This review is more about the car buying and ownership experience.
I started as a confused buyer,
Had too many things in mind, cost, mileage, power, class, luxury, space...
I am kinda guy, who believes in trusted vehicles,
So, ruled out all the recently launched models,
I had zeroed in on 3 vehicles which fell in the bracket around 6 lakhs, Ford Fusion, Fiat Adventure and Suzuki Baleno.
I was head over heels for Fusion, when I first sat in it, felt really awesome.
The space inside and kind of small and useful designs it had, was really innovative, Like the space under the seat, Cup holders when you open the glove box...and above all a good engine and great ground clearance.
Fiat Adventure, I loved the test drive, and I wrote a review of the same in mouthshut. It’s an amazing vehicle.
I later read an article in Autocar magazine comparing these two vehicles as the urban man’s machines, they clearly pointed out that Adventure is the vehicle to go for, with an exception for its mileage. Now, I gave up on fusion.
Next, I took my father to the Tata-Fiat showroom, and he was not very impressed with the vehicle. He said we can’t do justice to the boot space that we have to carry around every time we use this car and it’s only going to accommodate 5 ppl, no big deal. But I managed to convince him, telling him about the ground clearance, The 100 PS engine and the finish of the car.The next day we started off towards the showroom to book the Fiat Adventure.
On the way I wanted to check the Suzuki Baleno the only vehicle to check before I buy a car,
So, we dropped into the Bimal showroom in Indiranagar (Bangalore). As we entered this relatively small Maruti showroom, we had a Baleno beefed up with a good music system, seat covers and amazingly looking alloy wheels. I skipped a beat. It was a silver LXI model, with 16' alloy wheels, leather seat covers with colors that went with the paint of the car. I knew this was the best feel I head between the 3 cars I wished to buy.
Baleno has better power to weight ratio, efficiency, acceleration (time to reach max speed) as compared to Adventure. Adventure takes two seconds extra to reach the same speed as the Baleno would take. But, Adventure has better boot space, fit and finish, looks and ground clearance.
We went for a test drive and oops I forgot about Adventure. Baleno has a 330 CC compressor for the AC that is compared to the Merc S Class. I have never gone in an S-Class, but Baleno`s AC was a miracle, within a minute or two the temperature was cool in the cabin and the seats were so comfortable.
The best part of Baleno was the smooth ride, the seating in Baleno is low and this is in accordance to design. A stable vehicle should have its Center of Gravity closest to the ground, and Baleno has just that.
Apart from this it also has independent suspensions on all four wheels, so less shakes and jerks on bad roads.
Had learnt from numerous reviews that it has a great lowend torque, so fewer gear shifts in city. Spare parts, the dealer gave me a list of the spares with its prices and compared it to the ones with Ford and Honda, we all know about Maruti spare parts, their ease of availability and cost.
Last but not the least, fuel economy of Baleno is claimed to be about 12kmpl in city with AC as compared to 10 kmpl of Adventure.
After all thoughts and price comparison, I got the quotation for Baleno LXI to be 5.98 on road compared to 6.2 of adventure. I wanted to buy a luxury car and not a wagon so I booked a Baleno, (My father was happy too :)). Bimal Auto Agency delivered the car as promised within 5 days, In spite of the finance approval needed.
5000 Km (2 Months) ownership experience
It gives me 12.5 KMPL in city and about 15KMPL on highway with AC working all the time. I have made a couple of long drives on this car.
We cut through the worst roads to Goa going through the Hubli deviation (Never go in this route, it’s a pain) But, Baleno never made a sigh.
We faced 2 problems with this vehicle,
The ground clearance is not enough on this car, one big hump and it will scrape the floor like the Kinetic Honda bike, Very irritating!!!
We drove through rough weathers, lotza rain, we suddenly smelt something burning, when we took it to a garage in a nearby village side the Mechanic told us, everything is working just fine and a baleno never fails. He owned one himself. It was the water drops which hit on the hot engine from below that gives that smell. Nothing to worry, keep going.
On the way to Wayanad (and Mangalore as well) we need to cut through some ghat sections, we observed:
Do not ascend the Ghats in the wrong gear, the car will keep moving but like it’s dragging you up with its last bit of energy.
I realized this car was a gem when I made the right gear change and it ran as if we were going on a flat road.
Also, when you find a tall hump try crossing the hump at an angle around 30-45 degrees, this makes sure that at any point two wheels are on the hump keeping the car high from the hump.
For the first service, I paid 475 and the car was delivered to my office. J
Overall, I am convinced Baleno is value for money, especially after the heavy discounts in the recent times.
I am concerned about the future of Baleno, there are plans to phase out this model.The new Baleno will come with different variants of engines, including the existing one, See this link for more information. https://autocarindia.com/new/Information.asp?id=1512
