I am a new member to Mouthshut.com , and the reason for this is my new darling “ THE MARUTHI ALTO LXI” . I had earlier shortlisted
The Hyundia i10
The Chevrolet Spark
The Chevrolet U-Va
The Hyundai Santro ( Both LPG and Petrol)
The Ford Ikon ( Seconds)
The reson I shortlisted the above vehicles were because I wanted my EMI to be not more than 9000/-. After around 10+ test drives , we finally bumped into Advaith Hyundai in Vasantnagar for a Hyundai i10 sports. The service is ohhh. Don’t ask.
They made me sign on the car documents and on the final day HDFC bank came back saying that the minimum age required to avail car loan is 25years and I was very much disheartened because I was very exited to own a i10 at 21. But later MR DINKAR from Mahindra and Mahindra came in as an angel and adviced me to go for a Alto or Santo (BASIC) and he could get me a funding of 80% on the ex-showroom. And you wont belive right from day 1 till I got the car delivery everything went on smoothly and Maruthi proved right for me.
Now why Alto? The answer would be easy to own, low cost on maintainence and the best thing , easy to drive . So we bumped in to LXi as power steering was a must for my granppa , because he sold his Fiat for the same reason. The fact that I don’t know driving was a concern for me as my dadu had to test drive and I was afraid because his fiat was a sedan and Alto is a small car , but for my surprise he gave a thumbs up and he even help me pump up the downpayment.
We got the car delivery on Aug 20th. And the car was blank , except the AC , Power Steering, the vehicle and nothing which can boasted off as TOP END .We made a maiden trip to Puttaprthi ( 150 kms ) . We left the house in Bengaluru at 6:00am and then filled the car with full tank . Then we left for a dream drive on this sexy machine and guess what uin 2hrs 30 minutes we were in Puttaparthy and guess what my darling never cried or stopped. And the fuel tank still had 3/4th plus fuel left, and trust me this sight is like drinking the costliest brand of beer to fulfill your satisfaction.
Then the following day we left to Bengaluru, and again with all the traffic 3 hours in front of my House and we still had half tank left. And then I made trips to JC road with the same petrol to install a MP3 player , Seat Covers , Auto Cop , Wheel Caps and Door Guards and then we went to Bidadi ( about 40-50kms) to have breakfast and guess what the petrol still was there and my darling was the fastest on the highway. Only after some 3 weeks having come back from Puttaprathi , my car felt hungry. So mileage is excellent.
Next about the interiors. Maruthi for all its basic cars i.e of course 800 , ZEN , OMNI and Alto has the same kind of interiors i.e Black plastic, which I think should be atleast made nice or upgraded with many colors atleast for the VXI and LXI models because they are supposed to be Top ends. But still would give it a 3rating because its quite decent. But not that much nice which needs a clap. You can change the interiors if u want , but again the look may be not nice. Seats could have been given a different shade or a different color because the blue and grey looks very dull if one doesn’t put seat covers. Atleast a time or a Bigger Dashboard could have been given.
They could also give front two as power windows as normally santro Top end does have. Even the steering wheel is fixed and cant be adjusted. So people like me who are tall will find it difficult to drive at the first time. Now the figure, oh sorry I mean the body. Alto being a common man car , nothing can be expected out of it , as costs would go up with any kind of extra fitting. The paint they claim is a metallic one , but compared to other competitors , the metallic ka statement gets a thumbs down.
Even the bumpers are black for all version and Maruthi will just paint the bumper with the car color if one opts for Body colored bumpers and would charge a whopping amount of 4k(which is costlier for a paint). This feature of this car makes colors like black and yellow look dull on it after a while. But for a car at this price , it can compromised.
One good thing is , the place that’s left for a music system is quite big and one can easily get a 2 DIN MUSIC system , compared to the normal small one which you find in all other cars. I have actually installed the NIPPON music system 2 din same as the one used in Mahindra Xylo.
Now the engine and the boot. They could have retained the earlier Vxi model of 1000cc as it has the same power and engine that of the Maruthi 800 which is disappointing because 796cc is less for alto , for the fact that Nano is 600cc. Well even then this car zooms nicely in city and highways and can go upto 120kmph and also can do nice wheel spin and drift in this. Coming to the space and the boot. Since the back seats are foldable , the boot space is good and manageable but one has to disconnect the rear speakers if u need to accommodate heavy luggage. Now the vehicle is a decent drive for 5 people if the people traveling are quite medium sized. If there are any fat people in your family , then beyond 4 , it would become congested. So guys overall the car is good, I would prefer or recommend this to all those youngsters and people who want a car that costs less and also is low on maintenance..