Maruti Vitara Brezza Long Term Review – Second Report

Turbo lag is there at the low end but the power surge is punchy after that

The Maruti Vitara Brezza gets only 1 engine option and that is the 1.3-litre DDiS engine borrowed from Fiat. The compact SUV gets the higher 90 PS tune but that also translates into more turbo lag than the 75 PS version. This turbo lag requires frequents shifts. Even on the highways, you need to downshift some of the times if you want to overtake. However, the push that you get when the turbo starts spooling is quite powerful and the Brezza picks up pace very quickly, pulling cleanly all the way to a notch above 5000 RPM.

This constant gear-shifting due to the turbo lag affects the fuel efficiency too. We got an average figure of almost 15 km/l which is still pretty good for a car that is of this size and has well-sized tyres. On the highways, the Brezza averaged out at a notch above 17 km/l which is again pretty respectable. The engine tends to get noisy at high RPMs and a 6th gear would’ve added some relief too. Other than this, the car is very strong mechanically and it doesn’t disappoint in any major way. The engine is very reliable, running costs aren’t all that high and overall there shouldn’t be any reliability issues with the Brezza.

While the steering is on the heavier side, this is a boon on the highways because it lends that much more confidence while driving. It also provides very good feedback and the Vitara Brezza is a fairly decent handler. Body roll isn’t very much because the suspension setup is on the stiffer side. Talking about the ride, it is hard at low speeds and that could cause some discomfort to passengers but on highways and high speeds, the stiffness makes the car feel composed even over bad roads and the suspension itself feels robust and can take quite a lot of beating. Braking power is good but our test car seemed to be missing the initial bite.