Maruti Suzuki Brezza

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Prashant Shetty

Being able to change and comprehensively evolve a car is not always defined by capability or hunger or even intent. Sometimes, it’s dictated by success. You can’t change too much of something everybody can’t seem to have enough of. The Hero Splendor, the Honda Activa and the Maruti Suzuki Brezza, all belong to the same class.That didn’t stop Maruti Suzuki from trying, of course, which explains why you’re reading about a Brezza today. In all of the brand’s buzz-building around the car, it’s evident that the objective was to make the Brezza popular among a younger audience and all of its changes attempt to deliver to that brief as well. Looks like youth appeasement is the flavour of the season, eh? It may not be immediately obvious but there are subtle visual changes; a few to the front end, extra bits of allegedly ‘sporty’ trim and new alloy wheels. Good enough to send young prospects rushing to dealerships? Probably. It’s not as if I can pretend to understand young people and their design choices.A similar attempt has been made to spruce up the cabin, too. It’s a predominantly blacked-out interior which looks very nice, and while it lacks the sophistication of some of its peers, its strength lies in its familiarity. You’ll find lots of physical controls, from the panel to the right of the steering wheel to the horizontal climate-control bar which features really good quality buttons, and this certainly isn’t the kind of car you’ll spend a lot of time trying to learn your way around.There’s a bronzed bit of trim that runs along the length of the dashboard which is a hard plastic but feels smooth to touch (and doesn’t scuff or scratch), although what bronze has to do with sportiness, I have no clue. There’s liberal use of piano black as well, but since most of it is in places you won’t come in contact with, I suppose it’s all right. The UI on the infotainment screen is new and it works most intuitively while looking fairly slick, too. There is also a neatly integrated head-up display (with physical controls to set its position and brightness) which, I’m sure, will appeal to younger buyers. As will the sunroof, of course.Comfort has been among the Brezza’s strengths and this version is no different. The front seats aren’t the most exhaustively designed but work fine. Seat ventilation at the front is definitely a great addition, although at its highest level (of three), it is pronouncedly loud. Level 2 seemed to work well enough, fortunately. The rear seat feels a bit primitive, however, featuring little under-thigh support. While it is spacious, it would still be a struggle to call it generous. The rear row does get a pair of central air-con vents (no blower adjustment) but it’s not as if it needed it — this is one air-con unit that knows how to chill rapidly and most effectively.What works even better than the air-con is the Brezza’s new party-piece — the 1.0-litre ‘Boosterjet’ engine. It’s a turbo-petrol (yes, finally) you first saw in the Baleno RS and subsequently in the Fronx as well, and it’s offered alongside the trusty 1.5-litre four-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol the Brezza has always been available with. What this three-cylinder engine achieves is two-pronged; the added pep is the obvious takeaway, but it also helps Maruti Suzuki take advantage of the sub-4-metre tax bracket, the benefit of which it has passed on to the buyer. You can only have one with a manual transmission (albeit a 6-speed unit, which also replaces the 5-speed manual in the 1.5), whereas automatic transmission remains the exclusive domain of the 1.5.energetic engineIt’s a cracker of an engine, smooth, responsive and energetic like you can only expect from a Maruti Suzuki. I’m not sure if it’s objectively the quickest in its class, but it delivers the kind of performance that will make you drive it a bit uncouthly. An intuitive petrol engine with a well-configured manual gearbox is perhaps one of Maruti Suzuki’s most underrated contributions to the Indian driving enthusiast, and the Brezza effortlessly continues that legacy.With 108.6 bhp and 17.3 kg-m, output figures stronger than on the 1.5 (101.6 bhp, 14.1 kg-m), the 1.0-litre Brezza is the decidedly racier one. And yet, it doesn’t come at the expense of everyday driveability. At some point, I realised it could take off — from standstill — in second gear and, equally, you can trust sixth gear to pull cleanly from 50 kph onwards. In-gear acceleration is quite strong and only the most ambitious overtakes require downshifts, still made enjoyable by the gearshift feel. The clutch pedal is well-sprung (easy to modulate) and light, which means urban driving won’t feel like a chore.Most importantly, you might expect this sort of performance to severely dent fuel-efficiency, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with the Brezza; Maruti claims it can still deliver 19.9 kpl (ARAI), only marginally lower than on the 1.5.What adds to the fun is the general ease of driving the Brezza comes with. The steering feels light enough and gives you a good sense of communication, the brakes do their job just fine, and the 16-inch wheels sure create a good balance of comfort and sportiness. The suspension is fantastic, too, and it soaks in most bumps with composure, while still isolating the cabin decently enough. On the whole, the Brezza feels tough — almost as if it were mounted on a ladder-frame chassis — and quintessentially made for India.At an introductory starting price of ₹7.40 lakh (ex-showroom), the 1.0-litre Brezza is undoubtedly the most compelling compact SUV you can have today. If its inherent toughness and cabin experience weren’t appealing enough (not to mention, Maruti Suzuki’s monstrous service network), it now has spirited performance and a pretty strong feature set to boot. I wish, however, that Maruti Suzuki had played to the strengths of the Brezza’s robustness (how about a proper Cross Country edition?) rather than taking this rather dated approach to inducing a ‘sporty’ flavour. That might not only have been more honest but also given it some exclusivity in a segment where most of its peers feel like hopped-up hatches.@TheMotorGramPublished on July 31, 2026