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-   -   Maruti Baleno : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/171209-maruti-baleno-official-review-232.html)

Hi everyone, I am looking at buying a 6yr old preloved Baleno (1.2Alpha, MT) with a mileage of ~50k on the odo. The car will run ~2k kms per month and I will be retrofitting it with CNG. The car seems to be in very good condition and barring a tyre swap, insurance renewal and the 50k servicing, no major spends on the horizon. If I go this route I would be able to make an outright purchase. However, the car would hit the 1lac kms mark in the next 2 years and considering I’d be the third owner, what kinda resell value would I get? On the other hand a new car would burden me with an EMI but I’d be able to run it for the next 4 years till it hits the 1lac km mark.
I’m inclined to pick up the Baleno but my concerns are as follows:
1. How will the car with the retrofitted CNG kit hold up from 50k to 1lac km?
2. Considering I’ll be the third owner selling the car with 1lac km on odo, how much value would I get when I sell/exchange it after 2yrs?

I’d greatly appreciate quick replies as I’m quite confused and want to close my conversation with the owner either way.

My Dec 2019's Baleno's 10000km Service experience is posted here -

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modif...ml#post5180882

Still looking like new nearly 2 years down the line



Cheers...

This is exactly why I have a hard time trusting Maruti cars. This is the model one gets in India. There was a similar story with the Swift as well. Zero Stars in safety rating in this day and age would lead to products being banned in other countries, but not in incredible India. If safety is a factor in consideration, just avoid the brand. They're able to achieve their prices because of severe cost cutting measures and compromising on safety.

Thank god I picked the Jazz over this one but again, since the Jazz hasn't been tested I don't know for sure what surprises will it spring up if at all it gets tested. Now back to the Balloono, such a stellar performance by a premium hatch sold by premium NEXA. A proper rock solid reason now for the existing owners to never take these glorified coffins out on the highways. Such compromised trash for India. Sad.

Not to defend Maruti or their neglect towards safety aspects, but Latin NCAP did update their testing policies and are now stricter than GNCAP.

It is such a shame and downright embarrassing. I have a Baleno too, and I feel awkward to take the car out. I thought at least they might score 2 stars, but they proved who they are. I am sure Maruti sales person would say that Latin Crash test car is different but do you think that Maruti sell a safer car here where we don’t have any crash tests?

It’s a slap in the face to all Baleno owners that is how I feel like. Everyone deserves a safer car. I am thinking about moving to a different car.

I have pasted this some 1+ year ago makes more sense now.

Which headlamp bulbs are people using on non-projector versions? My 2016 Zeta MT has a bulb failure almost every 1.5 years. Current bulb is Philips H4 12V 55/60 W. I have got the entire wiring checked twice, but no issue was found. There are no aftermarket accessories or electrical fitments added to the car.

Please suggest a good option for headlight bulbs.

Need suggestion from fellow bhpians.

I own a petrol 2015 model which recently completed 43000 km only. From last year onwards, the odometer is munching miles at a snail's pace and after getting harrier it is taken out for nearby errands only which contributes to less than 200 km in a month.

The last service was done from MASS in May 2020 when the odometer was at 39500 km and till now oil has not been changed. I have always used synthetic oil till now but considering the less usage ahead, I'm thinking to shift to the normal oil grade recommended by the MS in their manual.

Does it have any effect on the engine since I have used only Fully Synthetic engine oil till now or do I need to do the engine flush before switching to normal grade engine oil?

Looking forward to the recommendations/suggestions.

No issue, switch to mineral without any flush. But do ensure they put correct grade.

Regards,
Shashi

Looking for recommendation from fellow BHPians to diagnose an issue.

My Baleno has done 15K kilometers. I am trying to diagnose a noise; what I believe is rear left brake shoe rubbing the drums. This sounds is audible only after I drive 10-15km; which makes me believe it has to do with heating and expansion. Sound goes away when I engage brakes. Sound is like some light clicking/rubbing of parts, and become more frequent with speed.

I know the brake pads are slightly touching the drums even when the brakes are not depressed nor hand brake engaged. I was also hearing squeaking sound when I start the car after a few days of parking. This sound increases when I engage hand brake slightly but squeaking completely disappears after a few 10s of meters; confirming the the sound, along with the clear direction of the sound, that it is from rear left wheel. The other clicking sound that I am trying to diagnose also seem to be from the same wheel, but could not be sure. Correlating the sound with brake rubbing and squeaking, make me believe they are the left rear wheel brakes.

A few questions
1. 3 SAs separately confirmed that slight touching of brake shoes are OK! It sounds absurd to me. Any comments, please?
2. What should I check next as two visits to workshop hasn't fixed this? Technician loosened the rear brakes a bit and said further loosening will affect effectiveness of hand brakes. I am thinking of checking the hand brake cable, proper disengagement of hand brakes and whether there is a deformation of the drum; hoping the workshop has a vernier calipers. Technician had cleaned both drum and shoes with Emery paper while loosening the brakes. Still I could feel them touching slightly while rotating the wheel.

Front brake pads are brand new and the disks are scuffed; so the sound is not from sound brake. I had also changed the Rear Left wheel hub as the bearing were visibly (audibly? ) damaged. This noise was there even before I changed the hub too.

Is this due to the cost of synthetic oils? Maruti Suzuki has an in-house brand called Ecstar. Their fully synthetic oil is available for MRP Rs 1403/3.5L, which is manufactured by Shell.

While the garage took a few rounds to diagnose the issue, finally they narrowed down to front right wheel. The issue went away after they cleared some rust on the parts around caliper and applied grease. They believe it was the caliper not releasing fully.

Maruti Baleno turns millionaire in just 6 years, new Baleno launch in early 2022.



Link

After the last service of baleno boot was unable to lift on its own .I checked the boot struts for any leakage and upon cleaning them I found that they are made by Suspa liftline.I think OEM supplier is gabriel . Can fellow baleno owners please confirm .
I suspect that they were replaced with some other car during service.Since struts come under wear and tear parts can I claim warranty for them ?

My baleno also has suspa liftline. Boot struts generally show some signs of wear like opening the boot only till midway and we need to push them all the way up or they do not hold and start to fall a little before giving up, strange that yours gave up without any warnings as such.

How old is your car? I think they change under warranty within an year of delivery of the car but they do it under goodwill till 2 years I think , you can check with your service center.