I have managed fuel efficiency of 19-20kpl on my commute to office. My old Brio gave around 14-16kpl on the same route.
BHPian curiousbolt recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Recently, I bought the Maruti Suzuki Fronx with the 1.2L engine. I upgraded from Honda Brio and thought I would share about my purchase and ownership experience.
The background:
I had bought a 2012 Honda Brio from Spinny in Oct 2022 and had used the car for around 15k km. The car was straight forward, no major issues but I started to feel that the components were slowly entering their wear out phase. The engine used to make a peculiar squealing noise in idle and low revs and the pickup was not as great as before. And yes, the vehicle was serviced at a Honda authorized dealer every 5000km. One more issue I was facing was that none of the spare parts for the Brio were easily available. The only option was to order them from Boodmo or ask the dealership to order and pay them an advance. For instance, the front suspension bush was damaged, so the car would make a metal grinding noise when the steering was turned in standstill. Had asked around in 3 dealerships and the part was not there and no one was readily willing to order it for me, and the part I got from Boodmo as well would not fit in this car. So I thought it was time for an upgrade before the car begins to rust in my garage waiting for parts.
Selection:
I was open to buying any configuration – Sedans, SUVs, crossovers, hatchbacks, etc. The budget I had kept for myself was between 6-7 Lacs, I had thought I would consider the brands that would provide me with good exchange price for my Brio and considering my daily commute of around 70km the car must be fuel efficient. Considering the fuel efficiency need, the first option was Maruti, so we visited Nexa to look at options. Ignis and Baleno were what we were exploring but as we entered the showroom, there it was, a beautiful Red Fronx! An immediate eye catcher. I had only read about the Fronx in review articles, but I did not expect it to be such an eye catcher when it stands among other hatchbacks. We checked out the Fronx and the showroom quoted around 9.4Lacs for the base model. It seemed a bit far-fetched, and we went back to enquiring about the Ignis. An automatic fully loaded Ignis was locked in because the showroom was offering close to 70k worth of cash discounts and much more stuff in terms of accessories. Ignis was shortlisted and we next headed to Tata and Hyundai showrooms. Compared to Nexa, Tata and Hyundai we felt were a bit condescending in terms of the sales pitch. The sales executives did not know much about the features and the test drive was not that impressive. We did get impressed by the Hyundai Exter in terms of how it looked, the build quality, fit & finish and the interiors but the 6-7month waiting period was a turn off. But would definitely recommend people to consider Exter if you can afford to wait for 6-7months.
Somehow, even though we locked in the Ignis, we kept going back to thinking about the Fronx. Considering we did not want to change cars for the next 6-7 years; we thought that might as well choose Fronx over Ignis or the Baleno. Baleno even though was a great car, I felt that in the next 3-4 years I would feel like changing it. For the roads that I take to my office, I needed a car with good clearance.
Pratham Nexa, Sarjapur road was the showroom we went to. The sales experience was amazing – the sales executive knew the car and most importantly, there was no overselling. She perfectly recommended the Delta variant as the most value for money variant, she explained in detail what features were available and needed for us and what was not.
A test drive of the Delta+ variant with 1.2L engine was given and we were impressed right from the start – unlike other test drive cars, this car was responsive, well maintained and it actually felt like a new car even though it had run around 4500km. We ended up choosing the Delta variant, 1 variant below the Delta+.
The on-road price was 10.6Lacs, we got rid of all the accessories and the final price was 10.02Lacs. They offered a decent 2.4 Lacs for my 62k run 2012 Brio. As Fronx was a new and in demand model, there was no cash discount. Slight bargains here and there and the reverse camera, number plate brackets, floor & boot mats and the mud flaps were offered for free.
Owning the Fronx:
I have covered close to 1200km with the car now mainly commuting to and from the office and a 300km long drive in an expressway. Completed the first service last week.
Pros: (There are many but just mentioning the top ones here)
- Car is butter smooth in low rpms – Engine is refined and with the AC on, the cabin is peaceful and quiet till around 4000rpm. After that you tend to hear some noise creep into the cabin – its not annoying, its manageable.
- Head turner for sure, it looks commanding and bulky in a good way, and you will have at least one person every day coming and asking you which car this is.
- I have managed to get around 19-20kpl in my commute to office that has a mix of highways, slow moving Bangalore traffic and bad roads. My old Brio had an FE of around 14-16kpl in the same route. So I’m mighty happy with the fuel economy. As long as you don’t rev the engine above 4k rpm and quickly reach higher gears, the engine is happy to return you FE figures of around 20-22kpl.
- The engine is very well tuned. Even though I shift gears quickly before 4k rpm, I never felt the engine was underpowered or I had to change gears to overtake. The engine is very comfortable to quickly pick up speed when you throttle up. The engine does not struggle at all even if you are in 4th gear and you are crawling at 30kph, the state of tune is wonderful.
- Ride comfort – The point I like the most. The roads I drive are really messed up in some locations and the slow moving traffic is quite noisy as well. The cabin insulation is on point, if your windows are up and AC is on, you are fully disconnected from the outer world. Couple this with the ground clearance and the perfectly tuned suspension, the ride comfort is amazing. There is absolutely no driver fatigue even after you have driven 150-200km at a stretch. The engine, suspension, cabin quality, everything comes together really well to enhance ride comfort.
- Rich feature set from the base model itself. There is climate control and power windows right from the base model. So pretty good value for money.
Cons:
- There is a considerable horn intensity fade when I press it continuously. Complained about it during my service and they did check couplers and the connections, but still it persists. Had a mechanic come home yesterday to check this, he could not diagnose and asked me to get the car back to workshop once. Have asked them to give me a call when they have a replacement part ready just in case it’s a part issue.
- After the first service, they messed up something in the boot. The car turned into a metal match box and there was a loud rattling sound coming from the boot area – Took around 1 hour and multiple trials to diagnose where it was coming from and then did some jugaad to take care of it. The noise was still there after this. Turns out the number plate was rattling. The technician then used some 3M tape behind the number plate to arrest this. The showroom specifically sold me number plate brackets to avoid this noise and those brackets were the reason this noise was being caused.
- The cost cutting is very evident. If you open the bonnet or boot, the car body is exposed. The spare Tyre is just mounted directly on the chassis in the boot, there is no rubber damper below it so if it’s even slightly loose, you can expect to hear it rattling. There are multiple areas in the car where the metal to plastic contact has not been well engineered – for instance, the boot parcel tray plastic was missing one rivet after service. The technician tried putting the rivet back yesterday and it kept coming out because the fit was not good, so I’m worried that such panels will start rattling after 1-2 years. The rear pillion seat even though is comfortable, if you just bang it hard once, it makes kind of a metal hitting noise. So, there are many places in the car where you feel Maruti has cut costs and its very evident. It won’t bother you till you notice it, but once you notice these, it’s going to bother you.
- The infotainment in glitchy – Android auto randomly gets disconnected. They did reset the software during the previous service but it’s still the same. Could be an issue with my mobile as well, there is nothing that informative in the user manual, so will have to screw around and find out. One thing that’s common with all OEMs, none of the service staffs know stuff about the infotainment. They only know to reset it I guess.
- The idle start stop is difficult to get used to. Sometimes it switches off and sometimes it does not. The user manual says you need to complete one drive cycle every time idle start stop functions, but have tried it and its not consistent. Been one month now and still getting used to it. Similarly, the hill hold assist as well, in slow moving traffic sometimes when you let go off the clutch slowly the vehicle switches off. You feel some resistance on the engine, i’m assuming its the hill hold assist. Told about this during service and was told it was normal . So yeah, figuring the idle start stop and the hill hold assist still.
Overall:
I’m quite happy with the car. The cons that I mentioned are not that bothersome except the rattling issues. The 1.2L engine option is good value for money. I read reviews of the 1L turbo variant and most of them mentioned it was not that good value for money, but I can assure you that 1.2L engine option is a purchase that you will not regret. Will keep the thread updated as I build up more miles on the car.
Keyword: Replaced my Brio with a Maruti Fronx: Pros & cons observed post 1200km