Some snaps of my Black Beauty.

Why a Baleno ?

A good question. Why the Baleno of all the cars available in the market ?

Well, I am by heart a staunch believer in the credo that if something can
be done with one hand, never use two. Translated to car speak, if a small
car fulfills your requirements, why go for a big car. I am not one of those
that go out on frequent road trips, have lots of stuff that they carry around,
thereby requiring a boot and thus need a sedan.
Also, I have been using a small car (the M800) for 20 long years since 1985.
I have done many Madras-Kerala trips on that car and never faced any problems.
And also believe in "Smaller the city, smaller your car".

So, the Baleno was not on my radar when I was scouting for a new car. Having
been a Suzuki user for 2 decades and having the best of experience with their
car, I did not need to look at any other manufacturer for my next car. I would
have again gone for an M800 or an Alto, but was quite eager to try out the
tall boy variety of cars which not only gave you a height advantage on the road
(like SUVs), but also made getting in and out of a car a lot easier. So, the WagonR
made sense and also identified the color as "midnight black".

But then, happened to test drive the Baleno (just for fun) and was hooked. The a/c
was awesome, seating just perfect and the power set my pulse racing. Lo and behold,
I had fallen flat on my face for a Baleno.

Now that I had the Baleno in my sights, I looked around for other comparable cars
in the same C-segment. The choices I had was the Ikon 1.6, Accent, Indigo, Corsa
and the new Honda City. The first four were straightaway rejected due to their
parentage ie. being American, Korean and Indian. As a rule I do not buy American
products if another option is available (stems from my disagreement with their
foreign policy) and as far as cars are concerned, American cars are pathetic when
fuel economy is concerned, which is a big factor for me. Korean cars are better
compared to American cars, but still have had issues like "car catching fire" and
again fuel economy not exactly near what I expect. And Indian cars - well, there
are serious quality issues and one thing I want for sure in my car is reliability.
Corsa though coming from the German Opel stable, is again a subsidiary of GM.

That left only the new Honda City in the race, which had kind of different (new?)
looks and rumours of having exceptional fuel economy - one newspaper indicated
highway mileage of 25kmpl which would mean around 18kmpl in the city, which
if it was true is exceptional. However, enquiries with their dealer indicated that
they were not in the mood to give any discount at all and I had to decide whether
it was worth paying 1.5 lacs more in the hope that I will get 1.5 times the mileage
of a Baleno.

So, a little practical thinking made me go for the Baleno. And that is it, a big story
told sweet and short.

Baleno Trivia

Some trivia about the Baleno :

1. The term "Baleno" means greased lightning / flash of lightning in Italian.
Well, that's what other cars would think when they see a Baleno zip past them.

2. The A/c in the Baleno is rated better than the one in the Benz S-class sedan.
No wonder, I do not need to use any more than the lowest fan setting even during
the peak summer in Chennai.

3. It has the best fuel economy among the cars in its class (12kmpl city driving with a/c
and 17kmpl on highways with a/c).
I can hear the Corsa, Accent, Optra owners moan their hearts out, given their city
mileage of 10, 10 and 8kmpl respectively.

4. Much has been said about the rear of the Baleno - that the lights could have been
designed better. But take a look at it from the front and experience the ecstacy of its
curves and the mean look that resembles the facial profile of a python.
Beware, this is one mean car.

5. A top speed of 175kmph means you can reach your destination faster.
I don't think any other car in its class comes close.