A Modified Maruti Baleno That Can Give Honda City a Run for its Money

Back in the days, cars used to look much more gorgeous than what they are now. They came with straight lines, long hood, proportionately sized tail, and donned a low-slung stance with a 3-box silhouette. If you belong to Gen-Z, it is hard for you to know much about those cars. However, here’s one we came across, which can smoke a modern-day C-sedan, day and night. It is the first-gen Baleno that was launched in 1998 and belongs to Irfan Ismail. This one is tuned to the maximum possible extent. To start with, the car features a custom paint job that gives it a stealth look.

Moving over to the cosmetic modification, there’s hardly any. It gets a front bumper lip and a rear spoiler. The latter is, however, an OEM fitment. The front grille is de-chromed to give its face a rather sporty appeal. Talking of the performance mods, there are many. The Baleno came with a 1.6L SOHC 4-cylinder N/A petrol motor with a rated output of 93.7 BHP/130 Nm. This particular car is tuned to put out a peak power output of 170 BHP, which is nearly twice the value of the stock engine’s output.

These horses extra horses are the courtesy of an extensive modification job that goes under its hood. Starting off, it gets an aftermarket air intake system from K&N. And, to push in more fuel to mix with increased air quantity, it also gets 800cc injectors. Low compression pistons are also plonked in the cylinder sleeves. The stock con-rods have been replaced with stronger forged units as con-rods bear a lot of bending and axial stresses. To help the engine breathe more air, a KKK K03 turbocharger is installed with a custom intercooler. Also, to let the motor exhale freely, a Raj Hingorani side exhaust system is fitted. The stock ECU on this Baleno is replaced with a piggyback ECU from Unichip.

To ensure there is enough grip all the time, 17” 7.5J Karwerkz Rims are draped in 205/40/17 Hankook Ventus tyres. The suspension duties are now taken care of by HotBits adjustable dampers. It also gets bigger 295mm ventilated rotors with custom brake callipers from Willwood racing. On the inside, the car now gets a set of racing seats with Takata racing harness.