It is the 15th month with no regret . Review on Maruti Suzuki Alto LX

I bought my Alto Lx in Aug 2003 - the 3rd vehicle of my life. So far I have covered two short trips, one to Murud Janjira (total 375 km) and other to Pune (total 400 km) - both from Mumbai of course. The good and bad points of this vehicle as per experience of this humble owner of car since 1991 are :-

Good:

1. Excellent

   
   




2. Excellent

   
   




3. Excellent

   
   




4. To be little descriptive for the sake of making a review look like an review, let me make the statement that the Alto Lx returned an impressive 18km with AC on for about 60% of the time while riding with my small family in daytime. Had it been handled by a better driver, it would have been 20 km easily, because I feel that I am not that good as far as rational driving is concerned.

   
   

In Mumbai city driving, even when AC is off, the mileage is just about 12-13 km. Mind you, I am not an average averager, I really top up the tank and then write down the odometer reading and repeat the same after returning home, to really do justice to the real average findings for the trip, not like general averager who generally builds castles in the sky. Here I like to share a light but very very relevant joke on average averager which goes like this ?

Fed up with low mileage problem of his car and hearing suggestions from said-to-be expert friends (who normally try to show that they are the only experts and other are fools and stupid), a new car owner went to the garage and confronted the serviceman for sorting out of his problem. The serviceman tried everything, but the complaint was never-ending. After a tug of war lasting for about 6 months, the owner said that enough is enough and demanded an explanation from the garage owner. He also confessed that the success stories of others are driving him crazy and led to a situation to believe that something is really wrong with his car only ? for which he will never be able to be proud of his possession. The garage owner listened coolly and then said ?

Well, if you have faith on my 20 years experience in the trade, I really have a solution.

What is that - the car owner asked impatiently.

It is simple - do whatever the others do - the garage owner said.

And what on earth is that - asked the fuel guzzler owner.

Tell lies like others !

1. No, you don?t miss the PS in Lx. For a car with curb weight less than 800 kg, it is nothing but an ornament which makes the pocket drain unnecessarily. If you don?t happen to be a car buff, try to convince the dealer to replace the factory fitted radials with normal ones (which he should readily agree to because of the price advantage), as radial makes no sense for short trips ? specially below 40 km speed which is quite normal in city driving.

Bad :

1. Exercise caution while driving with AC on and trying to negotiate a climb or while overtaking another vehicle - you may be embarrassed because your partner may feel (even express) how worthless the car is, because when the AC takes over, nothing really matter to the engine ? not even the farthest push on the gas pedal. Practice to put the AC button off without catching partner's attention instead.

   
   




2. Being a low end battery which come fitted from the factory, it is in the habit of sharing its acid-mix juice with its fellow neighbours like the engine support area just below its cradle. It is not known whether such a situation - of course not very prominent so as to make it possible to observe - takes place when the engine is hot ( hence the juice is hot ) or even in other situation also. In my case, nothing could be established, but MUL ensured a coat of painting on the affected part ( Sep 2004). I am relieved after knowing that it is not rust ( in any case rust cannot be choosy to attack a particular portion ), but the portion is kept under observation.

   
   




3. The comfort of the driver is compromised though that of the passengers has greatly improved, if compared to Maruti 800. In 800, I - a 6 footer - did not have any complaint.

   
   




4. Don?t put any fancy hangings on the front dangling. The viewing angle is less wider than 800 for the driver, hence it is better not to go for the hangings.

   
   




5. Fiat type lowering limit of rear windows is a curse for rare passengers.