Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza a Threat to the Baleno?

Now, you might wonder why we are even comparing a compact SUV with a premium hatchback, all the more from cars that come from same manufacturer. Well, for starters both the Vitara Brezza and the Baleno are sold almost at a similar price point. While the base variant of the Vitara Brezza is priced at Rs. 6.99 lakh the Baleno comes at a starting price of Rs. 6.33 lakh (both ex-showroom Delhi). At the same time the top-of-the-line variant is priced at Rs. 9.54 lakh and Rs. 8.32 lakh respectively.

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza

Despite of coming from two totally different segments both the cars have very similar dimensions. The Vitara Brezza measures 3995mm in length, 1790mm in width and 1640mm in height, while the Baleno sized at 3995mm in length, 1745mm in width and 1500mm in height. To our surprise the Baleno has a larger wheelbase 2520mm compared to the Vitara Brezza that comes with a 2500mm wheelbase. That said, thanks to its increased height, the Vitara Brezza offers a slightly larger cabin space than the Baleno.

In addition to that most of the features and equipment offered with the Vitara Brezza are the once that we have already seen in the Baleno as well. Some of the similar features that you'll find in higher variants of both the cars include - all-black interior, 3-spoke multi-functional steering wheel, engine stop/start system, similar cabin quality, Apple CarPlay, reverse camera, ABS with EBD along with dual airbags, projector headlamps, and rain sensing vipers among others.

Maruti Suzuki Baleno

In fact even the mechanical offerings are a bit on the similar lines - both the Vitara Brezza and diesel variant of the Baleno come powered by the same 1.3-litre DDiS motor but are tuned differently. While the Baleno makes 74bhp and 190Nm of torque, the Vitara Brezza develops 89bhp and 200Nm of torque. Moreover both the cars share the same 5-speed manual gearbox that transmits power to the front wheels.

With most of the similarities listed down let's come to the part where the Vitara Brezza becomes a better package than the Baleno. The Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza offers some additional features like SUV-like styling, SmartLink, a larger cabin space, MirrorLink, remote control app for smartphone, guide lights, cooled glove box to list a few. So in a nutshell, the new Vitara Brezza is better looking, more powerful, well-equipped, and offers more features, but the Baleno offers most of them anyway and it is up to Rs. 1.2 lakh cheeper than the Vitara Brezza.

Variant-Wise Price List -