You can easily relate to Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza—it’s got that SUV-next-door appearance, it’s highly fuel efficient, it is fun to drive, and it produces a noticeable diesel clutter whenever you fire the engine. In the new petrol Vitara Brezza, you will miss that last feature that had become a part of this compact SUV’s personality. We drive it in Goa.
What is the Vitara Brezza?
First launched in 2016, the Vitara Brezza is India’s most popular compact SUV (sub-4 metre)—in four years more than 5 lakh units of this SUV have been sold. It was earlier available only in a diesel engine option; now, diesel has been replaced with petrol.
What defines its design?
It’s not flashy and doesn’t stand out on the roads as far as design is concerned. Exterior changes include a pair of LED projector headlamps with integrated LED DRLs; the new turn indicators look cool. It also has a new front grille and a slightly redesigned rear section. Now that a full model change is expected in 2-3 years, Maruti Suzuki has kept the changes subtle.
How is the cabin?
It’s not flashy, but functional. Top-end variants get a leather-wrapped steering wheel. All controls are within easy reach of the driver, and functional elements include the 60:40 split and foldable rear seats, sliding front armrest, quite a spacious cabin and connectivity features (Smartplay Studio). While you can connect the Vitara Brezza to your smartphone and access connectivity features via the touchscreen, it’s not in the league of the Hyundai Venue, which has an embedded SIM and takes car connectivity onto a different plane.
Which engine powers it?
While the outgoing model had the 1248cc diesel (89bhp; 200Nm; 24.3kpl), the new Vitara Brezza has the 1462cc petrol engine (103bhp; 138Nm; 17.03kpl). Gearbox options in the outgoing model were either the 5-speed manual or an AMT (automated manual transmission); in the new car you can choose either the 5-speed manual or a 4-speed AT (fully automatic transmission).
How does it drive?
One, the cabin is eerily quiet. Two, while the acceleration is good, you might miss the excitement of acceleration through the gears the diesel engine offered—especially the turbo ‘feel’ of that engine. Three, fuel efficiency of the petrol is impressive; after driving for about three hours on somewhat empty roads of Goa, the car returned 16kpl. Four, front seats are very supportive; they kind of hug you from behind. Five, the view from the driver’s seat is good. Six, the steering feedback—mechanical signals that the front tyres send to the steering wheel—is accurate, and you feel every bump and dip on the road through the steering wheel. This can lead to safer driving.
What is missing?
One, the diesel engine is missing; it’s not even offered as an option (probably because developing a BS6 diesel—an expensive proposition—may not have been an appropriate strategy in the long term). Two, now that SUVs such as the Venue offer a customer turbo-petrol engines, maybe Maruti Suzuki, sometime later, should consider its own 1.0-litre BoosterJet engine for the Vitara Brezza. This engine powered the Baleno RS, whose production has been stopped, perhaps because of low sales, but it might work in the Vitara Brezza (in the Venue, a large percentage of buyers are opting for the turbo-petrol variant, even though it’s expensive). Three, the smart hybrid technology is not available in manual gearbox variants.
How much it is priced?
Prices of manual variants start at Rs 7.34 lakh, going up to Rs 9.98 lakh. The AT is priced from Rs 9.75 lakh to Rs 11.4 lakh (all ex-showroom). While these are good prices, remember that the Venue GDI DCT is priced slightly lesser, and it has two technologies the Vitara Brezza doesn’t have—a turbo-petrol engine and a dual-clutch automatic gearbox.
