Maruti Suzuki Baleno [2015-2019] User Reviews

Exterior This car improves upon the siwft in every department. But what stands out the most is the styling of the car. It truly is a great looking car and unlike Swift it won't have a polarizing effect on people. Most peolpe will love the looks

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) This car has by far the most features in any camparable segment. Add to it the premimum looking dashboard theme, one of the best odometer displayes around, best in class space, most comfortable seats, entertainment system (in top and mid variants) and there is no doubt it is the class leader in permium hatchback segment.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox The Engine is the same as in Swift. However, improved gearbox, reduced weight of the car and better aerodynamics, make this even peppier to drive than the Swift. On top of it the mileage is atleast 10% than swift in both Petrol and Diesel variants.

Ride Quality & Handling This car has a good GC. however it is not very tall. Along with that is pretty wide. This coupled with reduced weight tha the car is fun to drive. It is peppier than the swift and handles rough roads and corners really well. It is a drivers car and most people would love it.

Final Words Given the pricing of this car, I have no doubt about its commercial success. It will eat into Swifts sales the most becuase: A)Swift sells the most itself and B)it beats Swift in every department and is only marginally costlier than the Swift.

I won't be surprised to see either a price drop and a whole lot of offers on Swift by the end of this fiscal year.

Areas of improvement I can't think of anything in particular but a more powerful Diesel engine woudl have made it th undisputed leader of this segment.

Exterior

 it cannot be compared with I20 Elite. Front is decent enough looks better in top end with projecter handlamps and day time runnig LED, back looks  superbs! big windows makes it look better from side as well.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort)

  Interiors gives a feeling of big segment car. Nothing left to be added. Now maruti has introuce a car with international styling

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox

Baleno petrol doesn't get engine cover and heat insulation for exhaust outlet from engine which exposes the nearby wiring to high temperatures and I have noticed little melting of plastic covering of wiring.

Ride Quality & Handling

 unstable ride at high speeds. Even this may be an issue.

Final Words

 Immediately Maruti needs to correct the faults

Areas of improvement  

 I think there is a issue with Baleno 2015 -

Baleno petrol doesn't get engine cover and heat insulation for exhaust outlet from engine which exposes the nearby wiring to high temperatures and I have noticed little melting of plastic covering of wiring.

unstable ride at high speeds. Even this may be an issue.

Exterior Design is aweosme.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Spacious. comfortable if you travel in front seat.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Gears are smooth, fuel economy i could found it as 12.44 in a test drive vehicle.

Ride Quality & Handling Ride quality and handling is nice.

Final Words Think twice before you own this car for a family. driving comfort is awesome and no questions about it. However,you can feel vibration when you travel in the back seat.  Open the bootleg door inspect properly, in the upper part you could find poor finishing.

Nexa are meant for premium cars and how can a baleno can be a premium car if you cannot travel comfortably in the back seat and finishing is not so good.

Some people could feel that clutch is poorly designed and height of the clutch is high.

Areas of improvement Clutch positioning and comfort at the back seat.

Exterior The presence of the car is felt as soon as it appears in front of us. Amazing Design. Daytime Running Lamps add to the design.

Projector headlamps inspire much confidence during night drive (these are automatic headlamps which double up as follow me lamps). 

PS-Styling is dependent on ones own prefrences.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Amazing and bold step by Maruti to go for all black interiors. Kudos for it. Never ending legroom is a big plus for this car. To add to this 2 airbags, Abs and Ebd as standard form base variants is great.

Interior features like 7 inch touchscreen is quick responsive (preloaded Maps, Apple Carplay, doubles up as reversing cam), parking sensors, voice command able to recognise Indian accents, boot lamp, 3 reading lamps, illuminated glove box, illuminated boot well,  Auto climate control AC, amazing speakers 4+2 with awesome sound quality, extremely detailed MID with tonnes of information and graphics (real time average, distance to empty, real time power and torque display, driving pattern, detail information of each drive when one turns off the car,)

Enough space to kip things and 4 1L bottles.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Average wise its Outstanding. have driven 1710 kms in 24 days. City average is 23.7 currently and average oh highway was 25.2. (Average economy of 24.4 kmpl).

Engine is a bit noisy and audible at low speeds of around 40-45 kmph, after that its not audible and the engine never lacks a punch after 1800 rpm. 

Gear box is smooth and easy to shift.

Ride Quality & Handling Ride quality is good and small potholes are taken down without any fuss and never seem to loose you comfort at any given time.

Car handles really well even at the spped of 135-140 kmph and you never feel that the car is out of control. The confidence that the car inspires makes you feel really comfortable and worryfree.

Final Words Had booked elite i20. Never wanted to buy a baleno looking at the bhp figure of 74.

Took a test drive of baleno and was impressed like anything. The figure of 74 bhp can be misleading as the weight of the car is cut down by a lot and strength is also improved with the use of new age materials. 74 bhp are truly impressive and the car is a delight to drive.

TRULY MADE OF METTLE

Areas of improvement Noise of engine that enters into cabin can be and should be cut down for low speeds. Apart from this it has no real issues and I can easily say Baleno would dislodge i20 as the leader of premium hatchback segment.

Exterior Excellent but kya fak padta hai jab mileage hi nahi ahi.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Should have been of Biege Color.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox WORST FUEL ECONOMY- No one in NEXA is ready to take ownership/resolve my complaint -all time pass and time waste sweet phone calls only. Every will start giving you GYAN - how to drive - as if we dont know the driving - its been 35 years of driving experience.

Ride Quality & Handling Too many features - they should expalin all features nicle and not in a hurry.

Final Words Forget about / Beware of Fuel Economy for which Suzuki was known for. It should not be a problem for Suzuki to resolve the issue.

Areas of improvement Fuel Economy / After Sales Service (Poor). Listen to customer/user complaints patiently - NEXA staff should not start giving GYAN to experienced custoemrs. Resolve the problem and move forward shouild be the thought process.

Exterior From the front side it looks very good but not same as zeta and alpha (since no DRL and fog lamps and projector headlamps).

from side profile no chrome handle and no chrome at windows. It still looks very decent without it.

From rear it does not have LED tail lamp and chrome plate but still manages to look good due to rear spoiler.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Inside space is big plus for this car. seats are comfortable. Auto AC and music system are good. Stearing conttrol is helpful and console looks fab with its blue light.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Engine has low noise. fuel economy yet not measured. Gearbox is smooth.

Ride Quality & Handling Ride quality as of now looks good. Will comment on it after driving it on highways.

Final Words Its a real value for money car. We get most of the modern features along with necessary safety features. Looks premium, has good boot space and you love to be inside.

Areas of improvement Internal plastic quality could have been a little better. we can see nuts and bolts at few places which should have been covered.

Some accesaries are not yet available to buy. I think they a add a good variety of different accessories to customise the car a little.

Exterior Good exterior. Missing is chrome finishing at handles and rear end for Delta.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Space and comfort is good .Space is not like Jazz but still makes good impression. Plastic quality used is a bit low . 60:40 split of rear seat is really a good feature.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Due to reduced wieght of body , fuel economy is visibly good than swift. Gear box shifting for this perticular VVT engine is good ans smooth. Engine is well proven ( Fiat ). Maintenance cost will be as same as Swift as Maruti don't want to take any chance of loosing market. Even for servicing , you don't need to go to NEXA showrooms. Local Maruti Suzuki authorised service stations are there for it.

Ride Quality & Handling Ride quality is far better than Swift and other Maruti Suzuki cars . ABS and EBD makes you feel safer and width and length makes the car stable on corners and high speeds. But still I20 has best in class ride quality.

Final Words Good car from Maruti Suzuki but NEXA makes you feel irritated as there are located in big cities and you need to travel to those cities for booking,test drives.But NEXA people are quite descent and treat you very well. After all, buying car is different than maintaining. Maruti Suzuki offers good support to everything,less spares prices ,low maintenance cost as they have got huge network in India.

Areas of improvement Nothing as such at this moment . May be Ground clearance should have been more as it has larger wheel base than Swift (by 90 mm). Bending at centre may cause it to touch high objects. At the beginning ,waiting period is too high and it doesn't suit to Maruti Suzuki.

Exterior is Good.

Interior is very spacious, front seat is very comfort and i drove 300KM non stop but i didnt feel the back pain. Back seat could have been better interms of under thigh support. Music System & speaker is ok. AC is fantastic, it cools the cars very quickly even when outside temp is 40 degree celsius. Steering is very soft and gear is very crisp, easy to handle.

Boot is very spacious. Suspension is ok. I drive in city and highway both. i m getting average mileage of 20.3 (Petrol).

The Main drawback in this car is lack of pickup when its below 1500 RPM. But after 2000-2500 RPM it does fly and very smooth.

I drove in maximum speed of 140 KMPH. Interior plastic quality should be improved as Maruthi says it a premium car and the plastic quality is like indica cab.

Overall, its good for highway riding. Those who travel frequently for long distance can go for this car. If you are looking for car for city drive, go for different one.

I am a proud Automobile Designer and have worked with some major Automobile brands in India. I have sketched, designed and tested many successful products for the Indian automotive market. Working in the Industry I am very well aware of the cost cutting and how the companies and their R&Ds are making products and compromising on quality of the new products. It is very sad to state the experience of the New Baleno. I have been driving all kinds of 4 wheelers and 2 wheelers for 15+ years now.

I am sad to state that there are a series of problems with the new Baleno. I am listing out the main ones-

1)      Brakes – Worst experience ever.  I have the top model with ABS and every equipment possible. The brakes feel very weird and don’t give a good feedback when braking. They are somehow very moody. The ABS doesn’t function how it should.  The tires skid most of the times even when braking at slower speeds. I am afraid to go at higher speeds as I have no trust on the brakes.

2)      Tyres – I am sorry but the stock tyres (Apollo Tyres) have a really bad grip. They have road noise and are very hard. I am changing the tires for safety reasons and my car has done 8000 kms so far. Trending Word of mouth from many other users at the service center - ‘We won’t take Apollo tyres even if they sell for free.’

3)      The projector lamps- the only thing the projector lamps in the new Baleno do is just look Cool. Functionally they are very poor. I and my father are bound to change some driving manners here. We have always used dipper as a habit/manners, but we are changing our habit now because of this car. The low beam is the poorest of all and the light gets cut in a straight line, giving a black and white pattern on the road, even when it’s in the top raised position. There is no vision beyond 3-4meters(max) in low beam. We have to keep it in the high beam mode all the time to at least see clearly. The projector lamps vibrate a lot too. It seems that the lower model’s bulb headlamps are better than these worthless projectors.

4)      Worst of all suspension- The quality of the suspension is very poor. On the potholes and scenarios such as the Black and yellow Plastic speed breakers it is impossible to go smoothly as the suspension is very hard and makes a strong ‘Thud’ in the panels inside. It seems as the dashboard will come off because of the impact and the ‘Thud’ sound. Not at all appealing. The suspension in the cars from other OEMs, in this segment are much better, safer, softer and smooth.

5)      Infotainment system has a very bad User Interface and looks very old and is not very user friendly. The output of the system is very bad. There are presets but none is apt and can be compared to any other car sound system. The worst part is that even if you try and set it manually the output still remains bad.  The speakers are low quality. The system and the screen hangs too and one has to stop and restart the car to reboot it at times.

6)      Plastic and sheet metal quality- I just tried to press the front bumper of my SX4 and could feel how strong it is in quality as it did not bend at all and was sturdy enough. On the other hand I tried pressing the front bumper of the new Baleno and the plastic could bend easily. Same is with the sheet metal. I guess this is enough to say about it.

These are the main problems out of many that we are facing and I am very sure that these are happening due to the cost cutting and commonizing of parts. I understand it’s a volume game but I am really sorry to say that there is not even the so called premium feel to the car in terms of performance and basic driving feel. Maruti Suzuki has built up a good premium brand image with the advertising content with ‘NEXA’ but I am really sad to say that the products are only premium in pricing and nothing else. There is nothing premium in hearing your suspension sound ‘Thud’ on every pothole and when you don’t even trust the brakes and the tires of your Ride.

I feel that I have made a mistake of buying this car for my father as his safety is my top priority and I don’t feel he is safe in this car. Undoubtedly the car is feature packed but the brands these days are only focusing on features and none on the basic ride quality and safety. I really don’t know how ARAI could pass such a product in terms of braking and basic ride quality standards.