Maruti Suzuki Baleno diesel long term review: After 9,180km and 3 months
The Baleno completes three months in the OD garage and it's clocked close to 10,000km already. The highlight of this car has to be the diesel motor and the comfortable ride. I even drove Bert's S-Cross recently and felt that the Baleno is a lot more refined and relaxed in comparison. This is surprising since the S-Cross is the more premium offering from Nexa.
The front seats are larger than in most rivals and offer great support. The soft side support, however, is beginning to lose shape, something we didn't expect to give way this soon. My parents visited me recently and we decided to head out of town for a few days. They were impressed with the cabin space, especially at the rear and even said it felt like being seated in a larger car.
Despite the car's large dimensions, it doesn't feel that way from behind the wheel. Turning radius is smaller than rivals and only slightly more than smaller cars like the Alto and Celerio. This makes it a boon to drive in town. Fuel efficiency is impressive â€" the car has been returning an overall figure above 16kmpl.
The Apple CarPlay feature is quite handy. Not only am I able to stream my favourite music, the voice search button on the steering wheel activates Siri. I can then make calls, send text messages or even search the web. However, the CarPlay app doesn't respond at times while the audio is muted when using a few apps on the phone. It still is in its initial stage now and these issues should smoothen out in the future. The Baleno is due for its third free service. More on that in the next report.
Total mileage: 9,180km, date acquired: Dec'15, This Month Mileage: 6,442km, fuel: 368 litres, efficiency: 17.5kmpl