[Aroy]

Originally Posted by Gansan

There may be a slight edge in FE, but service / oil change interval is 10K KM for the 800 cc version as well.

Buy the Alto K10 if you want the zippy performance. For a point A to Point B car, the Alto 800 is excellent.

Sorry, you are right. I was mislead by the first engine oil change which is at 1K, while K10 is at 10K.

For those who want details of Alto here is the manual http://www.marutisuzuki.com/cars-images/image/owners/Alto-BSIV-and-K10-petrol.pdf,
giving the layout, controls and service intervals.

[soleinkol]

Thanks for such quick response!! Great!

Originally Posted by Gansan

The AC effect is very good in both versions, but the K10 has more power to handle the AC.

There may be a slight edge in FE, but service / oil change interval is 10K KM for the 800 cc version as well.

Buy the Alto K10 if you want the zippy performance. For a point A to Point B car, the Alto 800 is excellent.

Thanks, I think that sums it up pretty much!

Originally Posted by Aroy

For those who want details of Alto here is the manual http://www.marutisuzuki.com/cars-ima...K10-petrol.pdf giving the layout, controls and service intervals.

Thanks for the link Sir!

[Oreen]

Hi guys,

We just took our 2-month old Alto K10 from Bangalore to Kolkata and back, a total trip of 5800 km. Taking the Alto was a last-minute decision because the Bolero's gearbox started giving some issues the previous night. Got a roof rack, sunfilm, and a basic stereo fitted into the Alto and started off the next morning (December 24). Although we were apprehensive about taking a small car to Calcutta, we took heart from akroy's drive in 2006 and thought we should be able to make it without much ado.

The K10 engine is a revelation as I had already mentioned and even with three of us and luggage at the back and on the top, it didn't feel sluggish at all. We managed to keep to a steady 120 kph at 3500 rpm on good roads. If you are driving solo without any luggage, the steering starts vibrating from 90 kph, but with load, the vibration started only at 110 kph. However, it comes at around the 3200 rpm band and again vanishes after 3500 rpm as you cross the 120 kph mark.

The first day we could do only Vijaywada, but the next day we managed about 816 km all the way to Bhubaneswar. The car showed its true colors on the Andhra part of the GQ...it can continually race. For quick overtaking at high speeds, you can downshift to the third gear and push it up to 100 kph without a sweat. The manual says the max speed at third gear shouldn't exceed 119 kph. However, on long stretches, even accelerating from 80 to 120 in fifth gear is easy (just a tad longer).

The seats must have good lumbar support because even after 2.5 days of continuous driving (2000 km to Kolkata), we didn't have any backache. The ingress and egress are difficult for tall people, but I am only 5'7" so it didn't make any difference to me.

From Kolkata we went inside rural Bengal, sometimes on GQ and national highways, sometimes on rural highways (read state highways of West Bengal). We went to Santiniketan, Durgapur, and Sainthia during our stay there and I realized the virtue of having a short wheelbased car on such roads. We often had to give way to an oncoming truck by getting off the road. I always winced at the possibility of scraping the belly of the car, but it never happened.

On the 10th of Jan, we started back from Durgapur to Bangalore (2200 km) and stopped over at various beaches on the way. First day was Bhubaneswar again (600 km), but from day 2, we started doing the beaches. Day 2 was only 180 km and we reached Gopalpur-on-sea by noon. We had a lovely stay there at Hotel Sea Pearl (with a private staircase leading to the beach) and on days 3 and 4 we stopped over at Rushi Konda beach in Vizag. I forgot to mention that we were joined by two old people on our return journey (five of us now), who did complain of the ingress and egress from the rear seat and also the lack of leg room. There is leg room at the rear, but not if you want to stretch your legs at times to help with blood circulation. We tried doing short distances mainly to ensure they don't get too inconvenienced. After Vizag, we went to Ongole, 20 km from which you have the Kothapattinam beach. It was washed away during the tsunami, and there still remain the telltale marks of the water rising. There are abandoned buildings on the beach and the fisherfolk now live in shanties made of palm leaves. It didn't seem like the AP govt has done anything for the people there. They just need to improve the 20 km road from Ongole to Kothapattinam and business will come in the form of curious travellers and tourists. The economy will thrive...you already have the natural beauty of the fabulous beach!

We came home on the sixth day (15th Jan) and the odo reading was 7777 km (we started at 2020 km). Am overall happy with the car's performance. It pulls like a rocket even with so many people on board. The gear shifting is a little tight (although am used to a Bolero), but am sure it can be fixed during the third free service at 10000 km.

Some quick facts:

total distance covered: 5800 km
service: second free service at Machino Techno in Kolkata
fuel economy: 16.79 kmpl with a/c on and driving mostly beyond the 3000 rpm mark
highest speed: 145 kmph (solo drive in the 40 km stretch between Burdwan and Panagarh, where you have a 180 degree view) at 4200 rpm
expenses: nil
pics: I will upload pics in the trips section...right now they are on Facebook

[theMAG]

The car is indeed a great highway cruiser. Had you upsized your tyres?

[Oreen]

hi,

No, I am considering doing that once these wear out. I got 155/13 MRF Zv2k, and Michelins of a bigger size would be a much better choice.

[Gill]

What is the Right up size for Alto K10?Do not want the tyre to rub the inside walls after the upgrade.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by Gill

What is the Right up size for Alto K10?Do not want the tyre to rub the inside walls after the upgrade.

I changed to Michelin XM1 - 165/65 R13, on the first day. I do not think that fatter tyres will fit, as these are themselves upsized from the older Alto 12" rims.

More than upsize, what helps is better tyres, and replacement tyres are generally better than OEM.

[Gill]

OEM tyre size is 155/65 R13, would 165/65 R13 be the right upsize, won't this change the profile?

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by Gill

OEM tyre size is 155/65 R13, would 165/65 R13 be the right upsize, won't this change the profile?

The nominal tyre diameter is calculated as follows

DIA = RimDia + 2x(Width x Profile)/Mult

Where RimDia = Rim Diameter in inches
DIA = Outer Tyre diameter in inches
Width = Tyre width in mm
Profile = Ratio
Mult = convertion factor of mm to inches

Original
13 + 2x(155*0.65)/25.4 = 20.93
Wider
13 + 2x(165*0.65)/25.4 = 21.44
Lower profile
13 + 2x(165*0.60)/25.4 = 20.80

So the correct size would be 165/60 R13 and not 165/65 R13, though it would be slightly smaller. If the speedometer is calibrated for the OE tyre size then the correction factor would be 1.006, which is negligible. While upsized one is 0.976 which is not negligible.

[rajushank84]

Had a chance to drive the K10 Alto yesterday. The increase in peppiness is very noticeable. Also the steering feels better now, easier to chuck the car around.

Wish they had improved the seats though. Its not about space, its about the seat width & length. The WagonR seat would have been a better fit, or better yet the Swift's seat. I wonder if these can be retrofitted in the ALto K10. If yes, add alloys and wide tyres with a good sound system, and that will be my ideal car for Indian city runabouts! Actually, good enough for highway also.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by Oreen

Got a roof rack, sunfilm, and a basic stereo fitted into the Alto

Hey, would it be possible for you to post pictures of this roof rack?

And how much did it cost?

I have an Alto and planning to fix one for carrying my bicycle.

[vsbabu]

Got my wife a new Alto K10 Vxi - Firebrick Red color - couple of days ago. Got it from Bimal Auto, Indiranagar Bangalore within a week of booking. Dealership experience was decent. I had bought a Fiat Palio (TVS) and Innova (Nandi) before - compared to those dealers, this was not up the mark. Car is decent - quite all right for city commute. Things I liked so far: short turning radius, good A/C, good pickup, much better gear shift than old Alto or Wagon R, good power steering. I didn't like: clutch is a bit abrupt, engine is a little noisy for a petrol engine, doors are flimsy (compared to Palio and Innova that is), too much free play in steering (hoping it will be ok after first service), no "door" open light for rear doors, feels a little lower on the driver side with just driver inside the car. Horn sounds weaker than my Pulsar horn - but that is not a big deal since nobody pays attention to an Alto in Bangalore!

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by vsbabu

Got my wife a new Alto K10 Vxi - Firebrick Red color - couple of days ago. Got it from Bimal Auto, Indiranagar Bangalore within a week of booking. Dealership experience was decent. I had bought a Fiat Palio (TVS) and Innova (Nandi) before - compared to those dealers, this was not up the mark. Car is decent - quite all right for city commute. Things I liked so far: short turning radius, good A/C, good pickup, much better gear shift than old Alto or Wagon R, good power steering. I didn't like: clutch is a bit abrupt, engine is a little noisy for a petrol engine, doors are flimsy (compared to Palio and Innova that is), too much free play in steering (hoping it will be ok after first service), no "door" open light for rear doors, feels a little lower on the driver side with just driver inside the car. Horn sounds weaker than my Pulsar horn - but that is not a big deal since nobody pays attention to an Alto in Bangalore!

Congratulations. You bought the best there is in that price bracket. I agree that the seats are a bit odd, but for short city drives it is not much of a problem.

1. My steering is spot on. Free play should not be there. Get it checked ASAP.
2. Door lights - I got the rear and boot light switches fitted at the dealer. Damage - 500. The wiring is already there all it needs is switches. Don't know why they omitted them.
3. I agree with horn. I am trying to fit dual horns, but then it requires a relay, so will get it done later. Surprisingly the horn is quite loud, but does not have a presence of a dual horn. In Delhi a dual horn is between 400 and 800, and relay and wiring is similarly priced!

[vsbabu]

Originally Posted by Aroy

1. My steering is spot on. Free play should not be there. Get it checked ASAP.
2. Door lights - I got the rear and boot light switches fitted at the dealer. Damage - 500. The wiring is already there all it needs is switches. Don't know why they omitted them.

Hi - thanks! I've clocked 100 Bangalore City km so far. Steering is much better now. It needs centering though - can live with it for first free service since I won't be using this car for long distance drives. Door lights - I had checked this with the dealer when I went to buy the car. He had a completely perplexed look about this - understandable because the people I talked to were more like sales people! Need to talk to their service person. Considering it is an art to close the rear door of Alto/800/WagonR without feeling pained by the noise, I would consider this a safety feature. Every other time when I do my highway drives, I've stopped my car to inform some random Alto guy driving with one of the rear doors half open -- and usually with children or elderly passengers at the rear!

[soleinkol]

I have bought a Alto F8 in Jan'11. It is meant for occasional weekend tours or errands.

I found the following issues, which seemed very inconvenient/irritating:

1. Only the front doors have the light, though I saw the switch positions available for the rear doors. When I asked the dealer, they said it should be fit when you do a central locking setup. I probably do not want to do that right now. Isn't there a way around?
2. On the rear side where the seat belt cables are fastened behind the rear seat passengers on the metal, that part is exposed metal. On asking, the dealer showed 4 such models with exposed metal. While fixing the seat cover at Bombay Motors, Kolkata, they said it would be a good idea to check during the 1st service as they don't have such plastic components. This I did, and to my amazement, the SA said MSIL has no such spare! I though it would be piece of cheap (it's MSIL's lowest city car) plastic, which could be fixed there, and for the sake of look, it would not matter if it is unreasonably priced. The SA also showed few other Alto's on service (aging for 2-3 months to about a year old), and none of them had that covered! Any idea experts?
3. Any idea of the cost of lighters outside and MGA lighter? I'm unsure of their stock status though, and they said they will get me an MGA Left side ORVM in not less than 2 months . Also is there anyone who has used this in a car? How is it?
4. Only one key lock on the driver's side! If we need to park in a snug place, where the driver's door would fall on the wrong side, the driver will be able to come out, but can't get back in! He would not have space to access the right front door lock (or enter)! Cheap MSIL ideas! The SA on 1st service said that they have reported this to Maruti but no answer as yet! No Q's here, just sad!

Any idea on Q's 1-3 will be a great help!