The Maruti Baleno, launched back in 2015, is one of the biggest blockbusters from Maruti Suzuki. Designed in Turin, Italy, it has become quite popular over the years for its European design and for being a great overall package.
(Video courtesy - Musafir Aka Joshi)
While the Maruti Baleno looks quite alluring even in its stock form there are some motoring enthusiasts in India who have tastefully customized to make the hatchback look even sportier and an attention grabber. One such enthusiast is Aswin Saseedharan from the state of Kerala. The modified Maruti Baleno in question here is the pre-facelift car in the Delta petrol variant of made in 2016. It has noteworthy changes to exterior design, interior elements and technical bits under the skin.
Talking about the changes made to its exterior design, the customized Maruti Baleno, which has the original shade of Arctic White, here gets a mixed wrap job of matte black, red and grey colours towards the rear of its body and '09' lettering on the front doors.
The front grille, ORVMs, roof and rear spoiler are finished in glossy black, while the tail lamps get a smokey black effect. The tinted windows, coloured lip spoiler at the front and the six-spoke 17-inch alloy wheels further accentuate its sporty appeal. The headlamps comprise white lights, while the fog lamps are yellow LEDs. There's also a hidden yellow LED bar behind the air dam on the front bumper. Lastly, the ORVMs have been modified to include LED arrow signals on the glass.
Inside, this modified Maruti has Baleno-branded seat covers and additional padding on the door panels. The 2-DIN stock music system has been replaced here with a Pioneer touchscreen audio system. There's also an additional tablet screen, located on the dashboard, which displays all the necessary performance data on the go. The modified car features configurable ambient light the colour of which can be altered from a smartphone through bluetooth.
This customized Maruti Baleno also has a custom speaker system, including a 'Kicker' sub-woofer accompanied by two amplifiers from Hertz and Sony.
Under the hood, there's the K12M 1.2-litre engine. In factory tuning, this engine produces 62 kW (84.30 PS) at 6,000 rpm and 115 Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm. However, in this modified Maruti Baleno, it has been re-tuned by Pete's Performance. That modification is denoted by a Pete's Performance badge on the boot lid. The car rides on bigger 215/45-R17 tires and probably has a retuned suspension setup.
Maruti Suzuki gave a shot at a sportier Baleno with an RS variant, but because of the mediocre changes on that variant that didn't justify the high premium on the price, it didn't turn out to be a success in the market. The company permanently discontinued the Baleno RS earlier this year. Read more interesting 2021 Hyundai i20 vs Maruti Baleno
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