Maruti Suzuki Alto 800

Maruti Suzuki announced the new Alto 800 in October of last year. The older model that has been in the market for more than a decade has already established itself as India’s best selling car. With the new launch, Maruti has in fact made the Alto much more affordable with a price drop; in an obvious attempt to stave off competition from the Tata Nano and the other new range of low priced cars.

The new Alto 800 comes in two fuel variants – Petrol and CNG. Both models come fitted with a 796cc 3-cylinder and 32-valve engine that can crank up a total power of close to 48PS at 6000 RPM. On curves, the car can drive up a torque of 69Nm at 3500 RPM. If you are looking for a low-priced car with better engine performance, Alto should score over the Nano. As we had discussed this earlier, the Nano, with a 624cc engine can only deliver around 38PS of power and 51Nm of torque.

Before we delve into the mileage aspects of the new Alto, let us take a look at the other important specs on this car. The Alto has a seating capacity of 5 and has a 35 liter fuel tank. The car measures 3395 x 1490 x 1475 (all millimeters, obviously) with a wheelbase of 2360mm. At 160mm, the ground clearance is decent for an Indian city drive. The standard variant weighs just around 695 kg which has a positive impact on the mileage. The starting price of the Alto 800 – the non-Metallic Standard Petrol variant is around Rs. 2.42 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Official Mileage Claim

Maruti Suzuki claims that their new Alto has the best fuel efficiency in its class. According to drives conducted under standard test conditions, the petrol variant of the new Alto 800 is claimed to deliver 22.74 kmpl. The CNG has a much better claim at 30.46 kmpl. That’s definitely pretty considering that even Tata claims only about 28 kmpl on the Nano.

Test Drive & Customer Reviews

MaxAbout reviewed the new Alto 800 a couple of months back on their website where they say they have liked the interior of the car “for the first time in 12 years”. Except for the fact that the rear seat appears to lack some back support, the interiors look more stylish and modern on an overall. Their test drive of the petrol variant delivered them about 18 kmpl FE on city roads and 20-21 kmpl on the highways.

ZigWheels did a review of the Alto pitting it against the Hyundai Eon. They found the Alto to be performing better in terms of fuel consumption – a 12.2 kmpl on city compared to the Eon’s 11 kmpl. However, this is a far cry away from the 18kmpl that MaxAbout claimed in their test drive report.

Carzy in their review feel that the new Alto 800 has a trendy and a more upmarket feel about it. They note that the newly launched Alto has got enough on it to competitively tackle the threat from the Hyundai Eon. They report a city mileage of 18.5 kmpl – I am not sure if this is reported from an independent test though.

Hindustan Times has a wonderful review of the new Alto 800. They report that the new variant is lighter and is equipped with a much more fuel efficient engine that delivered them around 13.3 kmpl on city roads. On highways, this number apparently went up to 17.8 kmpl. Personally, I feel that this is just an okay figure for a car that strives to offer the “best in class mileage”.

There are around 8 reviews for the Alto 800 on MouthShut. These reviewers have together rated the car a whopping 5/5 for fuel efficiency. I don’t remember seeing such a rating for any bike or car earlier. There are things people are unhappy about. One user reports seeing a mileage of 10kmpl on city roads which I think may be an individual issue. The other users have reported between 18-20 kmpl on city roads with one user reporting 25.43 kmpl on the highways.

Overall, I think this is a great car as far as mileage is concerned. Yes, you may be compromising on a lot of features that may come with cars that cost a lakh or so more. But at this price, the Alto 800 is surely a huge value for money. If you are budget constrained and looking to buy a car in this time of rocketing fuel prices, Alto is the car to go for.