[Mi10]

Originally Posted by Night Raven

Also, won't it be an overkill to put 215 section tyres on this engine?

I feel 215 section for a 1.3 / 90 ps engine is an overkill. It is sure to rob the car of acceleration and efficiency, unless MUL has developed a different state of tune for this particular car.
The same engine in the S Cross (which itself runs a 205/60/16) runs out of breath post 140. However the S Cross also weighs about 1200 kgs which is pretty heavy for the Suzuki. The VB on the other hand must be 60-70 kgs lighter (read somewhere it is around 1130 kgs ?)

So i guess that should compensate some what for the oversized tyres.

But if someone were to ask my opinion, purely from an engine power - tyre width perspective, the 1.3 DDIS doesn't need anything more than 195 section. In fact the swifts and ritz with 195 section felt lot more faster than the ones with 205's.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by dheepak10

...A strange placement of handbrake towards the passenger!! ...

I guess S-Cross has the same placement. It's infact nice so that it's not so close to the driver's body.

Originally Posted by sandeepmdas

...Maybe it has an electromagnetic lock. There must a button somewhere around the rear number plate.

yep - checked the Autocar video and looks like the tail gate can be opened by a switch behind the chrome cladding with Brezza etching.

Originally Posted by Mi10

...But if someone were to ask my opinion, purely from an engine power - tyre width perspective, the 1.3 DDIS doesn't need anything more than 195 section. In fact the swifts and ritz with 195 section felt lot more faster than the ones with 205's.

May be to counter the height / high GC?

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Is the reason they decided to go with traditional showrooms instead of Nexa ones to avoid Baleno cannibalism ?

Nope.

The Vitara Brezza was initially destined to be the second Nexa offering after the S-Cross, and the Baleno was being prepped for the regular Maruti-Suzuki dealerships. Birdies were repeatedly tweeting this, and some dealers also spoke of this as well.

As the S-Cross tumbled down in monthly sales numbers, the Maruti top honchos decided to bring out the Baleno through Nexa - in order to recover the operational costs for the Nexa dealerships. The Baleno was perceived to be a sure-shot success, and Maruti-Suzuki promised the regular dealerships that they will be getting the Vitara Brezza in return.

As far as Baleno cannibalism is concerned, I think the Baleno, the DZire and even the Swift will be affected by the Brezza once it is launched.

The Vitara Brezza has been developed at 98% localisation levels, so if the birdies' indicative pricing is anything to go by, a starting price of 6 - 6.25 lacs for the Brezza petrol base (being prepped for a launch within the next 6-7 months) will be worrying for both the B2 segment hatches and the C1 segment offerings. Maruti-Suzuki won't mind this, as long as the customer stays under it's roof.

But, make no mistake, the Brezza is going to be the next big bestseller from the Maruti-Suzuki stable.

[SchumiFan]

A funky looking car and one that is accepted by the masses (going by the reactions in this thread).

Nice to hear that if offers more room in the rear than the EcoSport. But maybe it is at the cost of the boot space.

Great pictures as always and wonderful work to cover it this quickly. I believe Maruti should stop the production of the Ritz (if its still happening) and focus purely on the new launches (Baleno, Brezza).

It is one thing to launch a car and a real bummer to have months long waiting period for it. Especially when there are so many alternatives these days.

Love the Yellow more than the other cars. Looks very snazzy.

Originally Posted by Mi10

I feel 215 section for a 1.3 / 90 ps engine is an overkill. It is sure to rob the car of acceleration and efficiency, unless MUL has developed a different state of tune for this particular car.
[/i]

Don't forget that the Ecosport comes with the 205/16 configuration of tires. And its power/torque figures were similar to what is offered in the Brezza.

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

May be to counter the height / high GC?

That is my guess as well.

Originally Posted by Mi10

Correct, but then a 1.5L / 99ps engine vis a vis a 1.3 / 90ps has a whole lot of difference beyond just the numbers.

Add to it a 100kg (minimum) reduction in weight for Brezza against the Ecosport. I think it balances out. Also the Ecosport came with 99 horses only recently. Earlier it was the same as the Multijet engine from Fiat. Only it had an 5Nm edge in the torque figures.

Either way, too much speculation. I humbly request the mods to directly pit the Ecosport against the Brezza when doing the review.

[Mi10]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

May be to counter the height / high GC?

Yep, fair point!

Originally Posted by SchumiFan

Don't forget that the Ecosport comes with the 205/16 configuration of tires. And its power/torque figures were similar to what is offered in the Brezza.

Correct, but then a 1.5L / 99ps engine vis a vis a 1.3 / 90ps has a whole lot of difference beyond just the numbers.

This is precisely the reason why, the Aspire with same engine and almost same state of tune is an absolute hoot to drive. And it OEM size is 185/60. The weight of the car is slightly more than the Ciaz !!

But like swiftnfurious stated, these quasi-SUVs and Crossover need larger tyres to fill up for the height! The S Cross with 180 mm GC gets 205/60/16 and the VB with 198 mm GC gets a 215/60/16 which is about 5% increase in sidewall height.

Will be interesting to see the acceleration timings of Ciaz vs Scross 1.3 vs VB. Same engine, with differing weight and tyre sizes.

[SandyKB]

Hi @romeomidhun - I have no problems or any complaints against the use of old brand names for newer product launches. Via my post I am humbly putting across my observation around product/marketing strategy trending at Maruti Suzuki

[Mithrandir]

Thanks for the post GTO. I don't know whether its just me getting this felling, but I think MS often picks up some design ideas from its competitors. The front side design of Brezza reminds me of the kwid. The side profile looks more like a typical Mahindra silhouette. The C pillar and back-side design has some Honda Mobilo influence. I do see some of the Honda city/Vento design elements in Ciaz.

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by Night Raven

2. What is the mechanism to open the hatch? Couldn't find any request sensor in the picture.

Originally Posted by sandeepmdas

Maybe it has an electromagnetic lock. There must a button somewhere around the rear number plate.

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

yep - checked the Autocar video and looks like the tail gate can be opened by a switch behind the chrome cladding with Brezza etching.

Electro-magnetic boot button just like the Swift ZXI/ZDI, placed under the "E" part of the "BREZZA" engraving on the central rear chrome bar.

Originally Posted by Night Raven

3. Is there any recline adjustment for the rear seat like in ecosport?

Nope.

Originally Posted by Night Raven

Finally one newbie question. The suspension travel looked a little long at least in pics. Won't it affect the handling a bit?

I don't think so.

When you get in, the car doesn't give the feel of being pushed downwards, indicating a good, firm suspension.

Marutis are typically good handlers, so I expect the Brezza to be the same. Add to that those big tyres, and you can be sure of good road manners and driveability at highway speeds.

Will report back on this aspect very soon.

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by GTO

Big shoutout to Vid6639 for shooting these pictures & his coverage of the Auto Expo. Thanks for sharing, man!

Indeed a big shout out to you guys and TeamBHP on the whole.

I have 2 questions at present, might get many more in my head in a few days. I hope people will be able to answer them.

1. The spare is a full size alloy wheel or a steel wheel?

2. Will the parcel tray come as an accessory or was it not put in display vehicles purposefully?


I had gone to the dealership to pre-book it but came back after meeting the manager and team leader as they were not at all ready to accept booking. They've promised to take booking amount once they get a go ahead for booking, will try to get in first lot. Booking will be done on the condition that in case of any eventuality, if I have to cancel the booking, I get full refund. I've simply loved the Blue-White combination. Pricing is the key here which I feel will be below 10L, maybe in between 8.99L to 9.49L for top end ZDi+ as the seats look to have fabric seat cover unlike S-Cross top Alpha which has leather. Hopefully this saga has a happy ending for me.

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by Mithrandir

Thanks for the post GTO. I don't know whether its just me getting this felling, but I think MS often picks up some design ideas from its competitors. The front side design of Brezza reminds me of the kwid. The side profile looks more like a typical Mahindra silhouette. The C pillar and back-side design has some Honda Mobilo influence. I do see some of the Honda city/Vento design elements in Ciaz.

Brezza was showcased in last Autoexpo as concept vehicle XA alpha. They must be developing the car for more than two years. Copying newly launched features is very difficult, if not impossible. Most cars will resemble other vehicle in some or other way as essentially all have wheels, seats, engine, headlights and many more things.
By the way way which typical Mahindra silhouette you are talking about?

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

2. Will the parcel tray come as an accessory or was it not put in display vehicles purposefully?

You can see split parcel tray in Autocar review video. Looks like they removed it from some display vehicle to show the boot capacity with back seat upright position vs folded.

Originally Posted by sourabhzen

Brezza was showcased in last Autoexpo as concept vehicle XA alpha. They must be developing the car for more than two years. Copying newly launched features is very difficult, if not impossible.

Forget copying from competitors, they can't even copy from their own concept. Look at original concept and see what they finally made

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post2633345

[PPS]

Originally Posted by GTO

Maruti fires its salvo in the compact SUV segment!

This was just an 'unveil', when does it 'officially launch'? When will it hit the showrooms?
Considering the top-end Baleno costs almost 10 lakhs OTR, Mumbai, i am expecting marginally higher pricing for the Brezza.

[Mithrandir]

Originally Posted by sourabhzen

Brezza was showcased in last Autoexpo as concept vehicle XA alpha. They must be developing the car for more than two years. Copying newly launched features is very difficult, if not impossible. Most cars will resemble other vehicle in some or other way as essentially all have wheels, seats, engine, headlights and many more things.
By the way way which typical Mahindra silhouette you are talking about?

May be you are right. It's just a coincidence that MS designs resemble others. But I think this coincidence occurs more often in MS cars than cars from other car makers. If you just take out that Suzuki "S" logo from the grill of Brezza then this car can easily pass for a typical SUV from Mahindra stable. The boxy structure, grill design .. overall there is some Mahindra influence in it. By the way, the hind quarter has an uncanny resemblance to Honda mobilio. Look at that black decal at the bottom of the C pillar. To an untrained eye, a Brezza may almost look like a Mobilio from the rear-side. To me, MS designs lack the novelty. Most often it just seems like some cut-and-paste job. Well. its just my opinion.

[thatsdileep]

Awesome coverage Vid6639 and thanks for sharing GTO.
Surprisingly Brezza looses out on Telescopic functionality of steering wheel when Baleno got it. I guess it's just one of the element to differentiate between the so called premium products from Nexa...!

The wheels look puny under those huge wheel wells.

Rear ac vents are missing and MS is not keen on giving the rear passengers some personalized comfort I guess.

[vinya_jag]

The wheels look too small. Don't they? Were they for a sedan?