Maruti Suzuki Baleno Hatchback: Technical Issues & Solutions

[drpkrai]

Hi guys, Like I planned took delivery of my Beast Mettle Baleno -Zeta(P) Premium silver on 7th of Nov from Surakshaa Nexa Bengaluru. Lucky to get her in a month after booking. Booked on 1st October,car was ready for delivery by 2nd November, I only postponed to 7th Nov.
Still in Hang over. Feels good that it's the 1st Baleno of our family, so everyone is checking it like anything. Drove all the way from Bangalore to Mangalore. Restricted myself badly not to go above 100+, even though my friend from Maruti,said you can revv above, as new cars are tuned for it.
It's new NEXA outlet, so they need to improvise,
Driving comfort is good, Smooth. Coming to
Suspension, it is not much irritating, because that stiffness only, she didn't got even single hit in any road humps/bad road of Gundya or my native, where usually gets hit in Mt Zen/Alto ,Already drove 500+ km. And I was using Alto for regular usage and many times drove Swift of ma in law's,i felt Suspension is better than Swift,(may be they sorted out in new batches). Tyre noise is less heard , didn't experimented with Tyre pressure, fear that it may reduce tyres life. Didn't check sitting in rear seat. Will check and share that soon.Overall I felt very comfy in highway and drove more than 50+ km, where road is very worst with full of stones, she drove well there too.
Many features yet explore. Fuel efficiency yet pick,
Driving more than 80km around the city in that heavy traffic of Bangalore,really spoiled FE , slowly she is coming up to 16.5km/Ltr.
Some questions are there,
Do Zeta gets Follow home feature?
Can we check Particular Trip mileage /FE separately in MID?

 

[itsmeKarthik]

Hi guys, Like I planned took delivery of my Beast Mettle Baleno -Zeta(P) Premium silver on 7th of Nov from Surakshaa Nexa Bengaluru. Lucky to get her in a month after booking. Booked on 1st October,car was ready for delivery by 2nd November, I only postponed to 7th Nov.
Still in Hang over. Feels good that it's the 1st Baleno of our family, so everyone is checking it like anything. Drove all the way from Bangalore to Mangalore. Restricted myself badly not to go above 100+, even though my friend from Maruti,said you can revv above, as new cars are tuned for it.
It's new NEXA outlet, so they need to improvise,
Driving comfort is good, Smooth. Coming to
Suspension, it is not much irritating, because that stiffness only, she didn't got even single hit in any road humps/bad road of Gundya or my native, where usually gets hit in Mt Zen/Alto ,Already drove 500+ km. And I was using Alto for regular usage and many times drove Swift of ma in law's,i felt Suspension is better than Swift,(may be they sorted out in new batches). Tyre noise is less heard , didn't experimented with Tyre pressure, fear that it may reduce tyres life. Didn't check sitting in rear seat. Will check and share that soon.Overall I felt very comfy in highway and drove more than 50+ km, where road is very worst with full of stones, she drove well there too.
Many features yet explore. Fuel efficiency yet pick,
Driving more than 80km around the city in that heavy traffic of Bangalore,really spoiled FE , slowly she is coming up to 16.5km/Ltr.
Some questions are there,
Do Zeta gets Follow home feature?
Can we check Particular Trip mileage /FE separately in MID?

Yeyyyyyyyy thats the good news about suspesion...Hope it will be fixed in 2017 model cars...I asked for 2017 model.

 

[jacob]

Hi guys, Like I planned took delivery of my Beast Mettle Baleno -Zeta(P) Premium silver on 7th of Nov from Surakshaa Nexa Bengaluru.

Congrats, I hope it was worth the wait, enjoy the Baleno.

Do Zeta gets Follow home feature?

Yes, It is called the guide me light. Refer to 2-106 of the owner's manual for instructions and while you are at it, go through the rest of it, all the very useful information you'll ever need about the Baleno is in the manual.

 

[ameyam]

Some thing weird happened yesterday. I was driving to work and came to a halt in traffic. As I did, the traffic moved and I began to release clutch in 1st gear. The car stalled. So I restarted it as is, with clutch depressed, still in 1st gear with the aircon etc on. Nothing surprising, its happened many times. However, this time the battery light on the dash didnt go off.
I am aware that light means the battery isint charging or the alternator has failed. Remember, my car has had an alternator replacement on the 3rd day of ownership. So I thought thats it, another alternator gone. I even cursed MS for delivering 3rd grade parts. But I couldnt stop there as there was a lot of traffic behind. So I drove the car normally till the next signal where I was able to stop the car in the last lane. I switched the car off and then started back up again. This time, the icon went off and it has remained off since. Car is driving quite normally
I called the ASC immediately and their response was that it could be a wiring problem. Thanks to the myriad issues I had with this car in the first couple of weeks, I have a direct line with MS Western India Service Head, so I called him. He was equally perplexed. He suggested to take the car to Sai Service Lower Parel which is across town from where I work. By then I had done scanning the ECU with the OBD scanner and there were no errors. So I suggested to him that I will keep the car under observation and will inform if there is any issue

Can someone enlighten me as to what is going on?

Ameyam

 

[jacob]

still in 1st gear with the aircon etc on.

It has happened to me as well, the red battery indicator stays for 20-30 secs before turning off. The few times my car stalled and twice the battery indicator appeared was when I hurriedly turn on the car without turning off the ac and headunit but didn't ever notice it after I restarted the car after turning off the AC and HU. I don't know the reason why or if it is just coincidence but it did seem to work.

 

[chsrdeepu8]

Some thing weird happened yesterday. I was driving to work and came to a halt in traffic. As I did, the traffic moved and I began to release clutch in 1st gear. The car stalled. So I restarted it as is, with clutch depressed, still in 1st gear with the aircon etc on. Nothing surprising, its happened many times. However, this time the battery light on the dash didnt go off.
I am aware that light means the battery isint charging or the alternator has failed. Remember, my car has had an alternator replacement on the 3rd day of ownership. So I thought thats it, another alternator gone. I even cursed MS for delivering 3rd grade parts. But I couldnt stop there as there was a lot of traffic behind. So I drove the car normally till the next signal where I was able to stop the car in the last lane. I switched the car off and then started back up again. This time, the icon went off and it has remained off since. Car is driving quite normally
I called the ASC immediately and their response was that it could be a wiring problem. Thanks to the myriad issues I had with this car in the first couple of weeks, I have a direct line with MS Western India Service Head, so I called him. He was equally perplexed. He suggested to take the car to Sai Service Lower Parel which is across town from where I work. By then I had done scanning the ECU with the OBD scanner and there were no errors. So I suggested to him that I will keep the car under observation and will inform if there is any issue

Can someone enlighten me as to what is going on?

Ameyam

Hi Ameyam,

Exactly what i posted 10months back.

Though it has never occured couple of times to me as well, it automatically went off after few mins.

Link to the post: battery icon

Seems like I'm not the only one who faced this.
Please update if you have any more info on this.

Thanks, Sandeep

 

[itsmeKarthik]

Hi All,
I have inquired about Baleno's Suspension to 3 of my friends who are bought the car within last 2 months. Among them one friend driven the car above 2000 Km. But none having issue with Suspension.

Maruti has sorted out the suspension issue i guess.
Good news for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[chsrdeepu8]

Hi All,
I have inquired about Baleno's Suspension to 3 of my friends who are bought the car within last 2 months. Among them one friend driven the car above 2000 Km. But none having issue with Suspension.

Maruti has sorted out the suspension issue i guess.
Good news for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its different to what i got to know.
There are no changes in Baleno except the Alloy wheel color change and updates to smartplay infotainment system and airbags system.

This is the info i got from 3 Nexas.

Sandeeo

 

[itsmeKarthik]

Its different to what i got to know.
There are no changes in Baleno except the Alloy wheel color change and updates to smartplay infotainment system and airbags system.

This is the info i got from 3 Nexas.

Sandeeo

Even i have asked them that, Are you facing any suspension issue in rear seat. All the three said that we didn't feel that suspension is hard and no issues with suspension.
That really gives me a confident to go ahead with Baleno. Because i have booked a month ago and awaiting for delivery.

 

[ameyam]

Actually, MS has made some updates I feel. However, even the ASC wont be able to confirm because, if a part has been replaced, the new and old part numbers will be the same (they are assigned by MS). The general consensus is that cars after June don't have the suspension issue and my own experience also matches. Heck, the cars after September are rumoured to even fix the soft body panel issues.


Besides the soft skin, the only other issue I am facing is a lock of low end power in my petrol i.e. the oomph off a standing start. Whilst not much can be done for the skin panels, I am planning to put in a better engine oil and am (still) waiting for the K&N replacement cartridge filter. Once those two things happen, the car should be much more easy to live with


Ameyam

 

[Alpha]

I am (still) waiting for the K&N replacement cartridge filter. Once those two things happen, the car should be much more easy to live with

Ameyam

Hello ameyam

I was at NEXA recently to check out S Cross with a friend. I didn't find any change in the sheet metal quality. The doors were still flexing like my own car (from the early batches) and boot lid still felt a bit tinny while closing. The RM was not sure about any changes done to Baleno officially, be it suspension or body.

How much kms has your car done? Switch to Castrol. A close friend is using Castrol Synthetic in his Swift and is praising it even after 5k+ kms. And not much can be done to the power delivery unless you look at expensive options like headers, exhaust or remaps. A K&N filter is not going to give much improvement without other performance upgrades. But if you have decided to get one, do update about any change you notice. I also find initial acceleration (from halt) a bit lacking, though it gets fine after 2k RPM. Key is to hold the gear longer.

Regards,
Alpha

 

[ameyam]

We tried pulling higher revs in 1st. The only thing that happens is a jerk as soon as you let go of the accelerator to change. I found changing inti 2nd gives better acceleration.

From my experience in the Swift, the K&n filter adds 5 to 10% on the accelerator. In the Swift, if i stopped at a signal, i always was the 1st to go when it changed. Thats when driving with a light foot. The fact is that the lack of acceleration we feel is due to tuning the engine for better FE.

By the way, do you also hear the juddering of the clutch on the front passenger side behind the firewall. I am hearing a rattle everytime whilst declutching. You can hear the transmission rattle when driving in lower gears

Ameyam

 

[Alpha]

We tried pulling higher revs in 1st. The only thing that happens is a jerk as soon as you let go of the accelerator to change. I found changing inti 2nd gives better acceleration.

Yes, there is a jerk as the pedal becomes too sensitive in 1st gear and needs very precise inputs. It can be overcome by keeping the revs to a similar level (i.e. if it was at 2.2k before upshift, start from 2k+ in second gear) but one has to be very careful and smooth as car goes too fast after upshift. When you want out and out acceleration, then holding the gear works otherwise driving sedately in 1st gear and shifting to 2nd at a low RPM is the only option. Revving in 1st gear for quick acceleration and becoming sedate after upshift causes this jerking as we tend to lift foot off the accelerator pedal during upshift.

From my experience in the Swift, the K&n filter adds 5 to 10% on the accelerator.

That's reassuring. What is the price of K&N?

The fact is that the lack of acceleration we feel is due to tuning the engine for better FE.

True. Still it is a decent performer in mid range as compared to other cars in this segment due to lighter weight. For me, the 16+ kmpl figures always on the MID make up for lack of acceleration. 2.5-4k RPM is the sweet spot for Baleno Petrol but FE gets down to (a more realistic) 14-15 kmpl.

By the way, do you also hear the juddering of the clutch on the front passenger side behind the firewall.

Nope. Mine is making squeaking noises from front seatbelts, no other problems.

Regards,
Alpha

 

[itsmeKarthik]

Does Martui has reduced the waiting period or still its 5-6 month????

 

[drpkrai]

Hi guys, my Zeta Petrol is crossed 1K, and did 1st service also, had been to long drive for my Karwar monthly Consultation. It's in God border. Distance From mangalore to Karwar is 270kms.
Here is some of my observations,
I revv in between upto 120-130km/hr in a good stretch road. She planted verly well. Awesome control while lowering speed.
Achieved 19.5km/ltr while going. My wife and my daughter were accompanied.
And while returning, I need to reach early, and this time we had my in laws in rear seat. Revv above 130+ in average. And road was empty in Sunday morning. Shown FE of 18.5km/ltr in MD. My in laws liked Boots pace, almost 2 suitcase+4 huge bags placed in boot without suffocation.
And they liked legroom.
And By evening we thought of going to Beach, we're we need to go though some rough road. And car was fully occupied as my cousin also joined us, there I felt the real face of suspension, OMG, even small concrete patch hit also felt inside cabin and so much bumpy. (whenever I drive alone or with single Co passenger, I never felt that much stiffness, ) I feel before 1st service I had one small journey with 3 Co passengers, that time I didn't felt this much discomfort. Felt let down in end of the day after that high way drive for choosing Baleno over Ford Figo Aspire /Hyundai I20 elite(which got awesome suspension, which glides so smooth on potholes/rough roads.
I Checked Tyre pressure it was 28psi in each Tyre.
Guys suggest me what can be done to improve drive comfort when car is fully occupied?
Is there any option of upgrading/to install new Suspension which will help smooth drive.