The compact Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) space continues to be a favourite among four-wheeler buyers, and considering the prices at which they are available, it is hard to see why not. Recently, two of the biggest players in this space launched facelifted versions of their own compact SUVs — the Maruti Suzuki Brezza and the Hyundai Venue.
Seeing how almost all of the manufacturers have at least one SUV in their portfolio, Maruti and Hyundai definitely needed to bring something new to the table. Now, of course, each of them has their own styling and individual driving dynamics, but how do they compare on paper? In this article, we pit the new Brezza against a host of rivals: more specifically, the Hyundai Venue, Toyota Urban Cruiser, Kia Sonet, Tata Nexon, Mahindra XUV300, the Renault Kiger and even the Nissan Magnite.
Dimensions
Now, we did say that each of the compact SUVs have their own styling differences, and if that was all that interested us, the decision would be so much simpler. We will hold off on which SUV is the best-looking of the lot, though, because that is more of a subjective concern. What we want to look at is which is the biggest and the widest. Starting with the Maruti Suzuki Brezza, measurements come in at 3,995 mm in length, 1,790 mm in width and 1,685 mm in height. The Hyundai Venue, on the other hand measures 3,995 mm, 1,770 mm and 1,617 mm in length, width and height, respectively. Compared to the others on this list, the Brezza and Venue seem to be on par with the others. The Nexon, Magnite and Kiger are marginally shorter at 3,994 mm (the first two) and 3,991 mm (Kiger).
As for width, the XUV300 is the widest of the lot at 1,821 mm, while the Kiger measuring 1,750 mm is the narrowest. The Brezza and Venue slot right in the middle here measuring 1,790 mm and 1,770 mm. However, the Brezza does shine when it comes to height, measuring 1,685 mm. The closest second is Kia Sonet measuring 1,647 mm, while the shortest is the Nissan Magnite at 1,572 mm. Now, almost all of the SUVs here measure an identical 2,500 mm for the wheelbase and this includes the Maruti Suzuki Brezza. Only two don’t make the cut, with the Mahindra XUV300 measuring longer at 2,600 mm and the Tata Nexon measuring shorter at 2,498 mm. And finally, boot space. The Brezza has a fairly small boot measuring 328 litres. In fact, it only outshines the XUV300, which measures 257 litres. The largest trunk space belongs to the Renault Kiger measuring 405 litres.
Powertrain options
Now, it is worth noting that the Maruti Suzuki Brezza is a petrol-only car and as such any comparison to a diesel engine would not make sense. To be fair, however, the Hyundia Venue, Kia Sonet, Tata Nexon and Mahindra XUV300 are available in diesel options, and so some information on those is worth talking about. The Hyundai Venue is powered by a 1.5-litre diesel that produces 98.56 hp of maximum power and 240 Nm of peak torque. The Kia Sonet’s 1.5-litre diesel produces 114 hp and 250 Nm. As for the Tata Nexon, its 1.5-litre diesel produces 108 hp and 260 Nm, and finally, the Mahindra XUV300’s 1.5-lite produces 115 hp and 300 Nm.
Back to petrol engines, there is a lot more variance here. The Maruti Suzuki Brezza is powered by a single 1.5-litre petrol which is the largest here, along with the Toyota Urban Cruiser, in terms of size. It is, however, a naturally aspirated engine that produces 103 hp and 105 hp in terms of power and 137 Nm and 138 Nm of peak torque for the Brezza and Urban Cruiser, respectively.
The Nissan Magnite and Renault Kiger are powered by either a 1-litre NA engine or 1-litre turbo. Both of these produce lower power figures than the Brezza at 72 hp and 100 hp. As for torque, the naturally aspirated engine produces 96 Nm, while the turbo when mated to a manual gearbox produces 160 Nm, and when mated to an automatic produces 152 Nm.
Moving on, the Venue and Sonet are powered by either a 1.2-litre NA engine or a 1-litre turbo. Output figures measure 83 hp and 120 hp, and 115 Nm and 172 Nm, respectively. Finally, there is the Tata Nexon and the XUV300, both of which are powered by a single 1.2-litre turbo-charged engine. While the Nexon produces 120 hp and 170 Nm, the XUV300 produces 110 hp and 200 Nm.
As for transmission options, all of the SUVs are available in both manual and automatic options, each with their own kind of automatics as well. The Brezza gets a 6-speed torque convertor, the Venue and Sonet get a 6-speed iMT, and a 7-speed DCT option, the urban cruiser is currently stuck with the 4-speed torque convertor, the Nexon and XUV300 get 6-speed AMTs, the Magnite and Kiger get CVT, and the Magnite, a 5-speed AMT as well.
Fuel efficiency also widely varies between the cars, but suffice to say that the Brezza gets the best Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) fuel efficiency ratings at 20.15 km/l and 19.80 km/l for the manual and automatic variants respectively. This is despite the larger engine size and the fact that the Brezza is the only SUV that comes with a mild-hybrid tech. The Urban Cruiser also receives the mild-hybrid tech seeing as how it is a last-gen Brezza but it is only available on the automatic variant.
Prices
Finally, pricing of the Brezza hasn’t gone up by much, at least not for the entry-level trim. Starting at Rs 7.99 lakh, the base variant is only Rs 15,000 more premium than the old-gen base variant. The top-spec variant, on the other hand, is priced at Rs 13.96 lakh. This makes it the third-costliest car in the entire segment when comparing top-spec trims. The Mahindra XUV300 comes in at the top, priced at Rs Rs 14.07 lakh for the top-spec diesel W8 dual tone variant. The cheapest entry price, however, belongs to the Nissan Magnite at Rs 5.88 lakh, while the costliest entry price is for the Toyota Urban Cruiser at Rs 9.02 lakh.
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