[sidindica]

5328 kms later, The story of four sided fully loaded entertainment package.

4 x (entertainment) 4

So, the D Day finally came today. Time to make it, phully loaded, alto-gether. Actually, you see, the car does everything without fuss, albeit silently. And too much silence=an idle mind. Too much radio silence=an idle mind in devil's workshop. So, finally, it was time to get behind him to fit a decent music system. And, the d day kept on delaying, and delaying, and delaying. D a in delay.
Tareekh pe tareekh. Tareekh pe tareekh. Tareekh pe tareekh.
Then suddenly, I consult a close friend of mine for a review of JVC KDR-80BT. Lots of people gave rave reviews of this HU, and I got a call from shady anna that it will cost 9k now, down from 12k a while earlier. Without any second thought, went to driven, auditioned it and surprisingly loved it. Time to swap the pioneer 6590 in my punto with the JVC. And what a refreshing change it was.

JVC Installed. Somehow, few of my friends were behind me to get my old HU to sell it to them, I shunned it. Perfect opportunity to fit this in the alto. Called my brother yesterday and made him the offer. After much coaxing, he accepted it and it was decided to fit it in the alto. Only thing required was "char inchi" (4 inch)speakers. En route to driven, stopped at a random shop and picked up the JBL. Priced reasonably at 1.1k, plus they sounded decent.

The alto was already pre wired for front speakers from maruti and all we had to do was to fit cuplar onto the factory cuplar housing.

Next, in came the stereo. Phully loaded, once and for all.
We have "Pioneer"ed the art of playing music through 4 different modes,
"alto"gether using one single device called the 6590 BT.

It has
-bluetooth
-USB port
-aux-in jack
-CD slot (hurray)

So, neatly it was installed and is 5th hidden talent, the radio, was tuned. Finally, the car now looks more complete after 5328 kms. Yes, of late, the car is slowly munching miles without any fuss whatsoever. Fill it, shut it, forget it.

And now, ICE'd it.
Now, comes in another story. The deck means finally, the stone age 20 year old nokia mobile phone has to go, in its place, a nice smartphone, moto E, comes in. Once again, the story of "modernity", in being in tune with the times.
Isn't that a new responsibility?

[ad3952n]

The twin sibling of the Perfect Punto a.k.a "Warraunty" looks equally impeccable. From the boring looks of the 1st gen Alto this K10 Alto looks far superior and in comparison to the engine the K10 is far more refined in performance. You never drove this car to the meets as far as I know. Nevertheless, wish you a great journey with this car and may it also remain as shining like the Perfect Punto!

Thanks.

PS: Forgot to mention. Drag Race will not happen! The poor man's Ferrari is not built for it. Lol!

[KMohanan]

My beloved ALTO K10 reaching 15K in exactly one year.

One complaint I had :

The intermittent of wiper misbehaving. It works as if in normal wiper ON mode. Shown to service station. Wiper motor complaint. Will get rectified in the 15K service.

Otherwise, enjoying my drive with K10. Smooth drive and good pickup.
Except for interior space. But, for a car of this budget, space is ok.
Perfectly ok for my office going at lightning speed with only my briefcase inside.

Could not check the mileage kmpl since the road is almost full of traffic block for a long time due to kochi metro construction. I thought, it is unfair to check mileage in such an abnormal condition. It may give bad name to my alto !

[sidindica]

The skeletal go kart is slowly starting to munch miles.
Just what you expect from a Maruti.
Fill it, shut it, forget it.
Stands at 5,555 kms now.
And now, with a pioneering 4 X 2 X 4 stereo system, its more entertaining than ever.

[sidindica]

Like they say, no news is good news. And yes, nothing new to report. Still confined to city limits, crossed 6400 km without any fuss. Few bruises here and there, I guess it needs a decent detailing session.

[shebin]

My K10 has completed 16000 kms.few points to share

1.She has become my primary ride now in city.Even for long distances i prefer using k10 coz of the sheer convinience and practicality it offers.

2.Did to two trips recently,one to coimbatore and other to mangalore.was doing triple digit speeds easily with two people on board.the car offered good road grip and control above 100(tyres are yoko 165).literally i enjoyed the drive with a lots of redlining,fast corners,over takings etc.Braking was also good and i depend heavily on down shifting while braking and cornering.Gave surprise to many big brothers especially to innovas and etios and xylos.But cannot compete with xuv and swift/polos/i20,s except for few minutes at signals.

3.The lack of low end torque was troublesome earlier.But after 10000km the engine has transformed into a different character.driving habits has to be modified to enjoy this engine fully.It revs freely and to utilize this nature you have to play with the stick continuously and will be rewarded handsomely.But still you would miss that low end torque of diesels many times.

4.Icing on the cake is mileage.Heavy redlining with Ac and two pax and negligible luggage gave a mileage of 18km/l on bangalore- mangalore trip via sakleshpur ghats.The car was never tired of redlining and i also felt comfortable after 7 hrs drive with 2 stops.City mileage is around 16 w/o AC.i feel mileage increases with speed.My dad who usually travells in his sunny joine me in mangalore trip and came out surprised with K10.NOw he wants one for him.

5.As discussed many times,safety is the only concern i have with this beauty.So driving this car at high speeds(above 80) shouldn't be done until and unless the road is familiar and good with long visibility.But scores very well as city/short commuter and with loads of practicality and ease of use.Its a real workhorse with FTD charecter

6.Maruti service is ok. But they charged me 3200/- for 15k service without oil change.Dont think its cheap for alto.

To conclude,Alto K10 has got a style and character of its own even though its a cheap option compared to its competitors..........My other ride is a ritz and sunny(my dads).Ritz is a good car but i cant enjoy driving tall boy. Favorite was Verna 2008 model sold last year.But everytime i get behind the wheel of k10,its like a fresh start...

[sidindica]

Celebrating 2 years of togetherness, and responsibilities.



The car turned 2 on November 24th this year, and, as with our strictness on maintenance, it went for its first paid service, or 4th service which happens at every 2 years. The service experiance at Marketing times, Loni border, as always, has been excellent and this time, it underwent an oil change, oil and air filter change, change of gear oil, coolent and brake oil with a set of new spark plugs. Plus, alignment and balancing. On the higher side, but 5 stars to the quality of service with no repeat complaints.
The bill came out to be Rs. 6200 off after all the taxes and labour etc, plus the insurance was renewed with New India-Maruti Insurance with 25% NCB from the dealer itself.





Nothing much to report, and this is a fun to drive, fill it, shut it and forget it car, but the problem is it has only done 7050 kms till date. Perhaps, time to pull more?

[sidindica]

Traversing 3 years of ALTOgetherness and responsibilities



Aah, an update after a long time. Like its often said, cars, from any era, be it past, present, and the future, is a creation of a human being, and its our creations that speak for us, for ourselves, for our families. A lot can be written, perhaps, we can continue to write stories, but as the days, weeks, months and years go by, these stories become part of our everyday lives, because of our never ending relationships and care that we build with our machines.



Taking good care of it yields rewards in the long run, and as the car completes its 3rd anniversary soon, we decided to get her second paid (5th) service done. The car had a nasty accident in april, which damaged its left door and fender, it was repaired at marketing times workshop but the paintwork was shoddy. The DGM of the MASS agreed to do it again, and it was done much better, though not perfect still.



The car stands at a tinch below 15k kms, and since we both have a strict maintenance schedule to adhere to, the following was performed in 5th service:

• Engine oil, mineral, changed
• Oil filter, air filter, petrol filter changed
• Alignment, balancing, tyre totation done
• Brake cleaning done and one wheel bearing changed due to noise
• Interior cleaning done FOC
• Rubbing of complete car with buffing and polishing done FOC

The total bill was Rs. 5.5k, including all taxes and discount on labour included.
The mechanical work was done well, but bodyshop work left much to be desired. We got the car at 6:30 pm after doing a thorough check. And poor coordination between the service and bodyshop team showed during our visit. Feedback call to my cousin is awaited and I think he will give a below average rating.





Also, the standard maruti fare-interior rattles, has started to creep in. Not much of a concern, but later we will see what needs to be done for it.
Else, the car performs what its designed to, perform the daily tasks from point A to B, with a tinch of FTD factor.
Combined FE hovers around 16-18 kmpl.















Time to say sayonara with the pics taken this sunday, till the next update.

[sidindica]

Major Update | 11 years | 1,09,450 kms | Now called as systumm

Its been a long 8 years since this thread saw an update.
8 years. The world changed. The universe changed. People have changed. The country has changed. Analytics have changed. Analysts have changed. Summit has changed. Venues have changed. And above all, responsibilities have changed.

Today, September 8 2023. The car is now with me, for a few months (or maybe years?), as the family is in the states for their projects. A LOT has changed since then.

Throughout this 8 year tenure. the car continued to perform flawlessly, as a city runabout and daily drive. There was a gap in me seeing the car, and over the years, though most services were performed at authorized Maruti Suzuki workshops, the quality of service and customer centricity began to deteriorate. Age related issues crop up, but the car never got much of TLC simply because of time constraints or waning interest.



The car came to me on August 4 2023. it just looked OK, had its fair share of battle scars, but mechanically it needed attention, and that meant a hefty bill as well. My cousin agreed to this, since anyways he was out, it gave me enough time and space to begin to mechanically and cosmetically redo the car wherever required. Body was not an issue, but few dents...and many things needed attention.

I began to make a list of the priority problems to be attended to followed by the minor ones at the last stage.



Made my visit to Jhalak cars (the guy who does my Fiats) Noida and the following tasks were performed.

• The vehicle was having excessive vibrations. culprit was traced to the engine mount. Changed with MGP mount.
  
• Clutch had finished completely, travel was hard and pickup was missing. New clutch installed.
  
• Car was serviced with mobil 1 5W30 engine oil and MGP oil filter.
  
• Tailgate struts were conking off. New ones from Munjal showa installed.
  
• All 4 door window weatherstrips changed.

I went to a MGP store, kasthuri motors in Ghaziabad, and procured the following items which needed replacement or were missing.

• Full wheel caps. All broken, new ones procured.
• Both front fog lamps. Damaged due to age, water ingress and a stupid local LED bulb that was installed.
• Side waistline moulding (got after a lot of struggle from competent Ghazipur)
• Mudflaps (missing)

These were installed back at jhalak.

But many small things needed more attention.

• The AC was not working at times. and gas was leaking out. After much deliberation. I went to Kapoor AC service, located in my colony where I live (Mayur Vihar 2, Delhi), who is known for proper AC diagnostics and thats where the culprit was traced. He checked first the external pipes for leakage, which was not there. The cooling coil was out next, checked for leakage, it was given a go ahead (The coil was replaced 2 years back at Maruti). The compressor was the next to go under the knife, nothing came out. We finally opened the front bumper and it was the poor state of the AC condenser (bent fins, dents, damaged body etc) that leaked out the gas. Maruti's easy parts availability ensured the new condenser came within 30 minutes (Subros) and was installed. Full AC system was serviced and the problem was gone for good.
  
• New Suzuki valve stem vaps were installed from MGA.
• New Key ring from MGA was brought (leather)
• The wiper motor linkage was vibrating like hell. Procured the new one from a MGP store in Mayur Vihar phase 1 and installed at a workshop in my colony.
• New wipers installed (frameless).
• Finally, for the first time in 11 years, the day night IRVM was installed (first gen wagon R one procured from MGP store.
• Both side power window switches needed replacement. Replaced.
• New radio antenna. Old one had corroded.
• Speakers serviced and wiring made proper.
• Headlamp bulbs changed to stock ones (60/55w) which were there lying extra from my older Puntos.
• Removed all the extra wiring/non working relay/non functional horns and made the engine compartment neater.

I got the car washed and gave it very basic detailing after this, and finally the car was back on the road, with fresh new set of mechanicals, driving like a new car, good to keep for another many years without any hiccup.

The total damage to all this was close to Rs. 36000. It seems expensive at first but when you see the list, it was worth it. rather than wasting money behind a new car.



I drove the car for 1500 kms, and the car runs fresh, tight, with no rattles (took time to close them) and continues to be a fun daily car for local errands and grocery shopping.









Signing off with few pics clicked today. Eagle eyed readers will note the sports pedals from the Zen carbon, which I had lying with me for years, finally installed on the Alto, which I now call as #systumm. And no, it has nothing to do with Elvish Yadav winning the big boss. Lord Alto remains the original bigg boss.

[GTE]

Nobody does it as well as Maruti, any other brand and your bill could possibly be double. Anyone with a modest budget should look no further than Maruti.

[Raghu M]

That bill would have been in the range of 1.5 to 2 lakhs with the modern cars. It's a Maruti and that bill is nowhere close to being inflated or excessive. At 1 lakh kilometers, many cars drop in the towel, your car looks flawless and very well maintained. Wish you many happy miles of driving ahead.

[ERDOC]

Yes , very well written . My father also owns a 2011 Alto k10
Which was a preworshiped car which I bought in maharashtra whilst my study there, brought it to Haryana/Gurgaon.
The car is amazing with an amazing pick up as compared to my Maruti Celerio zxi (0) AMT (2018)
Lastly , concluding lately the Alto K10 started giving a very poor mileage (7Kmpl ) , so we got it checked etc etc and was found to have a failure of MAF sensor which was changed by some local service centre , original MGP MAF sensor was under 2000 rupees .now again this alto has become our work horse for some more years .

[sidindica]

1,14,400 kms and the last goodbye

Its not easy to part ways with your first car, specially if the car had an emotional connection with defining your responsibilities. But, eventually, all good things come to an end, and its time to move on.

With my cousin moved on to the states for the next few years, the car had to go. With 4 years of shelf life left, it made sense to sell within the family, and eventually the new owner is his brother in law only. With newfound traditions, the baton moves on.

Maruti created a masterpiece, it was an accidental mistake. The mistake reaped rewards, and the amount of fun we had, very few cars could match. All companies have deviated from their core principles, including Maruti, in a race to create carputers.

The world of analogue simplicity has ended, and the race to digital artificial intelligence has gained traction.

But, its not every second, minute, hour, day, week, month, year or a decade we live to create automotive stories. Car stories are meant to be cherished, for life.





We started it all. Time to bid one final goodbye, because, India ki chal padi.

---CURTAINS---