ALL GROWN UP

The refreshed Baleno is a much more mature, sophisticated car than its predecessor

- Pablo Chaterji

My Maruti Suzuki Baleno story will always be the one where I got told off by the control room at the BIC for driving too fast'. Maybe there was some spinning out involved, maybe there wasn't let's not get into too much detail. The Baleno in question was the RS version, the short-lived hot hatch that Maruti briefly experimented with before pulling the plug (it didn't think upgrading the 1.0 boosterjet engine to meet BS6 norms was worth the trouble). I've always thought this was a shame, since the RS did amp the fun factor up. What it also did was to set a certain benchmark for entertainment for the Baleno, at least as far as I was concerned. Does the refreshed model live up to that standard? I drove it around north Goa to find out; it's a hardship posting, I know, but someone's gotta do it.

But first, that heads-up display that everyone's been talking about. A HUD is something that first appeared in aviation, so as to enable pilots to see critical information in their line of sight rather than having to look down. It soon trickled down to cars, and is normally found on high-end models (BMW loves HUDs, in particular), but Maruti has decided to put the HUD among the instrument panels (as it were) and make the Baleno stand out not just in its segment but a few notches above. In short, I like it — it's a great active safety feature because it allowed me to keep my eyes on the road while still being aware of speed, engine revs, fuel efficiency and the like. And it looks pretty slick, too.

Clean, readable analogue dials - nice to see