Someone Made A Convertible Out Of A Maruti Baleno Altura, Making It Doubly Special (Video)

The OG Maruti Baleno sedan currently has a dedicated fan base in the country. It isn’t however, a rare find. Maruti Suzuki or Maruti Udyog Limited as it was called back then, once had a station wagon version of the Baleno on sale. It was called the Baleno Altura. It is now extremely difficult to source a well-kept Altura today. And then there is this guy who owns one and made a convertible out of it !

In a video shared on YouTube, we can see the Altura convertible from Bangalore, Karnataka. The vehicle wears a Red paint now and has modifications and tweaks made to various parts of it ( in addition to the ‘convertible’ part). It gets modified front grille, lamps, alloy wheels and more.

The roof, and pillars (B,C, D) have been chopped off. The vehicle doesn’t seem to have a soft top. There is no cover for the boot either. There is however, a roll cage installed, the efficiency of which might seem questionable (at least in the visuals here). The interior gets leather upholstery and a steering wheel cover with Red accents that match the exterior colour. This is a four-spoke steering variant and there could be other tweaks inside, which aren’t visible in the video.

This might not be the cleanest mod or the best-looking Altura you’ve seen. It, however, stands special in being a convertible based on a rather rare car. Should the owner have done this though? Well, you know the answer!

Maruti Baleno Altura: Quick Details

Maruti Udyog Ltd launched the Baleno station wagon in 1999. The Altura was powered by a 1.6 naturally aspirated petrol engine that produced 95 hp. It might not sound too appealing by today’s standards but was quite good back in the day. The Altura was based on the Baleno sedan and shared many of its parts with it.

The sedan itself wasn’t a huge success, and the Altura lost even more dramatically! The market was hostile to it and station wagons at large, and the carmaker finally pulled the plug on the Altura in 2007. Another reason for its pathetic acceptance was that the Altura was a global car and used a lot of import content. This made parts expensive and difficult to source.

Baleno Altura Design

The most important highlight of the Baleno Altura was its absolute station wagon design. It resembled the sedan in design, only up to the B pillar, beyond which it made a seamless transition into a proper station wagon with the lines and surfaces. The estate had 13-inch wheels, and ample ground clearance. The vehicle had roof rails that were functional. Many modern cars have them for design sake. You could, however, transport a small cupboard or a mini refrigerator on the Altura’s roof rails !

The interior layout was likeable and practical. It packed ample tech and features for its time. The Altura had a powerful AC, which the commercials back in its day, compared with those of Mercedes Benz cars. Other features included a Maruti Kenwood cassette player and power windows. Maruti had both three-spoke and four-spoke steering wheels on sale, in two different time spans.

The wagon offered ample room on the inside. The seats were comfortable and offered good support. Even the rear seat was spacious and had a central armrest. The vehicle had generous boot space and special storage compartments and accessories inside.