Insurance Group: 4
MPG: 65.7
CO2: 99
0-62 Mph: 13.5 secs
BHP: 67 BHP
Range: 506 miles
The only gripe about this car has to do with space, and poor equipment and safety kit levels.
PROS: Great for town driving. Handling is good. Good economy. Good resale values
CONS: Body roll. Very sparsely equipped. Safety kit is very basic. Boot is tiny. Cabin is squeezed, especially at the rear.
The Alto SZ3 has a tiny 1.0-litre, 3 cylinder 12v 996cc petrol engine that is speedy around town. Take it out on the motorway and you will need to rev it really hard to get any decent performance. It produces 67bhp and has a torque of 66 lb-ft, which is too low to give any reasonable amount of punch. As such, the car will feel sluggish on the motorway.
The Alto has sufficient amounts of grip, but there is a lot of body roll in corners. The steering is light but not sharp enough and this makes the car a little slow in responding. Suspension is soft, and while it absorbs bumps well at low speeds, it also makes the car jittery on the motorway where speed demands are higher. It will lag behind bigger cars, but a top speed of 96mph ensures that it is not too far behind. A small turning circle makes parking in tight spaces easy.
Overall, the Alto has good refinement levels. The engine makes a continuous drone when on the move, but not to disturbing levels. Road noise is contained and wind noise only interferes at speed.
The Alto SZ3 is a five-door, four-seat city car. It has a fancy design but is serious enough to earn glimpses of approval from fellow motorists. Shorter and lighter than most city cars – it measures only 3500mm x 1600mm and weighs just 890kg – the Alto does stand out from the rest.
The cabin is not as captivating as the exterior, unfortunately. It has a rather plain look, and the hard plastics on the dash and panels are unappealing.
Standard equipment is very basic. It includes power steering, central locking, air con, electric front windows, driver airbag, passenger airbags, front side airbags, immobiliser and CD player. Metallic paint is the only cost option available, and it costs £380.
Space and storage are two of the Alto SZ3’s greatest shortcomings. The cabin is tiny: while front passengers will enjoy enough head and legroom, rear passengers will struggle finding enough space for their legs.
There is no glove box. In its place is a small shelf that can hold only the smallest of bits. Door pockets are there but they are so small they cannot hold anything other than a thin notebook. The boot is no better; it is smaller than in most rivals and has a capacity of only 129 litres. When you fold the seats, you get 367 litres of space, which can at least hold a shopping bag or two.
There are no adjustments for the driver’s seat or steering wheel, so the driving position will not suit everyone.
The car has basic safety kit only. Stability control is missing, among other crucial technologies. Available safety kit includes ISOFIX child-seat mountings, engine immobiliser and anti-lock brakes. It is not surprising then that the Alto got a weak three-star rating in the Euro NCAP crash test.
The Alto SZ3 is cheaper than most rivals, but it certainly is not the best value city car. Rivals such as the Ford Ka, Hyundai i10 and Nissan Pixo have much more to offer. For anyone who only wants a simple car that is reliable enough to go from one point to another, the Suzuki Alto is a bargain. Resale values are strong, and this is another of the car’s attractions.
Fuel economy is good at 64.2mpg. Emissions of 103g/km are low and only miss the free tax bracket by a few points, to fall under road tax band B, which attracts only £20 a year. Insuring the group 4 model will be quite cheap. Servicing needs to be done every 9,000 miles, which is quite a short interval, but the rates are low so it won’t affect your spending by much.
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