Owner Review: A cute, pink car that still serves me well - My 2010 Suzuki Alto 1.0

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Basic information

2010 Suzuki Alto 1.0 

Reason why I bought this car

I just finished studying abroad after 6 years in Russia, so when I come back to Malaysia I need a vehicle to go to work. After some surveying and a test drive session, I decided to buy a Suzuki Alto because I was attracted to its design and how cute it is compared to other cars. Small car is all I need, and myvi is too mainstream at that time, even my mother asked to get the Suzuki Swift, but it's not my taste. And that time only Suzuki Alto was pink.

Car selection process

• I had a budget of: RM 60k
• Models that I have considered include: Perodua Myvi, Suzuki Swift, Hyundai i10 and Proton Satria Neo

The reason why I choose this car

The main reason I think may be due to the pink color available and how cute it is. The RPM meter also seems located above the dashboard where it looks nice there too.

User experience

• I have already done 133,000 km
• My average fuel consumption is 12 km/L

New price at that time was around RM50k, yes it's not that cheap when it's only a small car similar size with Perodua Axia nowadays. But back then there were not many choices. I have to choose to buy a new car. At first when I drove this car on the road, it gave a lot of attention to other people because not many were on the road yet (even until now). Suzuki Alto really is a good car, hardly gives me a problem, just following the regular service and maintenance schedule and its rock solid car. Its handling is quite good too, maybe due to light weight and the suspension towards the stiff side.

The car is 11 years old now but the absorber is still in good condition. The downside of this car is it is small, and some of its parts can be quite expensive e.g. front brake pad, the original cost at rm300, so I decided to get a normal brand at rm60. The other thing that is quite remarkable is the battery lasts almost 7 years. This car is CBU from India and India does make good quality batteries for cars in the whole world. The brand that came originally is Amaron.

Another I experience is the difficulty to get the original tire size, it came with 155/65/14. In 2012 I needed to replace my tires, because the tire size is not available so I just used 175/65/14 which is the same tire size as Myvi.

This car has only 2 power mirror doors and the rear is manual, but the weird thing is the driver side only has the driver side switch, so to roll down the passenger side I need to reach out to the passenger door and push the switch there. And the side mirror adjustments are manually adjusted.

The car acceleration is not that good because of its small engine capacity and the gearbox seems to shift quite fast to highest gear because it tunes to get good fuel consumption. But because its coefficient of drag is low at 0.30, at high speed cruising the car can achieve 170km/h and it is stable at that speed.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• good handling
• easy to maneuvers in town due to small turning radius
• give good fuel consumption
• very reliable 
• normal maintenance quite cheap 
• flat rear boot area when the rear seat is fold

Cons

• some parts quite expensive
• small boot
• only have 4 seatbelt
• manual adjusted side mirror
• no power window for rear
• 3 cylinder engine vibration is there

Ratings

Total Score: 3
Performance: 3
Quality & Features: 3
Space: 3
Ride Comfort: 4
Fuel Economy: 5
Price & Cost: 4

Summary

So to sum up, Suzuki Alto is a good car for town use. I choose it because I like it. It’s color, its shape and how unique the RPM and panel meter are all in a red color accent. I still have not regretted owning it until now, even though I can buy a newer car, but still this is my first car and I buy it because I want it. Not because someone else told me to get it or many people use it. Yes it does have its weakness here and there, well nothing is perfect in this world but Suzuki Alto is just perfect for me even after 11 years of owning it.

Some interesting events

I remember I needed to drive this car a long distance from Shah Alam to Kuala Terengganu when I got transfered to work there. So when going uphill at Karak, the car is slower than some bus express which is fully loaded with people. Inside the car is full with my things and I fold the rear seat to put all my stuff. Together with my brother (who was driving at that time), we all laughed when we were being overtaken by bus express. The Suzuki Alto does not perform well on uphill roads, I assure this.

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