Atma Xplorer

Transportation has always been a problem for students like me who live outside the metro and yet study at the institutions and universities situated there. Though admittedly the fare costs are quite reasonable, the roundtrips have become much more of a hassle with buses literally trying to jam every would-be passenger they could find along the route. What in the world happened to the anti-overloading law?

The alternative to this is to get a car, or an SUV if you?re flooded with money. But not everyone can choke up cash for a vehicle that costs nearly thrice than what public transportation will cost on a daily basis. With the grim condition of the economy, it was an easy choice between convenience and burning your cash on fuel.

Enter the Suzuki Alto. I stumbled over it whilst looking thru a friend’s car mag. It was an interesting piece of work that didn’t look like one.

Sure it doesn?t look much and I for one would be willing to fess up that it goes against my aesthetics of what a car should look like but what it lacks in beauty, it makes up for it?s cost efficiency. Remember those Petron
cms with those Honda Jazz?s reaching 1000+ kilometers on a full tank, the latest record coming at 1,343.7-kilometers (full story here). The records were and still are made with 1300-cc or 1.3L variants of the said car. Now imagine if that was tried with a modest, 47 hp .8 L engine and with 5-speed transmission. Yes, the Alto?s main selling point for students like me is that engine and with a price tag of P350,000++, it?s a bargain waiting to be bought.

Compared with the Suzuki swift however, the difference in eye-candy is quite glaring. The Alto is barebones compared to other cars of the kei-line (keicar = small car)
whose features list are available here at the Suzuki Philippines Site.

A quick look up on the features available to it reveals that the Alto has been stripped of any load that any car ascetic would deem extra. The AC, CD player on the dash, cupholders, childproof locks are just about the luxury that you’ll find inside Weighing in at
just about 760 kg with dimensions of 3.49m x 1.49m x 1.45m it has enough room to fit four students comfortably with the school bags. My friend, who dons a XXXL shirts however, would find it a challenge to find into that small space. The Alto is featured in 2 variants, deluxe and standard. The Power features, power steering, power windows and power doorlocks, as well as cargo covers and side moldings are added to to the deluxe trim. Colors range from red, white, metallic silver, blue and olive green.

Though it probably won’t bring anyone dates due to it’s Spartan-like, nearly, luxryless build, the Suzuki Alto brings forth what financially modest students like me looks for and needs in a car. It’s may not be pretty but it’s well worth the money spent.

Filed Under: Life, Technology