New Celerio Review: What you need to know about the Maruti Suzuki car besides its ‘fuel-efficiency’

The new Maruti Suzuki Celerio is, not to put too fine a point on it, a very typical Maruti Suzuki. It’s aimed at those looking to upgrade from a two-wheeler, or those who want a second car in the garage.

With an emphasis on practicality and ease of use, it aims to be a car for all seasons, and indeed for all people. Does it pull this off? Let’s have a look.

The Celerio’s calling card is that it’s ‘India’s most fuel-efficient petrol car’, at a claimed 26.68 kpl. This springs from its engine—a refreshed 1-litre, three-cylinder K10C unit – which now has start-stop tech (to save on fuel) as well as two injectors per cylinder, for better atomisation of the fuel and thus a better burn.

Let’s talk performance

It’s a little less powerful than the older engine, but it’s definitely more efficient, drivable and refined. Lower-rev driving is aided by variable valve timing and lift at the exhaust and intake sides, which helps to improve driveability.

It also uses exhaust gas treatment in order to reduce emissions, which already makes it BS6 Phase II compliant. Finally, the engine sits on a mounting system that greatly reduces the typical three-cylinder engine harshness; you can perceive this in the way vibrations are largely absent, even when the engine is revved hard.

This is a lively petrol engine, and there’s a surprising amount of low and mid-range grunt to be had. It’s not about to win any drag races, but the Celerio does feel cheerful and eager, and it’s an easy car in which to dart around in city traffic.

The 5-speed manual gearbox is an absolute breeze to use and is the one to opt for, in my opinion, with its short throws and slick action. There is also an AMT on offer, which is certainly an advantage in crawling city conditions.

It’s well calibrated and offers a pretty decent response to throttle inputs, but it does have a tendency to ‘nod’. Is the car actually as fuel-efficient as Maruti claims? I can’t comment, since I wasn’t able to test it to that effect.

The Celerio feels quite light and nimble on its feet, and is confident enough around a series of corners. A highway run at around 110 kph was also dispatched with ease, with the car feeling planted and stable.

The suspension does feel somewhat soft when you encounter a series of bumps, and the car wallows a bit through them; at higher speeds, some thudding and crashing can be felt in the cabin. Some body roll is also evident with hard cornering. Overall, however, the ride quality can be described as absorbent, and should keep occupants comfortable for the most part.

Moving onto interiors …

The old Celerio sold in good numbers because it was a very practical city car, and the new one takes this factor a notch higher by offering more passenger and storage space. Four adults will be quite comfortable in the cabin, with good knee and head room for the rear passengers, and enough shoulder and elbow room as well.

However, the rear seats don’t have adjustable headrests, which is a bit odd. The seats could use more cushioning as well. The front seats are more comfortable than the rear ones, and although they too don’t have adjustable headrests, the shape of the seat makes up for that. Getting in and out of the cabin is also easy.

The cabin has been given a significant upgrade. You’ll still find hard plastic all over the place, but that is offset by the fresh design, the quality of fit and finish and the chrome accents. All the important buttons and levers feel solid, and they’re easily accessible, although the central placement of the front power window switches is a little off kilter.

The features list is quite comprehensive as well - height-adjustable driver’s seat, electrically adjustable folding ORVM, a 7-inch Smartplay infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a rear de-fogger wiper, push button start/stop and so on. A reversing camera is the prominent missing element, and I can’t think of a good reason for it not to have been included; you get parking sensors instead. The AMT version also gets hill-hold control, which works well and which will help those just getting used to automatic transmissions.

The new Celerio is definitely a worthwhile upgrade over the older car. It looks quite contemporary, inside and out, comes with a big boot, is refined and easy to drive and should give you very good fuel economy, even if you can’t quite hit that 26.68 kpl mark.

There are areas for improvement, of course. The steering feel is rather dull and the ride quality could have been improved. The door handles are of the lift type, rather than the far better pull type. The rear seats could have been of a higher grade. Nevertheless, there’s no doubt that the car offers a lot in this segment.

It is, however, quite expensive. A top-end Celerio will cost about Rs 7.5 lakh all told, which is very close to a car like the Hyundai i10 Nios – and the Korean vehicle is bigger and better in almost every way. In fact, the new Celerio is costlier than Maruti’s own Wagon R, which is also a bigger car.

It can’t therefore be described as a bargain, but it does offer many things that buyers in this segment look for – and the all-important Maruti Suzuki peace of mind factor.