Lets just get this out of the way right now, our test Alto is pink, in an already rather feminine car this makes driving the Alto rather embarrassing. Everyone that knows me felt the need to take a picture of me with it the first time they saw me in it, the first time Steve saw me drive the Alto he could barely stand upright he was laughing so hard.

Pink Suzuki Alto

Now of course one can’t criticise the car itself for the colour as this is obviously customisable but it still begs the question what Suzuki were thinking. The motoring journalism industry is male dominated, that is a fact, so why would Suzuki put a pink car on their press fleet? They presumably want us to like the little Alto, making it embarrassing to be in isn’t the way to go about it. It is possible this has been done because female readers will see the car and like the colour but that doesn’t help me with my credibility…. I did find R7 under the mat, so maybe they realised pink wasn’t the way to go and that was a bribe, score!

As you have no doubt worked out as far as first impressions go the Alto is a bit of a failure for me, the colour however is just one element of this. The engine is weak low down, the brakes take some getting used to, the wheel alignment is out (it is still low mileage so this is quite bad) and the the rev counter is partially concealed in my driving position. There is also quite a bit of road noise in the cabin.

There is however some light at the end of the tunnel which you can read about in the full road test some time soon in Drive.

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