Cheap city car, not exactly dripping with magic or desirability. The
kind of car you buy when being practical and have no image to worry
about
Whilst every other car maker is producing sharp-suited, fun-to-drive
city cars Suzuki continues to offer the
utterly woeful Alto, which offers a minimal motoring experience.
It won’t make a fashion statement or offer any form of driving
amusement. It falls short on safety and is poor on practicality. In
fact, it really does have very little to recommend it.
The 0.8 litre engine coughs up 47 ps @ 6200 rpm, giving yawnsome
’acceleration’ on the way to a (theoretical) 120-130 kmph maximum. In fact their website does not even talk about top speed.
A
five-speed manual gearbox takes care of driving the skinny front wheels.
The Alto’s compact dimensions make it a squeeze in every
direction but up - headroom is its one area of excess. Inside it’s as basic as they come with a style-free dash and ultra-thin
seats that lack any support. On the other hand, the few controls
kicking about are well placed and the slightly scrunched driving
position isn’t too bad. And you’ll never be short on headroom - the
high-roofed design means you could wear all types of turbans without a worry.
Thin seats and
hard plastics reign inside and the equipment list would barely fill the
glovebox. In fact, it is the glovebox.
The fact that it stops, steers and goes is the Alto’s major
contribution to road safety, though side-impact bars also feature.
Airbags and ABS? Erm, no. On the options list you’ll find only the air-con. But add them and you could actually
afford something decent instead.