasket change. There was an Android Auto update which took around 20 minutes as well. All up and completed in 2 hours. Went in pre-booked at 7:30 AM as per S.A's advice and came back at 9:30 AM. I was mighty impressed. Icing on the cake was I was allowed to watch the full service right next to the car. Talk about services!

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. The mechanic went straight into job and did a perfect job as far as I saw. The air filter box needs to be removed first to gain access to all the bolts of the head cover. I would give a full 5 stars for the service I got here.

The Japanese made oil filter, specific for the Baleno RS.



Head cover gasket change happening



Android Auto never came with the car, but came in with an update and works flawless



The final bill. Baleno RS uses 5W30 grade engine oil



First Paid service. Kilometer Reading: 20,000 km. Total Cost : INR 7537/-

I have gone to my tried and tested service center for the 20k service. The service was actually scheduled for a Saturday, so I thought up calling the S.A on Friday evening as a reminder. I called by 4PM and the S.A asked me if I was free that time and if I could bring the car in an hour. I immediately ran to the service and gave the car and left for home(Had stayed with the car last time, he was fine with me watching this time as well, but he had gained enough trust from my side).

Things to change and address to :

1. Cabin filter and Air filter Clean/Replace.
2. Coolant replace.
3. Oil and Oil Filter replace
4. Add Injector cleaner
5. Brake pad wear check/Replace if necessary
6. No interior polish/dashboard polish application whatsoever.
7. Tighten all frame and engine bolts.
8. Glove Box rattle
9. Brake Fluid Replace
10. One horn doesn't work at times (A common RS issue ? Heard some other RS owners too mentioning the same).
11. Fill the windshield washer reservoir to the brim.

At 6PM, around 1.5 hours after the car was given to service I get a call that the car is ready for delivery
This was even faster than my first service and this means I get the full Saturday free. Replaced things include full coolant, brake fluid/clutch fluid, bleeding all 4 calipers, checking brake pad wear(looks good for another 20k kms), RS specific Oil filter and Maruti's Castrol 5w30 fully synthetic oil, fully filled windshield washer with 10 packets of backup, cleaned air filter and cabin filter(Both were quite neat which surprised me since I live in Bangalore and I use the car for majority of highway drives only), glove box rattle addressed to and the wheel alignment process also looked into. The horn was not in stock, so that was the only thing that wasn't done to a 100%.

I was not charged for washer fluid, nor the backups, and no unnecessary and unwanted jobs that some MASS try to incorporate into inflated bills. The only sour point is the price of SGP injector cleaner(Imported from Japan), which costs 2k, which means I could turn to Liqui Moly injector cleaner the next time. Wonderful experience this one, with the 20k service taking just 1.5 hours.

The next big service is the 40k service. The part Prices alone costs around 10k (Plugs costs a bomb(Iridium, made in Japan), and the second round of Injector cleaner) which is the highest for a Maruti Suzuki car that is on sale today. But this cost is something you can save if you move cleverly, but I hope Maruti don't fiddle with warranty for using our own injector cleaner and plugs.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing, Ivin!

Excellent report. Detailed and shows your passion for the car. Wish you many more happy miles of ownership!

[AnInternetUser]

Hey, thanks a lot for sharing an ownership review! I've heard nothing but good things from my friend who has a Baleno and he says it's quite zippy and is a joy to drive (even though he doesn't have the RS).

If you don't mind me asking, how much did the Momo wheels set you back? I'm thinking of getting new ones for my City (upsized tyres) but I'm concerned about poor quality wheels.

[Abhinav_2502]

Great report! The car looks beautiful especially with those MOMO's. Usually not a huge fan of aftermarket alloys and prefer a stock look, but those wheels just suit the RS too well.

Also great to see a fellow BHPian from Calicut that too a Baleno owner(Mine is a 1.3 DDIS though). Took delivery of our car just over 3 years back from the same dealer and the experience was just as you have explained- Brilliant.

Wishing you Thousands of Happy Kilometres with the RS.

[sumeethaldankar]

That is a lovely car. The RS is my favorite among's the hot hatches and as you have rightly title the thread is the under dog. I was one of the few people to nominate it as the car of choice in the poll for hot hatches thread here on team-bhp. The after market alloys do not chance to void the warranty? Did you confirm with Maruti before switching to them? Also do you idle the turbo before switching off the engine?

[neil.jericho]

Xaos636, kudos to you for another wonderful ownership thread that has been a great pleasure to read. Congratulations on completing two years with your Baleno RS. A few years ago, I too had gone to VW Whitefield and Whitefield Honda among a few others to shortlist a sub 4 metre automatic car but went with the Jazz CVT. The sales experience at Whitefield Honda was good but not great, especially when compared to yours. Initially they did not want to waive off the handling fee, so I wrote to Honda customer care and got them to intervene and have it removed. Though we had confirmed all the documentation available with us prior to the booking, the sales person called us and said there are challenges with registering it with the documents we provided and I gave him a piece of my mind and asked them to take care of it themselves. In my time spent in that showroom, I see that they sometimes take the customer for granted and might ignore them which is quite amateurish by the sales team.

The experience with Nexa Calicut seems to be quite something! My Mom bought an Ignis from the Nexa showroom in Cochin. They gave us the wrong pricing when we confirmed the booking. Then later at a service, they said they dont have the facilities to fix a puncture which rather infuriated me. I escalated this to Maruti and they swung into action and ensured the SVC had the necessary facilities going forward. So I've never been a big fan of the Nexa experience as there has been nothing premium about it, just the same as everyone else. But its great to see how well things can go, like in your case, when Maruti gets it right. I hope the other Nexa dealerships can learn from them.

Those alloys complement the look of the car perfectly. It took me a second read to understand that you are running on Momo Outrun M3 tires, I always thought that Momo made steering wheels and alloys etc. This is the first that Im hearing of Momo tires in India. Where did you source them? How much did they cost you?

The sheet metal strength on the Baleno was always a bit of a question mark for me. A fellow BHPian who owns a Baleno has shared his frustrations with having dimples and stone chip marks on his car.

Originally Posted by Xaos636

I was not charged for washer fluid, nor the backups, and no unnecessary and unwanted jobs that some MASS try to incorporate into inflated bills. The only sour point is the price of SGP injector cleaner(Imported from Japan), which costs 2k, which means I could turn to Liqui Moly injector cleaner the next time. Wonderful experience this one, with the 20k service taking just 1.5 hours.

The injector cleaner price is quite something! Ive used the Liqui Moly option a couple of times, I use it once in 6 months or so. It makes a marginal difference, if any, but I like to think of it as a preventive measure for the long term good of the engine. You can get one off Amazon for less than Rs 300 (the price varies a lot, so keep an eye out for a few days in a row). I picked up a few at Rs 282 each last week. STP also has an injector cleaner that is a little more expensive at around the Rs 350 mark but I havent used it. I am experimenting with the STP Octane Booster though, Im on my first tank full with it and I can feel the engine is a little smoother. I feel it definitely is worth a try in your case given that you do interstate driving quite frequently.

[Leoshashi]

The injector cleaner isn't only for the injectors but also to clean the soot buildup on intake valves which is a common complaint with GDI engines. I'd recommend not to change the schedule/product because if anything happens in future, Maruti will get a chance to blame you.

The earliest GDI engines had injectors directly pointed inside cylinders. That caused carbon accumulation in intake valves,which in port injection got cleaned by the fuel sprayed.

To counter this, companies started giving a second set of injectors like port injection specifically to clean the valves. I am not sure if Baleno too uses a mechanism like this, but I'd rather stay on the safer side and believe the company here.

A video where Chief of Engineering MSIL says this additive solves the gumming issue:

https://youtu.be/9mG1tLtUSJQ

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by Xaos636

The next big service is the 40k service. The part Prices alone costs around 10k (Plugs costs a bomb(Iridium, made in Japan)

Iridium plugs on all cars I've seen so far are replaced at 1,00,000km.

Manufacturers recommend change of standard plugs between 20,000km (eg.earlier Marutis) and 40,000km(Toyota).

[Xaos636]

Originally Posted by AnInternetUser

Hey, thanks a lot for sharing an ownership review!
If you don't mind me asking, how much did the Momo wheels set you back? I'm thinking of getting new ones for my City (upsized tyres) but I'm concerned about poor quality wheels.

Thank you. The Momo's set me back by 44k. Be careful about counterfeit one's when going for a wheel upgrade. I was offered Momo lookalike for as low as 16k for a set of 4, which I happily declined. There are many good companies making strong alloys and are available in India. You can try them.

Originally Posted by Abhinav_2502

Great report! The car looks beautiful especially with those MOMO's. Usually not a huge fan of aftermarket alloys and prefer a stock look, but those wheels just suit the RS too well.
Also great to see a fellow BHPian from Calicut that too a Baleno owner(Mine is a 1.3 DDIS though). Took delivery of our car just over 3 years back from the same dealer and the experience was just as you have explained- Brilliant.
Wishing you Thousands of Happy Kilometres with the RS.

Thank you. Great to see you too. More happy when we share the same hometown. Good to know that almost all have had good experience from the dealer. Couple of my friends also had great experience from them.

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

That is a lovely car. The RS is my favorite among's the hot hatches and as you have rightly title the thread is the under dog. I was one of the few people to nominate it as the car of choice in the poll for hot hatches thread here on team-bhp. The after market alloys do not chance to void the warranty? Did you confirm with Maruti before switching to them? Also do you idle the turbo before switching off the engine?

Yes, the alloys do void the suspension warranty as I spoke with a couple of A.S.S but I decided to take a chance because of the not so good looking stock wheels.
And yes, I do idle the car at least for a minute or two before switching off the engine, every single time(not after city drives). It causes inconvenience to other passengers as they would be waiting for me outside for a minute, but turbo has to cool down and they can wait

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Xaos636, kudos to you for another wonderful ownership thread that has been a great pleasure to read. A few years ago, I too had gone to VW Whitefield and Whitefield Honda among a few others to shortlist a sub 4 metre automatic car but went with the Jazz CVT. The sales experience at Whitefield Honda was good but not great, especially when compared to yours. In my time spent in that showroom, I see that they sometimes take the customer for granted and might ignore them which is quite amateurish by the sales team.

The experience with Nexa Calicut seems to be quite something! My Mom bought an Ignis from the Nexa showroom in Cochin. They gave us the wrong pricing when we confirmed the booking. Then later at a service, they said they dont have the facilities to fix a puncture which rather infuriated me. I escalated this to Maruti and they swung into action and ensured the SVC had the necessary facilities going forward. So I've never been a big fan of the Nexa experience as there has been nothing premium about it, just the same as everyone else. But its great to see how well things can go, like in your case, when Maruti gets it right. I hope the other Nexa dealerships can learn from them.

Those alloys complement the look of the car perfectly. It took me a second read to understand that you are running on Momo Outrun M3 tires, I always thought that Momo made steering wheels and alloys etc. This is the first that Im hearing of Momo tires in India. Where did you source them? How much did they cost you?

The sheet metal strength on the Baleno was always a bit of a question mark for me. A fellow BHPian who owns a Baleno has shared his frustrations with having dimples and stone chip marks on his car.

The injector cleaner price is quite something! Ive used the Liqui Moly option a couple of times, I use it once in 6 months or so. It makes a marginal difference, if any, but I like to think of it as a preventive measure for the long term good of the engine. You can get one off Amazon for less than Rs 300 (the price varies a lot, so keep an eye out for a few days in a row). I picked up a few at Rs 282 each last week. STP also has an injector cleaner that is a little more expensive at around the Rs 350 mark but I havent used it. I am experimenting with the STP Octane Booster though, Im on my first tank full with it and I can feel the engine is a little smoother. I feel it definitely is worth a try in your case given that you do interstate driving quite frequently.

Thank you Neil. I agree everything about customer experience at Whitefield Honda. Customers seems to be their last priority.

Even I have heard bad things about Nexa, but comparatively I still believe these Maruti showrooms are better than any other manufacturers. At least an e-mail would take care of things. I am still waiting for a reply from Kawasaki which I sent 3 years ago about a genuine issue with the A.S.S.
I am unsure how the Nexa service center works though. I have never been there. The place I go is a regular MASS and more than happy with it.

Yes, Momo does make tires, but recently introduced them in India. They are manufactured at Hankook's manufacturing facility in Thailand and Indian version comes with additional side bolstering to take care of poor road conditions. They are available at Hercules tyres, Bangalore who now supplies to many shops in the south. 17 inch costs are around 7500-9000 depending on dealers(different sidewall height available). A friend recently got them for his Ecosport and have good reviews compared to stock Bridgestone's. I might go with the same set again once this is done. I have good reviews so far.

The stone chip marks on the bonnet can be found in most cars with more highway usage I believe and I do think the bonnet of the Baleno is better build comparing to the doors. I have innumerable stone chips, but there is no dents anywhere, just small dots of paint chipping. I was rear ended twice(speeds less than 40 kph) and there is still no dents on the rear bumper. Both times I got out expecting bumper to be inside the boot, but happy to report that the bumper stayed in place. Maybe lucky or is RS bumper better build ? I don't know to be honest.

You are right. I will try the Liqui Moly on my bike first and see if there is any kind of noticeable difference and then proceed. Have heard good reviews about STP as well. I will try one of these on car after I try it on the motorcycle.

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

The injector cleaner isn't only for the injectors but also to clean the soot buildup on intake valves which is a common complaint with GDI engines. I'd recommend not to change the schedule/product because if anything happens in future, Maruti will get a chance to blame you.

The earliest GDI engines had injectors directly pointed inside cylinders. That caused carbon accumulation in intake valves,which in port injection got cleaned by the fuel sprayed.

To counter this, companies started giving a second set of injectors like port injection specifically to clean the valves. I am not sure if Baleno too uses a mechanism like this, but I'd rather stay on the safer side and believe the company here.

A video where Chief of Engineering MSIL says this additive solves the gumming issue:

You are right. Maruti can turn on me if something goes wrong in the future and considering the engine parts are very expensive, I am not experimenting to completely switch from the stock Injector cleaner. I will use them at every 20k intervals. Hope the price reduces in the future. First I planned to use it every 10k km and changed the plan after knowing the price of the same. I am thinking of using Liqui Moly/STP every alternate 10k km and SGP Injector cleaner on the recommended interval. What is your take on that ?

Originally Posted by vigsom

Iridium plugs on all cars I've seen so far are replaced at 1,00,000km.

Manufacturers recommend change of standard plugs between 20,000km (eg.earlier Marutis) and 40,000km(Toyota).

That's true. Iridium spark plugs are supposed to last for a long time compared to normal plugs. This plug might be iridium tipped or full iridium, which I am unsure of. And either case, Maruti service manual does recommend a change at 40k kms each which I think I will adhere to.

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by Xaos636

Yes, Momo does make tires, but recently introduced them in India. They are manufactured at Hankook's manufacturing facility in Thailand and Indian version comes with additional side bolstering to take care of poor road conditions. They are available at Hercules tyres, Bangalore who now supplies to many shops in the south. 17 inch costs are around 7500-9000 depending on dealers(different sidewall height available). A friend recently got them for his Ecosport and have good reviews compared to stock Bridgestone's. I might go with the same set again once this is done. I have good reviews so far.

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?

Originally Posted by Xaos636

I was rear ended twice(speeds less than 40 kph) and there is still no dents on the rear bumper. Both times I got out expecting bumper to be inside the boot, but happy to report that the bumper stayed in place. Maybe lucky or is RS bumper better build ? I don't know to be honest.

That is very positively reassuring to hear and quite different from what we would expect from Maruti.

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by Xaos636

...
The second round of Injector cleaner) which is the highest for a Maruti Suzuki car that is on sale today.
But this cost is something you can save if you move cleverly, but I hope Maruti don't fiddle with warranty for using our own injector cleaner and plugs.
...

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

...
Ive used the Liqui Moly option a couple of times, I use it once in 6 months or so.
...
You can get one off Amazon for less than Rs 300 (the price varies a lot, so keep an eye out for a few days in a row).
I picked up a few at Rs 282 each last week. STP also has an injector cleaner that is a little more expensive at around the Rs 350 mark but I havent used it.
I am experimenting with the STP Octane Booster though, Im on my first tank full with it and I can feel the engine is a little smoother.
I feel it definitely is worth a try in your case given that you do interstate driving quite frequently.

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

The injector cleaner isn't only for the injectors but also to clean the soot buildup on intake valves which is a common complaint with GDI engines.
I'd recommend not to change the schedule/product because if anything happens in future, Maruti will get a chance to blame you.
The earliest GDI engines had injectors directly pointed inside cylinders.
That caused carbon accumulation in intake valves, which in port injection got cleaned by the fuel sprayed.
To counter this, companies started giving a second set of injectors like port injection specifically to clean the valves.
...

Originally Posted by Xaos636

...
Maruti can turn on me if something goes wrong in the future and considering the engine parts are very expensive, I am not experimenting to completely switch from the stock Injector cleaner.
I will use them at every 20k intervals.
Hope the price reduces in the future.
First I planned to use it every 10k km and changed the plan after knowing the price of the same.
I am thinking of using Liqui Moly/STP every alternate 10k km and SGP Injector cleaner on the recommended interval.
...

Congratulations on your "Booster-Jet", you seem to be one of the few truly happy Maruti customers (at least on this forum).

In any case, what Leoshashi says is true, all GDI early adopters have found to their consternation that a side benefit of having port injection is that it kept the intake valves relatively clean of soot.

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.