2015 Maruti Baleno long term review, first report
Maruti’s big hatchback ticks all the right boxes for a good city car. But, how good is it to live with on a day-to-day basis?
Published on Mar 12, 2016 06:00:00 AM
83,096 Views
Follow us on
Good illumination from projector headlamps makes night driving stress-free.
By Selvin Jose
Share - 
In less than two months of its launch, the Baleno already boasts more than 40,000 bookings. It is easy to see why – the Baleno is arguably the best-looking hatchback Maruti has ever made, not to mention the most spacious, fastest and most feature-loaded. Luckily for us, sitting in our garage for long-term testing was a petrol manual variant.
I jumped at the opportunity to grab the Baleno’s keys. The very next day, I took it for a 330-odd-km trip. Now, taking a petrol car for long journeys usually has a very prominent downside – the additional spend. And if you have a heavy right foot, like I admittedly do, things can get a bit too dear. But the Baleno dismissed all these notions. Much to my amazement, despite sinfully indulging in some air-splitting acceleration, it returned a very green 13.92kpl. The 1.2-litre K-Series motor, apart from being surprisingly efficient, felt lively and willing, more so than the Swift’s. On the broken sections of NH17, en-route Kashid, the good ride kept me and my co-passenger comfortable. The 170mm ground clearance ensured that not on a single instance did we scrape the underbody – not even on large speedbreakers. I also found the car to be very stable at high speeds – a confidence booster, for sure.
The projector headlamps on the Baleno are one of the best in a budget car yet, and visibility was greatly enhanced at night. The LED daytime running lights were a nice touch too, turning many heads. The top-spec Alpha variant has Apple CarPlay. I couldn’t quite use it this time around, what with me being an Android user, but word on the street is that an Android Auto integration might be in the pipeline. I was quite impressed by the 7-inch display, which was crisp, clear and well-placed and made reversing and parking easy.
Copyright (c) Autocar India. All rights reserved.
Detect my Current Location
Comments
Member Login
Personal Details
No comments yet. Be the first to comment.