Category: City Cars 
Price Range: £5,999 to £8,460
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.
Despite its pint-sized structure, the Alto seats two large adults in comfort up front and can squeeze two more in the back with plenty of headroom, if little space to stretch their legs.
Boot space is barely more than nugatory, though (129 litres in a shallow rectangle), and whilst the rear seats do fold flat to provide further load-space possibilities, functionality is severely curtailed by the narrow letter-box of a tailgate, and further compromised by the lack of an external boot-release handle - just one of a series of obvious cost-cutting measures which also include pop-out rear windows, nasty nylon upholstery and the omission of a glovebox, centre console or even a passenger-window electric switch on the driver's door.
SZ2 models do without air conditioning, and you have to shell out nearly £8000 for the SZ4 to get front fog lights, the curtain airbags, body-coloured door handles and 14-inch alloy wheels in place of hubs with plastic trims. The stereo's weedy, and barely audible over the engine and wind noise at speed.
It's back to the 1980s with the low-level refinement; sound-proofing is below par, and the ride - though specifically tuned and tweaked for European roads, says Suzuki - is noisy, jarring and crashing over rough surfaces. This Alto is an improvement on its predecessor, but that's not saying much.
At £5000 or so, the Alto's simple, no-frills ethos might just make sense, but around the £7,000 mark, there are better choices. We'd suggest a Fiat Panda (from £5,995 with current offers), the heavily-discounted Citroen C1, a Toyota Aygo or the well-equipped and well-warranted Hyundai i10 - or saving a bit more for a Ford Ka or Renault Twingo, well worth the extra.
