[Torino]

Hi guys, I got rid of the damaged tyre and bought a new Bridgestones S322 155/65R13 for Rs3350. The new tyre and the spare tyre (unused) is now fitted to the front wheels. As predicted MASS pointed the aftermarket alloy wheels for warranty void, they also said side wall damage is only due to pothole impact and is not covered under warranty. I bought S322 to maintain uniformity since both the front wheels are now brand new. I visited couple of Rao tyre dealers and I was directed to another Rao tyres who had stock of S322. During inspection the tyre mechanic pointed out the very slight bend in the alloy wheel caused by pothole impact which led to tyre damage and the damaged tyre looks normal from the inside.

Word of advice: Be very careful when negotiating sharp potholes. Try to avoid potholes and if not take it at minimum speed as possible. Do inspect tyres often if you drive on bad roads. Take care of your tyres.

[satanic_dude]

Originally Posted by Torino

..... I remember seeing a silver Alto K10 beside me for a brief moment right opposite Anna Univ on that day, hope it was you.

Yes, that was me!

Originally Posted by Torino

...How many kms your K10 has done? Can you share any major observations in your overall ownership experience, especially with the engine and service centers?

My K10 has now completed 38000 KMs. Point to note is, the car seems very well screwed together, as there are no rattles even after driving on some of the worst roads, with the harshest potholes. Even after constant driving in knee deep waterlogged Madras roads over the past two weeks, there was absolutely no water seepage into the cabin. Last Tuesday (24th), during the traffic chaos due to rain, I took 4.5 hrs to travel ~9KM from Mylapore to Saidapet. The mileage though did not dip that much, and was 14.57 as per the last full-tank.

The engine became smoother post 20k mark, and even better after 35k! Now, the mileage has significantly improved to 14.5-16 within city, and 21-24 on open highways, as observed over the last few tankfulls. The last highway sprint from Salem to Madras (on the way back from Munnar) returned a whopping 23.44! The K10B has good power for hill climbs (most recent was Munnar).

With regards to service, I used to get it done only at MSM (Guindy) ever since the first free service, but moved to ABT (Guindy) this year (where I used to give my M800). MSM appeared to be declining in quality, and was more crowded. At ABT, I always get greeted by an SA immediately without much waiting, and the overall job turnaround is much quicker. I am thoroughly satisfied with ABT now. Plus, I believe they are upholding the legacy of being one of the first MASS, having sold and serviced the 1st gen Maruti cars in the 80s. It is a treat to watch all those old photos they've put up in the lounge.

I just went through the rest of your posts, as it's been a while since I found the time to follow up!

Keep writing! Cheers!

Regards,
Abhishek.

P.S. Had been thinking of taking off the wheelcaps for a long time now, and finally did it after four years! This is also partially inspired by your black wheels. I like steel wheels though, for their rugged look.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by vishwaschettri

WagonR Vxi Type - 1 rear view mirror with day night function is a direct fit in Alto. I have the same in my Alto, costs ~450 bucks.

Can you post a picture of the IRVM? Part number too if you can?!

I am awaiting response from my MGP dealers to procure that part. These are too slow in getting it.

[Torino]

Originally Posted by satanic_dude

Yes, that was me!

Pardon my late reply, connectivity issues due to Chennai rains.

Thanks for the feedback, your car looks well kept for all these years. I like the low stance of the original K10. Good to hear that your car is going great after all these years, I hope even my K10 crosses thousands of kms without rattles. Yes, ABT provides one of the best service among other MASS in Chennai. Tuesday the 24th was bad indeed. On the related note, did the last week rains have any bad effect on you and your car? Hope your car is fine. My Alto escaped since we are located on slightly higher ground.

Quick update:
The Alto K10 has completed 15,000kms and 8 months and recently completed two Chn-Blr trips last month which took a toll on one of the tires as mentioned in the previous posts. The car is perfectly fine and off late due to the rains in Chennai the car has often been used on bad roads with ~1ft water. It strikes me often that should I get the under body treatment done or not. The recent rains have done a havoc with the roads which can cause serious damage to the cars unless driven carefully and I hope the roads are relaid to its original shape soon.

Engine, Gearbox and fuel efficiency:
Post the 10k service the engine feels more eager and a bit smoother, the reason could be the Mobil1 engine oil. The engine feels slightly more relaxed and quieter when maintaining triple digit speeds. The engine feels comfortable cruising at 120kmph after which the cabin tends to get noisy due to intruding road and tyre noise. At city speeds the engine feels very relaxed and quiet adding to the effective AC which almost has no effect on engine power delivery. The AMT is working flawlessly with precise shifts. My driving for the past 5000kms has been only in the D mode mainly due to the comfort and ease in driving without shifting. The gear shifts are smooth and seamless most of the times. The fuel economy stays in the range of 15.5 to 16.5kmpl inside the city and around 20kmpl in the open roads with hard right foot.

Test of time:
There is no rattles or squeaks until now and I hope it stays that way considering the abuse the car takes due to broken roads in Chennai. I take special care negotiating bad roads and not to get hit especially after damaging my Bridgestone. Safe driving in pot holes is my first priority now. 90% of the time the car is driven without any passenger and the small dimensions has helped me a lot to drive in traffic, narrow streets and also when parking. The car has got few scratches and all of them happened when in idle in traffic due to two wheelers trying to squeeze their way passed and the ORVMs get frequent hit.

Dislikes:
1. Cabin noise insulation.
2. Bouncy ride over bad roads.

Likes:
1.Engine
2.AMT gearbox
3.Small dimensions
4.Ergonomics

Somewhere between Hosur and Krishnagiri.



Wading through water in Chennai.


Bangalore early morning fog on Nov 28.



15000kms up.


Note: The head-on photos were taken by co-passenger.

[satanic_dude]

Hi Torino, thanks! It looks as it did because I actually didn't keep wiping and washing it often Just remove the occasional bird droppings and tree sap etc., and get the car washed once a month or 45 days from MASS.

My car didn't escape the floods, unfortunately. Was almost completely submerged and the interiors damaged. Have logged a claim with Chola MS insurance. Need to get it towed to MSM which Chola recommends.

Those are simply fantastic photos (Krishnagiri and Hosur). Love the surreal effects.

Please do get the underbody treatment done, but from 3M. Their Body Schutz is apparently a thicker rubbery coating that'll reduce your road noise issues hopefully. There's a warranty and some free checkups at certain intervals.

A quick question about the highway ride quality. Read in the reviews that the handling is a bit tentative and scary at higher speeds. But it is very encouraging and good to hear from you that your K10 handles very well while cruising at 120!

Regards,
Abhishek

[GKMahajan]

Originally Posted by satanic_dude

Hi Torino, thanks! It looks as it did because I actually didn't keep wiping and washing it often Just remove the occasional bird droppings and tree sap etc., and get the car washed once a month or 45 days from MASS.

My car didn't escape the floods, unfortunately. Was almost completely submerged and the interiors damaged. Have logged a claim with Chola MS insurance. Need to get it towed to MSM which Chola recommends.

Those are simply fantastic photos (Krishnagiri and Hosur). Love the surreal effects.

Please do get the underbody treatment done, but from 3M. Their Body Schutz is apparently a thicker rubbery coating that'll reduce your road noise issues hopefully. There's a warranty and some free checkups at certain intervals.

A quick question about the highway ride quality. Read in the reviews that the handling is a bit tentative and scary at higher speeds. But it is very encouraging and good to hear from you that your K10 handles very well while cruising at 120!

Regards,
Abhishek

Dear Abhishek/satanic_dude,

Sorry to hear that the car was under water.
According to some of my friends who had seen cars do scuba diving in the Mumbai floods, it is mostly a matter of luck. I mean, sometime you only land up repairing / replacing only cosmetic items. Most cars now-a-days are over designed and I hope there is no major expense to you.

Another factor is the quality of water. In 1962, when water had entered my father's house (note: he was a bachelor at that time staying with his parents), the flood water had been in the house for 2 days. There was a iron crowbar which rusted and became porous! There was a Japanese radio too. My father changed the speaker - thats all! Even today that radio works - he had bought it in Delhi in 1955!!

Girish Mahajan

[Torino]

Hi Abhishek sorry to hear about your car. Hope it is back on the road soon. Thanks for your suggestions. I will visit 3M center soon and get the underbody treatment done atleast to reduce the road noise. Thanks, the photos were taken in my Moto G3 and then edited with effects.

No, my praises were for the engine performance at higher speeds and the handling is quite the opposite as we know. I think the Alto K10 has manageable handling over 100kmph on smooth roads and cruising at 120kmph isn't that bad either. On not-so-smooth/flat roads the light steering, less weight, skinny tyres makes the car go all over the place and it is scary. One best example is the Chennai bypass road (Tambaram-Maduravoyal) even though this road doesn't have any pot hole, the utter bumpiness of the surface makes my Alto a tough task to keep it in line above 90kmph. I say this cause on the same road our Ertiga handles ten times better. Never seen such a utterly useless bypass road. I have been researching on improving handling with sway bars, anti-roll bars and suspension upgrade but as we know they are quite an expensive and critical affair. When the tyres wear out I will definitely go for wider tyres which should improve handling.

Regarding the K10's engine, the other day in the internet I was checking Suzuki's new K10C DITC 1.0L Boosterjet engine used in the new Baleno in the international markets. If I am not wrong the Boosterjet 1.0L K10C engine seems to be developed from the Alto's K10 engine. source

[Torino]

I like the JDM culture for their religious interest for car mods. Thanks to my Japanese friend I got my 'wakaba mark' or the 'beginners mark' from Japan, for that JDM look. Will be sticking on the rear hatch door but not sure if it should be near the left or right tail light.

[satanic_dude]

Hi Torino,

Good to hear these photos are from a Moto G3. I recently bought one to upgrade from the legendary Moto G1. Never fails to impress. The GPS too is very trustworthy for frequent highway drives. The battery life needs no mention. Unbelievable.

From your description, I understand that the engine performance and handling seem to be exactly the same as in the older K10 😀. Beyond 100, it's just adrenaline and God that guide the car, oh, and smooth roads too! Best ever performance I've experienced is on the Bangalore - Madras toll highway. Love how the K10 pulls, and keeps pulling with a powerful grunt that petrolheads like us thrive on. I'm sure the drive-by-wire has improved the throttle response. From the reviews, I gather that the low end torque has improved.

Very encouraging and reassuring to read about your frequent highway trips, with a new K10. May you successfully complete thousands more miles, so that you wear out those tyres, get wider ones, and update us about the hopefully improved handling 😁

You are right about the Boosterjet K10C. I read elsewhere that this 110 Bhp monster variant of Baleno is undergoing road tests in India, and being benchmarked against the Polo GT TSI.

My K10 has just got it's estimate, and I'm at MSM Guindy right now waiting to discuss with the SA, on further course of action.

Girish,

Nice to hear some great nostalgia there! Though new cars are very complex, the Alto still is very simple on electronics, and hopefully pretty easy to restore.

Thank You.

Peace.

Regards,
Abhishek

[Torino]

Hi Abhishek, sorry for the very late reply. Hope you got a favourable outcome with your K10.

Hi All,
My K10 went for the 20,000km service last month at 'Wheels Auto' MASS in Adyar. The overall service was decent considering it is a very small service centre. They have filled Castrol Magnetic 5W30 part-synthetic engine oil instead of recommend fully synthetic. There is a noticeable difference in engine performance and response in this part-synthetic oil which I will share in the detailed update report. I have decided to change to recommended grade oil after 5k kms or should I change it sooner?



The K10 has crossed 23,000kms and going great without any major issues except for the two usual suspects being the cabin noise and bouncy ride. The last four months involved lot of driving which added 8000+kms to the odo. A detailed update will be up by this weekend.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by Torino

There is a noticeable difference in engine performance and response in this part-synthetic oil which I will share in the detailed update report. I have decided to change to recommended grade oil after 5k kms or should I change it sooner?

You can safely extend to even 6 or 7k with this part-synth oil. No point getting it changed before 5k kms.

Awaiting your detailed report with respect to the differences you felt with this new grade engine oil.

Regards,
Shashi

[satanic_dude]

Hi Torino!

That was me in front of you in the Metallic Red Alto F8 with T-Bhp sticker, a few minutes ago. While turning near Mount, noticed your number plate and the electricity triangle sticker through my rear view mirror. Couldn't get beside and wave, but hi again!

Peace.

Regards,
Abhishek

[Torino]

20,00kms/4th service update:

The car completed 20,000kms in 11months of ownership. The excessive usage was due to frequent Chennai-Bangalore drives for the past few months. At present the car has crossed 23,000 kms and I will come up with a detailed 25k kms ownership update later this month. The Alto K10 AMT has a recommended service interval of 10,000kms/one year whichever is earlier. The 20k service was done at 21k due to my tight schedule and busy MASS centre. Overall the car is performing flawlessly with average city mileage of 15.5-16kmpl and highway mileage of 19kmpl.

Likes:
1. Impressive engine performance.
2. AMT
3. Manoeuvrability
4. Chiller AC

Dislikes:
1. Nervous handling on uneven road at speed.
2. Lack of cabin insulation

Service Update
The 20,000kms service is the 4th service and 1st paid service done at ‘Wheels Auto’ MASS in Adyar in Chennai. My usual service centre ‘Vishnu cars’ was overloaded due to flood affected cars and they wanted at least 3 days to service my car. Being my daily driver and my preference of getting the car on the same day, I came across ‘Wheels Auto’ which is close to my work place and they promised to deliver the car on the same day. Even though their service centre is very small with just three service ramps under a shed, they did a decent job in executing the recommended maintenance task and delivering the car gleaming like new inside out which ‘Vishnu cars’ with its multi-speciality service infrastructure failed every time. But on the engine oil part they have refilled with Castrol Magnatec 5W30 part-synthetic oil which I have planned to replace with fully synthetic oil after 6k kms as bhpian Leoshashi suggested.
There is a noticeable difference felt with this Castrol Magnatec 5W30 part-synthetic engine oil compared to previous Mobil1 0W40 fully synthetic.

My observation with Castrol Magnatec 5W30 part-synthetic:
1. The engine does not feel free revving as before.
2. Engine sounds coarse during hard acceleration. The engine sounded throatier with Mobil.
3. Increase in fuel efficiency. I am getting ~50kms more on every tank full during usual office commute. Will update exact mileage soon.
4. Engine noise is less audible at higher speeds.

List of work done in the 20k service
1. Engine oil and oil filter change
2. Air filter change
3. Brake oil change
4. Coolant change
5. Brakes cleaning

The total service cost was ~Rs5100, split between parts and labour was ~Rs2550 and ~Rs2550. Have attached the service bill for exact prices.

The alloy wheels and blue color stands apart to the other wise simple design of the car. Small dimension+AMT+K10=Go-Kart.


Wider tyres will definitely improve highway manners and stance.


Somewhere between Hosur and Krishnagiri. The K10 is a Go-Kart, literally!


The K10 engine is very impressive in munching miles and keeping up with big cars at speeds.


Odo at 4th service. Interior plastics are hard-wearing.


Current odo.


Made new stickers. I call it Blitz Drive.


No K&N filter, only sticker.


AMT makes life in traffic easy. K10 engine has impressive performance, smooth, not strained even at red-line, fuel efficient. No wonder Suzuki developed the 1.0L Turbo Charged Boosterjet engine out of this.


20k service bill. Fair cost?

[Torino]

Mileage Update:

City mileage- 17.1kmpl with 100% AC

From the previous tank full the car ran 526kms and took in 30.6L of petrol which translates to an average mileage of 17.1kmpl from 100% city driving and with 100% AC. This is the highest mileage I have got so far in the city. Key factors for achieving the mileage could be the Castrol Magnatec part-synthetic oil and sedate driving manners.

[Bageera]

Hi Torino! I guess I spotted you on Monday around Avinashi Toll around 3-4 PM. I was on my way back from my hometown Palakkad to Bangalore.