Nissan Magnite better than Maruti Brezza - Autocar Study

SUVFM
Can Nissan’s new Magnite really swipe the
value-for-money crown from the biggest
name in the business? Gavin D’souza
brings along a Maruti Brezza to find out.
Photography sachin khot
C
ompact SUVs are, by
their very definition,
amazing value for
money. Which other
type of car will give
you the practicality, ground
clearance and handsome looks of a
4x4, with the compact convenience
of a hatchback and, thanks to subfour-metre
tax sops, a price that’s
not too far off from a ‘small car’
either. It’s a winning combination!
But even within this tightly governed
price segment, there are some that
stand above the others for the value
they deliver.
Now, say ‘value’ and the first
name that will likely pop to mind
is, of course, Maruti Suzuki.
India’s largest carmaker has been
synonymous with reliability, low
running costs and, yes, VFM, since
the Maruti 800 of 1983. The Vitara
Brezza, launched in 2016, was
brought into this world with these
values intact. Its 1.3 diesel engine
delivered low running costs, it was
relatively inexpensive to maintain,
it had all the equipment you could
ask for and it came with a knockout
price. No surprise, then, that it was
the bestselling SUV in India for a
very long time.
Recently, however, things have
changed. The 2020 facelift dropped
the frugal diesel for a 1.5 petrol, and
with that went those juicy ‘small-car’
tax breaks, since the petrol engine’s
displacement crossed 1,200cc. As a
result, the price jumped by as much
as Rs 80,000 overnight, and with
almost no additional equipment
nissan magnite vs maruti vitara brezza COMPARISON
at a time when new rivals were
introducing features from luxury
cars, the value proposition did take
a hit. Moreover, Maruti added its
SHVS mild-hybrid system with
engine stop/start to help offset the
fuel-efficiency deficit moving to
petrol, but that would have only
added to the cost.
So, the Brezza of today doesn’t
quite feel like the value champ it
once was, and to rub salt into that
wound, a new challenger has come
along that has really shaken things
up in the segment. The Nissan
Magnite got everyone’s attention
with its sharp looks, seriously
impressive equipment list and a
price that would put some premium
hatchbacks to shame. And when
we drove it, we found it had the
substance to back up the spec sheet.
But could it really be good enough
to beat one of the best in the game at
its own game?
Little boxes
A boxy look for SUVs has always
found preference here in India, and
that’s even truer in this segment
where enough visual differentiation
is needed to set them apart from
hatchbacks of an otherwise similar
size. The Brezza embraces that
formula wholeheartedly, with a
design that’s as square as they
come. The facelift has brought some
much-needed maturity to the look,
with distinctive LED front and rear
lighting signatures, tidier fog lamp
housings, a neater, four-slat chrome
grille, and more upmarket looking ◊