Doing the routine

The Maruti Brezza in this ZXi Plus 1.5 AT (dual tone) guise has been with me for a month now and in that time I have managed to clock over 1000km, all of it driving in the city. Potholes, metro work, diversions and unruly two-wheeler users have all been some of the sights and a lot of the sounds that the Brezza and I have encountered over the last 30 days and it performed admirably as a daily driver.

Insulated

A 44km round trip means I’m spending at least two hours a day in the hot seat and that’s given me time to notice finer bits of the cabin while racking up the kilometres. On the positive side, the NVH insulation of the cabin is top-notch, significantly filtering out the chaos on the road. It is so quiet that you can easily tell when the sunroof is not closed properly, which would be more often than not considering a slightly confusing mechanism to operate it.

Straight up

In my first week with the car, I found the HUD to be more of a gimmick and would use it for a bit and shut it away seeing little value in its existence. But it has grown on me and now I like to keep scrolling through the various bits of info on offer to ensure that I’m driving as efficiently as possible. My favourite screen is the one that shows how the charge is returned to the hybrid battery and wherever safely possible I have tried to coast to add to the tally. I was today years old (IYKYK) when I discovered that the HUD has colour graphics for when you change the fan speed or temperature. I hope future updates to the HUD software also include navigation information and media settings.

Touch talk

One of the USPs of this new Brezza is a completely revised touchscreen infotainment with quite a bit of added functionality. The display is of a nice quality with easy-to-use graphics and pathways to commands. However, for the most, I’ve been using Android Auto on the go allowing me to have full functionality of my phone. It works but has hung while using the maps at very crucial times (busy junctions with traffic on all sides). I’ve also been having issues with the calling function as I’m able to take calls but they cut off after 10-15 seconds. At first, I thought it was a network issue but upon checking, the call was still active but the calling functionality had come to a halt. Perhaps, this is a software issue and hopefully at some point will be sorted with an update either for the SmartPlay Pro+ system or Android Auto itself.

City tales

Given its high stance and relatively easy visibility all around, the Brezza is very easy to slink around in all levels of city conditions (empty roads to five-way junctions at peak hours). The 1.5-litre unit with this six-speed gearbox is not the most dynamic and does it best in the conditions I described a sentence ago. Treat it with a sedate mindset and it will do its work quietly in the background. The 360-degree camera has been a boon for parking in tight spaces and while you would think that this system would help you the most with judging the sides of the car, it’s actually more of a boon when you need to park face first on a busy road.

It’s always hard to judge how far your bumper is from the edge of the sidewalk without external help and this 360-camera setup solves that problem. It might seem like a trivial issue but offers peace of mind when you know that the back of your precious Brezza is not a low-hanging fruit for the always ‘in a hurry’ traffic on our roads.

Sipping habits

My mostly-city commute has seen the mileage figure hover between 11-12kmpl which is not great but given how comfy and easy to use the Brezza has been, I’m willing to let it put a small dent in my wallet as it has made the round trip that much easier.

Next Episode-2

My city commute will continue for my time with the car but I also will be taking it out on the highway for a lengthy trip at three-digit speeds. This trip will also allow me to test out the Brezza’s boot and its practicality for the rear seat occupants.

Product Details

Make: Maruti Suzuki

Model and variant: Brezza 1.5 ZXi Plus AT Dual Tone

Kilometers this month: 1200km

Fuel efficiency: 11-12kmpl

Price: Rs 13.96 lakh (ex-showroom)

Photography: Kaustubh Gandhi

Maruti Suzuki Brezza 1.5 petrol automatic Long-term review: Introduction