And the Alto K10 AMT crossed the 50,000kms milestone after 28 months of blissful ownership which calculates to an average of 60kms a day. After 50,000kms, I’d say the AMT is functioning the same way as it did on day one, reliable, effective and efficient.
The 50,000kms milestone. Current Odometer reading.
In all this 50,000kms, the car did 8500kms on the inter-state highways doing triple digit speeds and the remaining kilometres were done in Chennai city. The Alto is my daily work horse for office commute taking me across the city and back with the on-road time lasting 3 hours a day, 5 days a week and doubling up as a shopping cart on weekends. Over the years the car has been driven on fast highways, bumper-to-bumper traffic, also a month of water wading through 1 feet of water during the Chennai floods in 2015.
As part of having fun, the car is redlined quite often on empty stretch of good tarmac and when standing first for the green signal but other than this the car is generally driven sedately. The Alto begins its day with a good wipe from a dry micro fibre cloth to take away the dust. Micro fibre cloth with water is used 2 or 3 times a week to get rid of the accumulated stains and muck. So-far, the micro fibre cloth, water and Sonax dashboard spray has been my regular car cleaning kit for the Alto.
Zipping through traffic, taking quick U turns and the ease of driving through narrow streets has become a usual task without breaking a sweat thanks to the Alto’s compact dimensions and excellent control and visibility you get from the driver seat. At slow speeds the steering wheel doesn’t feel light as many cars out there but feels direct and has good feedback. I got used to the life less steering feel at speeds over 80kmph. The ride quality on bad roads is unsettled and bouncy but improves drastically with more people onboard.
Engine and Performance:
I can describe this in one word, “fun”. The car can surprise you with its brisk acceleration and can achieve crazy speeds on open roads and the driving experience is pure entertainment when you play with the accelerator pedal and taking it to its limits even in the first three gears. I once had the opportunity to test its top speed and was left in utter disbelief seeing the speedo needle sweeping across the entire speedometer! Above 2500rpm the engine noise is prominent inside the cabin thanks to the minimal to zero cabin insulation. At idle the engine is fairly silent but you can feel slight vibrations from the 3-cylinder engine. On the move though apart from the buzzing engine noise, the engine is smooth and rev-happy even at 6000rpm redline. Recommended grade Mobil1 synthetic oil was used for 40,000kms and Castrol semi-synthetic oil for 10,000kms. I was able to get better mileage with the semi-synthetic oil.
Fuel Efficiency:
The car always gets a tank full of fuel as soon as the fuel level drops below quarter tank level. As much as possible I have tried to tank up in the same BP fuel station with unleaded petrol. The car is always driven with AC and the average city mileage has been consistent at around 15.5-16kmpl. The best city mileage achieved was 17.1kmpl. Best highway mileage with 100% AC and maintaining 120kmph was 18kmpl. If driven around 80-100kmph, getting 20+ kmpl easy. The worst highway mileage of 14kmpl was achieved while going bonkers with the right foot for around 300kms with three people onboard and AC.
In the last 10,000kms I have used the M mode more than in the past 40,000kms. The AMT:
At 50,000kms the AMT system has been reliable, effective and efficient. So far there has been no false shifts, no gear drops, no AMT warning lights, no unusual behaviour and no break downs. Touch wood. While driving in D mode in slow moving traffic, slight jerk is felt when the upshift to 2nd or down shift to 1st is interrupted by brake or accelerator input. Once you cross 2nd gear the gear shifts are smooth and jerk free, shifting between 3rd, 4th and 5th gear is seamless at any speed. Of course you can feel the pause in acceleration during gear shifts which is similar to driving a manual car and so no complaints here. I test drove the Ignis petrol AMT and the Dzire petrol AMT and the jerks between 1st amd 2nd gears were almost non-existent and the response to accelerator input during stop-go was more instant thanks to better low end torque their engines offer. That said, the gear shifts between 3,4 and 5 felt same as in the Alto.
The creep function needs a special mention, lift the foot off the brake pedal and the car crawls forward without any accelerator input. Highly useful when you want to close the gap ahead in slow traffic. The creep function also works when you stop on a flyover bridge. The creep function is deactivated when you engage the hand brake and you have to use the accelerator pedal to move ahead. In case if you want to leave the traffic behind when setting off form a green signal or if it’s a highway overtake situation, simply tap the gear lever into M mode, reduce a gear or two and stomp the accelerator and keep an eye on the tachometer to upshift before you get hit by the rev limiter wall. The AMT does excellent rev-matching so no jerks are felt when you downshift a gear or two in M mode. In the last 10,000kms I have used the M mode more than in the past 40,000kms. The M mode was used essentially for overtaking and getting away from traffic signals.
The stock Bridgestone S322 have good life but noisy. I'm planning to replace the Bridgestones with Yokohamas. The after market alloys have held on well. Tiny stones tends to get caught in the tyre treads Build Quality:
The sheet metal is thin, doors feel light, interior plastics are hard and shiny but everything is put together rather well with no uneven gaps all around. When driving on broken roads I could hear squeaks from the left side front and rear passenger interior plastic door panel. Why only the left side doors? Well, only these two doors are mostly used other than the driver door which I don’t slam to close. Since the sheet metal is wafer thin, both the front fender panels have slightly lost their flatness due to people leaning on it when the car is parked. Apart from these couple of squeaks the car is bolted together rather well and nothing has fallen off or broken. Every day at the office the car is parked under the tree and the body paint has held on to its colour and sheen pretty well even after taking daily shots of bird droppings and tree sap. Cabin insulation is zero. The engine noise and road noise are ever present inside the cabin. Even small stones hitting the wheel well is heard crisp and clear. But the wind noise is kept away rather well.
A pair of rear co-axial speakers and tweeters are the only aftermarket electricals fitted to the car. The car still runs on factory fitted brake pads and the brakes continue to offer decent bite. The stock Bridgestone S322’s offer decent grip and long thread life. The tyres squeal a lot when taking quick U turns and during hard braking on wet surface the tyres tend to lock up easily but the grip is good on dry surface. Two of the tyres need replacement due to formation of small bulge on the side wall which was caused by a bad pothole, apart from that all the tyres have enough thread on them to last for another 10k kms easily. All the four tyres are due for replacement anytime soon with Yokohama’s.
50,000kms service update:
The 50k kms service is not a major service unlike the 40k kms one and hence only the engine oil, oil filter and air filter is changed.
Job done:- Replaced Engine oil with Mobil 0W40 fully synthetic
- Replaced Oil filter
- Replaced Air filter
- Brakes clean and check
- Wheel rotation
Total cost for the service was Rs5658. This service was done at a small MASS centre called Perfect Maruti Care (link) located in RA Puram near Alwarpet in Chennai. This MASS center has basic set up and nothing fancy. The service advisor was friendly and the car was delivered on time, clean and tidy.
The 50,000kms service bill. No major complaints. Excellent visibility from the driver's seat. The stock headlight set up lights up the road rather well Love the blue color.