Suzuki Baleno geared to stretch your fuel budget

The story you are reading is full of plagiarism, but it’s not the writer’s fault.

I shall explain. The Citizen Motoring has, since July, enjoyed the company of a Suzuki Baleno long-term test car in first GL and then GLX grade.

The vehicle has been passed from one scribe to the next, each choosing a specific topic to highlight.

Horses for courses

Mark Jones, our Road Test Editor and a real race car driver, will naturally concentrate on the car’s performance and handling prowess.

Our Head of Motoring Jaco van der Merwe, who has two young daughters, went on a mission to find out how much luggage the vehicle can hold.

And out online guru Charl Bosch, who has total recall and an insatiable need for facts, both large and trivial, pointed out that the Baleno and Toyota’s Starlet share a platform under their respective badges.

Being a real driving enthusiast, he also lauded the Baleno’s manual gearbox and bemoaned the fact that such cars will disappear in the near future.

Hitting the open road

This writer used the Suzuki Baleno GL for a 420km round trip to Phakisa Raceway between Odendaalsrus and Welkom in the Free State and pointed out that, over a long distance, it is amazingly fuel efficient. All of which led to the above-mentioned admission of plagiarism.

When I was given the Baleno to drive during the December holidays, I could not think of a single thing that this publication has not written about it.

ALSO READ: This time Suzuki Baleno geared to take fight to Toyota Starlet

For instance, we have already stated that the vehicle comes powered by a four-cylinder, 1 462cc petrol engine that produces 77kW of power at 6 000rpm and 138Nm of torque at 4 400rpm, which means I cannot mention it here.

Neither may I say that the grunt and twist goes to the front wheels via a five-speed manual gearbox, or that the wheels are 16-inch spoked alloys in 195/55 R16 tyres.

Suzuki Baleno specced to the brim

All repetitions from other stories, like ABS anchors with brake assist, EBA stability control, park distance control and hill-start assist.

I seem to recall also mentioning passive safety features like front and side airbags, six in number, an auto-dim rearview mirror, a surround view camera and LED daytime driving lights.

There is, I wrote previously, a multi-function steering wheel, cruise control, three USB ports, Bluetooth, a 12V power socket front, and a split rear seatback, that can be folded down to hugely improve luggage space.

ALSO READ: Suzuki Baleno like the perfect date – cheap and easy

Ah, here is something we have never mentioned before. The Baleno is 3 990mm long, 1 745mm wide and 1 500mm high, with a ground clearance of 150mm.

It also has a turning circle of 10.2 metres, which helped to make parking in tight spots a toddle.

Suzuki Baleno a pleasure to drive

Which brings us to the stuff that can not be officially measured. Like the fact that the Suzuki is not just easy to drive. It is a pleasure.

A race car it is not, but it involves you as a driver in a way disturbingly absent in many more expensive cars, that strive to cushion you from what is happening.

The Suzuki Baleno GLX feels planted, responds immediately and accurately to steering inputs and the Head-Up display on the windscreen means you do not have to take your eyes off the road to check your speed while going a bit too fast through corners.

That is one of the things this car does – it encourages you to go into twisties after braking a little too late. Then, when it sails through without drama or complaint, you tell yourself that you are actually a pretty good driver. A dangerous practice, at my age.

Running on fumes

Normally, we get a test car for a week with the option of refuelling it at the Caxton Garage once. Over December I ran the Suzuki on fumes before finally accepting I would have to part with some of my very limited cash to refuel.

In the process, I broke every economy run rule in the book, coasting out of gear whenever possible, slip-streaming trucks on the highway and switching off the engine whenever the car was stationary for longer than 30 seconds.

The result was an overall fuel consumption figure of 5.6 L/100 km – pretty much the same as when we drove it to Phakisa. That underlines how fuel-efficient the car is, without any of the above antics.

The Suzuki Baleno 1.5 GLX manual will set you back R281 900, which includes a five year/200 000 km warranty, plus a four-year/60 000 km service plan. Service intervals are 15 000km.