Suzuki Alto 1.0 SZ3 review

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Suzuki Alto 1.0 SZ3 Road Test

Test date 22 April 2009 Price as tested £8,545

For Plucky three-cylinder engine, surprising driving fun, frills-free honesty

Against Tiny boot, easily displaced rear parcel shelf, lack of dipping mirror

Suzuki already has a fit-for-purpose sub-supermini called the Splash, which can be had with a highly frugal 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine. So to add a second car to the range, powered by the same engine, seems merely to be filling another tiny niche with another tiny car.

The arrival of the seventh generation of Alto is all the odder given that this is the biggest Alto yet, making the gap between it and the Splash even narrower. So what’s the point? The Alto is cheaper to buy, with prices starting at £6795, and yet cheaper to build because it comes from the factory of Suzuki’s Indian associate Maruti (of which Suzuki owns 54.2 per cent). So it’s a profitable product. Also, being a little smaller and lighter than the Splash, the Alto returns a remarkable official CO2 figure of just 103g/km.

The Alto is a proper five-door A-segment car in the mould of the C1/107/Aygo. It’s built down to a price: £7245 in the case of the mid-spec SZ3 model tested here. Its minimalism could make for a purgatorial drive, or it could prove oddly liberating. We’re about to find out.