[Amby955]

My Suzuki Alto (A-Star in India) in the UK

This is while doing Masters in England, circa 2021-2024. Being a guy with liking to cars, the first thing I did after settling in was apply for a UK driver’s license as soon as I became eligible (six months after arrival). It took another six months to clear the tests (in first try with zero faults), thanks to the long waiting periods. Main purpose of getting a drivers license was to continue renting cars, which I did earlier with my international license and which is valid only for a year. However, my urge for driving wouldn’t let me stop at rentals—I needed my own car.

I always had access to cars/bikes in India, and living without one was not easy, this obviously increased the urge of buying one. Although the smart idea was to continue renting cars as needed, my heart thought different. Anyway, as fate would have it, I went with my heart and decided to buy a car, but on a strict student budget, I needed something affordable and practical that wouldn’t become a financial burden.

So I created a checklist to help me narrow down my options:
1. Small engine: Ideally around 1,000cc to stay in the lowest tax bracket.
2. Two-door car: Lower insurance costs compared to full size cars.
3. Fresh MOT: To avoid immediate maintenance.
4. ULEZ compliance: No extra spends other than the necessary expenses.
5. Brands considered: Toyota, Ford, Suzuki, Citroën, and Peugeot for their affordability and low running costs. Toyota, Citroën, and Peugeot had the same car under different badges called the Aygo/C1/107.

The car hunt began with no fixed timeline. If the right car came along, I’d buy it—otherwise, I’d manage without one. I enjoyed the process of searching cars more than the actual buying. Most options considered with the above checklist were disappointing: high-mileage examples with over 100,000 miles on the odometer, often in poor condition. I was okay with the high mileages but often these older cars were not cared for in the UK, provided the extremely cheap used prices for these vehicles. Beyond my check list, I did not have any demands in terms of features of the car, any bare minimum car was fine for me.

Unfortunately I do not have pictures of all the cars I test drove or looked at.

Ultimately, I found a 2011 Suzuki Alto with only 30,000 miles at a price that seemed too good to be true. And as expected the car was an insurance write off from an accident with a CAT S category, meaning it had structural damages from the crash. It was freshly repaired at a garage specialized in buying and repairing insurance write-offs. It had a replaced passenger-side door and a dent on the running board, this running board damage made the made it CAT S, but this did not raise any major red flags for me as long as it was repaid correctly. Did a short test ride and the car felt good, something similar from Marutis back in India and I felt confident with the car. Did find some minor issues including a bad alignment, bearing noise and no service history. But car seemed good and it had a fresh MOT, and they worked on the brakes before the MOT, car also had a good MOT history and the car was rust free. So, I shook hands and purchased the car on Valentine’s Day, of all days! Today is yet another valentines Day, 2 years since.

After sorting the ownership transfer and arranging insurance, I took delivery of the car in a couple of days with some of my friends. A quick stop for fuel and a short drive later, it was off to the garage for wheel bearing work, minor brake adjustments, and fixing a leaky windshield washer reservoir. Once these were sorted, I had a perfectly functional Suzuki Alto at my disposal.

Living with the Alto
Owning this car turned out to be an incredible experience. I drove nearly 30,000 miles in a year, which is my personal best in any of the vehicles I have owned. The car felt familiar, and performed very well for its size, even cruising comfortably at 70 mph (max speeds in UK motorways) with a full load. It has travelled the breadth and length of England, in the short time I owned it.

Ownership was a care free experience with just oil and filter changes every 5000 miles. For me the crash damage did not bother much and as expected the accident history did not give any issues. One thing I never fixed was the AC, it never worked on the car and I did not bother to fix as the climate was mostly cool expect for just a few weeks of unbearable heat every year and heater worked just fine.

As a decade old car and the kind of miles it was doing, I always carried some spares like a couple of bulbs, fuses, a set of wipers, bit of fluids and a decent tool set along with an emergency kit to stay warm if stuck somewhere. Fortunately, I only had to use some bulbs and wipers as the replacement.
I always made sure the car was maintained perfectly on the mechanical end of things, and on the other hand I did not bother on the cosmetic end on things. To be fair the car looked decent cosmetically expect for a few dents from banging doors while parked, thanks to small parking bays. I could live with that, also never bothered to wash my car, I have done a total of 3 washes during the time, 2 of them after some really cold weather and the other for MOT. Just before selling the car, bought a £2 dent removal tool over temu and pulled them back and the car looked just fine with another proper wash for the new owner.

Maintenance
I always took my car to this garage that was run by an older gentleman, he took great care of the car. After doing the first 1000 miles, I gave the car for a service to change all the fluids, sparkplugs, filters and gave it an overall checkup. This was done due to the lack of service history. From then on, I did general oil and filter changes every 5000 miles.

Apart from routine general service, here’s what I did:
1. Replaced all four tires, 3 of them for wear and tear and the 4th one tore while maneuvering to get on a footpath for parking, common way of parking in the UK.
2. Replaced some fused bulbs occasionally (expected for an older car).
3. Replaced a broken blower resistor.
4. Changed wipers a few times.
5. Never bothered to fix the AC as the heater worked fine. And the climate did not demand AC.

Interestingly, although the car was made in India (A-Star), some parts were different. For example, I brought a gearbox drain plug and fuel filter from India, only to find they didn’t fit this model.

One other interesting fact, the car had JK spare tire.

Insurance
I opted for third-party insurance to keep costs low and the value of the car did not matter much to justify a comprehensive insurance, any small claim would total the car. I had to adjust my mileage limit multiple times as my driving increased. A dashcam was also installed—not for insurance purposes, but just for safety. Of all the costs with the car, insurance was the most expensive.

Things I Loved About the Alto
1. Fantastic value for money—the main reason I bought it.
2. Surprisingly capable on highways, handling 70 mph with ease.
3. Fuel efficiency: the best I got was 14 miles per liter on motorways.
4. Minimal maintenance costs and low annual tax (£20).
5. ULEZ compliance meant no extra fees in major cities.

The Farewell
As fate would have it, my time in the UK have come to an end after completing my Masters and securing a job back in India. That meant, it was time to bid farewell to that beautiful country, great friends and of course NU11 HMH (Alto). But the memories of this car and the drives me and my friends had on that car will always stay alive as good ol memories!! Anyway, after this 30,000+ miles of joyful ownership, I sold the car to a friend of mine for almost the same price I paid—great value, I would say. That checklist really did work out, I guess. Despite moving back to India, I still cherish the memories I made with this Alto. I still use the NU11 HMH (Alto) keychain on my new ride here in India, a small reminder of a car that gave me so much joy (Pic Attached).

Now, back in India, instead of taking the conventional route and buying a car, I decided it was now or never for experiencing a motorcycle. So now I own a RE Hunter 350. The experience to this day has been great with the bike but there are changes, I had a blast driving in the UK with friends, it was filled with jokes, laughs, trolls, songs and what not. But today I ride alone, enjoying the peace, road and the machine for hours on end, that’s pure joy too.

You can read a brief about the bike journey here: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post5914775 (Royal Enfield Hunter 350 ownership review)

Below are pictures to pleasure your eyes (Me flexing on TBHP t-shirt with Alto reg on):






















































Only thing left of the Alto