[kskthere]

Originally Posted by ARAY

Lovely and detaled thread , loved every bit of the information that you have provided. Amazing level of information shared. Hope to see your steed very soon at our next TeamBhp Hyderabad meet. Wishing you lots of happy drives. Keep traveling and sharing your experience.

Thank you very much. Eagerly waiting for the meet.

Originally Posted by SoumenD

Excellent review there. Thanks for sharing. Sorry to hear about the initial trauma. I can imagine how painful it would have been to see the 1 month old car being opened up.

Thank you very much. It was hard indeed, more so because it was a make or break situation. From August 31st to September 21st, I went into depression and my head was spinning like my hard earned money going down the drain.

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

Great review there. With all the ups and downs, I'm guessing its smooth sailing from now.

Thank you very much. Yes, so far no problems.

Originally Posted by shreyan_k10

Very detailed and informative thread. Eagerly waiting to meet you and her at our Hyderabad meet. Keep revving!

Thank you very much. Me too eagerly waiting to meet you guys.

[Abhi_abarth]

Thank you for the detailed review. Rated 5 stars.

I have been wanting to write my review as well but been too lazy. Your thread has inspired me and hopefully I should have mine done soon (fingers crossed).

Never new a separate Baleno group existed until I saw the group Baleno pic

The car is a true value for money product barring minor things. My biggest grouse is I feel the engine is severly underpowered specially when it has more than 2 people on board. :(

A 'Paisa wasool' purchase though.

Happy mile crunching.

[FrodoOfTheShire]

Nice to see you enjoying the car after the initial ordeal. You and your sister seem to be huge Baleno fans! I bought my first car 4 months back and it was a daunting task doing everything on my own. I had joined Team BHP and a Facebook group few months prior to that, so I was aware of most of the issues or pitfalls to watch out for. Now whenever anyone asks me for car buying related advice, I advise them to do the same!

[Varun_HexaGuy]

Congratulations on getting her back in ship shape! She's here for the years to come.

Would love to see her in the future Team-BHP meets alongside my Sindbad (my Hexa XTA in Arizona Blue). Hope you have a smooth sail ahead and enjoy this machine to the core.

Varun

[kskthere]

Originally Posted by Abhi_abarth

Thank you for the detailed review. Rated 5 stars.

I have been wanting to write my review as well but been too lazy. Your thread has inspired me and hopefully I should have mine done soon (fingers crossed).

Thank you very much. Hope you would complete it one day for sure.

Originally Posted by FrodoOfTheShire

Nice to see you enjoying the car after the initial ordeal. You and your sister seem to be huge Baleno fans!

Thank you. They were sentimental about Baleno because it saved their lives.

Originally Posted by Varun_HexaGuy

Congratulations on getting her back in ship shape! She's here for the years to come.

Would love to see her in the future Team-BHP meets alongside my Sindbad (my Hexa XTA in Arizona Blue). Hope you have a smooth sail ahead and enjoy this machine to the core.

Varun

Thank you Varun. I'd love to see you and your Sindbad in person soon.

[manas_270]

Wow! That is one roller coaster of a ride but good to see you have come out of it and enjoying your ride to the fullest extent.

Wish you many more wonderful moments and trips with your ride

[superbad]

Considering your introduction, I was expecting some major disasters during the course of your ownership, but it is apparent the were hardly any, aside from the flood damage. I think you can safely assume that your experience so far has been more up than down, & the down was entirely preventable. Some hard learnt lessons which can only be garnered by experience would've definitely made you wiser (I've experienced a few of those). Happy motoring!

[kskthere]

Originally Posted by manas_270

Wow! That is one roller coaster of a ride but good to see you have come out of it and enjoying your ride to the fullest extent.

Wish you many more wonderful moments and trips with your ride

Thanks mate!

Originally Posted by superbad

Considering your introduction, I was expecting some major disasters during the course of your ownership, but it is apparent the were hardly any, aside from the flood damage.

Well, I must say a flooded engine is nothing short of a disaster, especially when the car is new. To make matters worse, the dealer was trying to put blame on me for the delayed registration as my car was in the service center. So to deal with both cases was an hectic task for me at that time.

[kskthere]

Some more details:

Referring to mistake #2: I already mentioned this here (Impact of customer complaints on social media)

Suspension setup replacement:
When the news broke out that Maruti is silently changing suspensions in Balenos in June 2017, I too sent an email to Nexa explaining about bumpy ride in my Baleno and to replace its suspension setup under warranty. They asked me to take it to the nearest service center. After test drives and inspection of suspensions, they (RKS Motors) declared it as 'working fine'. But I didn't budge; sent another email to Nexa as well as to the TSM attaching invoices of suspension replacements of some of the Baleno owners who already got them replaced. The TSM asked me to visit the service center again, and this time they tested as per the instructions mentioned on a check sheet. A couple of days later they told me that my complaint has been approved and an order has been placed for the suspension kit. Finally, the complete suspension setup was changed on 23/08/17. My Baleno was the first petrol car to be replaced with modified suspension setup in Hyderabad. Later, another 15 Balenos' suspensions got replaced under warranty in Hyderabad alone.

Testing one of the rear shocks:

https://youtu.be/ar5P31luXsI

Check-sheet:


Old ones:




New suspension kit:
















My Baleno's (front) GC looks increased compared to the other Baleno after the replacement:


Steering column replacement:
After the 4th service of my car in July 2018, I started to hear (at times) a clicking noise from the steering column at full lock, only from the right side. After a month or so, it's heard from both sides at full lock. During that time, a friend of mine informed me that his Baleno's steering column was replaced under goodwill warranty, as his car also had sticky steering problem. He'd also taken a quick video when the manager was showing the circular in his computer. Later it was confirmed by another friend who sent me the original circular. link

This was the short clip taken in service center (I lost it on my phone, so sharing it from my FB page):

https://youtu.be/k8zrRhOxlZs

Screenshot of the clip:

[Turbanator]

Wow! truly 5 Star thread. You have covered the problems and strengths and have aptly named the thread. Less than 30 K for attending to Hydrostatic failure that had bent connecting rods and a failed starter, no wonder Maruti enjoys 50 % share. Had this being any other vehicle, you would have been looking at 6 figure repair bill.

A lesson- Don't get too excited by what neighbours (wife) say

[F150]

Great thread, shows your perseverance in the face of troubles. Thanks for sharing. Everyone loves a story with happy ending.

I think such turnaround stories are only possible with Maruti ? OR Is it the mindset of the owner, irrespective of the brand.
Worth thinking !

[cp171185]

Oh my god! What a content! A level apart attention to detail. Full informative content. Thank you so much for taking the pain to pen down the entire episode. Kudos!

[kskthere]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Wow! truly 5 Star thread. You have covered the problems and strengths and have aptly named the thread. Less than 30 K for attending to Hydrostatic failure that had bent connecting rods and a failed starter, no wonder Maruti enjoys 50 % share. Had this being any other vehicle, you would have been looking at 6 figure repair bill.

Thank you very much. Coming from a Distinguished BHPian I am doubly honoured. Yes, I too expected the bill amount to be anywhere from 40K to 60K for the repair, but was surprised (and relieved) to see only half of it. I've seen some other Baleno owners, who also struggled with the same kind of ordeal (hydrostatic lock), ended up paying hefty amounts. Comparatively speaking, I was lucky to get away with less amount of money.

Originally Posted by Turbanator

A lesson- Don't get too excited by what neighbours (wife) say

Absolutely. A lesson learnt.

Originally Posted by F150

Great thread, shows your perseverance in the face of troubles. Thanks for sharing. Everyone loves a story with happy ending.

I think such turnaround stories are only possible with Maruti ? OR Is it the mindset of the owner, irrespective of the brand.
Worth thinking !

Thanks very much. I guess it's a combination of the two. I was fortunate enough to escape a bigger damage to the engine and in turn a bigger hole in my pocket.

Originally Posted by cp171185

Oh my god! What a content! A level apart attention to detail. Full informative content. Thank you so much for taking the pain to pen down the entire episode. Kudos!

Thank you. Much appreciate your kind words.

[coolmind]

Wonderful thread KSK sir!
I would love to meet you along with your steed in the next meet.
The thread clearly explains why you have such an attachment with the car.
And finally thanks for posting your lessons learnt sir. You made us learn them without experiencing them. This will definitely be a great eye opener for people buying the car, importance of PDI and handling the car.
Thanks for your time and hope you have beautiful time with the car.

[kskthere]

Originally Posted by coolmind

Wonderful thread KSK sir!
I would love to meet you along with your steed in the next meet.
The thread clearly explains why you have such an attachment with the car.
And finally thanks for posting your lessons learnt sir. You made us learn them without experiencing them. This will definitely be a great eye opener for people buying the car, importance of PDI and handling the car.
Thanks for your time and hope you have beautiful time with the car.

Thank you @coolmind for your kind words. Yes, my intention was also to give someone a heads up about some situations.
I too would like to meet you in our next Hyderabad meet-up.