MARUTI SUZUKI BALENO

Maruti Baleno-The hot selling premium hatchback in India requires no introduction. Since its launch it is the first name comes to the minds of Indian car buyers when it comes to buy a premium hatchback car. It holds 57 percent market share in the premium hatchback segment in India.

Exterior

Front View: From the front it looks more sharper and aggressive than the old Baleno. It has an updated slopping bonnet line,larger grill and sharply cut headlamps. LED Projector headlamps and LED fog lamps are available with top end Alpha variant whereas the base variant comes with halogen lamps.

Signature LED Day time running lamps are also included in the Alpha variant. Overall it has a very attractive front view.

Side View: From the sides it looks similar to the previous model but Maruti has made few changes at sides. Shoulder line on both sides on this car makes it more sharper than the old Baleno. 

The top end Alpha variant comes with 16-inch dual tone alloy wheels, which looks beautiful. ORVMs are body coloured with turn indicator on them. Chrome door handles are provided. With all these things, the car looks more premium from sides.

Rear View: From the rear it is very much the old car.It has the same boot lid and thick bumper. Now it gets a pair of  updated 3-Elemented LED lamps. Rear wiper is also provided in the Alpha variant. 

Baleno have 318 Liter of usable boot space, a spare tyre is provided in the boot. Baleno is beautiful from the rear too.

Interior: It has an updated state-of-the-art premium interior. Now Baleno gets a newly designed dashboard, it looks good. Door pads and centre arm-rest are covered in soft fabric. Leather wrapped flat bottom steering wheel too feels premium. The steering wheel have tilt and telescopic adjustments. Baleno have  excellent front seats and they are well cushioned.

Height adjustable driver seat and tilt & telescopically adjustable steering wheel together helps to find an ideal driving position with ease in the Baleno. Baleno can accommodate three people at back seat. Back seat is also a very nice and comfortable seat. It has excellent thigh support. 

No arm rest and cup holders are there in this row. Head room and knee room are excellent at the back row. A/c vents and mobile charging sockets are also provided for back passengers.

Bottle holders are provided on all four doors. Two cup-holders are provided at front near the gear lever. There is decent space in the glove box. Small storage space is provided under the front arm rest too.

Features: At the centre of the dash we can see a free-standing 9-inch Samrtplay-Pro+ voice recognition infotainment system. It is a full HD-touch screen system. It can support Android Auto and Apple Carplay.

Head-up Display

The Baleno packs segment first features like head-up display and 360-dgree camera. Head-up display can be raised or lowered by the press of a switch. You can toggle several information's on this Head-up display like, speed and RPM, A/c fan speed,digital clock etc. Baleno have a very nice ARKAMYS tuned music system having excellent sound quality.

A 12V charger and a USB port is provided at the front. Volume and Cruise control switches are provided on the steering wheel. The car comes with automatic climat control A/c, push button start/stop, idle start stop and key less entry features too.

Drivability: The premium hatchback now comes with a powerful 1.2L K series, Dual VVT petrol engine with Idle start stop switch. This 1197cc petrol engine produces max.power of 89BHP@6000RPM and max.torq of 113Nm@4400RPM. The Baleno available in 5-speed Manual and AMT transmission options. Response from this engine is very good. Light clutch and slick gear shifts makes driving more comfortable.

When comes to AMT, the sluggish nature of the gear box is evident even though it is an advanced AMT gear box. Don't think that it is bad, it is an excellent gear box when compare with the usual AMT gear box. It feel sluggish only when we compare with other gear box options like CVT, Torque converter and  DCT. Maruti has updated the AMT for this new Baleno. It is a good transmission as long as you are on a normal day to day drive. As an AGS it gives the flexibility of switching between automatic and manual. You can put it on manual mode for those urgent moves and go on. The positive part of the AMT/AGS is that it is more fuel efficient than other automatic gear boxes.

Now the fuel efficiency is increased with this new engine and gear box set up. Maruti claims 22.35km/l for manual and 22.94km/l for AGS versions.

With this  update the high-speed stability of the car is improved. The suspension is also well tuned and it works silently. The car feels very pliant on uneven or broken roads. The car has good NVH levels. Tyre and road noise are very minimal inside the car. The car provides good riding comfort at the back seat too.

Safety: Baleno comes with dual front Air bags, ABS with EBD, ISOFIX child seat anchorage and rear parking sensors right from the base variant. The top Alpha variants get some additional safety features like 6-Airbags and ESP with Hill hold assist.

Summary: The price of the Baleno starts at Rs.6.49 Lakh and goes up to Rs.9.71 Lakh ex.showroom. The base variant is Sigma and the top variant is Alpha AGS. Baleno is a very beautyful and a comfortable car. Its price range, updated comfort, connectivity features and new safety features along with the availability of Automatic and Manual transmission options makes Baleno a sensible choice for a premium hatchback car buyer. It's a nice family car.

Wishing a Happy Drive.

You drive the car, don't let your car drive you.

Note: All the photos shown in this blog are taken from Maruti's nexaexperience.com website for presentation purpose only.