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Suzuki describe it as a
car 'for these times' and let's face it, times are tough. A five
door, four seat sedan with six airbags and a chronic distaste for
petrol. The new Alto doesn't sip fuel, it licks it as a cat licks its
fur. At the car's Brisbane launch we had a road test of 130 kilometres of city,
suburban and a small amount of highway driving to down 4.65 litres
of E10 95 Ron petrol. That's 3.52 litres/100 km. Or, in the old money
a mind-blowing 80 miles to the gallon.
Which means on a full
tank of fuel - that's a miserly 35 litre fuel tank - you could drive
between Brisbane and Sydney without fuel break with the cost of
filling up at $1.17 a litre just under $42.00. Suzuki had another
analogy. Our road test of 130 kilometres would cost $209
approximately by taxi. It cost us just a
tad more than $5.44 in petrol. Alto, however, is designed as a city
dweller. It has a turning circle of just 4.5 metres and is just 3.5
metres long. So trips to the shopping centre or school will not only
be cheap, but driver-friendly.
"Alto gets around
the same fuel consumption as a hybrid or one of the new diesels,"
said Suzuki Auto Queensland's general manager, Keith Carroll.
Alto GL five manual will
go on sale on August 1 at $12,490 plus on road costs, which are
expected to grow the drive-away price to around $14,990. The GLX
variant will be around $16,990. A four speed auto adds $2000 to both
variants.
Suzuki is downplaying the
engine size - it's a one litre, three cylinder 12 valve powerplant -
in the belief buyers may baulk at the engine size. Instead it wants
potential buyers to drive the car and make up their own mind when it
comes to performance. Our initial driving impressions are at the foot
of the story.
The car's length means
the boot size is limited. With the rear seat raised capacity is 345
litres and with the seats folded space expands to a more than usable
754 litres. With its six airbags on
both variants Alto has a four star ANCAP safety rating.Only the GLX has
stability control.
The car has funky looks
which Suzuki say will give it appeal not only to young buyers, but
families and those looking for affordable running-costs, without
sacrificing aesthetics. Despite our road test economy figures Suzuki
quote a combined economy of 4.8 litres/100 km. We have to admit our
test run did not include any significant hills such as a climb up Mt
Dandenong or the Blue Mountains.
Of the six cars that were
road tested by our group the worst return was 3.67 litres/100 km and
the best 3.27 litres/100, or 86 miles to the gallon.
Those outstanding figures
are line ball with the efficiency of complex, integrated power
systems on cars costing almost three times the
price of Alto," said Mr Carroll.
"By delivering an
entirely new regime of specifications, market-leading fuel economy,
comfort, outstanding interior space in a sub-compact and Suzuki's
value and reliability, the Alto will have a very broad appeal across
many different markets," he said.
Alto features a floating
style dash, ABS brakes, power steering, electric front windows,
remote door locks, air conditioning and an AM/FM/CD tuner with an MP3
playback function and auxiliary input
socket.
However, the external
mirrors are manually operated. The Australian Alto has higher safety
specifications than it's European counterpart. In other markets the
Alto is known a A-Class or Celerio. The airbag system features dual
front airbags, side airbags and head-protecting curtain airbags. The
ABS brakes also feature electronic brake force distribution with
emergency brake assist. The rear seats have two child seat ISO-Fix
anchorages and two tether anchorages.
GLX adds ESP, front fog
lamps, colour coded exterior mirrors, tachometer, six speaker sound
system, seat height adjustment on the drivers seat and alloy wheels. The car was designed in
Japan where it is built, but assembled in India, in a plant expected
to turn out 750,000 Alto units a year.
FIRST DRIVING IMPRESSIONS
Okay, Alto is hardly a
sprinter. Try 0-100 in 14 seconds in the manual and 17 seconds in the
auto. Given most people will use the car in the 'burbs this is not an
issue. We found the car had adequate poke off the line and it cruised
easily at 110 km/h on the highway. The engine produces 50 kW of power
at 6000 rpm and 90 Nm of torque at 3400 rpm. With the car's weight at
just 880 kg for the GL and 905 kg for the GLX, it is not being asked
to carry the weight of the world. We found the driving position
comfortable, steering light and the clutch also on the light side.
We
conducted our test in the GL, so there was no tacho. What we did like
was the size and comfort of the front pews. For a car this size
Suzuki have obviously decided that most times only the front seats
will be in use and therefore they get the lions share of space. As a
result the rear pew is a little cramped, but it is certainly ok for
little Tom and Anne for local short trips and the odd longer journey.
It is a no-frills finish,
but the important boxes are ticked. Comfort and safety with six
airbags and no extra charge for air conditioning.
With four adults on board obviously the performance would be
compromised, particularly on hills. Top speed for the GL is
155 km/h and 150 for the GLX.
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