[bhansali_hardik]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

Looks like the steering rack tie rod has snapped, it should be an easy fix as well as inexpensive, however a warranty claim is in order.

Originally Posted by Ashir

By the looks of it, tie rod has sheared! Get it towed & inspected through MASS.

These shafts are meant to last as long as the vehicle, if not more.
At first, you should push for replacement under warranty.
If nothing else is damaged, it should be a half day job.

Once, you are free from the formalities, do tell us the about the vehicle speed & terrain where this incident happened. This is not supposed to be a generic and could be a quality issue in a particular batch. However, I'll let MSIL engineers to come up with the root cause.

Thanks for the quick response! Yes, it looks like the tie rod has sheared. But the service center has given me a quote of 3000. Where the labor charges are 1000 and parts for 2000. However, like you guys insisted I am pushing for the warranty claim. They do not have the part in stock and they will let me know once they procure it.

The reasoning given to me is the car probably hit some pot hole and this is why the part broke. However, I don't recall hitting any pothole and it's not convincing enough as there are no other visible under body damages! Only this particular part got hit? I really doubt!

Also, I did a quick search online I see the part mentioned is just 309 rupees. Here is the link : https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-tie_rod_stag-31669409/

Am I looking at the wrong part?

Also, the car has been used only in city. Yes, not that I'm proud of roads in bangalore but I'm sure that city roads cannot be an issue solely responsible for this.

[Ashir]

Originally Posted by bhansali_hardik

Thanks for the quick response! Yes, it looks like the tie rod has sheared. But the service center has given me a quote of 3000. Where the labor charges are 1000 and parts for 2000. However, like you guys insisted I am pushing for the warranty claim. They do not have the part in stock and they will let me know once they procure it.

The reasoning given to me is the car probably hit some pot hole and this is why the part broke. However, I don't recall hitting any pothole and it's not convincing enough as there are no other visible under body damages! Only this particular part got hit? I really doubt!

Also, I did a quick search online I see the part mentioned is just 309 rupees. Here is the link : https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-tie_rod_stag-31669409/

Am I looking at the wrong part?

Also, the car has been used only in city. Yes, not that I'm proud of roads in bangalore but I'm sure that city roads cannot be an issue solely responsible for this.

Keep your stand on warranty claim. Their reply is a common statement for such kind of issues.

There has to be a very harsh hit in pothole at high speed, for tie rod to break. This hit would definitely damage other parts like steel rims & suspension strut mounting panel.

IMHO price seems to be reasonable.
The tie rod is a part of the rack assembly. It may be possible to open the rack and replace the damaged tie rod. However, being a critical part, the complete assembly would be replaced by the dealer.
Hence the higher cost.

[bhansali_hardik]

Originally Posted by Ashir

Keep your stand on warranty claim. Their reply is a common statement for such kind of issues.

There has to be a very harsh hit in pothole at high speed, for tie rod to break. This hit would definitely damage other parts like steel rims & suspension strut mounting panel.

IMHO price seems to be reasonable.
The tie rod is a part of the rack assembly. It may be possible to open the rack and replace the damaged tie rod. However, being a critical part, the complete assembly would be replaced by the dealer.
Hence the higher cost.

Yes, the prices are decent enough and it's a sigh of relief. We panicked in the morning when the car broke down. There were school buses and other people constantly honking and creating a chaos. In the chaos ended up calling the service center instead of RSA from the insurance folks

I'm ok with the whole replacement and paying the price too. But however thanks for the quick input I realized the SC guys were bluffing, where he directly claimed a pothole/underbody hit was responsible and I will surely try to catch their bluff! Like you mentioned rest of the parts are intact. The only issue is they do not have the parts in stock.

[ArnabOnTheRoad]

Hey Team BHP,

I am now a happy owner of my second Baleno [Zeta, Petrol, Red, Manual].

I am also a happy member of this awesome blog. For reasons beyond my comprehension I was denied a membership for over 11 years! But, I am happy now.

Second Baleno - well, because my better half turned turtle with our previous one. I am am terribly grateful to god and automobile engineers for making such a safe car. The car was totaled, but my wife walked out of it with minimal scratches and bruises. That one was a Petrol Delta, Blue.

I should add that, thanks to Team BHP posts on the topic, I had RTI in my insurance and that helped me get the entire amount I had spent (on road), i.e. 6.98lakhs to buy my previous car (minus Rs 1000). This is against an IDV of 4.7lakhs.

I love driving this New Baleno more than the previous one because of all the funky face-lifts. But, I do miss the normal wheels. I have not quite managed to love the feel of the good looking alloy wheels that come these days.

Across the two cars, i have done some 12000kms over 25 months. And I have felt in control of the car, comfortable, and cool. having driven a Logan, a Swift, a Figo and a Scorpio over long distances over the previous years, i can safely say a Baleno suits be best. I do miss the Logan's sturdiness a lot though.

I think MSIL is doing a great job with the NEXA line, but really needs to work on the service experience. Or maybe, I just had a string of poor experiences as an exception with my previous car.

Wish me luck and safety with this new love of mine, folks. And thanks Team BHP again for being a constant source of fabulous information for so long.

[goswami.j]

Originally Posted by herculesksp

So I bought this at 9999 and got it installed in my car today. Was a 1hr procedure.

How has your experience been so far with the Suzuki Connect ? Tomorrow I plan to take delivery of my new Baleno and was wondering if Suzuki Connect would be a worthwhile investment.

[herculesksp]

Originally Posted by goswami.j

How has your experience been so far with the Suzuki Connect ? Tomorrow I plan to take delivery of my new Baleno and was wondering if Suzuki Connect would be a worthwhile investment.

Oh, I've been very happy with it.

I can get all readings and metrics of the car sitting remotely - eg: when my company asks what is the km reading.

It gives me real-time status of the car movement. Eg: when they took it for servicing, I could see where the car was being driven. Also when they took it for a test after wheel balancing, I could track the car movements.

Also, it is fun to see driving stats such as fuel efficiency, how much acceleration, how much braking I've been doing etc.

So lot of utility and timepass value in it.

[ArnabOnTheRoad]

Originally Posted by goswami.j

How has your experience been so far with the Suzuki Connect ? Tomorrow I plan to take delivery of my new Baleno and was wondering if Suzuki Connect would be a worthwhile investment.

I know the question wasn't for me. However, having recently taken delivery of my Baleno, I was given a full demo of Suzuki Connect and I didn't find it interesting enough to invest that much. If one is really interested in the GPS location of the car, an after market installation does a better job at much lower costs.

[vinay_ss]

The blue boy comes home ! This will be my 3rd car in the stable and will be used primarily in the city for ferrying kids, running errands and a spare car. This also happens to be my 3rd Maruti Suzuki. In the long past I have owned a Zen( loved it) and an Alto.

Its a Zeta petrol and came with the OEM alloys, which I didn't like one bit. So changed to MOMOs 16" right out of the showroom. Here are some pictures of the car

[herculesksp]

The newer Balenos come with this updated colorful display in the headunit (pictured in the above post). I am assuming that it is just a software update. Has anyone been able to get it in their older Balenos?

I got my car serviced last week and he said he'll do a software update of the HU. I was hopeful that I will get the new UI, but it just came back the same. Maybe just a patch for the older HU software.

If anyone was able to get it done, then I'll followup again with the service center.

[herculesksp]

Originally Posted by ArnabOnTheRoad

I know the question wasn't for me. However, having recently taken delivery of my Baleno, I was given a full demo of Suzuki Connect and I didn't find it interesting enough to invest that much. If one is really interested in the GPS location of the car, an after market installation does a better job at much lower costs.

Thanks for the feedback. I do know there are probably cheaper solutions out there. The reason I went for this one was that it came from Maruti themselves, so no worrying about warranty and stuff.

Also from the reading that I had done, the after-market ones either fit into the OBD port, or hard wire into the engine bay. This one supposedly fits in a more integrated way into the ECU (I am not car savvy technical by any means and don't know what this may or may not imply )

[goswami.j]

Originally Posted by vinay_ss

The blue boy comes home ! This will be my 3rd car in the stable and will be used primarily in the city for ferrying kids, running errands and a spare car.

Ditto here. Thanks to all the members here who helped me with the choice for a school run, weekend errands kind spare petrol car at home. I also picked up a Zeta 1.2 Premium Silver on 19Jul19.
Other Cars considered
1. Grand i10 Asta - the 1.2L discount being offered was lucrative, however the avg. engine & relatively low GC & less interior space made me skip this.
2. Freestyle Petrol Titanium+ - Good car but all black interior, weird rear door design & uncertain future of Ford in India, skipped it.
3. Elite i20 Asta Petrol- Closest contender - uninspiring engine, skipped it in the end
4. Ignis Alpha Petrol - Very poor interior quality plastics, specially doors etc. kinda weird looking too - skipped

Color Choice - Needed an easy to maintain color, choice White or Premium Silver since Magma Grey would show even slight dust, scratch etc. ended up with Premium silver for its neural looks.

Buying experience - Had owned a Swift VDI some years back & was familiar with the Maruti Suzuki experience, however Nexa is next level. Congrats to Maruti for stepping up the game, they surely know the pulse of the market, lessons for other auto manufacturers.

Initial Driving Experience - The 1.2 Petrol engine is significantly refined, can hardly hear it. Since all my other 3 cars are diesel powered, need to be slightly careful at low rpm/speeds as it stalls quickly. The cabin is nice & spacious with 3 persons easily seating in the rear. Initial mileage (200 kms) is 19 KMPL
What I don't like is the apparent feel of a fragile car, think will need to be extra careful on the crowded streets.
Other Things - Bought the Suzuki Connect for the telematics it promises. waiting for it to be activated.

Some pics now

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by herculesksp

The newer Balenos come with this updated colorful display in the headunit (pictured in the above post). I am assuming that it is just a software update. Has anyone been able to get it in their older Balenos?
If anyone was able to get it done, then I'll followup again with the service center.

The new Baleno comes with a different head unit compared to before. The earlier one was from Bosch and the new one IIRC is from Harman which is referred to as the Smartplay studio. It is not possible to update the Bosch HU to get the interface of the Smartplay studio.

[goswami.j]

Originally Posted by goswami.j

Ditto here. Thanks to all the members here who helped me with the choice for a school run, weekend errands kind spare petrol car at home. I also picked up a Zeta 1.2 Premium Silver on 19Jul19.
Other Cars considered

I am getting this error on power on of the smartplay infotainment system, goes away on pressing ok. Any idea where do I fill in the vehicle information to make this go away ?

[herculesksp]

I could find a corresponding thread, so asking here. Please direct me to another thread if there is one.

Has anyone tried a custom seat in general, or for the baleno in particular. I've heard about racing seats - but dunno if one exists for baleno.

I feel that the leather covers that I have put on the baleno is not comfortable for me. Probably too much cushioning in unwanted places and it seems to have flattened out the side flanges / supports. I am contemplating getting rid of it on the drivers seat.

Btw, these are covers taken from and fitted by Nexa showroom

Any opinion on the comfort of leather covers vs fabric covers vs default seat covers? Is this something I should be thinking about when I am looking at seat comfort? I've tried all the other adjustments as recommended by tbhp-ians. I am just plain uncomfortable and keep fidgeting around in the seat.

PS: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post4433747 (Maruti Baleno : Official Review) Link to the pics of my car / seat cover if interested.

[Motor_Nut]

Originally Posted by goswami.j

I am getting this error on power on of the smartplay infotainment system, goes away on pressing ok. Any idea where do I fill in the vehicle information to make this go away ?

Can you try resetting to Factory Settings (as mentioned in the attached images below) and see if it helps. In System Settings, tap on Reset To Factory Settings and then accept the prompt.

Please note that it will reset your customized settings to default. For more info, you may please refer to Nexa Audio Manual supplied by the dealership.