Suzuki Alto – A smaller thing in a better package!

Suzuki Alto, with 1000 cc powered engine, is not only the car to look at for those earliest in their driving, but also for those who want to taste a brisk experience of driving as if on a pram. First introduced as a new model of the oldest of the cars, Suzuki Mehran, later on it was let on its own, for the differences, and hence improvements, were far too many. What with its baby-like appearance, better horsepower and engine-pick, smaller exterior surface-area, and yet a reasonably good space inside, it makes for a great family car.

Exterior
The exterior of Suzuki Alto is one delightful display of neatness, with finest of touches, delicacy, elegance, and on this wise, attractiveness. Crystal lights for that matter are a real smasher, and yet on the whole, such design is made as the car should look wee, small and moreover, modest. Perhaps for a greater part of Alto’s exterior, its resemblance lies closest in the renowned racing car, The Classic Mini Cooper.

Interior
The lightsome nature of Alto’s interior should leave you well contented. Itself not a luxury car, it is still built in pleasurable inwardness. Towards instrumental panel, there is an air-conditioner/heater—and its controller—AM/FM cassette player, two cup holders, a cigarette lighter, Key/lights –off reminder and a colourful meter panel, reading up to 180 Km/h. Seating is of fairly good comfort. The steering control of alto is extremely convenient to the hand as well, light, easy and turns big and merrily. I remember switching from driving Alto to Mehran one time ago and it seemed like driving a rock then. If not a power-steering, only a few would be able to tell whether it’s not, while all the others would behave economical with their judgment—though here is still some grain of truth, for the steering wheel, still and all, feels like a near power-steering.

Capacity
Alto can provide space for up to five people to sit and take the joy of a comfort-rendering journey.  At a considerable loss of comfort, one more may join, but for longer journeys, only five are recommended—two to be on front-side, three of course rearwards.

Drive
Alto provides a fairly good drive as well. The engine pick is good, steering wheel and gears soft, and the drive is a full 5 gear extensive drive. The gear ratio also seems to be very disturbing as they're very short and you usually keep changing a lot of gears.Here, there is not much to complain but appreciate.

Gasoline Consumption
The CNG consumption of Alto is on a very favourable side. For a 55L gas cylinder—this comes within—Alto, if newly, should cover around 110 Kilo meters, by average, inside the city. You might have to go to the little expense of putting in for a 5th gear drive, so the mile-range off city ways might be relatively lower.

Price Range and Colors
The price range of Suzuki Alto varies between Rs. 598,643 to Rs. 647,000, depending on the model, which to buy. No expense is spared on the colour range, which ranges from red to blue (both navy and sky) to pink to silver to yellow to white. Metallic colours charge an additional Rs. 5000.

Problems
Although there isn’t much to complain on this field of regard, a few problems are worth mentioning. For one, the engine of Suzuki Alto is held restricted at a very small space, and if the radiator is to be replaced, opening the engine demands a lot of painstaking. Secondly, the shocks are just average. The car also isn’t as resistive to the damage, and If God forbids, a major accident is to happen, the entire parts of the car might get the worst of it. The area of bonnet up-front is not convincingly strong and easily crushable if something thereat hits.

View
Suzuki Alto provides a great view for one driving it. Firstly the car is small-sized, with respect to the height, so the backview mirror provides a view very close to the positioning of the road. Secondly, the side-view mirrors are immense mirrors working in 3-dimensional aspect, which in its entirety is more than sufficient for the viewer to drive in safer spirits.

Brakes and parts
Braking-system of Suzuki Alto is as good as comparable to cars, such as Suzuki Cultus—which is said to be the elder brother of Suzuki Alto. The spare parts of the car are also in full availability, and don’t need much painstaking to be sought after, however expensive they be.

Summary

The Good: Good engine horse-power and pick; a fairly good drive; attractive exterior; not-so-bad interior; good view, rearward and frontward; better steering wheel and gears; good CNG consumption; easily available spare parts; good brakes system.

The Bad: Not-so-good shocks; a fairly low seating capacity for bigger families.

The Bottom-line: Suzuki Alto is a perfect family car. Small as it is, there’s more to it than just its size. However, families of larger dependants might need to second-guess before going for it.