[IQBAL VEERJI]

Originally Posted by ShantanuMarathe

Hi all
This is my first post here though I am a member for a long time now. We bought a Sunrise Copper Alto K10 Vxi for my wife 15 days ago.It is a gem of a car. I also own a Baleno and the acceleration curve is comparable, though a bit lesser naturally given the small engine. I love to take it to my office as it is very easy to maneuver in city traffic. But that does not happen often as wifey refuses to allow me to do it often! Once a week seems reasonable demand. We took a drive from "Mumbai to Nashik (Sula wines), about 180 km one way and it was a revealation to us of the fun driving this pocket rocket. With five people on board and AC on we could take the ghats at 90-100 with no feeling of loss of acceleration. On the way back we kept making a Corolla jealous by racing against it for an hour before we graciously allowed it to go its own way. Surprisingly my car has rear door ajar lights. The horn is of course like a two wheeler and nobody bothers to move aside when you honk.

Boss where it indicates door ajar lights on the dash board, I dont have them on my K10 brought yesterday.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by IQBAL VEERJI

Boss where it indicates door ajar lights on the dash board, I dont have them on my K10 brought yesterday.

There is no indicator per se. The only indication that the door is not closed properly, is

1. If the door is ajar the internal light is on.
2. If key is in, and the car is switched off, there is a continuous beep.

[CBlazer]

Originally Posted by Aroy

1. The wiring is there, the switches are not. I got my switches fixed at one dealer in Delhi, it was a ten minute job for the rear doors.
2. The central locking in my K10 works only from the driver door - key as well as the door lock, and not from the passenger door (which is simply disabled as the wiring is there)

Aroy, thanks for the link.

I got the first service of my K10 done at Mandovi yesterday. It was funny how different people there had different views about the light switches, day night mirror, etc. Finally their conclusion was:

1. I can get the switches installed on the rear doors. They don't come as standard in any Alto.
2. Can install a switch for the boot door as well, but can't install a boot light.
3. I enlightened them about the existence of a day/night mirror. They did their research (it seems) and told me they could not even find the part number to order one. They promised to get back by next week.

I forgot to post this on the forum earlier. When I bought the car, I was told as standard procedure they have filled 5 l of petrol. The SA for some reason was urging me to fill up ASAP. I normally fill up early in the morning and had planned to do so the next day. I reset the trip meter as I was driving out of the dealership. I drove around to the temple, to my house, later to my relative's house and was about to park the car that night. The car just stopped and wouldn't start again. I had done 20 km since I took delivery. I realized I had run out of petrol. Later their customer support person told me that they normally give a coupon for 5 l of petrol that I could redeem from a nearby petrol pump! The SA had lied to me. I wonder if Maruti dealer margins are so low that they could go to such extents to save Rs 350/-.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by CBlazer

Aroy, thanks for the link.

3. I enlightened them about the existence of a day/night mirror. They did their research (it seems) and told me they could not even find the part number to order one. They promised to get back by next week.

I forgot to post this on the forum earlier. When I bought the car, I was told as standard procedure they have filled 5 l of petrol. The SA for some reason was urging me to fill up ASAP. I normally fill up early in the morning and had planned to do so the next day. I reset the trip meter as I was driving out of the dealership. I drove around to the temple, to my house, later to my relative's house and was about to park the car that night. The car just stopped and wouldn't start again. I had done 20 km since I took delivery. I realized I had run out of petrol. Later their customer support person told me that they normally give a coupon for 5 l of petrol that I could redeem from a nearby petrol pump! The SA had lied to me. I wonder if Maruti dealer margins are so low that they could go to such extents to save Rs 350/-.

3. The day/knight mirror for the old Alto is available in Delhi spare parts shops, but they want 1200 for it, while the Delhi dealer list price says 750 (though out of stock!). Check the link ..:: ALTO ACCESSORIES | CUSTOMIZE YOUR CAR WITH MARUTI GENUINE ACCESSORIES and hunt for the mirror in Interiors.

In my case the dealer said that two liters was filled and gave me a coupon for three more (47 on the ODO). Having had previous experience, I filled in the 3 liters ASAP. I think that the 5 liters is to move the car from stock yard to dealer, as well as give the customer enough fuel to go to the nearest pump. Ten years ago when I bought the Esteem, I was asked to go to the petrol pump and fill up immidiately. Those days there was no free petrol.

[vsbabu]

Over the weekend, I drove my 1 month, 400km and 1 service old K10 VXi from Bangalore to Kerala and back. Reasonably OK for long drives. Engine/cabin is noisy beyond 90kmph. I got 19.5kmpl with A/C on most of the time, with 200km in Kerala state roads and rest on NH47/NH7. On highways, most of the driving was calm cruising at 3000rpm/95kmph. At 101-110kmph+, front part including steering shakes on most of the roads. Alignment was (claimed to be) done by the dealer during first service. Not quite sure what to make of it - on one section of the road, I touched 115kmph and it didn't shake at all.

If passenger seat is empty, taking right turns above 60kmph is scary. When I had a co-passenger, it felt much more planted on the road. But then again, I am a Fiat Palio (pre 2008 model) fan, so expectations on driving dynamics are quite high :-)

A/C is quite good. Takes hardly 5 minutes to cool down.


For the price, I am happy with the car.

[CBlazer]

Did my first long drive in the K10 last weekend (around the 1800 km mark). Took it to Nandi Hills - 3 adults and a child on board. On the highway it did quite well as long as I stayed around 80 kmph. Anywhere near the 3 digit mark I could feel a lot of vibrations on the steering. While I relish the ultra-light steering in the city, I wasn't so happy with it at high speeds because of the lack of feedback.

Climbing the hill was quite easy with the AC turned off. The car became rather sluggish with the AC on. Being a Sunday, there were just too many vehicles on the road leading up to the hill (station?). Some of the cars were even tail-gating me. Given the heavy traffic I felt most comfortable driving uphill with the AC switched off.

On flat roads overtaking at high speeds wasn't an issue even with the AC on. However, I would upgrade to wider tyres if I were to do any serious long distance driving in this car.

PS: Was trying to clean the air filter today. It was a pain removing and putting the filter back in place. Is it just me or is the arrangement so inconvenient?

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by CBlazer

Anywhere near the 3 digit mark I could feel a lot of vibrations on the steering.

There should be no vibrations. Please get your wheels balanced.

[mooza]

How does the handling of the Alto K-10 compare with the Alto 800 ?

Sorry if the question is already addressed somewhere, needed a quick reply for a friend

[no_enthu_da]

don't know if this is the relevant thread for what i'm posting (still related to Alto K10).

i had been for the Maruti Mileage Run in Mumbai this morning with a friend in his recently purchased Alto K10. The run started at ICICI Bank in BKC and ended in Vashi (going via Dharavi -> Parel -> Haji Ali -> Mahim Church -> BWSL Toll Booth -> Sion -> Cheddanagar -> Seawoods NRI complex). The distance was covered in a total time of 2 Hours 10 Minutes.



we did hit light traffic at several points on the route (but obviously much lesser than the usual madness on the roads). and, of course, we made a conscious attempt at saving fuel by putting the aircon off, keeping the car on neutral on down slopes, not going over 60 and switching the engine off when we had to stop for more than 30 seconds.

my friend usually clocks close to 19 km/L, and we expected to get around 23-25 on the run.. however, much to our surprise, at the end of the run we had clocked 70.2 km and consumed just 2.07 liters of fuel .. translating to 33.91 km/L needless to say, we were shocked and checked to see if the tank had been refilled correctly. it was filled correctly!!


the highest efficiency at the run was 35.4 km/L on another Alto K10. a group of 3 guys in a K10 WagonR put out 31.1 km to the liter!!

all in all, it was a fun event and an eyeopener for us on ways to save fuel (given its northward spiral).. plus, it's got me thinking about swapping my Alto 800 for an Alto K10

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by no_enthu_da

my friend usually clocks close to 19 km/L, and we expected to get around 23-25 on the run.. however, much to our surprise, at the end of the run we had clocked 70.2 km and consumed just 2.07 liters of fuel .. translating to 33.91 km/L needless to say, we were shocked and checked to see if the tank had been refilled correctly. it was filled correctly!!

the highest efficiency at the run was 35.4 km/L on another Alto K10. a group of 3 guys in a K10 WagonR put out 31.1 km to the liter!!

Not surprising as people in South have got 25+ without AC on highway at 100+.

My M800 gave 6 with AC in heavy traffic and 20+ without AC on highways. My Alto K10 gives 12+ with AC in heavy traffic, which can extrapolate to 25-30 on a highway without AC at 60-70kmpl.

[no_enthu_da]

Originally Posted by Aroy

Not surprising as people in South have got 25+ without AC on highway at 100+.

My M800 gave 6 with AC in heavy traffic and 20+ without AC on highways. My Alto K10 gives 12+ with AC in heavy traffic, which can extrapolate to 25-30 on a highway without AC at 60-70kmpl.

this was mostly city driving with lesser traffic than on weekdays. probably we'd have gotten higher numbers if it was pure highway driving where it's possible to go steady at 60-70 km/h

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by no_enthu_da

this was mostly city driving with lesser traffic than on weekdays. probably we'd have gotten higher numbers if it was pure highway driving where it's possible to go steady at 60-70 km/h

What I was talking about is the expected milage with normal driving on highways. If you were to try all the tricks like coasting, switching the engine off, high tyre pressure, then you may end up with 50kmpl+.

Any way, what was achieved is exemplary, and can be used by most of us as an indication of what we can get with "good" driving habits".

[no_enthu_da]

Originally Posted by Aroy

If you were to try all the tricks like coasting, switching the engine off, high tyre pressure, then you may end up with 50kmpl+.

i'm now feeling tempted to try that on the next highway trip (just to test how high the number can be pushed!)

[sriramr9]

Hi Friends, One more K10 owner here. I have driven 600 odd kilometers in the odo and completed 1st service.

One find is the new K-series engine is built for economy and cleaner emissions. This was very evident when starting the car from standstill with full load and with A/c in High. The engine kinds of gets stressed out with a hush puff as it gains momentum, once you cross the third gear then one feels there is power on the pedal.

The fact that it's a three cylinder motor, possibly is not able to take the load as easily as the old 4 cylinder carbureted Zen. Rest is all fine and I recommend this vehicle for those who look for economy ride with the comfort of A/c and the advantageous smaller size to cut through bustling traffic with ease of the power steering.

Question to other K10 owners: How do you control engine RPM when starting from 0. Do press the gas to get started (with A/c), mine needs special care and careful throttle input to takeoff smoothly, else engine shudders a lot. Please help. Wish the car picks up without this engine shuddering with load and A/c.

[Yamahead]

My 5 days old Alto K10 settles to around 900-950 RPM within a minute of starting up in the morning.For the initial 20 secs, RPM hovers around 1800 RPM.The engine sounds totally relaxed and unhurried though.My neighbour who took the keys to move my car to take out his WagonR came back to me and commented" Engine very smooth and vib-free compared to my car( 2008 WagonR).".Seems the target is lower emmisions and better FE over snarling performance.