My 2015 Maruti Alto K10 AMT in Cerulean Blue: 90000 km update

I have had a trouble-free experience with the AMT, although being an early adopter.

BHPian Torino recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

7 years & 90,000 km and going strong!

The car was munching an average of 20,000 km a year from 2015 to 2019 after which I started using my Interceptor 650 for daily office commute. Between 2019 to present, the Alto managed to munch another 10,000 km. Over the last 6 years and 90,000 km of ownership the Alto K10 AMT has been our trusty and fun city runabout. The Alto has also seen a fair share of the highway as well with a couple of dozen Chennai-Bangalore-Chennai trips. Alto’s compact dimensions, great all-around visibility, AMT and easy controls enable me to prefer the Alto when I get to choose between car & bike without worrying about narrow lanes, tight parking spots and crowded places.

The good:

• Fun to drive: Surprisingly fast! Featherweight body and skinny tyres allow exploiting its limits even at low speed.
• Engine: Loves to be revved all the way to the redline and offers a spirited driving experience.
• Ease of AMT: Easy to get used to, has remained trouble-free so far.
• Small footprint and all-round visibility
• The consistent city fuel efficiency of over ''15.5 km/l with AC'' (tank full method).
• Reliability: Except for periodic service every 10,000kms the car didn’t do any unscheduled visits to the service centre.

The bad:

• Flimsy body panels
• Lack of cabin sound insulation
• Poor quality outside door handle (driver door handle broke three times already)
• Squeaks and rattles
• Dismal safety rating

The car is from the initial lot of India’s 2nd generation Alto K10 launched in November 2014 and the second AMT car in India after the 1st generation Celerio launched in Feb 2014. Despite the niggles and irks reported by early AMT adopters, I was lucky to have gotten away without any AMT woes. The car has been thoroughly reliable and dependable so far. The car still runs on factory fitted brake pads, suspension and clutch.

Right from the start, I’ve always enjoyed driving the Alto K10 solely due to the spirited performance it offered which I was able to exploit freely as I was the only person in the car 90% of the time. With its limits within reach, it never stops to put a smile on your face as you pull away from traffic lights in 1st gear all the way to 6000rpm redline, engine screaming and darting like a stabbed rat or as the tyres squeal during U-turns. In all, I’ve had loads of fun driving the Alto K10 over the last 90,000 km.

That’s said, I’m not a reckless driver and rather far away from it. I strongly believe in these sayings ‘’take care of your ride and it'll take care of you’’ & ‘’A clean car is a healthy car’’
Apart from regular servicing, below are some of the ‘take care’ things I follow with my humble Alto K10.

1. Park the car within my sight
2. Try and avoid valet parking and park it myself
3. Slow down to crawling speed while going over bad roads and potholes
4. Take the longer route to avoid bad roads.
5. Idle the engine for at least 30 seconds before driving off after a 5 hrs gap.
6. Never let the fuel level go below ¼ tank, to protect the fuel pump
7. Set the right tire pressure every 2 weeks. There is a noticeable difference in performance and comfort when there is a 4-5 psi drop by end of the second week.

There isn’t anything to write home about on comfort, handling, braking or space but the Alto does a great job in tackling city traffic. The car is built to a cost and it is clearly felt in its wafer-thin body panels and zero insulation. Standard features were front door power windows, a Nippon music system with two speakers and central locking. I wish the car came with rear wipers which used to be standard in VXi variants in older Marutis.

90,000 km periodic service:

The service was done at Vishnu cars near Selaiyur since it is located close to my place which allowed me to check on the car during its service procedure. Its been over two years and 10,000 km since the last service and was idle for a longer duration due to lockdown so I wanted to get a few other things done such as brakes cleaning, AC disinfectant and injector cleaning since there was a bit of vibration during idle and crawling speed. The guys at Vishnu cars always try to include add-ons to inflate the bill and they did include a few like tyre polish, car shampoo & wax kit despite educating them while opening the job card but then I let it pass instead of wasting my time.

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