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To start with, this is a small ownership review of my Red Baleno RS whom I call ‘The Pussy Cat’. I know that’s a pretty lame name, but doesn’t matter to be honest.
Early 2017, I was in the market for a car, which should be fun to drive, and should have decent space inside, because I would use the car primarily for my home runs to Calicut, Kerala from my workplace in Bangalore. As I would use it only for weekends and long drives (Full Hibernate mode from Monday to Friday), I wasn’t at all looking for a Diesel, only a petrol. I was sure I would have to put the car on loan, at least half the amount of the car! I am not a car guy, was still a biker boy and used to travel long distances only on motorcycles. But getting married changed my fortune by a bit. While wife was comfortable riding along, Parents and Family weren’t. After long discussion regarding the same, I began the search for a car.
Plan was to test drive my list of cars from Bangalore, buy the car in Kerala as low tax amount meant I save almost 80k INR if I buy from Kerala. The Cars were shortlisted for test drive.
1. VW Polo GT
2. Honda Jazz
3. Abarth Punto
4. The Baleno RS
1. VW Polo GT
March first week, the first one I drove in the list was the Polo GT. I have been driving a Chevy Beat (Family Home car) for last 7 years and a legendary Maruti 800 1998 model before that. Went straight to VW Whitefield and was satisfied with their response. There was two 2017 Beetles welcoming me at the entrance. I was overwhelmed by the sales girl as well. She explained me everything about the car and details including the financial details. Though I wasn’t very keen on an automatic, a simple test drive cleared my mind. Boy oh Boy the DSG gearbox does magic. It shifts faster than any human being could possible shift on a manual. Things I noticed in test drive car was there was a shake of gear box area observed while shifting to 3rd and to 4th. Hardly matters as I have been driving an every vibey Beat Diesel. Took all details and got surprised that they had 2016 models in March 17 and was offering insurance and some discount if I chose a 2016 model. The price still was a little over 11L and that is in Compact SUV territory. I was sure I wanted a hatchback and not a wannabe SUV. Left VW with a grin on my face and talked with the sales person and made them understand that I would be taking the car from Kerala only since the tax benefits and sales person even though may not be laughing inside, seemed OK with that.
The only negative they had was their service center. I was very much aware of their horror stories. VAG is very well known for absolute nightmare of services to customer once the car needs a service, and I would rate VW India second from last, marginally losing to Skoda India on the last position. The only good response I got of a VW service is from a couple of friends who owns a Polo and a Vento, probably they are too much in like of the car, more than the service. Exceptional cars, pathetic service. Still I loved the car for the way it behaved. The rear seat leg room wasn’t great either. The transmission tunnel was way too high as well which caught my eye. But hey, I would be driving and the rear occupants would adjust, at least my mind was saying this!
Things began to take a different route when I visited VW Calicut. I went there to book the car on a fine Saturday morning. The 2017 model is what I get (no info of the same in VW India website), the showroom people said it came with 16 inch alloys and a new spoiler. I was happy. Almost at the time of booking, asked the showroom guy about the On-road price. The guy quoted me around 30k more than what they said me a week ago through phone. The difference? The 2017 model came with as Sport Kit. It included roof sticker (black), side stickers on all 4 doors, some seat cover costing 15k and some other nit bits. I said why I would take a sports kit when I don’t want it. God I cannot imagine getting stickers on the doors, no matter how well they looked. Made it clear to them I do not want that and they said it’s a compulsory accessory. Really? Seat cover and roof stickers are compulsory? I noticed a change in their tone as well after this. They said they were selling around 1000 Polo GT’s per month from the very same showroom alone (Polo sells less that 2k units all over India combined, per month). I don’t know what the reason for their comments were, and then they were clueless about delivery. They had pending orders of 30 VW Polo GT’s as per the guy I talked to, and mine would come in 2-5 months. Really?![[frustration]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Frustration.gif "Frustration [frustration]")
Bangalore showroom said they would deliver me the next day. I wasn’t taking any of these. Talk about customer satisfaction. I knew if sales can give me headaches like these, what would the service give? It was a sad reality that I had to leave VW Calicut Showroom without booking the GT. I don’t want a rats a$$ for what I am paying for and the customer service was pathetic. Extremely pathetic. I did not mind to send a mail to VW for the disappointment caused by the dealer, as there were enough substitute cars available in the market. Polo GT went down the drain, the very same day.
2. Honda Jazz
Next, I was at Honda Whitefield. I and my friend waited there for around 10 minutes and finally a lady turns up. I wanted details of Jazz, and a test drive. I had driven the old Jazz plenty, but this is different, at least in looks. She made us wait another 10 minutes to arrange the test drive vehicle, only to inform later that it was not available. There was no Jazz in display as well for me to just take a look at the interiors. One was ready for delivery and I wanted to take a look at the interior, just a look by opening any door. The lady said that’s not possible since it was a car ready to get delivered. I don’t know what will happen if I open the door of the same and take a look inside. She promised me a call back and they would come to my home for test drive and took my number. Ok fine, let them call I thought. A call never came and there went the Jazz dream. Really Bad from Honda. That engine was a gem, way too silent, but was very lazy as well. The same reason I let go of the Elite i20 was that I needed a little more mid-range. Hopefully this Jazz also did not have the performance I wanted and there goes the Jazz out of the list.
3. Abarth Punto
Here comes something that can be called as a hot hatch, looking at what’s written on paper. I had driven this car way before, hence did not go for a test drive. This is one of the cars which pulls you down to the seat if you floor the pedal. But I was afraid of FIAT. They could pack their bags and go home tomorrow (I am suffering now with the Beat since Chevy packed their bags and left India). And the mediocre interiors, coupled with age old looks and ever changing Fiat dealerships made me tick this off from my list. I am a sucker for the engine and performance, but I needed a total package. So there goes the Abarth Punto.
4. Baleno RS
Now, why the Baleno? I was one of the guys who looked ahead of Maruti’s in India, because majority blamed the different quality of cars that Maruti Suzuki served in India and Suzuki served abroad. For example the Swift. I had to agree that the bumpers, doors etc of Swifts sold abroad are much better in quality and strength compared to the ones sold in India. Source? Myself. I have felt the difference personally on my couple of trips abroad. I was not very sure if this is for all their cars, then I thought I would investigate further. Called a cousin in Italy, where made in India Balenos are sold and asked him to check out the car and give me a feedback. He assured me that it’s the same as we get here(he had seen the Baleno 1.2 from India in 2015 at launch time), but has a lower ground clearance, side and curtain airbags, a cruise control and certain other features which were absent in Indian version. Rest assured, the build quality was the same which was based on the new HEARTEC platform.![[clap]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Clap.gif "Clap [clap]")
Now with Baleno in mind, need to fix which model. The legendary 1.2 NA Alpha, or the 1.0L Boosterjet powered Baleno RS. Went to Popular Nexa, Calicut for details. Talk about services. The SA’s Ragesh and Gokul were superb. They knew everything about the car. I went there asking for the Baleno RS, with a request to test drive the 1.2 NA as well. Test drove both, I liked both. They let me drive both as much as I wanted. 1.2 could do with a little better low end grudge, but that’s an engine made for India. Refined, reliable and easy to maintain. RS has a different personality. More power, yes more power. I remembered why I skipped the Polo MPI, Jazz, i20 etc and I cannot really leave the RS after leaving the GT and Punto Abarth and I was running out of options. Spacious interiors, could see the grin on mom’s face who sat in the back. Superb boot space as well. I was happy, they were happy. The RS has tremendous mid-range which I could use on my drives, which includes 80% highway runs. Refined for a 3-cylinder, but less refined compared to the 1.2NA. But hey, that’s how 3 cylinders behave. 101 horses and 150nm of Torque. Light weight aiding a superb power to weight ratio. The urge of the turbo once it cross 1.7k rpm mark, and not to forget the manual gearbox and rear disc brakes. Tremendous bite and feedback on offer, there I have it. That’s my car. Booked it paying 11k INR, with a waiting period of 3 months. Got delivery in 2months itself, when the MSIL Gujarat plant started operations and was happy.
Got her home and have since run 8000 kms till date. 2000 more and the third and last free service. I would write down my first two service experiences later. Hope this review is helpful to someone. Moreover I am a little inclined towards the Japanese automakers for their Reliability. Had owned a Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki and now a Suzuki. None of them have given me any concerns about reliability till date. May miss the fun quotients as compared to Germans and Italians, but that’s my personal preference. And about the engine, this is not an alto K10 engine fitted with a Turbo. It’s a completely different engine with completely different internal parts and won’t match each other in case of a short supply of parts. And an FYI, the Baleno RS’s 1.0L Boosterjet engine is fully imported from Suzuki's Sagara Plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. You get a made in Japan engine, but there is a catch. Do not expect the engine parts price to be anywhere close to the 1.2NA, which is made in India. I would post more details regarding the same later. Rest assured, the car is superb, and the only thing I miss in this car is the Cruise Control.
Early 2017, I was in the market for a car, which should be fun to drive, and should have decent space inside, because I would use the car primarily for my home runs to Calicut, Kerala from my workplace in Bangalore. As I would use it only for weekends and long drives (Full Hibernate mode from Monday to Friday), I wasn’t at all looking for a Diesel, only a petrol. I was sure I would have to put the car on loan, at least half the amount of the car! I am not a car guy, was still a biker boy and used to travel long distances only on motorcycles. But getting married changed my fortune by a bit. While wife was comfortable riding along, Parents and Family weren’t. After long discussion regarding the same, I began the search for a car.
Plan was to test drive my list of cars from Bangalore, buy the car in Kerala as low tax amount meant I save almost 80k INR if I buy from Kerala. The Cars were shortlisted for test drive.
1. VW Polo GT
2. Honda Jazz
3. Abarth Punto
4. The Baleno RS
1. VW Polo GT
March first week, the first one I drove in the list was the Polo GT. I have been driving a Chevy Beat (Family Home car) for last 7 years and a legendary Maruti 800 1998 model before that. Went straight to VW Whitefield and was satisfied with their response. There was two 2017 Beetles welcoming me at the entrance. I was overwhelmed by the sales girl as well. She explained me everything about the car and details including the financial details. Though I wasn’t very keen on an automatic, a simple test drive cleared my mind. Boy oh Boy the DSG gearbox does magic. It shifts faster than any human being could possible shift on a manual. Things I noticed in test drive car was there was a shake of gear box area observed while shifting to 3rd and to 4th. Hardly matters as I have been driving an every vibey Beat Diesel. Took all details and got surprised that they had 2016 models in March 17 and was offering insurance and some discount if I chose a 2016 model. The price still was a little over 11L and that is in Compact SUV territory. I was sure I wanted a hatchback and not a wannabe SUV. Left VW with a grin on my face and talked with the sales person and made them understand that I would be taking the car from Kerala only since the tax benefits and sales person even though may not be laughing inside, seemed OK with that.
The only negative they had was their service center. I was very much aware of their horror stories. VAG is very well known for absolute nightmare of services to customer once the car needs a service, and I would rate VW India second from last, marginally losing to Skoda India on the last position. The only good response I got of a VW service is from a couple of friends who owns a Polo and a Vento, probably they are too much in like of the car, more than the service. Exceptional cars, pathetic service. Still I loved the car for the way it behaved. The rear seat leg room wasn’t great either. The transmission tunnel was way too high as well which caught my eye. But hey, I would be driving and the rear occupants would adjust, at least my mind was saying this!
Things began to take a different route when I visited VW Calicut. I went there to book the car on a fine Saturday morning. The 2017 model is what I get (no info of the same in VW India website), the showroom people said it came with 16 inch alloys and a new spoiler. I was happy. Almost at the time of booking, asked the showroom guy about the On-road price. The guy quoted me around 30k more than what they said me a week ago through phone. The difference? The 2017 model came with as Sport Kit. It included roof sticker (black), side stickers on all 4 doors, some seat cover costing 15k and some other nit bits. I said why I would take a sports kit when I don’t want it. God I cannot imagine getting stickers on the doors, no matter how well they looked. Made it clear to them I do not want that and they said it’s a compulsory accessory. Really? Seat cover and roof stickers are compulsory? I noticed a change in their tone as well after this. They said they were selling around 1000 Polo GT’s per month from the very same showroom alone (Polo sells less that 2k units all over India combined, per month). I don’t know what the reason for their comments were, and then they were clueless about delivery. They had pending orders of 30 VW Polo GT’s as per the guy I talked to, and mine would come in 2-5 months. Really?
Bangalore showroom said they would deliver me the next day. I wasn’t taking any of these. Talk about customer satisfaction. I knew if sales can give me headaches like these, what would the service give? It was a sad reality that I had to leave VW Calicut Showroom without booking the GT. I don’t want a rats a$$ for what I am paying for and the customer service was pathetic. Extremely pathetic. I did not mind to send a mail to VW for the disappointment caused by the dealer, as there were enough substitute cars available in the market. Polo GT went down the drain, the very same day.
2. Honda Jazz
Next, I was at Honda Whitefield. I and my friend waited there for around 10 minutes and finally a lady turns up. I wanted details of Jazz, and a test drive. I had driven the old Jazz plenty, but this is different, at least in looks. She made us wait another 10 minutes to arrange the test drive vehicle, only to inform later that it was not available. There was no Jazz in display as well for me to just take a look at the interiors. One was ready for delivery and I wanted to take a look at the interior, just a look by opening any door. The lady said that’s not possible since it was a car ready to get delivered. I don’t know what will happen if I open the door of the same and take a look inside. She promised me a call back and they would come to my home for test drive and took my number. Ok fine, let them call I thought. A call never came and there went the Jazz dream. Really Bad from Honda. That engine was a gem, way too silent, but was very lazy as well. The same reason I let go of the Elite i20 was that I needed a little more mid-range. Hopefully this Jazz also did not have the performance I wanted and there goes the Jazz out of the list.
3. Abarth Punto
Here comes something that can be called as a hot hatch, looking at what’s written on paper. I had driven this car way before, hence did not go for a test drive. This is one of the cars which pulls you down to the seat if you floor the pedal. But I was afraid of FIAT. They could pack their bags and go home tomorrow (I am suffering now with the Beat since Chevy packed their bags and left India). And the mediocre interiors, coupled with age old looks and ever changing Fiat dealerships made me tick this off from my list. I am a sucker for the engine and performance, but I needed a total package. So there goes the Abarth Punto.
4. Baleno RS
Now, why the Baleno? I was one of the guys who looked ahead of Maruti’s in India, because majority blamed the different quality of cars that Maruti Suzuki served in India and Suzuki served abroad. For example the Swift. I had to agree that the bumpers, doors etc of Swifts sold abroad are much better in quality and strength compared to the ones sold in India. Source? Myself. I have felt the difference personally on my couple of trips abroad. I was not very sure if this is for all their cars, then I thought I would investigate further. Called a cousin in Italy, where made in India Balenos are sold and asked him to check out the car and give me a feedback. He assured me that it’s the same as we get here(he had seen the Baleno 1.2 from India in 2015 at launch time), but has a lower ground clearance, side and curtain airbags, a cruise control and certain other features which were absent in Indian version. Rest assured, the build quality was the same which was based on the new HEARTEC platform.
Now with Baleno in mind, need to fix which model. The legendary 1.2 NA Alpha, or the 1.0L Boosterjet powered Baleno RS. Went to Popular Nexa, Calicut for details. Talk about services. The SA’s Ragesh and Gokul were superb. They knew everything about the car. I went there asking for the Baleno RS, with a request to test drive the 1.2 NA as well. Test drove both, I liked both. They let me drive both as much as I wanted. 1.2 could do with a little better low end grudge, but that’s an engine made for India. Refined, reliable and easy to maintain. RS has a different personality. More power, yes more power. I remembered why I skipped the Polo MPI, Jazz, i20 etc and I cannot really leave the RS after leaving the GT and Punto Abarth and I was running out of options. Spacious interiors, could see the grin on mom’s face who sat in the back. Superb boot space as well. I was happy, they were happy. The RS has tremendous mid-range which I could use on my drives, which includes 80% highway runs. Refined for a 3-cylinder, but less refined compared to the 1.2NA. But hey, that’s how 3 cylinders behave. 101 horses and 150nm of Torque. Light weight aiding a superb power to weight ratio. The urge of the turbo once it cross 1.7k rpm mark, and not to forget the manual gearbox and rear disc brakes. Tremendous bite and feedback on offer, there I have it. That’s my car. Booked it paying 11k INR, with a waiting period of 3 months. Got delivery in 2months itself, when the MSIL Gujarat plant started operations and was happy.
Got her home and have since run 8000 kms till date. 2000 more and the third and last free service. I would write down my first two service experiences later. Hope this review is helpful to someone. Moreover I am a little inclined towards the Japanese automakers for their Reliability. Had owned a Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki and now a Suzuki. None of them have given me any concerns about reliability till date. May miss the fun quotients as compared to Germans and Italians, but that’s my personal preference. And about the engine, this is not an alto K10 engine fitted with a Turbo. It’s a completely different engine with completely different internal parts and won’t match each other in case of a short supply of parts. And an FYI, the Baleno RS’s 1.0L Boosterjet engine is fully imported from Suzuki's Sagara Plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. You get a made in Japan engine, but there is a catch. Do not expect the engine parts price to be anywhere close to the 1.2NA, which is made in India. I would post more details regarding the same later. Rest assured, the car is superb, and the only thing I miss in this car is the Cruise Control.
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