Category: City Cars 
Price Range: £5,999 to £8,750
Good fuel economy and low emissions, low insurance and tax, should be tough and durable, good headroom, no-frills ethos
Poor refinement, dated feel, dull and cheaply-finished cabin, slow performance.
Cheap, and feels it; verve-free and devoid of any charisma, the Alto is outclassed and there are better choices out there.
Here's where the Alto scores. The manual version returns 64.2mpg and emits just 103g/km of carbon dioxide, putting it in tax band B, and the auto does 54.3mpg and 122g/km (tax band C). Later in the year, the manual model will be offered with a fuel-saving stop-start function, which will also bring emissions down to 95g/km (free annual tax band A).
Insurance for the lower-spec SZ2 and SZ3 versions is Group 1E, and the SZ4 is Group 2E; it doesn't get much cheaper than this. Suzuki servicing isn't generally too dear, and ongoing maintenance costs should be minimal.
