The Baleno has been a very-very important car for Maruti Suzuki since its launch in 2015 because of course it sells almost fifteen to twenty thousand units every month. Now it takes on the likes of the Hyundai i20, which of course took a big facelift last year at the Indian Auto Expo 2018. The Baleno itself hasn’t been updated since its launch, but now finally though Maruti Suzuki has given it its midlife update. So what’s new? Well that’s exactly what we’re here to tell you today.
Let’s begin with the prices and variants – the facelifted Baleno Petrol with manual gearbox is available in 4-variants and is priced from Rs 5.45 Lakhs to Rs 7.45 Lakhs. On the other hand, the Petrol Automatic is available in 3-variants ranging from Rs 7.48 Lakhs to Rs 8.77 Lakhs. While the popular Diesel version gets 4-variants priced from Rs 6.60 Lakhs to Rs. 8.60 Lakhs.
Now the real changes on the Baleno facelift are all on the front-end, apart from the fact that you do get a different set of 16-inch new brushed aluminum alloy wheels but the big difference of course is the front bumper – the front clip and the new grille. So it’s a lot more sculptured. It’s a different design language from Maruti Suzuki we haven’t really seen something like this before from them.
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It’s a little layered and it’s a little wavy. It’s quite cool if you like this sort of chunky design. The bumper of course is the other big difference as you get a much larger air-dam on the bottom and now the fog lamp cluster is separated out of that air-dam into a separate little console. It’s a nice little sort of design there too.
It’s quite surprising that the headlights themselves remain unchanged, but on the higher end variants you now get the LED bulbs instead of the HID bulbs that you got earlier.
Apart from that, the car does look slightly sportier as compared to the older, sort of more curved, more smoother Baleno, but again as I mentioned the changes are all on the front end except for those wheels and at the rear, there’s nothing really different.
Under the bonnet, Maruti Suzuki has not made any changes to the Baleno as it gets the same 1.2 Liter 4-Cylinder K12 Petrol Engine that makes 83 Bhp and 115 Nm of peak torque mated to a 5-Speed Manual or an automatic CVT.
The Diesel Engine is a 1.3 Liter 4-Cylinder Turbocharged DDIS engine that makes 75 Bhp at 190 Nm of peak torque and gets only a 5-Speed Manual option.
That brings us to the interior; Now in terms of overall dashboard design and colors it’s of course still the same. It’s still that big black dashboard. It’s still those gray bits on the center console which is rather likeable but the new change in the car is of course that new infotainment system. Now the hardware has been changed but the size is same. The hardware now comes from Harman as compared the older Bosch unit and it’s got more colors, it’s got a lot more contemporary user interface than before.
It still has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto – something that you expect out of a car in 2019 and still comes with the sort of climate control system. You also get that rather annoying but now sadly mandatory speed warning over 80 or 100 km per hour. It’s a single beep at regular intervals but over 120 Kmph it’s that rather annoying continuous beep that keeps on going.
In terms of other changes on the interior though and of course this is more major stuff, it’s the seats that have got a bit of a facelift. Tthe seats itself are the same in terms of overall shape and design but the materials are slightly different. You get a textured fabric now and it’s got a new two-tone black and blue design. Now this paired with the blue colored exterior looks really nice and it looks really well mated together. How it looks with the other colors remains to be checked but I think it looks a rather Sporty bit of touch as compared to save the other parts of the dashboard which are rather plain. So a little bit of color doesn’t hurt anybody it looks quite neat.
The 2019 Maruti Suzuki Baleno facelift will continue to sell from Marathi Suzuki’s premium NEXA showrooms and while the changes aren’t as extensive as say the ones on the CS facelift that was launched last year, the additions and updates will certainly add the popularity of this premium hatchback.