Maruti Baleno road test and review: Surprise package

[Roshun]

Call me old school, but when I hear the name Maruti Suzuki Baleno, I think of the sedan that existed in India between 1999 and 2006, which wasn’t really that popular. So when the Baleno was launched, I was one of those sceptics who thought the car deserved a different name.

Cut to October 2015 – the Maruti Baleno is launched as a premium hatchback priced between Rs. 4.99 lakh and Rs. 8.11 lakh and the reviews come tumbling in (See ZigWheels and CarDekho reviews). As was expected, it got mixed reactions. Everyone said it was light, not everyone liked the design, but everybody was of the opinion that it was Maruti’s best effort yet. Actually, it’s not even badged a Maruti. It’s called the Suzuki Baleno and sold through Maruti’s Nexa dealerships – a premium dealership network that also sells the slow-moving S-Cross.

The Baleno is a premium hatchback that offers Maruti Swift owners looking for something bigger and better a choice to upgrade to within the brand, instead of looking at cars such as the Hyundai Elite i20, Volkswagen Polo or Honda Jazz. (Read: Hyundai Elite i20 vs Volkswagen Polo vs Honda Jazz vs Maruti Baleno spec comparison)

The new Maruti Baleno has been built on an all new-platform and will be sold around the world, with India being the first market to get this premium hatchback. However, it does share some common parts with other Maruti Suzuki cars, which robs it of some of its freshness. Yet, it has something to offer for different types of buyers as it is fuel efficient, feature rich and incredibly spacious for a car under 4 metres in length. In fact, it would even lead some buyers looking at compact sedans such as the Honda Amaze and Maruti Dzire to reconsider their decisions and choose a premium hatchback instead.

Maruti Baleno Pros

• Incredible cabin space with enough legroom and shoulder room for five adults.
• Boot space of 339 litres makes it the second largest in its segment after the Honda Jazz and with more space than compact sedans such as the Maruti Dzire.
• Safety features such as dual airbags and ABS with EBD standard on all variants of the Baleno.
• Great fuel efficiency of 21.4 kmpl for petrol and 27.39 kmpl for diesel.
• Feature rich premium hatchback, includes daytime running lamps, push-button ignition, projector headlamps with HIDs, power folding mirrors, reverse camera, GPS navigation and more.

Maruti Baleno Cons

• Very light build quality, makes the car seem less solid compared to a Fiat Punto or Volkswagen Polo. The car is the largest in terms of dimensions, but is the lightest among all its competitors at just 865 Kg for the petrol, which is nearly 100 Kg lighter than even the Maruti Swift!
• Sharing of parts from Maruti Swift and Maruti Ciaz does not make the car seem special as interiors have a similar feel.
• Automatic variant is a CVT (constantly variable transmission) and available only on the Delta petrol variant (one above the base model). Not available in the Alpha and Zeta variants.
• Car available only through Nexa outlets, which limits its availability in all parts of India
• Same engine choices and similar power output as the cheaper Swift – 1.2 litre petrol and 1.3 litre diesel on the Baleno. This does not make this car appeal to enthusiasts who expected more power, at least 90PS instead of 75PS on the diesel.

Maruti Baleno Standouts

• Power and torque meters available on the multi-information display are not seen on any other budget segment car, and adds a sporty feel to the car.
• HID projector headlamps and daytime running lights on the top-end Alpha variant offer brilliant lighting.
• Apple Car Play integrated in the infotainment system allows for greater interactivity with IOS devices.
• Excellent rear-seat space which is better than that offered by some compact and mid-size sedans.

[Roshun]

Design and Styling

Exterior

Now design is a personal opinion – there may be folks out there who love it, and those that don’t quite as the Maruti Baleno has a rather controversial design. The front looks rather bland with the V-shaped grille leaving a large plain area between the swept back headlamps. The car has a “liquid flow” design according to Maruti, which means there are no sharp edges and the whole design is curvy and rounded off.

The fenders have a muscular bulge to them. The A and B pillars are blackened out to give it a floating roof effect like the Swift, while the shoulder line rises towards the rear, resulting in a smaller glass area for the rear passengers.

Viewed from the back, the Baleno is easily among the widest in its segment, with the corners being nicely rounded off by the LED tail-lamps. The rear windshield though is rather small and restricts visibility a bit, while the sloping roofline may hamper headroom for tall passengers in the rear seat. The Zeta and Alpha (top two) variants come with 16-inch alloy wheels, but the alloy design seems as if the car is shod with wheel caps.

Although the car is under 4 metres in length, when viewed in profile, the size is quite visible. Notice the blacked out pillars, with a contrasting chrome strip accentuating the rising window line. The small quarter glass at the rear adds to that airy feel in the cabin.

The rear three-quarter is my favourite angle to this car. I'm not quite a fan of the front end design as I had mentioned. Just look at the way the C-pillar curves gently into the tail-lamps. Very neatly done, Suzuki. Very neat.

The width seems even more wider than it is at the rear thanks to the chrome lip that runs the width of the hatch lid just below the rear glass, forming a bridge between the two tail-lamps. The actual glass area is rather restricted though.

There's a small reversing camera embedded in the chrome strip as well, which provides quite a large field of view, and in tandem with the parking sensors, makes for fairly easy parking despite the restricted rear view.

The headlamps are brilliant. The projectors have HIDs - H4 type bulbs with high and low beam in a single bulb. The light throw from the HIDs is good and it does really light up the immediate area in front of the car quite well. Also notice the LED daytime running lamp underlining the headlamps. The DRL becomes dimmer the moment the headlamp is switched on.

The tail-lamp too is made up of six LEDs. The rest of the cluster has the turn indicators and the reverse lamps. The three clear LEDs you see at the bottom of the lamp cluster are dummies. In the export models this would probably be the place where rear fog lamps would appear, but the Baleno as sold in India currently does not have rear fog lamps.

The DDIS badge on the fenders is the only giveaway externally as to what engine powers the Baleno. The 1.3 litre multijet in the Baleno is labelled as the DDIS 190, by Maruti, where 190 stands for the torque the engine in this configuration gives out. This same engine is also available as the DDIS200 in cars like the Ciaz, S-Cross (1.3) and Ertiga. We do wish Maruti had offered slightly more power in the Baleno as well. The petrol Baleno has no badging on its sides.

The front suspension is a McPherson strut unit that does a pretty good job of absorbing bumps from the road. Notice the wheel wells are fully cladded.

The suspension struts on the rear suspension intrude into boot space. The rear wheel wells too are fully cladded to reduce road noise, but there's still a fair amount that filters into the cabin.

The Baleno Alpha variant comes shod with 16-inch alloy wheels shod with 195/55 R16 Apollo Alnac 4G tyres. Even the VW Polo and Fiat Punto Abarth use Apollo Alnac's as OE equipment these days.

The spare wheel though is only a space-saver. It comes with a steel wheel that has 185/65 R15 MRF ZVTS tyres. This is strictly to be used only in an emergency, as the 80 kmph warning label suggests. This is the size that comes on the base variants of the Baleno otherwise.

Interior
The interiors have excellent fit and finish in terms of plastic quality and Maruti has chosen a grey and black interior theme for the Baleno, which gives it a more sophisticated feel, while being easier to maintain than all-beige interiors. The lower half of the cabin such as the door pads and dashboard are black with silver inserts, while the roof liner and pillars are light grey.

The quality of plastics is good, but not the segment best. It still feels a notch lower than the Hyundai Elite i20. The seat upholstery fabric also does not feel very premium and buyers would be better off picking good seat covers. But the support and contours of the seats are good. The arm-rest placed in between the front seats is rather short. The rear seat is among the best in class. The top-end variants get a 60:40 split folding seat with a completely flat bench allowing three adults to sit abreast easily.

The floor is fairly flat with only a mild bulge in the centre, so even a middle passenger would be comfortable. However, there are no rear AC vents unlike the i20 Elite and Fiat Punto. The boot can easily hold three medium sized suitcases in its 339 litres of space, and folding the seats allows for more. However, the seats don’t fold down flat like those in the Honda Jazz.

The use of black plastics and different textures does liven up the interiors of the Baleno. While the overall design of the dashboard is fresh, you will notice some familiar bits, like the steering wheel, the gear lever, the infotainment screen etc. These are shared with other Maruti Suzuki cars such as the Swift and Ciaz.

Space is the Baleno's USP. The front seats are wide and accommodating. Driver's seat is height adjustable on the Alpha variant. The use of grey and black has a much better appeal compared to the beige on other hatches.

The Baleno has a pretty wide foot well too, with the accelerator, brake and clutch pedals well spaced out. It also has a proper dead-pedal built into the floor that takes the pressure off your left leg on a long drive.

The rear seat in the Baleno is the most spacious among all the premium hatchbacks. It even has more space at the rear compared to the Honda Jazz. The floor is also pretty flat, which allows you to seat three abreast fairly easily.

Look at how much space a six-footer like CorsaVeloce has with the seat pushed all the way back. Under thigh support is OK for shorter individuals, but not that great for taller folks.

Headroom in the rear seat is decent enough for a six-footer. The rear headrests are adjustable.

Here's a quick measure of the minimum and maximum legroom in the Baleno. With the front seat fully pushed back you get 200mm of space and if you push it fully forward there's 480mm or nearly half a metre of space!

Boot space is a pretty generous 339 litres, which makes it the second biggest boot in the premium hatchback category. However, the loading lip is fairly high, which means you will have to lift and drop luggage into the boot.

A camera bag for perspective in the boot of the Baleno. There's enough space there for your weekend luggage, although the suspension struts eat into space on the sides a bit. The rear seats fold down in a 60:40 split, but don't fold fully flat.

There are small convenience touches in the boot such as a boot light and a baggage hook to hang light items.

Performance and handling, and features in following posts...

[Roshun]

Performance and Handling
Engine & transmission
The Maruti Baleno comes with a choice of two engines: A 1,197 cc, four-cylinder petrol engine putting out 83 bhp of power at 6000 rpm and torque of 115 Nm at 4000 rpm. This engine is mated to a five-speed manual transmission and also has the option of a CVT (automatic) on the Delta variant. The diesel Baleno comes with a 1,248 cc, four-cylinder diesel engine that puts out 74 bhp of power at 4000 rpm and 190 Nm of torque at 2000 rpm. Both these engines are shared with other Maruti vehicles such as the Swift, Dzire and Ritz. The petrol engine with the manual transmission feels very peppy thanks to the car’s light weight. The diesel is a tried and tested unit and pulls quite linearly with not much turbo lag. However, sound insulation could be better. The CVT petrol variant though is best suited only for city driving as quick acceleration makes the engine sound quite noisy and progress is not too quick.

Notice the slim NVH cover and different colouring under the bonnet. There is no underbody cover, and the engine is exposed from below.

In fact, you can glance through the engine down to the road below, as there's quite a bit of space around the engine bay.

The variant we picked up for this review was the Maruti Baleno 1.3 DDIS Alpha (the top-end diesel Baleno). Stepping into the car, is a breeze as you really don’t need the keys. Just keep them in your pocket, press the sensor on the either of the front door handles and step in.

Driving the Baleno
Once inside, you need to depress the clutch and press the start-stop button to fire up the engine. (For some strange reason the warning on the MID says press both brake and clutch – which is more from a safety standpoint, just in case the car is on a slope and handbrake not engaged). When cold there’s a fair bit of diesel clatter that you can hear from the engine – there’s not much sound insulation, and the thin body panels don’t help much. Even after the engine warms up you can distinctly hear the engine at all times.

The clutch is really light in the Baleno and the gear shift feels very positive, slotting in easily in each gear with a pretty short throw – pretty much the same as the Maruti Swift. The diesel 1.3 multi-jet, originally made by Fiat, is a familiar unit in India – and is so common that some even call it the “National Engine!” It is used by Tata, Maruti, Premier and General Motors besides Fiat itself.

When you drive away in the Baleno, you don’t get that same punch that you get in the Swift when you hit 2000 rpm. The engine has been mapped differently, more from a fuel efficiency standpoint and it pulls quite linearly. However, thanks to the car being nearly 100 Kg lighter than a Swift, it has a better power-to-weight ratio than the Swift, making it quicker. The party trick in the Baleno are the ‘Torque’ and ‘Power’ gauges, which made me try and rev as much as needed in each gear only to see the pie-chart graphs on the display get fully covered!

The electronic power steering is not unduly light and feels quite precise. There is a decent amount of feedback that you feel, which makes you pretty confident with quick lane changes. The feel you get driving the car is like you are driving a slightly wider Swift.

Suspension and ride quality
The Baleno is equipped with McPherson struts in front and a torsion beam rear suspension. The suspension struts at the rear eat up a little boot space, as they intrude into the cabin. Ride quality is good, although at high speeds the car does feel pretty light. If you hit a rough patch, it does tend to get thrown about – and that’s where you feel how light it is. In comparison, the Volkswagen Polo has a pretty planted feel.

The Baleno is tuned more for comfort than sportiness, which is a good thing. With 170mm of ground clearance, the car can handle its fair share of bad roads too. The brakes are sharp and at par with the Maruti Swift’s braking ability.

Fuel efficiency
As we told you earlier, Maruti has tuned the Baleno more for fuel efficiency. The use of plastic components in the engine and weight savings in the sheet metal and non-critical areas have made the Maruti Baleno the lightest car in its class, which translates to great fuel efficiency figures.

The gear ratios too have been optimized for better fuel economy. The petrol Maruti Baleno has an ARAI rated fuel efficiency of 21.4 kmpl, while the diesel with the use of synthetic engine oil and some weight savings from auxiliary components gives 27.39 kmpl.

During the time we had the Baleno with us, we got an average fuel efficiency of 17.4 kmpl with primarily city driving, although with long stretches of fifth gear driving the mileage jumped up to 22 kmpl.

[Roshun]

Maruti Baleno Features

Convenience
The Baleno comes with a host of convenience features. The Alpha variant has full keyless entry with sensors on both the front doors, allowing users to enter the car with the keys in their pockets. It comes with push-button ignition, power-folding mirrors, auto-locking doors, Bluetooth, touch-screen infotainment system with phone controls, navigation and reverse camera. It also has a comprehensive multi-information display that shows among other things the amount of torque and power that the car is using, fuel efficiency, individual door warnings, temperature and trip display.

The Maruti Baleno features full keyless entry with request sensors on both front doors. The push-button ignition to start/stop the car is to the right of the driver, near the door. Mirrors can power-fold.

The torque and power gauges on the Baleno are sweet. They are pretty useful too in helping you adapt your driving style to drive at optimum torque and power levels, which means minimum fuel consumption. The MID asks you to press the brake and clutch, along with the push-button to start, but actually only the clutch is needed. The MID also shows you exact doors that are open in addition to a light in the tachometer that warns of an open door. Average fuel economy, range and instant fuel economy are the other displays possible.

The MID also shows whether the ignition is switched on, current date and time, instantaneous fuel consumption graph with a zone showing where it has been most driven, as well as the total driving time.

The Baleno has the same infotainment system that the S-Cross and Maruti Ciaz use. This unit has GPS navigation and Apple Car play integrated in it. Pairing a Bluetooth device is fairly easy.

The display for the automatic climate control looks quite neat. The digital readout is clear, and can be seen in bright light as well. The placement of the buttons are logical, and they feel like they will last long.

Comfort
The Baleno is loaded with comfort features ranging from fully automatic climate control, to ambient lighting in the foot wells, height adjustable driver’s seat, tilt and reach adjustable steering wheel and height adjustable seat belts to find that perfect driving position. The rear seats split fold in a 60:40 split, allowing for flexibility in carrying passengers and luggage. There are wide door pockets that can hold one litre water bottles, illumination in the boot and glove box and 12 volt charging points at the front and rear.

Both sunshades get illuminated vanity mirrors with covers in the Baleno. The rear view mirror is auto-dimming in the Alpha variant. Bluetooth phone controls are located behind the steering wheel. The microphone for Bluetooth is in the cabin light assembly, which features twin reading lamps.

The Baleno Alpha variant features automatic headlamps, which are a good thing especially for those who cross tunnels or drive into building basements. Mirrors can be power-folded and doors can be electrically locked. Only the driver's window gets and auto down / up function. There are two 12-volt power sockets, one in front and one for rear passengers, but no rear AC vent. The front panel ahead of the gear lever, has two cupholders, USB and Aux sockets.

Safety
One good move by Maruti is on the safety front. The Baleno comes with dual airbags and ABS (anti-lock braking system) with EBD (electronic brake force distribution) as standard equipment on all variants. The top two variants also get UV cut glass on the windows to prevent the interiors from heating up, automatic headlamps, fog lamps and 16-inch alloy wheels, while the Delta variant upwards also get parking sensors, rear defogger and rear wiper. The Alpha variant also has a reverse camera with distance markings in it.

The glove box of the Baleno is a simple one - not chilled like the Hyundai i20 Elite. The door pockets are large enough in the front and rear to hold 1-litre water bottles. The arm rests on the door pad are also cushioned. Note the UV-cut (tinted) glass on the Baleno which helps keep the interiors cool. Since sun-film is now banned in India, this is a useful feature.

All variants of the Baleno come with dual front airbags and ABS (anti-lock braking) with EBD (electronic brakeforce distribution) as standard. The field of vision of the outside rear view mirrors could be better - they do seem rather small. Rear visibility is restricted. The slight recess on the rear parcel shelf prevents things from rolling on to the rear seat.

[Roshun]

Variants and Pricing
The Maruti Baleno is offered in four variants each in petrol and diesel: Sigma (base), Delta, Zeta and Alpha. The base Sigma variant is fairly well loaded in terms of features as it gets all the safety features, AC, power steering, central locking and front power windows. The Delta variant adds split folding rear seats, an infotainment system, electric mirrors, rear wiper, rear power windows, parking sensors and steering audio controls. The Zeta variant has alloy wheels, fog lamps, coloured information display, keyless entry, push-button start and UV glass. The Alpha adds a reverse camera, projector headlamps with DRLs, touch-screen infotainment system and GPS navigation. Prices start at Rs. 4.99 lakh for the Sigma petrol going up to Rs. 7.01 lakh for the Alpha petrol. The diesel range starts at Rs. 6.16 lakh going up to Rs. 8.11 lakh for the Alpha diesel.

For a full variant-wise price comparison: CLICK HERE

Key Competitors
The prices of the Maruti Baleno are quite aggressive and seem good value for money considering it is about Rs. 13,000 to Rs. 30,000 cheaper than its main rival the Hyundai Elite i20, when compared variant for variant. It also has more features to offer than the Elite i20. Where the i20 still scores is on engine power and fit and finish. When it comes to space, the Maruti Baleno is the best in terms of rear seat space, but loses out to the Honda Jazz in terms of boot space. When compared to the Volkswagen Polo, where the Baleno scores is on space, features and mileage, but loses out on power specifications in some variants and in overall build quality.

WHAT WE THINK
The Maruti Baleno is the ideal premium hatchback for buyers looking to upgrade from a Maruti Swift. It offers more space, more features and better safety kit, while offering the same tried and tested petrol and diesel engines, which are slightly more fuel efficient in the Baleno. In fact, it would actually be a better alternative to buyers considering a compact sedan like the Maruti Dzire, as the Baleno has more by way of space and features to offer at a price point that is quite similar.

As far as the diesel Maruti Baleno goes, I had to change my opinion on it after driving the car. Sure, I still am not a fan of the looks, but they do grow on you after a while. I loved the space and features the car has, and although I would have also clamoured for a more powerful engine, it does feel peppy enough. The fuel efficiency is a bonus. The sales charts over the past couple of months are testimony enough that people have taken to this car quite well. In fact, it has even forced Hyundai into upgrading the Elite i20 – which now comes with projector headlamps and daytime running lights to counter the threat from the Baleno.

[konarktyagi]

Brillant attention to detail Roshun CorsaVeloce. The lighter platform definitely gives it a great power to weight ratio. Would have loved the 90 PS tune in this one though. Lets see how the upcoming 1.0-litre Booster jet performs !

[CorsaVeloce]

konarktyagi, the BoosterJet is said to be hitting dealer stockyards soon! Hoping to get a drive soon.

[tush.desai]

Roshun Ji, Indeed a treat to read, very detailed and informative. Really good for technical readers.

[NikilSJ]

After the recent Union budget, Maruti Suzuki has hiked the prices of the entire Baleno range by Rs 4,000-16,000 depending on the variant. Here's a list of the updated prices ex-showroom Delhi.

Maruti Baleno Petrol

1. Maruti Baleno Sigma - Rs 5,15,263
2. Maruti Baleno Delta - Rs 5,80,711
3. Maruti Baleno Zeta - Rs 6,41,205
4. Maruti Baleno Alpha - Rs 7,11,776
5. Maruti Baleno Delta CVT - Rs 6,86,675

Maruti Baleno Diesel

1. Maruti Baleno Sigma - Rs 6,33,928
2. Maruti Baleno Delta - Rs 7,00,024
3. Maruti Baleno Zeta - Rs 7,61,258
4. Maruti Baleno Alpha - Rs 8,32,699

This is the second time the Baleno is receiving a price revision. The first times the prices were hiked was in January 2016, were buyers were asked to pay Rs 5,000- Rs 12,000 more depending on the variant.

[NikilSJ]

Maruti Suzuki’s parent company, Suzuki Motor Corporation, launched the ‘Made-in-India' Baleno in Japan today. The Baleno is currently manufactured in Manesar, Haryana only and this brilliant hatchback has sold over 38,000 units in India since launch. Maruti Suzuki plans on exporting the Baleno to over a 100 countries soon. The Baleno was launched in India on 26th October, 2015.

[NikilSJ]

The much awaited 1-litre BoosterJet turbocharged petrol engine that will make its debut with the Baleno RS may be retuned to suit our conditions. A latest report on Indian Autos Blog says that the BoosterJet engine that is manufactured in India and powers the export-spec Baleno produces 111PS and 160Nm of torque. Maruti engineers are likely to retune the engine because of the lower grade of fuel available in our country.

[Roshun]

Maruti is one of the first few manufacturers to start offering Apple Car Play in its infotainment systems. Of course, for that you need to have an iPhone and good network connectivity for it to work seamlessly. Android Auto hasn't made an appearance yet though. Here's video review of how Apple Car Play works in the Maruti Baleno, from gadget wala:

[Jijo_Malayil]

Baleno just became Maruti Suzuki's most exported model from India. 3400 units of Baleno was exported in the month of February, no wonder why the car has a 6-8 month waiting period! Just to give a perspective, 1645 units of the Alto 800 and 1,425 Swift was exported in the similar period.

[Jijo_Malayil]

Maruti Suzuki has introduced an CVT automatic transmission in its petrol Zeta variant in India, at a price tag of 7.47 lakh rupees (ex-showroom, Delhi). Earlier, only the petrol Delta variant had an automatic transmission option.

[kaiserketkar]

Maruti Suzuki has introduced an CVT automatic transmission in its petrol Zeta variant in India, at a price tag of 7.47 lakh rupees (ex-showroom, Delhi). Earlier, only the petrol Delta variant had an automatic transmission option.

I still fail to understand why Maruti don't launch the autobox in the Alpha variant. Same with Hyundai. Agreed, they might have their excuses for not launching it at launch. But now, so many months down the line, why not give the customer a fully loaded car with an automatic transmission?!