[forester]

Originally Posted by akshay_ritz

Every car purchase is a balance between what your heart wants and what your wallet allows you. I am delighted you are at peace with your choice. I hope you enjoy your car and have some fantastic trips.

Thank you for such warm words, Akshay. Honestly, the day couldn't have ended on a better note.

Really overwhelmed. You're correct, it's only a few basics that everyone needs, rest all are mere gimmicks and their novelty doesn't last long either. Wish you happy miles with your XUV too buddy.

[Maverick Avi]

Congrats on your purchase. One observation that I always make for any Baleno passing by is how quiet the engine is. I can hardly tell its running. It surely has taken the crown away from Honda 1.5vtec for me at least.

The ONLY reason I did not go for Delta CVT during my car buying process was the thin metal sheet. It just dents too easily. Otherwise a gem of a car! One thing am not sure about is the engine. Is it still K series? I heard that Baleno got dualjet engine sometime back which is being offered in latest facelift Dzire as well?

[Aditya]

Hi,

Congratulations on the car. Other than the light build, uncommunicative steering and the love it - loathe it look of the car, there is really not much that I can think of that is wrong with the Baleno. The K12 engine is an absolute gem - one of the best engines I've ever driven. The ride and interior space are strong points too.

The reliability is good and the after sales service of Maruti should keep you happy for a long time. I just hope Maruti now follows in the footsteps of Tata / Mahindra and builds safer products for us Indians.

[forester]

Originally Posted by Maverick Avi

Congrats on your purchase. One observation that I always make for any Baleno passing by is how quiet the engine is.

One thing am not sure about is the engine. Is it still K series? I heard that Baleno got dualjet engine sometime back which is being offered in latest facelift Dzire as well?

Thank you, @Maverick Avi. Yes, that's been my observation too. The engine is very refined. While it is still the K-series engine - the K12MN - you're right, Maruti has also introduced the new DualJet motor in the Delta and Zeta variants.

It would be a good option to have, given the auto start-stop system which is a boon at traffic signals, but, the Delta Smart Hybrid is around Rs 90,000 more expensive at the ex-showroom level. I think it kills the value-for-money aspect for most buyers, including me.

Originally Posted by Aditya

Congratulations on the car. Other than the light build, uncommunicative steering and the love it - loathe it look of the car, there is really not much that I can think of that is wrong with the Baleno. The K12 engine is an absolute gem - one of the best engines I've ever driven. The ride and interior space are strong points too.

The reliability is good and the after sales service of Maruti should keep you happy for a long time.

Thank you, @Aditya. You're spot on about the engine, light build, space and the overall comfort on offer. Personally, I have always liked the looks and find it handsome. Look forward to a hassle-free ownership!

[Stribog]

Congrats buddy, just a suggestion, please do not use car cleaning guys, even with 2 MF cleaning cloths, swirls are a given. Best is to get a Jopasu, a waterless wash solution and dust the car daily, with a weekly waterless wash wipe down and a monthly pressure water wash.

Keeps the car shining without the annoying swirls

[lejhoom]

Congratulations, forester, on your new acquisition. Wish you many a happy mile.

I could sense a passion and pride and honesty in your writing. I must also congratulate Team-Bhp for being such a unique platform for people to share their genuine feelings so freely. I'm sure GTO must have sent your writing to the Homepage precisely for this reason.

[docprashant]

Originally Posted by forester

Thank you, @docprashant. Are you an Air Force Bal Bharti alumnus?

Erstwhile Rai Public, now Banyan Tree school. AFBBS was our centre for XII board exams

[forester]

Originally Posted by Stribog

Congrats buddy, just a suggestion, please do not use car cleaning guys, even with 2 MF cleaning cloths, swirls are a given. Best is to get a Jopasu, a waterless wash solution and dust the car daily, with a weekly waterless wash wipe down and a monthly pressure water wash.

Keeps the car shining without the annoying swirls

Thank you, @Stribog! Great suggestion there! It would be a perfect way to keep the swirls away. While I do clean it up myself a lot of times, I wish I had more time to do it daily. Hence, the cleaner. But, will try to do it your way. Thank you for the suggestion.

Originally Posted by lejhoom

Congratulations, forester, on your new acquisition. Wish you many a happy mile.

I could sense a passion and pride and honesty in your writing.

Thank you, @lejhoom! Glad, you liked the piece.

Originally Posted by docprashant

Erstwhile Rai Public, now Banyan Tree school. AFBBS was our centre for XII board exams

Cool! Good to know, buddy!

[arun_m5]

Congrats on your purchase, Might want to be aware of this car oversteering in certain situations, I had a bad experience and hope you keep this in mind. I borrowed a friends Baleno, the same version as your's and one day, took it out on a damp morning. On a slow right hand turn (about 45 km/h), I gave it gas mid turn, the front wheels spun and the back end stepped out; mind you, the road was damp, not wet. I tried to counter-steer it back into the lane with my foot on the brakes as I was heading to the bushes on the wrong side of the road, however the ABS did a fantastic job of giving back the directional stability and was able to bring it back to my track after spinning 90 degrees twice, right and left. Once the rear left tyre lost grip, the whole car was sliding all over the place, Honestly in my opinion, the stock tyres are really bad for a car this size, and my advice is to keep a slow pace on damp curvy roads especially since this car doesn't have ESP; and do consider upgrading to better tyres when possible.

Here are a few tips from my experience with the car :
a. If you like spirited driving, the car only comes to life post 3k RPM and you'll need to keep it in the higher rev range for overtaking and to make brisk progress, though it can get quite raspy inside at those engine speeds.
b. The stock speakers in my opinion are adequate and you can tune it well by setting the right eq on your phone itself.
c. The AC cools very well, I always set it to 22 or 23 degrees and hit the 'Auto' button, very useful as it even adjusts to the sunlight hitting the dash (there's a sensor there)
d. The horn could be better, I recommend upgrading to Bosch dual tone European horns.
e. A light foot on the pedal can easily get you an average of 18km/l, drive fast and you could pull that down to 10 or less than that.

[forester]

First service update – at 683km

So, I spent the first half of the day on Valentine’s, February 14, 2020, getting the Baleno’s first servicing done. It was one month since we took the delivery of the car and it had clocked 683km by this time.


The appointment was booked a day in advance at Krish Auto, Wazirpur, Delhi. Although, I would have liked to avail the Maruti Mobile Service (MMS) doorstep servicing facility, Krish only operates those Eeco vans on Wednesdays.

Nonetheless, it was also a good opportunity for me to start building some rapport with the service team and so I showed up sharp at 10:00 at their outlet.

My SA Sahil opened the job card and took the car in. There were no complaints to be reported from my end. Except for the poor illumination from the headlamps, it was largely going to be general checkup, washing and cleaning.

Sahil made a video of the exterior and my car was put in the que for washing. I would have liked disposable seat and steering covers to be used to keep the upholstery protected from any stains. While I wasn’t stern about the same and had requested just once, it wasn’t put on.

I waited patiently in the customers’ lounge on the first floor and started working. It was a quiet, neat and clean area. The entire process was going to take a little bit of time due to a fair number of vehicles already present for the day and I was given an estimated delivery time of 13:30.

I was intermittently going downstairs to make some calls and so was checking upon the progress as well.

Around 12:30, the car came out of the washing bay and they were now vacuuming the interiors. I had carried my set of interior polish and wax for the exterior, which I handed over to their washing superintendent Subir san.
He happily obliged and personally took care of proper application on the inside. For the outer application, he showed me their ‘Ecstar’ brand of exterior wax, and I agreed for them to be using it on the car’s body. They applied the wax and took the car outside in the sun for it to dry and be wiped off.

Meanwhile, since it was lunch time, I was offered lunch in their neatly set up canteen on the first floor and had a quick and simple meal. When I came down, the car was ready and glistening!


As regards the headlight throw, they only adjusted the level of the beam using the headlamp leveller on the driver’s side. I don’t think it made any difference and weak LED headlamps seems to be the only major grouse with the car so far.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience with the bill amount being null.


Some more updates

On accessories -

1) Mats for the cabin and boot -

Even though we had opted for the carpet mats from the showroom itself, going by past experience, I was certain on adding another layer of good floor mat in the car.

So, I installed these ‘noodle’ type mats in the cabin.


This is how they look in the driver's footwell.


And this smooth textured, ribbed plastic mat for the boot with Velcro tags on the underside.


Purchased them from Lajpat Nagar for Rs 2,100 (Rs 1,400 + Rs 700) and pretty happy with them so far. The black-coloured mats gel well with the interior theme and since they absorb most of the dirt, the cabin looks clean at all times. Just the way I like it.

2) Front center armrest -

After driving the car for about 1,000km, I could tell that with the smoothness and tractability of the 1.2 K-series motor, frequent gearshifts are going to be a thing of the past. I had experienced the armrest-equipped Alpha variant during our test drive before buying the car, and found it to be immensely useful with my driving position with my 5’8” height.

Hence, got the official armrest installed from the Nexa accessory pack on one fine day while returning from office.


It was a simple plug-and-play job and would rate it highly for the convenience and comfort it has brought to my left elbow. The quality of the material is good and it has a small openable bin as well.


Priced at around Rs 2,300. I also took this opportunity to redeem the 1,400 points in the otherwise useless Nexa Card, and had to pay the balance Rs 800.


The accessory socket at the rear continues to remains functional.


Now, I have the armrest on the left and the fabric insert on the door pad on the right to rest either of my elbows whenever I want to.

It really makes for a stress-free driving experience in the Baleno.

A minor nudge -

On March 14, Delhi experienced a sudden change of weather and we witnessed a hailstorm, so heavy that there were actual deposits of snow on the road in some parts of the city.


Our Baleno was parked on the ramp in front of the house and a whole lot of hail got deposited on the cowl.


Next morning when I stepped out, I saw a dimple in the rear bumper towards the lower left side. My wife said that the hailstorm was so intense that it might have caused the damage.


Nonetheless, I took the car to a nearby denting guy and he quickly repaired the minor damage by unscrewing the bumper from the left side and using a heat gun to soften it and pull the dent out.




Total expense – Rs 200. Time taken – 10 minutes and it was again back to normal.


He told me that this couldn’t be done by the hailstorm howsoever severe it was; must be someone who would have lost control of their vehicle due to the road becoming slippery after the heavy downpour and would have accidentally bumped into our car.

The bodywork does tend to pick up dings and scratches easily. I have now switched to using Jopasu on alternate days and a full car wash once a week.


Acres of usable space inside

My brother had to recently move out from his rented accommodation in Gurgaon due to the work-from-home regime being applicable for the foreseeable future.

We went to empty the house, drop luggage of two of his flat mates at another colleague's place and bring his stuff back.

And, while we had given high marks to the spacious cabin while making the purchase decision, the usable space surprised us all the more when we were able to literally move houses in the Baleno.

I would let pictures do the talking.

A houseful of luggage into the boot.


With the rear seats folded flat, packed up to the brim!


Headroom and the legroom utilised to fit as much luggage as possible.


With 60:40 split rear seats, that's how one's able to make the most of it.


A parting shot until the next update...


Stay safe everyone!

[akash_v12]

Originally Posted by forester

As regards the headlight throw, they only adjusted the level of the beam using the headlamp leveler on the driver’s side. I don’t think it made any difference and weak LED headlamps seem to be the only major grouse with the car so far.

Hi Forester!
I'm very late to say this, but I came across your review just yesterday and gave it a thorough read. You have definitely had a very interesting journey in selecting your first car! From the Nios to the Ignis and the Baleno.
You've written your review beautifully with a lot of pictures . I loved the fact that there was a picture for every situation right from the booking to the delivery. I hope to see this thread be updated regularly.
Regarding your headlamp situation, you could upgrade your bulbs to a stronger setup (Osram/Philips) or if you want, you could try and find OEM Baleno Alpha headlights that should be a plug and play.

These links should help you in your search for a headlight setup:-
1. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modif...ting-here.html (Auto Lighting thread : Post all queries about automobile lighting here)

2. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modif...-upgrades.html (Comprehensive guide to LED Headlight upgrades)

[forester]

Thank you very much, Akash! Yes, it was quite a journey choosing the Baleno and I will certainly keep this thread updated.

Originally Posted by akash_v12

Regarding your headlamp situation, you could upgrade your bulbs to a stronger setup (Osram/Philips) or if you want, you could try and find OEM Baleno Alpha headlights that should be a plug and play.

Yes, I am in a big conundrum as to what would really solve this problem. Didn't expect this kind of light intensity from a LED projector setup. Thank you for sharing the relevant thread links with me. While an upgrade to Morimoto HIDs looks to be an ideal solution (but an expensive one as well), I will check with the service centre if the lamps from the Alpha variant can be a direct fit into the Delta. I do intend to improve the light intensity, especially for the highways.

[forester]

Second service update - at 1,771km

At the outset, let me set it right that the first service was done at 705km instead of 683km as mentioned in my last post. I had mistakenly posted the picture showing the Trip A reading rather than the mileage on the odometer. The service bill reads 705km as well.

Now coming to the second service, the car had been running very little due to the Covid-19 situation and I was taking care of it by keeping it parked without the handbrake engaged, starting it once a week for at least 10 minutes, and occasionally taking a short round to keep the engine and mechanicals in check. Fortunately, I had just done a tankful around March 15, before going into the lock-down.

As can be seen from the low mileage that I have been clocking so far, the services are being done based on completing a time duration rather than the number of kilometers. So, the second service was due in July (six months after purchase) and while the lock-down had been considerably eased off in Delhi by that time, I was still sceptical about going to a service centre.

A colleague of mine had got the service of his Baleno done by availing Maruti’s Service on Wheels facility, and that gave me the idea to go for it as well. Unfortunately, though, while I was trying to set up an appointment, one fine day the rear quarter glass got shattered as the car was parked outside the house. There were some debris on the road next to our house and a speeding vehicle would have thrown a pebble at the glass, which led it to shatter.



I noticed this the next morning as I was dusting the car. I called up the service centre – Krish Motors - to enquire about the part and while they didn’t have it in stock, I had requested them to get back to me with the price.

Meanwhile, I reached out to my friend who works in the Maruti service team and he told me that he would arrange for the glass to be replaced at my doorstep itself. A mobile service was scheduled for July 3 at my home. The lady from the CRM of Maruti Service Masters, GT Karnal Road was in touch with me a day before and took my request for the right quarter glass of Delta variant, as well as the second service to be conducted. I also reported that I had a blown fuse from the ACC socket that needed to be addressed. The fuse blew up after I had connected a portable tyre inflator during the lock-down. Apparently, that inflator is faulty and I will get a new one.

On July 3, I got a message in the morning on my phone with the details of the SA and technician being allotted to me and an appointment of 1pm. The Maruti Mobile Service van – a fully equipped Eco – arrived at my doorstep five minutes before.



The technician started off by masking the area around the quarter glass and placing a cloth on the rear seat.






He then went on to remove the broken glass by detaching it from the sealant by using a wire tool. This took a lot of time and effort.


The discarded rubber beading of the older glass.


The new glass came in a proper wrapping to prevent it from scratches. The rubber side moulding comes attached to the glass as well.


The sealant kit.


The sealant application.


The new glass installed.


After the glass was replaced, the service technician went on to conduct a general maintenance checkup of the car, checking all the fluids and lights.

The blown fuse was replaced after opening the glove box.


The cabin filter was also dusted, though it was in a near-clean condition.


The Maruti Service on Wheels van gets a diesel generator set to run the high-pressure washing pump and also houses a vacuum cleaner for which one needs to have an electrical outlet near at their place.

Although my car was clean, I still opted for a quick car wash.


Interior vacuuming.


Overall, totally satisfied with this doorstep service arrangement offered by Maruti Suzuki. I was emailed a PDF copy of the bill and made the payment online through a digital link. I sent snap of the odometer, VIN plate and number plate to the SA for them to update the vehicle's mileage in Maruti's database.

The overall bill came out to be Rs 930, with the cost of labour for replacing the glass as well as sealant waived off under goodwill.


Would highly recommend the Maruti Service on Wheels for initial few services and for basic preventive maintenance as there was no extra charge to avail the facility at home.

One parting shot. The latest odometer milestone!

[pedrolourenco]

Congratulations on your new car and wedding anniversary.

My +1 to the below. Get the 2 mods done. You can also get the fog lamps fitted. Once it's time to change the tyres, get a set of 16" alloys. Lot of people who upgrade alloys on the Zeta and Alpha sell the stock alloys real cheap.

Originally Posted by Reinhard

If I were you - I'd surely pounce on the opportunity mentioned by @DeepakS below. At 5K - the stock smartPlay unit with android auto & apple car plan is a steal deal. Absolutely worth the money (and some!).

Additionally - I'd highly recommend doing a DIY swap of the IRVM to Maruti's genuine spares sourced auto-dimming IRVM from Baleno/Ciaz. Its a very simple DIY and lots of value addition to driving experience. Have a look at the DIY subforum & you'll find a suitable thread to match your car.

Has anyone installed the auto dimming IRVM? Any idea about the cost?

[Leoshashi]

Congratulations on your ride, Baleno still looks lovely.

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

Get the 2 mods done. You can also get the fog lamps fitted. Once it's time to change the tyres, get a set of 16" alloys.

+1. I'd like to recommend some mods from my end :

1. Alloys from Export Model:





2. LED Fogs from Brezza with complete kit. Will include harness and Switch too.





3. Auto Dimming IRVM can also be done by using parts from Alpha variant in this fashion: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-d...m-s-cross.html (DIY: Auto-Dimming IRVM (S-Cross))

Regards,
Shashi