Suzuki Alto

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Suzuki Alto overall verdict

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Forgettable city-thing that struggles to make a mark in its sector. There are cleverer budget cars out there
Our buying tip

If you’re desperate for a Suzuki, save up and get the Splash

A modern and cheap car designed for the 21st century suburbs. Lack of originality and verve mark it down next to rivals that offer a better build quality and equipment for the money.

Comfort

At 350cm in length, the Alto was never going to be palatial for rear leg room. Adults will find head room lacking as well, but it's no worse than you'd find in budget rivals.
Performance

The Alto comes with a one-litre petrol engine producing 67bhp. It's hardly a ball of fire, taking 13.5 seconds to reach 62mph. That feels just about perky enough through town, but it does need to be driven quite hard to get the most out of it, thus provoking the three-cylinder into becoming loud and thrashy. The five-speed manual is slick, or there's the option of an automatic transmission.
Cool

It's not that practical, it's not that fast, it's not that sexy.
Quality

The interior build quality is what you'd expect for the sub-£7,000 starting price - the plastics used are mainly hard and feel cheap. Having said that it's a modern, well laid-out design and should hold together pretty well. Our biggest complaint is that this five-door borrows the three-door trick of using pop-out glass for the rear windows. It makes the rear seem claustrophobic and adds to the cheap, budget feel.
Handling

It's best to remember at this point that the Alto is a cheap, urban runabout and not a hot hatch. With that in mind, the sloppy steering, excess body roll and a tendency to crash over pot holes become less of a sin. It does have plenty of grip so it's not all bad.
Practicality

The boot is on the titchy side even for a city car; at 129 litres that's 100 less than the Hyundai i10's.
Running costs

The Alto has excellent fuel figures on paper - over 60mpg - but that tails away quickly if you over-work the little engine. And while the C02 figure for the manual of 103g/km is excellent, putting it in VED Band B (£35), it's just three grams away from Band A, which would have been free.