Maruti Vitara Brezza review, road test

Diesel, compact SUV, Maruti. The ingredients are all there but do they make for the perfect recipe? We find out.

Published on Jun 02, 2016 07:00:00 AM

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Vertical and upright stance, high ground clearance lend the Brezza its SUV credentials.

Dashboard design is devoid of design flair,is functional and build quality is average.

As mentioned earlier, the Brezza is currently offered with only one engine and gearbox combination. The familiar, Fiat-sourced DDiS200 engine makes 90hp and 200Nm of torque that has powered a wide range of cars and earned notoriety for its noticeable turbo-lag at low revs. On the Brezza, however, the turbo-lag isn’t as pronounced but you still need to cross 2,000rpm for the engine to properly wake up. Beyond that mark, there is a good surge of power all the way to about 5,000rpm, just shy of the redline of 5,300rpm which is quite high for a diesel. With this, the Brezza is very comfortable cruising on highways and overtaking is quite easy, even with a full load. When it comes to acceleration, the Brezza is quite quick and does the 0 to 100 kph in 12.96 seconds; that’s faster than the 1.5-litre Ford EcoSport diesel which takes 13.67 seconds.

In-gear too, the Brezza is the faster car with a 20-80kph in third gear time of 11.77 seconds but only by the tiniest of margins, with the Ford clocking 11.97 seconds. Extracting performance though does send the drone of the diesel motor right though the cabin but drive in a relaxed manner and the engine, road and wind noise, though present, are at an acceptable level. The overall gearing is on the shorter side and cruising at 100kph in fifth gear, the engine is turning over at a fairly busy 2,500rpm but it’s not that busy as to warrant a sixth gear. The gearbox shifts lack crispness but the clutch is light and with a good progression, making driving in start-stop traffic easy.