3.0 Exterior | 2.0 Comfort | 3.0 Performance |
4.0 Fuel Economy | 3.0 Value for Money |
After a extensive driving of 1 year and 8 months,in different weather conditions,i’m writing a review on my first car alto800 .A compact car designed for small familes in cities and town.basically the car is easy to handle in narrow streets,heavy traffics(bumper to bumper),it has easier u turns .We purchased a cng top end version .what I found is the engine is more smooth in cng mode compared to petrol,(can’t hear engine noise in cng mode), however this mode has around 30% less power output compared to petrol .this is noticeable specially when you are driving with full load with four passengers(including driver) and a child or adult depending on the fifth passenger.One day I had to stop on red signal, which is on steep hill,and also I was in first position on the queue,i’m right infront of the traffic signal,there are few other vehicles behind me .when the signal changed to green from red,i changed the gear to 1st,and started to accelarate,to my surprise the car didn’t had the enough pickup as expected and started rolling a bit backward.At this moment I realised i’m in cng mode,and needs more power,i depressed the accelarator further down and car moved forward.next time onwards,whenever I come across this situation I switched to petrol mode to avoid this.there is also problem with reverse gear.when I tried to put vehicle in reverse it doesn’t engages fully,if I tried to release clutch at this situation the vehicle makes grinding noise because of improper rear gear tooth engagment.To avoid this the Alto user manual itself suggests to try in second attempt .means if it doesn’t enages fully,put it in neutral,fully release the cluth and again fully depress the cluth till the bottom end and put it in reverse this works absolutely.In the night time as the vehicle height is much lower the oposite higher height vechiles headlight falls directly into drivers eye level.one has to drive slowly during this situations.i’m getting decent mileage of 25km/kg in cities and 28 to 30 km/kg in high ways on cng mode and 19 km/l in cites in petrol mode with ac off .slightly lesser with ac on during the same .apart from below demirts the vehicle is otherwise good.
Pros
1)Fuel efficient.
Cons of vehicle
1)Suzuki has not given left side rear view mirror even after purchasing top end version in this segment .i had to spent Rs .1200 for this.
2)The ac is not comfortable,specially during summers,as the govt is against sun films,the ac effectiveness reduced .
3)Pick up drops during ac is on.
4)Needs a rear viper in rainly season as you cannot see the vehicle behind you,due to Accumulated moisture(mist) on all inside windows .Rain drops on rear view mirros blurrs vision(side traffic)
5)Cannot engage reverse gear in first attempt .user manual suggests to try second time.
6)No driver seat height adjuster despite purchasing top end.
7)No use of cng version as there is insufficient supply of cng in hyderabad.i had to wait for 90 min to get cng in line.
8)Do not leave the vehicle in direct sunlight for prolonged hours as this leads to uncomfortable hot air inside the vechile.
9)Durning no load(only driver),we have to drive slowly at speed breakers(cng version) as the Vehicle bumps more into air at speed breakers due to rear cng cylinder weight.
10) Not suitable for long drives as there is no enough leg room .and no rear head rests.