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but no other car is as close to what ALTO is in the entry level segment. Santro & Indica do have a strong hold on the upper level where Alto plays (Alto 1.1) but with respect to the range that Alto has from mid 2 to low 4 lac it is the only choice.
August 05 Alto is being launched with better styling (clear head-tail lamps), changed nose and a few more vibrant colors to make matters interesting. The seat fabric have received an upgrade. Although Swift continues to take limelight, guess Alto is serving Maruti and entry level buyers just fine. I wish they again launch it with the 1.1 liter engine. Given that Alto has longer wheelbase and (more) modern chassis than Zen it would kill Zen’s sales if launched with 1.1 liter engine.
June 04: For the first time ever a model (Alto) outscored 800 on the sales chart. This is due to Maruti positioning Alto as entry level car & in order to phase out 800 & also they slashed entry level price by 25,000 (without AC) at 2,34,000.
Recently I had a test ride of a used Alto 1.1 without power steering. The car was in a good condition. I really liked the power of 1.1 engine. With 4 passengers it was pulling very well.
The transmission was typical Maruti/Suzuki, a little rough but spot-on. As I am used to Palio’s butter smooth gears I found the gears in Alto a little crude but accurate & easy to locate specially from 2nd to 3rd, it is easy to find it. Although I have heard a few complaints from some owners about Grinding noises from transmission. So better watch-out for that.
The AC was good enough but left me for wanting as it was VERY hot. Also with AC on the acceleration suffered a bit. Can’t blame as I had 4 full grown adults with me! :) Overall I was very satisfied but when finally we sat for