Today’s sub-four meter crossover SUV segment stands quite tall, with cars that have emerged as successful and have clocked quite a handsome mark in the sales figure. Two of such similar cars are the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza while the other is the Honda WR-V, the former being quite an established players while the later, a new entrant, has succeeded in creating ripples in the segment.

Both the Honda WR-V as well as the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza are subcompact crossovers. The new Honda car has been recently launched in India on the 16th of March and the company has high hopes on it. On the other hand, the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza has turned out to be sweet trouble to the company. The huge demand for the car has caused the company to face production restraint. Recently, the Vitara Brezza has touched one lakhs sales milestone.

Considering the fact that the Honda WR-V and the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza are presently two of the biggest names in the relevant segment, it is very likely that they will be thrown at each other and compared until the best one is known. After all, buying a new car calls for a wise decision while choosing the perfect one.

Like many others, if you are also having a hard time in choosing the better one to buy, you have arrived at the right place. Read on to know which one will get an ultimate upper hand on the other.

Looks and dimensions 

The Honda WR-V has the typical crossover design with rugged and stylish exteriors. The appearance is flanked by bold curves and sharp edges. The front profile gets muscular bumpers. The front spoiler gets a faux skid plate and black colored cladding. The side section has a carved line running across and the roof has rails flanked on them. The rear portion gets C-shaped tail lights cluster and chrome inserts on top of the registration number plate.

The Honda WR-V is generous with its dimension and succeeds in getting into the subcompact crossover segment by a narrow millimeter. The WR-V is 3,999 mm in length and has a longer wheelbase of 2,555 mm.

The Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, on the other hand, has SUV-ish traits with a higher ground clearance and commanding design. It also has an option of dual tone paint job on the roof while makes it the stand out car. It comes with black plastic cladding all around the lower section of the car. The front section is not as muscular as the WR-V but is urban and sober. The front grille gets a chrome strip running across it. There are no bold and unnecessary character lines anywhere on the body, but yet, it manages to be a head turner on the road.

Interiors and styling 

No points for guessing, both the Honda WR-V and the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza are spacious to its core. You will like the detailing on the Vitara Brezza’s instrument cluster dashboard but you will love the way the WR-V’s interiors are designed. It gets a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system, steering mounted control and 1.5-GB internal storage. However, the DigiPad infotainment system misses the services of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. There is a reverse camera with multiview feature in the WR-V. The safety features include a dual safety airbags and ABS (anti-lock braking system) with EBD (electronic brakeforce distribution) as standard across all trim levels.

The Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza has almost similar specs on the inside. It gets a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system built with Apple CarPlay, something that the WR-V misses out on. Keyless entry and engine start/stop button are added as standard. However, it is marginally inferior to the WR-V in terms of safety features as you get only one safety airbag (driver’s side) as standard. All other features are same as the WR-V.

Engine and performance 

The Honda WR-V offers both petrol and diesel variants. The petrol variant holds a 1.2-litre four cylinder i-VTEC engine, which is capable of making a maximum power of 88 bhp at 6,000 revs per minute and a highest torque of 110 Nm at 4,800 revs per minute. However, it’s the diesel WR-V that impresses with its power and efficiency. The 1.5-litre i-DTEC engine is capable of making a maximum power of 99 bhp and a peak torque of 200 Nm. The diesel version returns with an impressive mileage of 25.5-kms per liter, while the petrol offers 17.5 kms per liter mileage. The petrol variant gets a 5-speed manual transmission gearbox while the diesel variant gets a 6-speed MT gearbox.

On the contrary, the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza is offered with the diesel engine only. The 1.3-litre four cylinder engine is capable of making a maximum power of 89 bhp at 4,000 revs per minute and a highest torque of 200 Nm at 1,750 revs per minute. The company claims that the Brezza offers a fuel efficiency of 24.3 kms per liter. There is only a 5-speed manual transmission gearbox option available for the Maruti Suzuki car.

It can be noted that none of the cars have an outright powerful engine, but yet, the Honda car is slightly more powerful and economical.

Verdict 

The Honda WR-V is presently the costliest car in the compact crossover segment. At a starting price of Rs. 7.77 lakhs, it is marginally costlier than the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, which starts at Rs. 7.26 lakhs. But that is not where you draw your conclusion at. Despite having a higher price tag, the Honda WR-V justifies it well. It has better interior specs than the Maruti counterpart and has a more powerful engine.

However, the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza has a lot on offer at its price tag. Arguably, it is better designed than the WR-V as the Honda car holds the conventional sporty design whereas the Maruti counterpart is fresh and different. But there is one thing that might work against the Brezza, that is, the lack of an electronic sunroof, which is added in the WR-V (first in segment).