SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.

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*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the stories.

We scoot around town in the Suzuki Alto GLS

A Mini for the Noughties

Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday October 21, 2009

Suzuki’s kei (really small) car, introduced as a commercial vehicle for the Japanese home market some 30 years ago, has become a sedan, grown a little and spread its wings around the globe. Its latest perch is in South Africa, by way of the Maruti Suzuki plant in India.

Two models are available, both powered by a 996 cc, three-cylinder, 50 kW engine. It’s not quite the most modern, being only Euro 3 compliant. It seems that our fuel and lofty altitudes conspire against the latest Euro 5 version, so for safety’s sake Suzuki decided to retrofit the hardier motor.

The GL model offers basic equipment with power steering, an air conditioner with pollen filters, wash and wipe and demisting for the rear window and two airbags, at a recommended retail price of R104 900. 

The more elaborate GLS, at R15 000 more, adds tilt adjustable steering, front power windows, remote central locking, a six-speaker radio/CD unit, a rev counter, a 50/50 split rear seatback with head restraints, a cover for the luggage compartment, remote opening for the boot lid, front fog lights and body coloured mirrors and door handles. Alloy wheels complete the bits you can see. What you cannot see includes ABS, EBD and brake assist. I reckon it’s no contest. Spend the extra money.

In some ways, the Alto could be likened to a Mini for the Noughties; it’s simple and basic, light on its wheels at 895 kg, sips fuel and its performance is quite adequate for city shopping and the school run. It isn’t out of its depth on the freeway either, cruising comfortably at 120 while turning over at 4 000 rpm in top. Hills demand a change to a lower gear, but you need to do that with some bigger cars too.

Simplicity is carried through to interior appointments, with a lidless glove box (encourages you to keep the inside of the car tidy), rev counter in a separate pod slightly above and to the right of the speedometer (like the aftermarket instrument your grampy fitted to his Beetle), a tidy but basic radio/CD player without iPod or flash drive access and central locking controlled by a simple switch. Only one vanity mirror is supplied and that’s for the driver.

Headroom in the back is just sufficient for six-footers while legroom is a bit cramped. Seats are comfortable enough for day-to-day use and are covered in what looks like an ice cream and sticky sweets-resistant cloth. Steering is light, the turning circle tiny at 9 metres, visibility all around is great and it parks in the smallest places. Who needs park-assist when you can actually see where you’re going?

 On the “con” side, the boot is really small, so this isn’t a serious baby carrier unless you choose to live with the rear seat backs permanently folded. On the “pro” side, the small (155/65 R14) tyres won’t break the bank when the time comes to buy new ones.

Back in the days of anti-establishment protests, students used to say: “don’t trust anyone over 30,” because they regularly compromised their values. This 30-year old has kept things real though, is young at heart and begs to be trusted.

The numbers

Price: R119 900

Engine: 996 cc 3-cylinder 12-valve DOHC

Power: 50 kW at 6 000 rpm

Torque: 87 Nm at 4 500 rpm

0 – 100 km/h: 14,9 seconds

Maximum speed: 157 km/h

Car magazine fuel index: 6,36 l/100 km

Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km

Service intervals: 15 000 km

No service- or maintenance plans available

 

 

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.

What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax. 

So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!

 

 

Comments?

Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you thoroughly disagree with what I say? That's your privilege, because if everybody agreed on everything, the world would be a boring place. All I ask is that you remain calm, so please blow off a little steam before venting too vigorously. Contact me here

 

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