Maruti Suzuki Alto review - engine and gearbox |
Engine and transmission
The alto comes with an all too familiar a motor, one that has been in the Indian hearts for as long as maruti have been here. Today, the environmental concerns have brought about many technological advances in this cast iron block motor. Now, the 3 cylinder 800cc motor, runs 4 valves per cylinder; develops all of 47ps of power at 6200rpm and 62NM of torque at 3000rpm. This engine is fuel injected and is controlled by a 32 bit ECM. This may seem small in comparison with competition like the Santro which has a 1.1 liter engine or the Indica Xeta which has a 1400cc motor. But, the fact that this car sells the way it does comes down to one dramatic and all important figure that has a kpl by its side. The alto manages to come out on tops here, thanks mainly to that strikingly stingy motor which has to deal with just 720KGs of body-weight! Expect at least 14kpl in the most trying of city conditions and over 17kpl on average.
The transmission now comes with overdrive on both 4'th and 5'th gear, thus allowing the engine to rev as little as possible when you are cruising along. But, the gearbox as such is not a disappointment; especially if you are graduating from a maruti 800. The throw is a bit too long, but not what I would call notchy. It is very similar to the Wagon R we tested not so long ago.
The engine does feel a bit unbalanced and sadly, some of the vibration from the engine makes its ways to the gear lever, especially during idle. The engine gets quite noisy at the top of the rev band and the power, well... There isn't much! Don't get too many ideas of hitting breakneck speeds and stuff, this engine was built to save oil, not burn rubber. No, Alto is not a complete slouch you think it is by now, but going fast isn't really its piece of cake. The low end torque is also sadly a bit low, rendering regular gear changes inevitable
Review on the Design and interiors and the Ride and handling |
![Maruti suzuki alto engine](javascript:openwin("largephoto.asp?imagename=altoeng.jpg&imagetitle=Maruti Alto engine"))
![Maruti suzuki alto exterior](javascript:openwin("largephoto.asp?imagename=alto1.jpg&imagetitle=Maruti Alto exterior"))
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