Hello friends, My Alto-LXi (2009)is just a month old. It is too early to write a review, but thought I could share some joys of driving the Alto with you all. This being my first car, there is a lot of tension during driving on the aggressive streets of Mumbai; but my “Bebo” did well.
The absolutely brand new car seemed well oiled to take on the road rowdies. Shooting off from the green of a signal was a breeze. Of course, this was done only once keeping in mind that the car needs to be softly run in for the first thousand kilometers.I drive my car sedately in spite of being prodded by aggressively honking drivers to speed up. At fourth gear it is a max of 45kmph and at fifth a max of 50kmph (on Marine Drive).
In tight lanes, I slip into the third gear with almost no pressure on the gas pedal and the Alto sails smoothly. In a month’s time the car has become pretty smooth and I look forward to greater smoothness in coming months as the miles pile up. Have not thoroughly checked upon the fuel efficiency but seems to be certainly above 11kmpl.
This figure is for the horrible Mumbai traffic being negotiated by a first-time driver, and includes extra-long waits at signals with the A/c in full blast to banish the mid-noon sun, and I don’t yet have the windscreen sun-filmed. Another point I noticed was about filling up the tires. The air-pump was digitally controlled, but the attendant was an inept guy.
He would leak the pressure while withdrawing the nozzle hence the four tires had all different pressures on them. I will henceforth ensure that the attendant fills precisely at 30psi (2.1Kg) or better yet, do the job myself. Driving the Alto is a pleasure. She responds so well and is so easy to steer around. At first there was this nagging fear of misjudging the far corner of the car but with time this judgment is vastly improving. Why did I go for the Alto? Well, I had my sights on the Xeta GLS but several events occurred that swayed me towards the Alto. I am glad about going for the Alto, and for this I thank all MS members for their reviews on the different cars in market.
Well earlier I never even looked at Alto: I mistook the car as being underpowered. A test drive at a Maruti dealer banished my apprehensions. Secondly, Alto reportedly returns a good FE and is easy on the pocket for maintenance. My requirement for space was not high as I have neither height nor expanse; and all acquaintances I can remember are also compact people.
Thirdly, the dealers for the Xeta did not show much interest in making a sale: no test drive, no eagerness to make a booking. Similar was the story for Santro. Perhaps dealers suspected that I will not shift away from the Alto. I bought my car from Ratan Motors but went to Vitesse at Prabhadevi for the first service. My use for a car is nil, and the Alto is for drives out of the madding city: Let’s Go. Hope to post more after some real experiences. Maruti should have retained the Alto Vxi with its bigger engine as the A/c visibly drains power from the engine.Avinash.