1987 Suzuki Alto GL review from Australia and New Zealand

This alto was purchased new as a shopping trolley for my mum, it did that for ten years then became an urgent delivery courier for my dad and then eventually they gave it to me and my family. I have used and abused it as a hunting vehicle for 6 years and now it is parked up in the yard as parts for my "new" (1985) alto GL! it was repowered with an engine from a 91 version about 20,000 ago after the old motor got a little sluggish (i have just taken the head off and both it and the bore are fine, the gasket was okay too... the bore is glazed and I will be deglazing it and putting new rings and stuff in to give it a new lease on life. these little cars rock! it has gone thru lots of tyres, lower suspension arms, clutches, a gearbox, lots of steering rack ends etc. eventually it was rust that killed it - mum and dad lived in a high sulphur area and I live next to the sea. I did spray it with oil to slow it down, but the bits the oil missed killed the car.

Easy to work on, REALLY EASY! for instance it is no problem to pick up the whole motor with the manifolds, carby everything attached BY URSELF! it has 'old' technology like points and plugs and resistors and cables with no modern electronic nightmares to be seen. most everything is easy to get at and there are lots of spares and they are cheap too. Near on the perfect vehicle me thinks. I hope to be driving one exactly the same in another 20 years... although I hope to have worked out how to convert an alto to electric well before then!