Sold Suzuki Alto. FULL MOT. Sold

[Jim Bell]

Background:

The Suzuki Alto was launched in 1979 as the first and best "koi" car.
Koi cars are popular in Japan because Japan is only as big as Doncaster and everyone delivers chinese food for a living there. The name "Koi" was chosen to describe this kind of car by vagabond street urchins. Its thought that the reason for choosing the "Koi" name was because they pull like a fish and run like a fish. They are compact like a fish and are reliable as a fish. They are cheap to feed like a fish and are cheap to keep. Like a fish.

We have here for your delectation is one that was built and registered in the year 51.

It sits behind and in front of its original dealer plates, and is festooned with original dealer stickers.


Theyre was no quest for collection I'm affraid. It was located just around the corner, and the trip to the petrol station was of greater length than the retreval.

Pics:





MUNNY






993 ccs of raw power is conveyed to the wheels using a manual box and three pedals. Ideal for rally drivers.

It has covered 67 thousand miles, and continues to clock up more.

The car is HIGHLY EQUIPPED with FULL GL spec and sports Central Locking, an LCD clock (with hour, minute and SECOND setting buttons!!!), Electric Windows, A Clarion radio, interior boot and petrol cap releases, a rear wash wipe and fog lights.

Car handles like a go kart and is a right hoot to drive, if a little unrefined.

 

Oil is clean, rear brakes are new, it pulls like a fish and stops on a shilling.

 

Interior space is Tardis. There is far more headroom and elbowroom in this Suzuki Alto than there is in a Rover 600 or XJ40.  I'm 6ft 3 and a half, and 22 stone, and theres plenty of room.

 

 

CHEAP INSURANCE, CHEAP TAX, 53MPG, BULLETPROOF LITTLE FUCKNUGGET.






It seems the car has never been further than Sunderland.







Paint is best described as flat and poor. A plus point is that there is no rust. The shell is solid and the car is mechanically gr8.
































Engine:




































The dowsides are a lack of rear shelf and illuminated engine management light, which accompanies no symptoms and has appeared as an advisory on previous MOTs. It doesnt seem to bother or hinder the car, but I shall investigate the cause. I'd guess an 02 sensor or a cat past its best. There is also a blow from the exhaust.




I could not resist this little car, but have no real use for it.

It passed its MOT today, needing only three bulbs, a CV gator and a rear wheel bearing.

 

 

It is available for sale at the Autoshite price of £350. 


If you have an interest in it, do pipe up.

 

Car is located on the North East England coast.  Close to Scotland, London and Abergele, by way of roads, trains and flying aeroplanes.

Cheers all.

[dollywobbler]

Pah. Decadent luxury! FOUR cylinders? Central locking? Leather steering wheel?! Get out of town.

[Jim Bell]

May appeal to decadent capitalist pigs and big businesses city bank fat cats.

[Jim Bell]

For those who enjoy numbers, stats, figures and colons:

 

THIS SUZUKI ALTO IS AND DOES:

 

Length:

3495 mm

 

Width:

1495 mm

 

Height:

1405 mm

 

Weight:

730 kg

 

Fuel Delivery:

Multi point fuel injection.

 

Transmission:

Manual

Gears

5 Speed

 

 

MPG:

52 mpg.

 

Insurance Group:

7

Euro Emissions Standard:

3

CO2 Emissions:

134 g/km

 

VED Band:

E

 

Engine Size:

993 cc

 

Cylinders:

4

 

0-60 mph:

15.8 secs

 

Top Speed:

93 mph

 

Power Output:

53 bhp

 

Valves:

8

 

Torque:

77 Nm 56 lb-ft

 

Wheelbase:

2335 mm

 

 

Fuel Capacity:

35 litres

 

Turning Circle:

9 m

 

End of stats.

[Junkman]

Those seats are delightfully awful. They must have been tailored from '51 vintage men's shirts.

[DS20]

Indicator stalk on the correct side of the wheel, too, for added win.  

[Matt]

So Suzuki were selling two cars with 993cc engines but one was a 4 banger and the other a 3, at the same time?

 

 

I'm not seeing much advantage for one over the other. Peak torque is quite different but every other difference seems negligible so I wonder why they kept both motors in production.

[trigger]

That's like a Rolls Royce compared to my old Alto!

[Jim Bell]

May appeal to military despots, former heads of state and Russian oligarchs.

 

Similar to Rolls Royce, Bentley, Maybach.

[UltraWomble]

Ambassador Merde Pois you are spoiling us with this Alto.

[vulgalour]

That looks super.  It's the least wobbly bubbly one I've ever seen and much newer than I thought these went.

[Jim Bell]

That looks super. It's the least wobbly bubbly one I've ever seen and much newer than I thought these went.

I thought that too. It's an old shape for year 51 car. Retro and reasonably modern at the same time. Much better looking than the replacement shape though.

[New POD]

Those seats are delightfully awful. They must have been tailored from '51 vintage men's shirts.

 

That was the (male) Japanese interior designer, pandering to his middle aged female target market, and getting a sample of tea towel material and 80's curtain material on the cheap, which he thought they'd probably like. .

[Craig the Princess]

So how many Daewoo Lanoses (Lanoi?) is this worth? I'm guessing 7.5.

[MrDuke]

I'm not seeing much advantage for one over the other. Peak torque is quite different but every other difference seems negligible so I wonder why they kept both motors in production.

It seems to be a Japanese 'thing', throwing a bewildering number of models and/or engine options at one market sector.

[Bamboocarman]

And it's from canny aad Sunla' = chos, like !!

[Mr Lobster]

Thats the same as Mrs_Lobsters old one, except hers was green.  They are quite good fun to chuck about and pleasingly basic at the same time.

 

They do like to rust like theres no tomorrow though. Ours had patches on the sills at six years old and was sold after eight years when a visit to a two post lift revealed the almost complete lack of inner sills along about two foot of their length. Shame though as it was a handy little thing.

[Lankytim]

Hey, that interior is impressively nice.

[motormatt]

I bet that's a reet laugh on the twisty bits. Not so much on the hilly bits perhaps.

[purplebargeken]

Looked great until I spied the seat material. GLWTS, etc. 

[Matt]

Not so much on the hilly bits perhaps.

 

You're not wrong, there's a hill on my commute that in the Swift if I enter the bottom at 60 and go WOT in 5th I'm doing well to reach the crest doing 50. It's embarrassing. Maybe that extra 2 BHP and 0.7 Lb-Ft in the Alto makes all the difference...

[Jim Bell]

Change down and open the taps. Drive to the strengths of the car. It does hills fine, but there's no point trying to bool up a long steep slope in 5th. It likes a bit of encouragement and noise to make best progress.

[Lacquer Peel]

I can't get my head around Suzuki offering two 1.0 engines with 3 and 4 cylinders. I thought the 4 pot might be cheaper to build because it can do without a balancer shaft to cancel out the odd cylinder vibrations, but obv the 3 cylinder has only 3/4 of the valves, pistons, connecting rods, etc. so saving lots of pennies.

MIND. BLOWN.

 

I have another theory that the 1.0 4 pot is related to thr 1.3 used in Jimnys and rakes of other Suzukis, so parts interchangeability in places like India might be the key here. But WHAT IS POINT.

 

Looks like a good buy.

[Jim Bell]

May appeal to 4x4 off roaders, green laners and Ollies.

 

Similar to Suzuki Jimminy, Toyota Landcruiser, Bowler Wildcat.

[Matt]

Change down and open the taps. Drive to the strengths of the car. It does hills fine, but there's no point trying to bool up a long steep slope in 5th. It likes a bit of encouragement and noise to make best progress.

 

There's a long straight leading up to it so I usually just up my speed to 65 (allegedly, officer) then it's downhill the other side so speed lost is regained easily. If there's some impatient modern driver behind me I'll drop to 4th so they don't try and drive into my actual anus via the rear hatch.

 

balancer shaft to cancel out the odd cylinder vibrations

 

Ha. Sit in an idling 3 cylinder 'Zuki sometime, the vibration and all the rattles suggest such a device either doesn't exist or is really shite at it's job (although honestly I'm sure it'd' be unusable without one)

 

Next time you go for a run in it Mr Shitpeas pop the bonnet up when you stop and tell me, do these trap a shitload of hot air in the engine compartment too?

[Lacquer Peel]

I'm not sure if the Suzuki 3 pot has a balancer shaft, but the Subaru one does. Apparently Corsaviour's favourite 3 pot uses a massive flywheel to balance* the engine. GREAT JOB.

[Matt]

I have another theory that the 1.0 4 pot is related to thr 1.3 used in Jimnys and rakes of other Suzukis, so parts interchangeability in places like India might be the key here. But WHAT IS POINT.

Here's a 2002 Jimny 1.3, no relation to Barry's 1.0 4-cylinder.

 

 

It doesn't even seem to bear any relation to the 1.3 found in the Subaru Justy and some Suzuki Swifts of the same age:

 

 

The next model Alto as built in India and uses a Maruti branded 1.1 which is totally different again so it really does seem like they just used loads of engines for loads of really quite similar applications at the same time. I can hear Volkswagen Audi Group engineers laughing from here.

[Lukas]

I like the small radiator. Only half as big as every radiator I have seen before. 

[Taff]

I think Mr Schiesse Erbsen has won at Autoshite with that motor. It's utterly unremarkable in everyway other than its unremarkableness, which is where it scores big.

 

Remarkable

 

 

tapped on the radiator using morse code

[warren t claim]

This is all the car that 90% of the population actually need.