WITH a declared intention of pitching ever higher in the small car stakes, Suzuki has an all new version of the Alto.
Six generations of Suzuki's city car have graced showrooms since the original launch in 1981 and 42,000 Altos were sold in the UK up to 2005 when the model was discontinued.
Now comes the seventh generation Alto and, despite the current difficult economic climate, this latest version has certainly hit the ground running, 1,200 examples of this small family motor having found their first home in the UK in the past few weeks alone and with the arrival of the Government's scrappage scheme that could soar with the Alto being snapped up for under £5,000.
Manufactured at Suzuki's assembly plant in India, the five-door Alto is available with three levels of specification available, SZ2, SZ3 and SZ4 delivering a fair level of standard kit considering the under £7,000 starting price.
Mind you all version have only manually adjustable door mirrors and the entry level SZ2 also fails to feature the likes of air con, split folding rear seat, front fogs and electronic stability programme which comes only in the flagship SZ4 model.
However, the SZ2 does come with the likes of a two-speaker sound system with CD, front electric windows, responsive ABS braking, tilt adjust tiller, childproof rear door locks, remote central door locking, side and front and rear curtain airbags, plus cup and bottle holders and a number of hidy holes for your bits and bobs, but no glovebox.
In a cabin which could perhaps have been made a little less austere with the use of some higher quality materials, there is room for a pair of standard size adults up front while two more can be squeezed into the rear seats where headroom aplenty is provided but not much space has been allotted for leg stretching.
However, the 129 litres of luggage space with all seats taken only really qualifies the Alto for 'shopping trolley' carrying status unless you flatten the rear seats.
Despite driver's seat height adjustment not kicking in until the SZ4 model, the tilt adjust steering wheel helps to deliver an agreeable driving position in comfortably supportive seating from which overall vision is fine..
Only one engine is available, a surprisingly lively 1.0-litre three cylinder petrol power source which, while perhaps a little noisy under pressure, soon settled down. Designed for economical use of fuel rather than outright pace, the engine can struggle a little at times but it certainly does its best work on the city circuit.
While it needs 13.5 seconds to reach 62mph from a standing start, once the Alto gets going it uses the light steering to prove nippy, agile and very adept around town.
Only 3.5 metres long, the Alto is also easy to park.
The Alto is also a quite competent performer out of town, its 68bhp petrol engine paired with a five-speed manual gear change (there is a four-speed auto box option) proving quite nifty.
An even bigger plus is the official urban consumption fuel figure of 51.4mpg and an average of 64.2mpg with CO2 emissions 103g/km.
Overall, this latest Suzuki Alto may perhaps be a little down on refinement, but it is quite a good looker.
In addition, if you add to the mix the likes of 1E and 2E insurance groupings, pricing of £6,795 for the SZ2, £7,245 for the SZ3, £7,960 for the SZ4 and £8,560 for the SZ4 auto, the Alto's low running costs and environmentally friendly performance are well worthy of consideration.
Words: Malcolm Robertshaw