Maruti Suzuki Alto LXi BS-4 Ownership Report


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My story dates back to year 2009 (flashback, a little filmy though) [:)]. In the month of July 2009, when monsoon had just set, came out of office and found that it was raining heavily, so stood in a bakery near my office. After a few minutes, I saw a couple who hurriedly parked their bike and ran towards the bakery with something wrapped in the female’s arms. There was their baby all drenched and shivering with cold. I felt very sorry for the child and realized that I also have a kid, which is of 4 years now, and this should not happen to my kid, so thought of buying a small budget car.

Then again, after two months, forgot all about the car, as I had many commitments, but the thought of buying a car was still wandering in my mind. After a few months, all the commitments/issues started to subside and once again started looking over to other options like A-star, Alto, Hyundai Santro, etc. Went to RNS for a TD of A-Star. I liked the A-star, as it was very refined and looked marvelous for me. So, one day, took my dad to RNS motors and at the very first site, he said that the boot space is very less and did not even like to take a TD of it. So, dropped the plan of buying it. Next came to mind was Alto, which had a lot of discount and freebies. I had a doubt whether any new model is being released shortly so they have showered such offers to the customers. I did not bother much and started surfing the net and found that a new Alto with 1000 cc K-series engine will be launched soon. This time I went to Sagar Automobiles, as RNS was far from my place, and enquired about the Alto K-series, but the SA of Sagar had no about Alto K-series and nor the staff. After a few followups to Sagar, they agreed that it will be launched shortly and so I booked it (first one to book Alto K-series in Bangalore at that time) and the wait started. After a few months, again got a call from SA stating that they are not going to launch Alto K-series in India, but a new Alto BS-IV will be launched soon. I really got disappointed that the car will not be launched in India, so started waiting for Alto BS-IV.

In April 2010, I again got a call from SA that the car will be coming to their stockyard within 2 to 5 days so to make the down payment and block the car in my name, which I opted was silky silver. As I was busy in office, was able to go to showroom next month, i.e., May, and made the down payment and completed the paperwork. After paperwork, I enquired what freebies I would be getting. They said that as it is a newly launched vehicle, no freebies, but will be given floor mats. I asked them to do antirust treatment and put a sun film and wheelcaps. They quoted 10,000/- for them, so dropped the idea of that and left the showroom. The next day, called them up and said it if they could put all those accessories, which I mentioned earlier, for 6K, they agreed for it. Next week, i.e., on Tuesday of May, I got a call from SA that the car has arrived and asked whether they can send it for registration. As I was so busy with my office work, was not able to do PDI and told him to go ahead with it. Then, again, the same evening, he called me up to collect the car, but I was very busy, so went to the showroom only the next day with my brother around 4 p.m. with a heavy heart thinking that I have not done any PDI, nor had a look of the car, do not know which car they will give me, etc., etc. All such thoughts started coming to my mind and I was very restless. After reaching the showroom, saw one silky silver Alto parked outside to be delivered and it was looking gorgeous. Straightaway went near the car and gave a call to the SA to come outside. He came out and said that indeed it is your car. Looking at the car, all my thoughts vanished. Checked the speedometer and it had just 21 km on it, so was relieved. Checked that they had put Lumar sun film and given anti-rust coating. It was already getting dark, as they handed over the car after all the formalities around 6 p.m., so looked all over the exteriors for any scratches and dents and everything seemed intact. They added 5 liters of petrol in the tank at showroom itself and gave the demo of the car and then left the showroom. To be continued........
 
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Re: Alto LXI-BS-IV ownership report

Let me be the first congratulate.
Congratulations for getting the best selling car in India.
Liked you filmy post.Did you feel any regret after the K10 alto was launched?
 
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Re: Alto LXI-BS-IV ownership report

That was a pretty nice write-up congratulations buddy! Please do post some pictures of your ride here.


Any reason for finalizing on Alto and not looking at other cars in this segment?


And yeah any regrets now with the Alto K10 being launched?
 
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Re: Alto LXI-BS-IV ownership report

Congrats and Welcome. I too have an alto which will be sold soon. Do go through my thread. You may find some interesting stuff people have posted regarding the problems I had. TAI did help me out a lot in this matter. Also try out the remote boot release. It's very simple, cheap and effective. The details are in my thread.
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/ownership-reviews/1310-red-hot-alto-spice.html
 
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Re: Alto LXI-BS-IV ownership report

Congrats for owning a best seller. I have been a happy Alto owner from last 3 years :) Your post came as a pleasant surprise as I did a 300 kms drive to native in my Alto just today morning. I was extremely happy after the drive and now it doubled after reading your review. Happy and safe motoring.
 
Thread Starter #7
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Re: Alto LXI-BS-IV ownership report

Let me be the first congratulate.
Congratulations for getting the best selling car in India.
Liked you filmy post.Did you feel any regret after the K10 alto was launched?

Thank you,

I regretted at that time when I bought Alto 800 cc that I should have waited for at least one month, but you will come to know what happened in my next post........... more to follow [:)]
 
Thread Starter #8
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Re: Alto LXI-BS-IV ownership report

Congrats and Welcome. I too have an alto which will be sold soon. Do go through my thread. You may find some interesting stuff people have posted regarding the problems I had. TAI did help me out a lot in this matter. Also try out the remote boot release. It's very simple, cheap and effective. The details are in my thread.
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/ownership-reviews/1310-red-hot-alto-spice.html
Thank you Peter,

I too have faced some problems, which made me to avoid my Alto for a very long time, still to come...............
 
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Re: Alto LXI-BS-IV ownership report

hay Ayaz, congrats on your new ride. i have BS-IV for the past one year and trust me if you treat the ride well it will perform well. for me except one time which i have changed the right side shock under warranty there was no issue till now and i have travelled even in 2 feet of flood water about 2 Km and even in fogey climates like can’t see more then 10M in front of you and even in night and elevation of 2000M within 20Km of travel distance this ride never failed.
 
Thread Starter #13
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Re: Alto LXI-BS-IV ownership report

Hey guys, sorry for the long delay in posting, was pretty much occupied, so could not update.

Continued.....

The very next day had to go to my native, Mysore, to attend a wedding. Left Bangalore around 4 p.m. and took the NICE road. As it was new, I just maintained a steady speed of 60-70 km.hr and did not rev the engine. Had filled tank full and out of curiosity, set the trip meter to check the mileage. I got a mileage of 23.5 Km/L without AC on highway even before 1st service. I was overwhelmed by this. The reason behind it is due to steady drive of around 60-70 km/hr. After experiencing this, I tried avoiding revving the engine above 80 km/hr so as to get a steady FE.

Now comes the pros and cons of my ride.

PROS:
1. Excellent FE:
A. Highway, with 25-30% AC, 24-25K/L.
B. City, with 30% AC, 17-19 km/L.

2. Good Visibility.

3. Comfortable front seats.

CONS:
1. Cramped rear seats.

2. Poor headlamps.

3. Drop in power with AC.
 
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Thread Starter #15
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Great mileage you have got, BTW how many kms has your car done as of now.

So finally what about alloys ?
My car has run just 10k plus Km till now, as I had stopped using it for some time.

Alloys are on cards, but yet to decide on the design and particular specifications. Dealers are confusing me regarding the same, stating that Alloys will reduce the mileage of the car, etc.

I like your Plati Alloys, hunting for them.

That was a pretty nice write-up congratulations buddy! Please do post some pictures of your ride here.


Any reason for finalizing on Alto and not looking at other cars in this segment?


And yeah any regrets now with the Alto K10 being launched?
Yes, regretted a lot at that time after hearing the news that it is launching in August 2010.
 
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