[rajeev k]

Thanks Mr JKDas for that piece of valuable advise. I will look around and locate that.

[rajeev k]

Sorry for not posting the pictures as yet. See the pics now.

[nairrk]

@rajeev

Alto is a very good car- I had one (VXi) and sold to one of my friend 2 years back.

Your car looks very decent.
You may keep some c/d's in the open place under the Audio panel. so the gap will get filled.
Cheers and enjoy driving !

[vijaythacker]

rajiv,congratulations on your alto, fun drive.City drives and parking is a boon in this car as well as in 800.Your car looks good.Enjoy your drive.

[rajeev k]

This Alto has just completed 20,000KMs and i thought that I would jot an update and the experience of driving it this much KMs. The odo read 49016 when I bought it and has just crossed 69750. The car gave me an almost inexpensive fun-filled, trouble and incident free owning experience which I cherish.

Owning and driving the car was like a breeze.

Did a decarb at 54000 Kms. Though not needed, I was done in by a known service guy. The 1800 bucks spent was of no noticeable benefit. I am also not sure if it did more harm than good. Later on I came to know that the service guys at MASS gets percentage commission on these jobs which they thrust upon unsuspecting customers.

The maintenance work done, both periodical preventive and necessitated ones were as hereunder.

Had one tyre puncture, where upon a tube was inserted and later on that tyre was discarded.

Wiper blades were replaced in September 2010.

The light/wiper combination switch gave trouble couple of times due to loose connections at coupler and after 15000 kms had to be replaced when the low beam position started malfunctioning.

Routine service were done at intervals between 8000 to 8500 KMs though 10000 KMs was adequate

Engine oil changed twice, transmission oil once, coolant once. Never needed any engine oil topping up.

Two Michelin XM1+ were purchased and they have clocked 7000 KMs.

Once after a service at a popular MASS in Cochin, noise was heard from the LHS drive shaft though they were silent when parked for service. I was forced to change the drive shaft and after much brouhaha there, got almost 70% of its cost refunded in subsequent service bills.

Who did the foul play still remains a mystery though. The guy who took the car for service was not the one who returned it the next day, This guy was in Indus earlier and my experience in servicing of my swift with this guy was an experience of a worst kind. He hadf once told me that the AC which was not functioning after the servicing of the fan would work after the vehicle runs some KMs. But I got the defect attended then itself when Indus brought an AC person from their Kakkanad service centre when the service manager at Indus Ravipuram promptly intervened. Indus cared the customer then.

But I can vouch safe from my experience that the personnel at the bypass centre are a bunch of incompetent guys. The in-charge of both sales and service was a good guy and hie at least rendered this help.. The in-charge of service and the customer-care personnel here were only blah blah.

Tyre balancing and wheel alignment were done at periodic intervals.

Altogether owning experience was quite good barring the episode at the authorised service centre once.

I am attaching couple of photos taken yesterday.

[rajeev k]

I missed mentioning about the LHS front power window motor that is suspected as conked off. Two to three months back it stopped working abruptky, though there was loose connection like problems occasionally. The service center guy checked it and promptly replied that the unit needs replacement and is available only as a set of two. He himself suggested to get the motor re-winded at some electrician's.
The summer and now the monsoon are reasons enough for me to postpone the work. Any suggestions?

[asit.kulkarni93]

hey rajeev k,
Thanks for sharing. This was our first car. My dad bought it in '03 for 2.10lakhs and we sold it in '06 for 1.20 lakhs when we left India. Our campus had 3 altos in total the other 2 were lx and ours was the only vx and i loved boasting about the 1.1l engine
It was one solid car and reliable too. It gave us an FE of about 16-18km/l with ac. The Vx was a real VFM car in its times. Sad maruti discontinued it! attaching pics of our car found them today in some old album.

cheers!

[13thpsycho]

Great to see a lot a alto 1.1 fans. I am a proud owner of a vxi since 2006. It had 40k on the odo when I got it, now 1,30,000 Kms on the dot. A lot of cars have come and gone since then but this little beast has stayed. This car has never left me stranded on the road. It used to signal me during my schooling days, "boss I need more fuel, running on fumes now". 100 bucks spent would get me from one corner of the city to another. I have transformed this car from just another alto into a sporty hatch. I will post pics of it soon.

Cheers.

[rajeev k]

My Alto 1.1's odo now reads 94K. Can some one guide me about the approximate price it can fetch. The car is still in fine nick.