A good turbo car for petrol heads

Exterior Like all baleno, there is nothing much to differentiate expect for the sporty looking fron mesh grill and the slightly re-designed rear bumper with side skirts which  tries to add some charcter to the car.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) It comes with all bells and whistles which one would expect from a baleno alpha trim. Rear space is pretty awesome and enough for 3 average sized adults for medium to short time journeys.  The provided infotainment system does a decent job but the GPS GUI has lot to be desired for as its pretty non-intuitive and could be sometimes daunting to use while searching for destination. They could have made is more like any andriod google maps. Visiblity is great overall but the A-pillar could be an hinderance while taking corners. The provided AC is excellent and chills the cabin in a commendable time and ensures you won't miss the rear AC vents which are now being a standard fitment in most other car brands. 

I am overall very happy with this purchase!

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Here is where this car shines and is one of the influencing point in my purchase decision. The boosterjet is basically an alto K10 engine with a turbocharger (hence K10C) which is an imported unit. It produce close to 100BHP and 150NM of torque and is free revving unit. Due to a 3-cylinder setup, it can be pretty vocal at higher rpms and the noise tends to seeping into the cabin. There is almost no turbo lags and the punch begins from close to 1200rpm. As for any turbo petrol unit being gentle on the throttle, the car rewards you with excellent milage, I was able to pull up the acclaimed 21kmpl in highway runs while in city you could except close to 14 with bumper to bumper traffic. With the provided power band and the excellent gear box overtaking on any gear is hassle free. The is power avaialable on all of the gears.The third gear is the most useful one which as better balance of power. Gearbox could be little notchy at first use but it would ease up as you continue to use it. It has a shorter throw and is very nicely mated to the engine. Power is spread very nicely and present in all of the gears.  For heavy footers, please be prepare to see single digit milage as any turbo petrol, it can guzzle up a lot.

If you are looking for true blue hot hatch, you should be looking elsewhere (Volkswagon or Fiat), but if you want a better car with an amazing engine from Maruti's stable this one should your pick in hatchbacks. 

Ride Quality & Handling The cabin remains quite in most of the times, since the suspension is tuned a bit more harder one could feel the bumps and potholes little more than normal balenos. But on the other side suspension setups does a very decent job and there is almost no body rolls nor the rear side waviness that one can feel with balenos in general especially when driving with no passengers.

The steering feels very light but wieghs up nicely at higher speeds, but its almost lifeless and almost doesn't self center which is a hit or miss affair, I personally liked honda's steering which does give quite a lot of feedback in comparision. 

Final Words In the given price bracket its the only car which ticked all the boxes in my list:

- Spacecious interior.

- Comfortable riding and able to carry 5. 

- Turbo charged motor which is docile in city speeds but becomes a beast when demanded. 

- Wide service network.

Areas of improvement  

- Cabin insulation could have been little better.

- The infotainment could have been made to resemble more like an andriod phone espcially the map app is clunky and could be little daunting to use. 

- Steering, its a drawback, they could have made it more communicating one and a tad more self centering ablity.

Space, comfort and power on tap.Suspension is on the harder side which is good as well bad. Overall build quality is average.