[Prodigy07]

Baleno owners - Can you guys please check and confirm if you hear a faint 'clunk' & 'clink' noise from the rear suspension when you negotiate speed breakers and small potholes?

[rohiT Nonu]

Originally Posted by Prodigy07

Baleno owners - Can you guys please check and confirm if you hear a faint 'clunk' & 'clink' noise from the rear suspension when you negotiate speed breakers and small potholes?

No I do not hear any such sound while passing over speed breakers in my baleno. Touchwood.
But yes I do recognise that type of sound as it used to come in my previous Maruti800 car but that to not while going through speed breakers but it used to come when I just Park the car after completing my drive with 5 passengers onboard.
Even I am eager to know what might be the culprit.

This is from my end. Hope other Bhpians who own Baleno might also contribute their experiences regarding this issue.

[tjacob]

Originally Posted by bimbrahw

Recently noticed that when I cross 120 kmph the steering starts to shudder. What could the problem be ? Wheel balancing ?

Same thing happened to my car and floor too would vibrate. I got balancing and alignment done. They cross fit the tires first, balance and then align them. I noticed a good improvement in ride quality even at slow speeds and also no more vibrations at higher speeds.

[puneetakhouri]

Originally Posted by bimbrahw

Recently noticed that when I cross 120 kmph the steering starts to shudder. What could the problem be ? Wheel balancing ?

Yeah I used to face the same problem and it happens exactly after 120kmph. It is a wheel balancing issue, I had to get it redone at the showroom and it was fine.

[kaushik60]

I have booked a Baleno CVT zeta (Ray Blue) from the new Nexa showroom in Mysore. Expecting delivery this month end. I am currently not in India , and this car will be used by my parents. I made sure they test drive the car to be sure they are comfortable with the suspension. They didn't find it too troublesome (maybe because they are upgrading from a Tata Nano :P), but during the test drive the sales advisor told them that after the first few months of feedback on the harsh ride, Maruti has made changes to the rear suspension and new cars have a much improved suspension. I was wondering whether that's really true, or if it is just over enthusiasm on account of the salesperson.

Can anyone confirm if the newer cars have a significantly improved rear suspension on account of changes made by Maruti?

[chncar]

Originally Posted by kaushik60

I have booked a Baleno CVT zeta (Ray Blue) from the new Nexa showroom in Mysore. Expecting delivery this month end. I am currently not in India , and this car will be used by my parents. I made sure they test drive the car to be sure they are comfortable with the suspension. They didn't find it too troublesome (maybe because they are upgrading from a Tata Nano :P), but during the test drive the sales advisor told them that after the first few months of feedback on the harsh ride, Maruti has made changes to the rear suspension and new cars have a much improved suspension. I was wondering whether that's really true, or if it is just over enthusiasm on account of the salesperson.

Can anyone confirm if the newer cars have a significantly improved rear suspension on account of changes made by Maruti?

When I went to the showroom last week, the salesperson told me that the ground clearance has been increased by 10 mm to 180 mm. So it could be true, however the brochure and the specs on the website still state it as being 170mm. So it's hard to know what is accurate.

Of course this salesperson had no clue about much else and wasn't able to answer even the most basic of questions. He also tried to upsell the return to invoice and engine cover on the insurance and had no clue what either was about. So unless there is some clear info from Maruti, it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.

[Crazy_Bean]

Originally Posted by Prodigy07

Baleno owners - Can you guys please check and confirm if you hear a faint 'clunk' & 'clink' noise from the rear suspension when you negotiate speed breakers and small potholes?

I am experiencing a similar sound on my Baleno. The sound is a bit prominent and feels like a loose toolkit in the boot bed. I hear the sound on all occasions where the suspension has to move. It's coming from the left rear side and I have tried everything. One observation that worked was with 4 onboard, the sound was gone.

Did you get a chance to get it checked?

[Prodigy07]

Originally Posted by Crazy_Bean

I am experiencing a similar sound on my Baleno. The sound is a bit prominent and feels like a loose toolkit in the boot bed. I hear the sound on all occasions where the suspension has to move. It's coming from the left rear side and I have tried everything. One observation that worked was with 4 onboard, the sound was gone.

Did you get a chance to get it checked?

Yes, the sound is similar to what you have mentioned.

I have given the vehicle for 2nd service today. SA and I had a very lengthy test drive and he confirmed that the sound is indeed coming from the rear suspension.

The sound is extremely irritating when you are driving alone

He also mentioned that the current batch of vehicles do not have this problem!

But, looks like there's no official circular from Maruti to inspect and replace this for the older batch

[Crazy_Bean]

Originally Posted by Prodigy07

Yes, the sound is similar to what you have mentioned.

I have given the vehicle for 2nd service today. SA and I had a very lengthy test drive and he confirmed that the sound is indeed coming from the rear suspension.

The sound is extremely irritating when you are driving alone

He also mentioned that the current batch of vehicles do not have this problem!

But, looks like there's no official circular from Maruti to inspect and replace this for the older batch

Please do keep me posted if you are able to find a fix. My second service is also due next week, this way I will be able to pin point the fault to the adviser. I dont want them to rip open my car.

Also, What variant is yours. Mine is a Zeta CVT, and I am facing a small niggle with the Parking sensors as well. Occasionally the MID says 'Clean Parking Sensors" when they are absolutely clean already. Their functionality is not hampered though. Thanks

[dheepak10]

Originally Posted by yogeshbala

Don't worry dude, am closely following you. 4 months of waiting period from 8th of October, 2016.

Finally my car has been dispatched from the factory on 9th of this month.
After a gruelling wait of 5 months, I'm finally expecting the delivery by this weekend.

The RM said that boot lamp and puddle lamp cannot be fitted as accessories on the Delta CVT. I'll recheck this during first service visit as these are quite essential features.

PS: An ownership review will definitely be on the forum after a few weeks of ownership

[n.devdath]

I had the opportunity to drive a 6k km run top-end Baleno diesel for around 120km yesterday and here are a few observations:

1. The car is spacious on the inside. We were 4 adults, all over 5'10" and could comfortably sit one behind the other.
2. The ac is a chiller as is the cabin weather insulation. At 23 deg, it cooled the cabin in no time and kept it cool very effectively.
3. The car isn't as low as it looks. We didn't hit any speedbreakers in spite of driving over a few really nasty ones.
4. The steering weighs up nicely with speed.
5. The car feels well built, compared to most Marutis till date including the Ignis.

Now the negatives.

1. The car doesn't feel powerful. It is adequately powered, and doesn't have that rush of power when you stomp on the pedal.
2. Noise insulation is bad. At 120kmph, I could hear everything. The tires, suspension, gravel, wind, everything was clearly audible in the cabin.
3. Rearward visibility is really bad. I had raised the driver's seat to the max possible height to get comfortable and could hardly see anything through the IRVM.
4. The car crashes through bad potholes. It isn't as plush as, say, the Ciaz.
5. Interior plastics definitely do not feel worthy of a 10 lac INR car. They are functional, not plush. The 120 Elite feels much better inside if one were to ignore the Baleno's head unit.

Agree?? Disagree??

[Highh5]

Anyone opted for after market armrest. I'm looking for one.
Any leads/suggestions/feedback is appreciable.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

5. Interior plastics definitely do not feel worthy of a 10 lac INR car. They are functional, not plush. The 120 Elite feels much better inside if one were to ignore the Baleno's head unit.
Agree?? Disagree??

Having sat in and felt the interiors of two petrol Balenos- an Alpha and a Zeta, and comparing them with even the last generation i20 Magna (all of them being colleagues' cars), I tend to agree with the observation.

A friend who owns a Swift Vdi went on to comment that though Baleno looks premium from outside, it is sub par to his swift in terms of interior plastics. I couldn't help but agree with his observation, more so because the Zeta in question, having run for less than 10,000 km, rattles more than the 32,000km run Swift.

[ashis89]

My friend owns a Baleno and read somewhere that there is a soft recall for Baleno's suspension. Does anyone know of any such ongoing exercise?

Originally Posted by n.devdath

I had the opportunity to drive a 6k km run top-end Baleno diesel for around 120km yesterday and here are a few observations:

1. The car is spacious on the inside. We were 4 adults, all over 5'10" and could comfortably sit one behind the other.
2. The ac is a chiller as is the cabin weather insulation. At 23 deg, it cooled the cabin in no time and kept it cool very effectively.
3. The car isn't as low as it looks. We didn't hit any speedbreakers in spite of driving over a few really nasty ones.
4. The steering weighs up nicely with speed.
5. The car feels well built, compared to most Marutis till date including the Ignis.

Now the negatives.

1. The car doesn't feel powerful. It is adequately powered, and doesn't have that rush of power when you stomp on the pedal.
2. Noise insulation is bad. At 120kmph, I could hear everything. The tires, suspension, gravel, wind, everything was clearly audible in the cabin.
3. Rearward visibility is really bad. I had raised the driver's seat to the max possible height to get comfortable and could hardly see anything through the IRVM.
4. The car crashes through bad potholes. It isn't as plush as, say, the Ciaz.
5. Interior plastics definitely do not feel worthy of a 10 lac INR car. They are functional, not plush. The 120 Elite feels much better inside if one were to ignore the Baleno's head unit.

Agree?? Disagree??

Completely agree on all the points. My close friend owns a top-end manual petrol, 13.5k run. I must have driven ~5k kms of the total and have sufficient experience of the car on all types of roads. Apart from the above, I would like to add that 3 more negatives - front visibility is poor too (due to angled windscreen, unloaded car feels floating at higher speeds and getting out of the low-slung car is a pain for me (I'm 6ft tall).

[Prodigy07]

Originally Posted by Crazy_Bean

Please do keep me posted if you are able to find a fix. My second service is also due next week, this way I will be able to pin point the fault to the adviser. I dont want them to rip open my car.

Also, What variant is yours. Mine is a Zeta CVT

Mine is Zeta CVT too!

The car has been at MSM since yesterday. SA called me couple of minutes back and updated that NEXA Chennai officials have confirmed that there's no official recall/update circular from Maruti for the rear suspension noise.

So, I guess we have to live with it

EDIT - I'm surprised as to why Maruti is not taking this issue seriously. When I was at MSM yesterday, there were 2-3 Baleno owners having the same problem.