We’ve seen plenty of renders of a Toyota badged Maruti. Well, the first product from this alliance has been launched and it’s now available in flesh. So, how different, or similar is the Toyota Glanza in comparison to the Maruti Suzuki Baleno? Well, differences aren’t too many as the interiors and the exteriors remain exactly the same. In fact, it’s hard to even differentiate between the two from far. Even the alloys have been carried over from the Maruti Suzuki Baleno and only the badging and the grille are the sole differentiators. The grille in the Toyota Glanza, is more chrome heavy.
While the Maruti Suzuki Baleno is offered with petrol and diesel engine options, the Toyota Glanza only comes with the K-series petrol powertrain. This is the standard 1.2-litre VVT petrol engine that makes 81.7bhp and 113Nm of torque. However, there’s also a new BS-VI compliant version of this engine – the 1.2-litre Dual Jet, Dual VVT motor that’s mated to the mild-hybrid system. This one is on offer only in the G manual trim of the Glanza. In the Baleno, it’s available in two trims, Delta and Zeta. The V manual and the G and V CVT variants make do with the standard powertrain sans mild-hybrid system.
We drove the top-of-the-line V CVT variant, and its performance remains very much the same. The power delivery is linear, and the mild throaty snarl from the petrol motor spices up things a little. The CVT is smooth given you’re not pinning the throttle. But put your foot down and the rubber band effect becomes quite evident. The ride quality though is good with suspension set-up biased towards comfort. However, our test car, with only 250km on the odo made plenty of unpleasant rattling sounds in the interior.
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The G and V trims of the Glanza are comparable to the Zeta and Alpha variants of the Baleno. And it’s here where Toyota scores some points as the Glanza in its G manual variant with the mild-hybrid system comes with a sticker price of Rs 7.21 lakh, undercutting both the Delta and Zeta smart hybrid versions of the Baleno by quite a margin. The rest of the variants remain similarly priced with the top of the line V CVT variant that we drove costing Rs 8.90 lakh. Also, with Toyota’s warranty of 3 years/1,00,000km over Maruti Suzuki’s 2 years/40,000km makes the Glanza a more compelling option to go for.