After shifting over to Pune from Bangalore last December, I wanted to go in for purchasing my first car and I knew for sure what I wanted to buy : an used Old Honda City (OHC)! I am (or should I say "was") a die hard fan of the OHC and having driven my friend’s OHC VTEC sometime ago, I knew for sure that it was the car that I wanted to own. Not having enough faith in the local used car dealers, I tried approaching Automart Pune to check its availability but to my utter dismay they had none! Their executive told me that OHC’s rarely come up for sale and when they do, they are picked up like hot cakes. Being bent upon OHC, I decided to wait for a while!
My wife & kid joined me in Pune after a month’s time and taking them out on a motor bike in the cold Pune weather and the pot-hole ridden roads was proving to be very tough. I kept calling Automart guys asking for updates but to no avail!! Though I contemplated buying a new car, the pot-hole ridden Pune roads and the erratic traffic sense of the drivers out here put me off and more so, I was not sure as to how long I would stay in Pune. I did not want to go through the harrowing experience of car transfers & additional road taxes if I wanted to take back my car to Bangalore after buying it in Pune.
Amidst this, I got a call from Automart guys saying that they have a Black Baleno LXi model that has come up for sale and they offered me a test drive. Though I had never considered the Baleno (the very looks had put me off), I thought of just test driving it for the heck of it. The D-Day arrived & the automart guys came along with the car and that I was the first time I really looked at the Baleno with some interest. My first impression was : Hmmm......not bad or not as bad as I had anticipated!!! The Black sedan looked quite seductive for the first time, she had alloy wheels, a rear spoiler but quite an ugly gash on the bonnet!! What have I got to do with it anyways, I wondered, I am just taking a test drive for the heck of it!!!
I slid into the driving seat which was pretty low by my standards, though I am not very tall, I was used to the Omni’s and the Ikon’s :-) Wife & kiddy got in the back while the automart chap sat beside me in the front. I tried switching on the ignition & presumed that it failed to start but was reminded that the engine was running by the automart guy!!! It was completely noiseless (all windows were drawn up), I revved it up and then felt the powerful engine grunting under the hood, all raring to go!!! I somehow had a feeling that I had already started liking the beast!! The gear shift was really smooth and we set sailing (literally!!), the power steering was hopelessly light(!!) and I never even had to place my foot on the gas pedal before the vehicle zipped ahead. We got out of our apartment complex and hit the pot-hole ridden road, doing about 30kmph in III gear(!!) & somehow the pot-holes seemed to have been filled up!!! boy oh boy!!! we were literally sailing!!!
I tried to console myself, I am not buying this dirty looker just for this, let me see how she behaves on the highway!! We reached a small stretch of good road and I stepped on the gas pedal quite a bit!! We had zoomed past 80Kmph (I found it hard to believe the speedometer first and had to roll down the windows to sort of cross check that!!!) I switched on the AC and hoped for a power down surge, well, I was in for a shock, I never felt anything amiss!!! Turned the blower to full speed and within 10 secs my wife at the back asked me to turn off the AC, it was getting too cold in the back!!! I swerved the car and she behaved very very well and finally broke the dream drive by braking, the car obliged with very little resistance!! Good brakes!!! Turned around, started driving back home and now looked at the interiors but not very keenly :-) Though the plastic was cheap, interiors not so good, my un-conscious mind was still feasting on the quality of drive, the comfort, the power & the suspensions!!!!
I had made up my mind but still had to seek an opinion from my Home Ministry!! I remember the days when I closely followed the pre-launch ads, photos, hype etc of Swift and fell in love with it but when I eagerly took my wife to look at it, my wife flatly refused to sit in the car saying that it had (out)dated looks!!! Luckily, no efforts were required for this!! On the contrary, she had very much liked the car!!! Looks are surely subjective & Women are for sure so un-predictable!!! But I was not complaining for sure :)
A little bit of haggling and couple of calls from Automart Bangalore later, we had decided on the rates, Rs 4.65L for a 2 year old Baleno Lxi which had clocked just about 12K Kms. Dealing with Automart guys was a real pleasure and things went on smooth and they did a real good job of refurbishing the car & I could hardly recognise the car when it was finally delivered. It was almost brand new, shining bright & without traces of any scratch!! Kudos Automart!!
I have clocked about 6K Kms till now and it has been a real pleasure driving the babe!! The following are what I like the most about the car :
Great pickup - 94bhp@6000rpm with a max torque of 132Nm@3000rpm - the flat torque allows you to drive slower at higher gears, I can coolly do a 25Kmph in III gear and this helps in minimal gear shifting : easy to drive in city limits
Loovely suspensions : Both front & rear have McPherson struts but I am not sure what is that extra thing that gives such a comfort drive!!
Great power steering consisting of rack & pinion assisted by hydraulic power
Super cool AC & electronically adjustable side mirrors
Decent mileage of about 16Kmpl in city+highway drive with 50% AC
Great leg room both in the front & the rear and of course a biig boot
The following are something’s that is found lacking :
The head light is really poor, reminds me of my bajaj scooter whose headlamp I fondly referred to as lanterns!!! This seems to be a generic problem with the Balenos which makes it difficult for night drives and I need to change them asap.
My over crowded Baleno (5 adults+2 teenagers) scrapped the basement while I was negotiating an awkward road hump...thought the ground clearance is nothing much to crib about, it for sure is a concern while negotiating steep humps!
While negotiating a steep curve at a high speed on the Mulshi ghat, I lost control of the car for a moment and that was when I felt the need for a wider tyre but for all practical purposes, the default one (165/80R13) would suffice.
I am one happy Baleno owner as of today and would urge new buyers to consider this car once before going in for any other cars in the same segment, it’s a real value for money!!!
Sorry for the loong review but I felt that I had to share my experience of buying this car, just the way it happened :-)