Team-BHP - Maruti Baleno : Official Review

What an excellent review guys! So much depth & detail! :thumbs up

A typical no-nonsense Maruti built with one intention: to set the sales charts on fire. And it delivers that in spades! I doubt any one will complain about the unenthusiastic CVT or the clatter-y diesel, when it looks that good, delivers so much fuel efficiency & is backed by Maruti's awesome after sales. I do wish that Maruti launches a fully loaded variant with the CVT. Will make for the perfect city hatch with all the creature comforts and 0 reasons for headache.

Maruti hits that sweet spot for most Indian buyers yet again. As many features as you can cram it with, as cheap as you can market it, as fuel efficient as you can drive it and as cost effective service as possible. This is evident by the fact that the Baleno's bookings have already surpassed that of the Elite i20's.

This is precisely what most i20 prospective customers have been waiting for, for Maruti to up its game. Does it mean Hyundai will be hard pressed to offer some sort of additional features or discounts ? May be.

And if the GST goes through and hatchback prices come tumbling down, then this is going to be an unimaginably awesome competition.

My heart and mind both tell me i20, but the baleno keeps tugging at them both.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 3866324)

[b]my pick would be the Elite i20 any which day - it feels a lot more substantial, offers the interior quality of cars priced twice or thrice as much, is far more refined and the diesel (my choice) is a superior engine. No contest.

Hi GTO, could you comment whether you feel the same with the petrol engines as well? As far as I see, Baleno petrol engine is leading the competition among the 3 contenders.

The much awaited review is here. Thanks! :)

I had the same feeling about the diesel when I test drove it in Bangalore. Can you please tell me how does it behave with 5 onboard?

Except the interior quality, I don't see why one should buy the Elite i20. The Baleno is much better.

To enhance the 'premium' image, Maruti missed a trick by not offering the 90 BHP version.

The boosterjet better be on it's way soon. :)

And Finally, the official TBHP Baleno review is out. It definitely is the mother-of-all reviews and sure rated 5 stars. Maruti's big shot at a premium hatchback has brought out a winner, atleast for people who swear by Maruti as a brand and reliability.

Will it take the crown from Elite i20? I think yes.

Well written review! Kudos to the team!

I have one major gripe with the interiors. Why are there so many blank switch panels? I'm assuming this picture was from the top end model. It makes me feel that the car was supposed to have lot more features but cut down. Similar to the Jazz missing-start-button scenario.

Maruti Baleno : Official Review-marutibaleno13.jpg

The old Baleno might be a flop but with we enthusiast love it. Baleno is an Icon to us, the esteem on the other hand appealed the masses. I am happy that Suzuki chose to name the car Baleno.
Coming to the looks, to me this is one of the best looking hatchbacks currently being sold in our currently, the rear in particular is fantastic and very European. The only shortcoming when it comes to design is the Alloy wheel, Baleno deserves sporty shoes!.
Suzuki brought Baleno with one intention, beat i20, the sales figure dont favor Suzuki as of now and it is too early to judge, but car to car Baleno is a better pick than i20 anyday to me.

Thanks for the review. Many small details have been pointed out nicely.

By the way, a few members have been asking about the button next to the hazard switch, on another thread some member said the RM explained it would be the sensor for the smartkey which is not the case. It is a dummy piece on the Indian spec and will house the Passenger Airbag On/OFF switch on the export models (not sure why Indian models didn't get it).

Also the other dummy buttons next to the Parking sensor ON/OFF switch could house a few more switches for features like the ESP, etc.

Many thanks for the wonderful review. The Baleno is sure hit for sure.Couple of negatives I could point out-
1-Alloys-I would swap them out for better ones and keep the tyres as it is,would look awesome.
2-Sagging down-The swift suffers from the same problem.Maybe this http://www.rogermotors.com/rogerab/s...15223-cat.html can solve the problem.
3-Engine-Why Maruti....why no 90 Ps Engine?For me buying this car will never be an upgrade:Frustrati.

Apart from this i don't have anything to complain about.

Excellent 5 star review as usual.
I am still worried about the less weight. There has to be some structural integrity cost cuttings to achieve that level. Also the absence of under body protection in petrol is simply unacceptable. Overall I am not convinced about Baleno. Still need to td it though. But it's a given it will sell like hot cakes in spite of its shortcomings.

We saw Baleno's awesome starting price, various posts about its light kerb weight comparing to competition, and that horribly crashed brand new Baleno.
So I did a funny comparison between Baleno and other cars from competitors lol:

Take this post lightly!:)

If I were in market for petrol hatchback, Baleno would be it. With growing concern over heavy particulate matter causing pollution and ten years of life for diesel in NCR, petrol will be a wiser decision too. But if I am looking for a diesel I would go for Elite, no doubt about that.

One thing my colleague pointed out was that it is far easier to seat two six footers back to back in a Jazz and Baleno than in i20.

Awesome review clap:. I will choose Baleno for petrol and Elite i20 for diesel. Jazz despite being a very competitive product loses out the way it's priced. Let's hope Jazz V variant gets magic seats(at least 60:40) and adjustable rear neck restraints.

Baleno Zeta variant is an excellent VFM and people who want to go for top end Swift or for any top end sedan variants might settle with Zeta due to its excellent pricing.

I am very confident that all the manufacturers will make airbags and ABS atleast as an option right from the base variant and kudos to Maruti for doing this :thumbs up.

With 9000 sales to start with and 45000 bookings in hand, Maruti will not be making any changes to the variants anytime soon.

The CVT needs to come in the Zeta version at the least. It still have a 1L gap to the Jazz V AT and the Zeta can very well fill that space.

Height Adjustable seat, telescopic steering adjust and UV-cut glass are just few of the features for which one would readily upgrade to Zeta from Delta.

A great opening to the innings for the Baleno. Have to wait and watch if this turns out to be a big score for Maruti Suzuki.

Great review and one which provides the satisfaction for the readers and peace of mind for the potential buyers with all the necessary details.