Recently, Maruti Suzuki launched the new Baleno. Baleno is a premium hatchback sold through Nexa Dealership. The premium hatchback market has changed significantly over the past few years; Baleno is considered a top player in this league. Launched back in 2015, the Baleno was always known for Spacious Interior, comfortable ride quality, and loads of features. Now Maruti Suzuki has updated the Baleno with a new front design, new features like Level 2 ADAS, and, more importantly, a new 1.2-liter 3-cylinder engine. Ut is the new Baleno a significant upgrade over the outgoing model.
Baleno goes BOLD!
The Baleno always had a fairly mature and understated design. The latest update doesn’t change its overall silhouette but the front-end has seen enough drama and some jazz. The changes here include a new bumper fitted with new fog lights, and the headlights are sharper now. The debate is about the new bold front grill; 3 stakes of chrome plates give it a bolder look, and the logo is shifted on the bonnet. Talking about the grill, it has more of a polarizing view; some may like it, some may not.
Move to the side, and there isn’t much that’s new. The overall profile, doors, and glasshouse remain largely unchanged. At the rear, Suzuki has added chrome garnish on the tailgate, while the shark-fin antenna adds a slightly more premium touch. Even the new Enigmatic Teal colour shade add some sophisication to the aesthetics. Overall the Baleno looks familiar, but the new front-end treatment helps distinguish it from the previous model.
More Features FTW!?
This is where the new Baleno has taken a significant step up. The biggest addition is Level 2 ADAS, a segment-first! This safety suite brings along a handful of features like adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, lane departure warning, lane departure prevention, forward collision warning, advance emergency braking, high beam assist, and vehicle sway warning.
The Baleno also gets a 360 degree camera which makes parking and manoevering in tight spaces much easier. Baleno even gets some more novelties in the form of ventilated cooling front seats and Clarion audio system. Other than this, it carries over all the features from the previous generation. Highlights include:
- 9-inch touchscreen infotainment system
- Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
- Head up display
- Qi Wireless charging with cooling feature
- Automatic Climate Control
- ABS
- EBD
- 6 Airbags
- Hill Hold Control
- TPMS
With the updates, Baleno is loaded with features to the brim, which makes it one of the most feature-loaded premium hatchbacks in the market. It’s noteworthy that most of the goodies are concentrated in the higher variants, which means the entry-level versions miss out on any substantial update to their features list
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Is 3>4?
The ride quality is decent, as we have seen in other Suzuki cars. The suspension absorbs most bumps and broken sections of road very well. Even over larger bumps the car stays composed. You mainly feel the sharper edges and particularly big road undulations. The handling is also predictable. The Baleno feels stable through the corners and doesn’t have excessive body roll while taking corners hard. Overall, it gives you a sense of confidence behind the wheel, while its light controls help you easily navigate through dense traffic, something I was quick to admire while making my way through Bengaluru streets.
Meanwhile, the engine is somewhat of a mixed bag. We drove the manual version, and the new three-cylinder engine doesn’t build speed with the same urgency as the older four-cylinder unit, especially the one I remember driving in the pre-BS6.2 era. The acceleration feels gradual, and the grunt that made the previous Baleno feel lively is noticeably missing. For normal city driving, though, the engine is perfectly adequate, and the car’s comfortable ride and predictable handling make it an easy everyday companion
That said, the new motor even lacks the refinement of the K-Series 4-potter it replaces, something I never really expected a 3-cylinder motor to match. However, it’s easily among the smoothest 3-cylinder small-capacity engines I’ve driven – full marks to Maruti Suzuki for the great work on NVH! . Moreover, what the new engine misses in grunt is made up for in fuel efficiency. Maruti Suzuki has clealry outdone itself (yet again) by setting a new benchmark in frugality. Kitna deti hai? 23.8 to 24.77 kmpl, if ARAI figures are to be believed.
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Should You Buy the New Maruti Suzuki Baleno?
The 2026 Baleno facelift makes the most sense for someone looking for a comfortable, practical, and feature-rich premium hatchback. If your travel is mostly limited to the city confines and you prefer a predictable ownership experience, you can buy this car with eyes closed. But if you are someone who often heads to highways, this might not be the best option, as overtaking on expressways, especially with a full load, would require careful planning. The engine starts feeling stressed anywhere above 110 km/h – it’s clearly a car that’s tuned to excel in urban environment. And available at a starting price of RS 6.09 lakhs (ex showroom ), the new Baleno remains a strong option for anyone looking for a no-nonsense hatchback that priortises ease of ownership, fuel-efficiency and latest tech-gadegtry over outright acceleration and rev-happy performance.
Editor’s Note
All said and done, the new Baleno isn’t a complete transformation. Instead, Maruti Suzuki has taken an already successful formula and improved it where it counts. Basically, it gets more frugal and even offers more tech and features. But in the process, the Baleno has got many steps further from the car that originally introduced the Baleno nameplate to India – a lightweight C2-segment sedan that came with a rev-happy petrol mill. From a rather thirsty sedan that was quick off the block, and even became the choice of many rallyists worth their salt, we now have a feature-laden practical hatchback that’s everything the original Baleno wasn’t – well-equipped, safe, fuel-efficient and, I daresay, rather dull. But that’s how market trends, ever-tightening emission norms and increased safety standards are known to reshape nameplates, right? Ultimately, consumer’s the king and who better understands Indian car buyers than Maruti Suzuki? Yatharth Chauhan, Head of Content
