Unlikely Car of the Week: Suzuki Baleno GSR
The Suzuki Baleno GSR is one of those cars that makes you double-take. On the surface it’s just another three-door hatchback of the late nineties destined for oblivion, but look closer and you realise you’re staring at Suzuki’s ultra-rare hot hatch – one of around 600 ever built. A car quicker than a contemporary Golf GTI – most warm hatches were, to be honest – yet so anonymous you could arrive at a car show and everyone would assume you were there to clean the toilets.
Launched in 1998 as part of a Baleno facelift, the GSR got Suzuki’s chain-driven 1.8-litre J18A twin-cam, good for a very precise 119.4bhp and a 0-60mph time just shy of nine seconds. Enough to out-drag Volkswagen’s 2.0-litre GTI while also giving you white dials, sports seats and even air-con. This was Suzuki telling the world it could do a hot hatch without actually telling anyone about it.
Few people bought one, of course, which makes this example – seemingly a one-owner car (but you might want to check that) with just 50,000 miles, full history (again, check that), fresh MOT, the original Speedline five-spoke alloys and four new tyres – about as likely as finding a mint Baleno brochure at a jumble sale. Sadly, the original Clarion radio/CD is missing, presumably nicked.
Petrolblog tips its hat to Club Petrolblog member Ben for unearthing this slice of Japanese wonderment. Fancy it? It could be yours for £1,550 if you don’t mind a trip to St Albans.
From the 2000 brochure (probably)
‘Suzuki Baleno GSR: For drivers who demand GTI pace, but prefer to do it in absolute secrecy.’
Vital stats
- Engine: 1.8-litre J18A DOHC, 119bhp – quicker than a Golf GTI (but nobody noticed)
- MOT: Fresh ticket, no advisories
- Owners: One (on paper, though the logbook did change hands in 2012)
- Entertainment: Twin-cam rasp, the joy of confusing people at a Cars & Coffee event
- Special features: White dials, rear spoiler, fog lights, Speedline alloys, smug exclusivity (one of around 600 built), that damage on the rear end (which won’t polish out)
Here’s how it scored on the ShedSeal™ rating
ShedSeal™ rating: 20/25
- Tat factor: ★★★★☆ (Looks tidy (if you ignore the back), but the badge alone makes it glorious tat)
- Survivability: ★★★★★ (Garage-stored unicorn – one of only a handful left alive)
- Shed appeal: ★★★★☆ (A credible hot hatch you can still buy for peanuts because nobody realises what it is)
- Comedy MOT history: ★★☆☆☆ (Hardly anything of note – the rear-end blemish is about as dramatic as it gets. Try finding a Golf GTI of a similar age with such a clean record.)
- Petrolblogginess: ★★★★★ (Rare, forgotten and unloved – the holy trinity of unlikely cars)
Fancy finding cars like this before they hit the blog? This Baleno GSR was unearthed by a Club Petrolblog member. Join the club to get involved – and to stop me buying them all myself.
Certified under the ShedSeal™ Code of Conduct (revision 0.0). All photos courtesy of Facebook Marketplace.
