Suzuki Alto completes 3400km NZ economy drive
October 13, 2009 by Matt Brogan
Two NZ motoring journalists have disproved the illusion that Suzuki’s Alto is purely a city car tackling a 3,400 kilometre drive through New Zealand’s North and South islands and back again.
Mr Allan Dick and Mr Donn Anderson each drove an Alto, one with a manual and one with an automatic transmission, from Auckland to Invercargill, and then onto the Bluff, the most Southerly point, before making the return journey back to New Zealand’s largest city.
The objective of the trip was to not only monitor the frugal petrol consumption of the 1.0-litre, three-cylinder Suzukis, but to gauge the comfort levels of the compact cars on the six day journey, in much the same way CarAdvice did with its 12-hour Economy Challenge drive around Melbourne recently.
The manual gearbox Alto consumed a total of 150.1 litres of fuel which was an average of 3.68L/100km. Compared to the manual car, the four-speed automatic transmission Alto used 165.4 litres, averaging 4.16L/100km.
The best individual leg result for the Alto manual was on the final day from Paraparaumu to Auckland where the car achieved 3.31L/100km. In the run from Oamaru to Invercargill on the third day, the Alto automatic posted its best result of 3.80L/100km.
Mr Dick, an experienced motoring journalist and long distance driver, said the Alto was every bit as practical on the Auckland to Bluff run as he knew it was going to be.
“There are plenty of New Zealanders who still think that you need a big car for journeys longer than going to the supermarket,” said Mr Dick. “We have just proved that any prejudices about small cars can be put aside.”
“We did the Auckland to Wellington drive with the speedo needle sitting close to 100 km/h all the way and were never passed by anything that wasn’t going in the opposite direction.”
“This was something of a marathon drive for a small car, and one that surprised many people,” said Mr Anderson. “But the Altos took the journey in their stride and there is no doubt we could have taken a day less to complete the trip and still been in good shape.”
“We proved it was possible to get close to petrol/electric hybrid economy in a conventional car that carries a considerably lower price tag than those more complex vehicles.”
- For a full review of the new Suzuki Alto, click here.
- To read CarAdvice’s Suzuki Alto 12-hour Economy Challenge, click here.
- To read more about driving in New Zealand, click here.
Print it: 
I don’t see the point of this test? I could prove the same thing can be done on a scooter. A five year old Daihatsu Sirion would give a similar result wouldn’t it?
I thought this is what motoring journalists do.
I just read the article again. There is no motoring review on this car. It mentions fuel consumption and…………..that’s about it.
Salesman, why is motoring just about car reviews? There is more to the world of cars then specifications, how they handle and 0-100k times. Some people are interested in small cars, fuel economy and the general direction motoring is heading, so articles like this are useful. I got something out of it.
Yeah I’m a bit miffed too. The whole thing about a long distance drive is that there is usually back seat passengers and quite a bit of luggage. Perhaps doing it again with four adults in the car and a boot full of luggage would be more appropriate, and more of a challenge for the car. Test some theories push some boundaries….. with one passenger and driven sensibly, that little Suzuki would drive around the world time after time, I suspect.
“boot full of luggage”… that’s easy with this car, just put your wallet and mobile in there.
Boy there’s some strange attitudes here! Does no one else see that there might just possibly be a market for a small, economical vehicle, suitable for for a single person or childless/retired couple, who might make some longer distance trips without being loaded to the hilt with luggage? Perhaps this car might just suit a reasonable proportion of the vehicle-driving public.
Nothing wrong with a small car for travelling, have done Tassie in
a Getz not a problem for myself and wife.Not everone has five people they have to lug around.Have travelled this route in NZ its a gret drive, would be better in the Alto than the hire van we had ,as fuel is $1.65 a litre. Everytime we stopped the van it was $80 in juice.
Good idea. Load it up with a family of five and luggage. How is the fuel consumption in real world tests?