Last week i was in kerala on vacation . I was waiting for a test drive of the newly released maruti alto with Kseries engine called Alto K10.
The demo car arrived at my home in trivandrum and the new alto was beautiful /handsome . I dont know what to say about a car as it doesnt have gender . With the new grille the car looks nice unlike the old alto which has plain looks .
The rear also looks nice .
The interiors are not stunning . seats are a little improved with a headrest . The drivers comfort can be best said as "fair "only . Tall drivers will find it a little uncomfortable .
Rear legroom is just ok and the ride quality is average .
Perfomance : Here i cant help but compare it with my ex-girlfriend ( maruti zen 2002 model) . this new alto was supposed to be a rocket like the old zen but here it disappointed me . I floored the accelerator expecting for squealing tyres but nothing happened other than a slow acceleration . It didnt feel like the claimed 0-100 kmph of 13.3 seconds but felt like an average perfomer. It was more peppier than the old alto but that was it ....period . The zen of yesteryears was a true rocket in the pocket .
Gearbox was another disappointment . The shifts were at best ok only nowhere near the good old zen where gear changing was a breeze . Brakes were good however .
Around corners (i did one tight cornering ) it performed well . I had read in some car magazines that there was lot of understeer but i felt it was fairly neutral in handling and powersteering was good too .
With a price of around 3.5 lakhs on the road it is fairly value for money but has tough competition from many cars at slightly higher prices .
My overall rating ( im biased i like drivers cars )
perfomance 6 out of 10 only
handling 7 out of 10
looks 7 out of 10
interiors 6 out of 10
value for money 6 out of 10
Overall verdict -----Ok nothing spectacular . My ex-girlfriend was spectacular ---the zen 2002 model ......and its not going to be ex at least for now ....its still with me ......
