City Report

Our long-term Maruti Suzuki Fronx has been consistently doing a 50km daily round trip between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. In the last 1,000km, we've learned more about how the car is to live with. Here's what will help you make an informed decision if you are considering this top-spec turbo-petrol crossover and your usage involves a lot of city driving.

First things first - the seating. The driver’s seat-height adjustment feature allows you to sit nice and low or even high if you prefer a more commanding view of the road. It provides a comfortable driving position for hours, and despite the rear visibility being tight, you have a good sight of the road and vehicles in line.

Thankfully, Maruti has retained physical controls for the HVAC system on this multi-layered dashboard. It’s easier to use these buttons instead of touch controls. The ergonomics are also good with important controls within reach, easy-to-access USB/12V ports, a nifty wallet holder, and good space to keep the phone.

Then, wireless Android connectivity and smartphone charging have made things inside hassle-free, with no cables to deal with. There's still a 12V port, USB, and second-row C-type port if you have more devices to charge. Furthermore, the heads-up display prevents you from peeking into the tachometer as all the information is right up there in line with the road ahead.

On the downside, the rear seatbelt warning comes up with a beep even without any occupants, and it gets irritating on the go. You have to keep the belts buckled up, which isn't the case with the front passenger seat. And that's why this cost-cutting measure is surprising. Another thing we noticed on the MID display is that when the navigation is on, an arrow indicating the upcoming direction blocks other information like range, FE, etc. Otherwise, the infotainment system with Android Auto worked seamlessly without any lag. The 360-degree HD camera enables the view of the leftmost edge to avoid hitting the curb and when parking in tight spots.

Now for the driving stats, we are impressed with its driveability, light controls, and absorbent ride. The latter particularly, as it isolates the occupants from jolts or noise from the road joints, cement road edges, puddles, and all the unwanted hurdles due to the constant road work going on here. This free-revving three-cylinder mill remains silent with good throttle response, smooth gear shifts, and light clutch action. The initial progress from a standstill is gradual but post 2,500rpm, it shows a strong surge to move ahead with the ISG mild hybrid motor's assist. And this happens even if the Fronx is in a higher gear and at lower speeds.

As a result, it easily copes with the traffic and can even charge ahead with zest if there’s a need. Then, there's automatic fuel start-stop which repeatedly stops the car at a traffic signal or whenever it’s in neutral. This might not directly help in enhancing fuel efficiency, but surely helps reduce the consumption of fuel. The average of 13.3kmpl mileage is good in the city, given the high traffic volume it is facing in this daily grind.

Now, it would be interesting to see how much the range boosts on the highway. Will it be able to cover a trip between cities like Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai with at least four people and not require refuelling? We'll see that next month.

Product Details:

Make: Maruti Suzuki

Model: Fronx

Version: Alpha 1.0-litre Turbo MT

Odometer reading: 2,038km

Kilometres this month: 838km

Fuel Efficiency: 13.3kmpl

Price: Rs. 13.45 lakh (when tested, OTR, Mumbai)

Pictures by Kaustubh Gandhi