Alto K10 is the spunkiest, most youthful offering by Maruti Suzuki. Aimed primarily at the youth of the country, it embodies confidence, zest for life and a thirst for the new. It's not just a car, it's a way of life that's sassier, bolder and out there.

Budget hatchbacks being one of the most popular segments in the Indian market, Alto K10 comes as a breath of fresh air in terms of its positioning. Maruti has a legacy of iconic hatchbacks. It started with the Maruti 800 and was taken forward by the Alto 800, which went on to become one of the largest selling cars in the country.

Alto K10 takes the appeal a notch higher with its youthful proposition. It is available in Automatic Transmission also, the big attraction for Indian buyers these days.

Attention to detail in the design of this car becomes evident as you notice its individual elements. Flowy curves give its interiors a more spacious feel, the energetic lines on the dashboard and interesting play of surfaces make the interiors much sportier.

Apart from that, the swept-back headlamps, large fog lamp housings, a touch of chrome to the front grille, jewel-finish tail lamps and a sharp shoulder line running across the length of the car, all of it makes it look the "it" car of the "now" generation. The Alto K10 is compact in dimensions too, making it ideal for driving through tight spots on city roads and has a decent ground clearance of 160 mm.

Powering the car is a 998 cc K-Next engine that delivers 68 horsepower at 6000 RPM and 90 Nm torque at 3500 RPM. Maruti Suzuki claims a mileage of 24.07 km/l for both manual and AMT variant. In terms of performance, Alto K10 is peppy and energetic, all you need for your daily commutes.

On the inside, the car boasts of premium interiors with refined piano-finish and a swanky speedometer cluster. The piano-finish stereo supports CD, USB, AUX and of course, Radio. We've left no stone unturned when it came to the interiors - internally adjustable ORVMs, a dual-tone ​​​​​​​colour scheme with silver accents on the three-spoke steering wheel, AC vents and the instrument console (which has a tachometer) make the car feel premium.

There's ample space for seating too, with enough legroom and headroom for passengers. Rear passenger won't be squeezed in either as the front seats are scooped in from the back, allowing for better knee room.

The star of the car, though, is the 5-speed AMT gearbox, or as we call it - 'Auto Gear Shift', or AGS in short. It has an actuator mounted on top of the conventional manual gearbox which, which, with the help of electronic sensors, does the gear shifts for you and spares the trouble of moderating the clutch pedal every day. But isn't that what fully-automatic gearbox do? Yes, but that is where the advantage of AMT comes in as they also offer you the option of switching to 'Manual'. Wherein, it is the driver who decides which gear the car should be in and can make upshifts and downshifts based on driver input. Even in that scenario, clutch action is taken care of by the Actuator and the sensors.

In real-world driving scenarios, the gearbox almost always gets the gear shifts right, making it a hassle-free driving experience.

Interestingly, the AGS only adds 5 kilos to the weight of the car and hence, keeps the mileage figures identical to what the Manual transmission K10 would deliver.

Priced at Rs 4.05 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) for the variant with AGS, Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 has the combination of a transmission which translates into a very easy driving experience and looks that define the personality of the driver behind the wheel.