Maruti Alto 800 (Final report)

At 6 feet 3 inches, I’m quite tall, and you’d assume that I’d much rather prefer driving an SUV. I need the front seat to be extremely spacious and comfortable, and I need good back support as well. Yes, my height makes me quite picky. And I travel 50km a day from Vashi in Navi Mumbai to our office in Parel, Mumbai, with horrible traffic every bit of the way. So, when I first got the keys to the Alto 800, I was more than a little apprehensive.

As it turned out, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I actually was quite comfortable in the driver’s seat. I was worried it would be hard for me to drive too because of my height, but the Alto’s spacious front seats, light steering and clutch have made the task easy. The pliant suspension of this small car soaks up the bad potholes and rough patches quite commendably. I’m, more often than not, out on shoots, which means most of my driving is on the Mumbai-Pune expressway. Here’s when I have some trouble with the car. The lack of a left-wing mirror is scary, especially since most people are speeding past you. Sometimes, you don’t even see some coming! And, on tight turns, the steering tends to touch my knees.

On the plus side, despite the hatchback car having only a 796cc three-cylinder motor, it manages to keep up with cars with bigger engines. However, there’s a fair bit of body roll when you drive fast through a corner. I wish the car had wider tyres; it’s a bit difficult to handle when it’s raining. I also wish it had central locking, especially when I want to get out of the car in a hurry.