Jun 24, 2016 04:04 AM
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As I sit down to write my review of the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, I am somewhat conflicted. It is after all rather ironic that I am talking about an SUV becoming one of Maruti Suzuki's most significant products ever.
Why? It is a small car specialist that has built its reputation and its business - globally and more so in India - on the back of volumes from small cars. To be fair though the Vitara Brezza is a sub-compact SUV and so in that sense it too is a small car! The Vitara Brezza draws on Suzuki's SUV heritage that has seen limited yet noticeable success the world over with the Vitara nameplate.
The larger CR-V-sized Vitara may still come to India and so the linkage to a true blue(almost!) SUV is a good idea for the baby Vitara then.The diesel car has the now very familiar Fiat-derived 1.3 DDiS engine but(unlike its sibling - the Swift) in an 89 bhp spec.
The engine has a fair amount of lag though, and so can be a bit annoying in city traffic, with frequent gear changes and a it even stalled on me a couple of time. Maruti seems to have tuned it heavily towards efficiency and so it lacks a sting like we have seen with the Swift for instance. The mileage figure is an impressive 24.3 kmpl that Maruti claims is class-leading. But out on the open road is where the car belongs, because as you stay over 2000 rpm, the engine comes alive - no it sings! It isn't noisy, overtakes on quick downshifts nicely, and cruises very comfortably at higher speeds too.The car's looks are contemporary and attractive.
The rear will remind a bit of the S-Cross and the family resemblance is not a bad thing. The floating roof concept also makes the car look bigger, and in the ZDI+ trim is available on some colours in white or black(yellow and blue have the white roof, while the red gets the black roof option). The car sits tall and has a good ground clearance as well at 198mm. This compares well with the rivals that are in the same territory(EcoSport: 200mm, TUV300: 190mm).
