Team-BHP - Maruti Baleno : Official Review

Thank you for the great review. I will be receiving my delivery of the Baleno this weekend. After reading all posts, I have added a few accessories to the car. The Baleno ticks all the basic features that I craved in a car. ABS and airbag covered so that's a big plus.
I did go through a lot of cars before zeroing in on the Baleno and was skeptical of most of them. On a last ditch effort just to tick all the names in my list, I went to see the Baleno at Sai Service NEXA, Parel and was instantly bowled over by it. The RM was very polite and I was given a TD of the CVT version. My wife and I loved it and well, we booked it promptly.
I did go back a couple of times and did TD the car on 2 different occasions. The RM was courteous at all times and never disengaged himself from us.
Overall, it was a nice experience.

:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aditya (Post 3866290)

The Maruti Baleno has been launched in India at a price of between Rs. 4.99 - 8.11 lakhs (ex-Delhi).

What you'll like:

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.
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What you won't:

• Ordinary interior quality is Swift-like. Several budget grade parts in here
• Rear seat headroom & under-thigh support are limited for tall passengers
• Light build quality (weighs merely 865 kilos). Lacks the solidity of its rivals
• CVT variant only in Delta trim (one above base). Suffers from rubber-band effect on the highway too
• More substantial & premium Elite i20 is priced only Rs. 17,000 - 37,000 above
• Waiting period running over 4 months for some variants / cities
• Sold exclusively through Nexa outlets. Limits the reach of the car

I'm sorry but I meant to ask earlier as well. I see a lot of references to the Elite i20 in the review (understandable given it is direct competitor) but no other car, and I see the Baleno being shamed due to the prospect that a "more substantial & premium i20 is priced only 17k-37k above" what is the reasoning behind this?

Disclaimer: I like nearly every product out there in the market. Each has its own advantages and certain levels of charm. Besides the more competition, the better it is for us eh ;) I have nothing against the i20 at all infact it is one of Hyundai's better efforts and I am certainly not a fan of Maruti so please let us avoid spinning this off into a tangent about brand preference or some nonsense like that and keep the discussion healthy :) I am merely posting my views on the topic here

I have driven both cars extensively and as far as I can make out, the only advantages the i20 holds over the Baleno are the better looking rims, better interior quality and lower NVH levels (kudos to the Korean folks for making the car feel nice) however, is that reason enough to shame the Baleno in such a manner? I think not. The Baleno comes with its own advantages: trumps the Hyundai at its own game by offering more features (including basic necessities in modern "premium" cars like a fuel efficiency indactor and height adjustable seatbelts etc.), the Baleno also maintains a dynamic nature to its drive which is a scarce resource in this day and age of mass-market cars, and last but not the least it offers dual airbags and antilock brakes across the range. And I must highlight the fact that all these advantages which I have mentioned, are from the base variant itself. Does spending even a rupee more to lose those features especially abs and airbags, for better feeling interiors seem rational? Considering it has clearly been said that the Baleno comes with pretty average interior quality, I don't think that the fact that the Elite i20 is 17k-37k more expensive ought to be listed as a disadvantage when it comes to considering the Baleno. It almost seems commercial when one reads such a point and I did not expect such views or "thoughts" to be penned down in an official t-bhp review.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IshaanIan (Post 3872603)

Considering it has clearly been said that the Baleno comes with pretty average interior quality, I don't think that the fact that the Elite i20 is 17k-37k more expensive ought to be listed as a disadvantage when it comes to considering the Baleno. It almost seems commercial when one reads such a point and I did not expect such views or "thoughts" to be penned down in an official t-bhp review.

It surely doesn't seem like a commercial to me. It gives another persective to a reader, that's it. But I get your point. All in all Baleno is a better package IMO compared to the i20. Now if the i20 is costlier than the Baleno, how could it be a disadvantage? I think it would have been more apt if it was included in the advantages of the Baleno rather, that despite having better quality interiors and better looking alloys, the i20 loses on ABS and Airbags in all variants and is costlier by 17-37k too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IshaanIan (Post 3872603)

I see the Baleno being shamed due to the prospect that a "more substantial & premium i20 is priced only 17k-37k above" what is the reasoning behind this?

It all boils down to personal appeal. Somebody may want 2 airbags with ABS and not worry about interiors. Somebody may need 2 airbags with ABS and still ask for good interiors.

Consider prices in Bangalore. The 17-37k difference is comparing the Baleno petrol Apha (8.6 lakhs) and i20 Asta option (8.9 lakhs). And this may make sense to someone looking for everything with good interiors.

I have myself booked a Baleno petrol Zeta and awaiting delivery and I look at the review from a pragmatic point of view leaving my personal choices to myself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsashishsharma

The fact that Baleno, with the additional airbags and ABS, is still cheaper than i20 is actually its strength and not weakness. And, not everyone can afford the top model of cars. For example, for Rs 7.3 lakhs OTR, one can get a Baleno delta in Bangalore which has a lot of features, besides the airbags and ABS. What does this money get in an i20?

Quote:

Originally Posted by IshaanIan (Post 3872603)

I don't think that the fact that the Elite i20 is 17k-37k more expensive ought to be listed as a disadvantage when it comes to considering the Baleno.

IMHO Mentioning this point in the Disadvantages part does confuses the reader as to what the writer wants to convey.
Maybe it all boils down to the definition of premium?

Considering that Baleno is more feature rich as compared to Elite i20, this point should have been in the Advantages section i.e. "inspite of having more features, Baleno is priced 17K to 37K lesser than the Elite i20."
Just my thoughts.

To highlight some of the features which Baleno has but Elite i20 doesn't are:

HID Projector headlamps and DRL
Auto Dimming IRVM (Hyundai has replaced the Auto dimming mirror with normal mirror which doen't even have Day/Night functionality - As per the recent posts on Elite i20 official review thread.)
Puddle Lamps
A proper MID
UV cut glass from the factory (Segment first)
Rear wash and wipe across all variants
Ambient lighting on the footwells

Quote:

I have driven both cars extensively and as far as I can make out, the only advantages the i20 holds over the Baleno are the better looking rims, better interior quality and lower NVH levels (kudos to the Korean folks for making the car feel nice) however, is that reason enough to shame the Baleno in such a manner? I think not. The Baleno comes with its own advantages: trumps the Hyundai at its own game by offering more features (including basic necessities in modern "premium" cars like a fuel efficiency indactor and height adjustable seatbelts etc.), the Baleno also maintains a dynamic nature to its drive which is a scarce resource in this day and age of mass-market cars, and last but not the least it offers dual airbags and antilock brakes across the range. And I must highlight the fact that all these advantages which I have mentioned, are from the base variant itself. Does spending even a rupee more to lose those features especially abs and airbags, for better feeling interiors seem rational?

I had booked a Baleno (Alpha | Petrol) in Premium Silver on 17th Nov. I was promised a delivery by 20th Dec. My queue no was 13 for the color and model.

On Dec 5th, I asked for a change in color (Autumn Orange). I was told that one change in color is allowed and will not affect my queue no. I was told that my new queue no was 2.

Today, I went to inquire about the delivery of the car (NEXA Elante Mall, Chandigarh). I went straight to the showroom manager who told me that my process was started afresh when I asked for a change in color. And told me that now that waiting period is three months.

I feel cheated and I intend to call up the NEXA helpline and take the matter with the higher authorities to check if NEXA Elante is trying to pull a fast one on me. :mad:

I booked a Ray Blue Delta 1.2 but later changed it to Granite Gray. On 7th, I got a confirmation from the Nexa dealership that the car has been allocated to me and is being dispatched and would be delivered to me on 19th. Now my RM says that the car would only arrive late on Saturday night and he would be able to deliver the car only on Monday since they need a day for PDI. Now I do not want to take a day off from work due to very tight work schedules and am willing to take the car on Sunday. My question here is how much time does the dealership generally take to complete their PDI? Can it not be done during the first half of the day and they provide the car to me during the second half? How does it generally work?