India’s most POWERFUL Maruti Baleno makes more power than a Honda Civic! [Video]

The ‘hot hatchback’ is a term coined for hatchbacks which offer sportscar like driving thrill, if not the same performance. The concept came into existence when modifiers began tuning hatchbacks for better power output and then gradually worked upon decreasing their weight along with suspension tune among other things. The whole hot hatch thing then became quite popular and manufacturers jumped in the bandwagon too, selling factory made hatchbacks that came with powerful engines, firm suspension setup and performance tires among others. In India, the trend has begun to catch up some time back but it didn’t get much traction. Some of the hot hatches on sale in our country include the Maruti Suzuki Baleno RS, Volkswagen Polo GT, and Fiat Abarth Punto apart from a few more.

Which brings us to the red hot Baleno featured here. This car produces more power than the newly launched Honda Civic and is the perfect ‘sleeper’ car. Take a look at the video below where the car undergoes a dyno run to feel the beast it now is.

Modified by Race Concepts, it is the perfect definition of the term ‘sleeper car’. A sleeper is a car that looks quite like a regular vehicle plying on the road but step on its throttle and it blurs everything into oblivion. The Baleno here is the ‘RS’ variant of the premium hatchback, which is the more hardcore version of the regular hatchback. It is power by a 998 cc three-cylinder Boosterjet Turbo engine that puts out 101 Bhp of power along with 150 Nm of torque. However, this beast here churns out a massive 138 whp (wheel horsepower, a term used to denote the power output of a car as measured on a dyno test). This translates to nearly 147 hp at the crank, which is a big sum. Comparatively, the new Honda Civic’s 1.8-litre petrol engine puts out 140 Bhp of power and 174 Nm of torque.

As seen in the pictures here, the exteriors of the car are completely stock save for the stickers. Coming to the modifications done on the car, it gets a Race Concepts custom ECU tune which is responsible for the major engine output bump on the car. Then there is a new full intake system along with a stainless steel full exhaust system with dual mufflers. Further, revisions have been made to the induction system in order to get better juice form the engine. All this has resulted in massive gains across the rev range.

The power lag is also minimal now compared to the stock car and it delivers power right from 1500 RPM all the way till its 6000 RPM limiter in a linear fashion. This car can easily smoke any other vehicle available under Rs. 20 lakh price mark in India, including other hot hatches like the Polo GT and the Fiat Abarth Punto  (Polo GTi is expensive than that so don’t count on it).

The 0-100 km/h of this red hot Baleno RS has not been tested yet but according to the master builders at Race Concepts, it is over 1.5 seconds quicker to the 100 km/h mark than the stock Baleno RS, which touches the mark in around 10.52 seconds. As an estimate, this Baleno will have a 0-100km/h time of around 8.5 to 8.9 seconds. Taking into account the low kerb weight of the Baleno RS (950 kg), it becomes a proper hot hatch in all terms, along with being a sleeper too.

The best part, however, is yet to come through. If you want your Baleno to be turned into a similar missile on wheels, it can be done by the guys at Race Concepts. Get in touch with them through the E-mail address provided below. The Facebook page of Race Concepts can also be visited by clicking on the link below.

E-mail id – [email protected]

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