Intro: My Suzuki Alto Works RSX

[gilly]

Hey guys, I thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Simon from Adelaide - Ive owned mitsubishis for about 5 years now and have just bought my first Suzuki!

Its a 1988 Suzuki Alto Works RSX, a jap import KEI car. I really dont know much about these cars - but have always liked the idea of these puny little turbo pocket rockets! My previous cars have been a CC 1.8 lancer, and also a CC Lancer GSR 4wd turbo. I have a Mitsubishi Legnum VR4 (2.5L v6 twin turbo wagon) on its way from japan at the moment so the Suzuki is my temp car while I wait (or may end up being my daily driver.

The engine is the 546cc Twin Cam Turbo (F5B??), which has a redline startpoint of 9000rpm and maximum of 12000rpm! The car weighs only 600kg so its got a bit of go. The sound of this things is hilarious! It makes a lot of noise for its size, and the turbo is constantly spooling!

It came with a few ricey features, like remote start car alarm (i had to chase after the car before i even bought it, no really!), undercar LEDS, boost guage, turbo timer and a semi decent cd player + splits.

It needs a new steering wheel, but other than that its in really good condition.

Anyways, here are some photos:

[ceej]

Awesome!

[CHR15 N]

Very nice!
My Dads got a Legnum, looking at one myself to replace my daily driver.

[Goofy[HSK]]

F5A Gilly, congrats on the purchase

Steering wheel doesn't look too bad, what about getting a cover sewn on?
Does that brake master cylinder look new/standard? anyone else know? - nevermind, its standard - looks a heap better then the cm11v one

[gilly]

the steering wheel really is in bad shape - whole chunks of it are missing in one spot, its down to the metal! Im not a fan of steering wheel covers - so maybe i could remove all the padding from it and somehow get it recovered.

Have no idea about the brake master, sorry Tony!

Also wondering - the rear seatbelts have been removed - can I simply get some put it, or do I need to register it differently? Its actually registered as a van.

While im on the subject of rego, the car was a few days out of rego just before I bought it, but my mate who sold it to me didnt mind adding the rego prior to the sale to make things easier. It cost him something crazy like $240 for 3 months! Is this right? I was expecting it to be around $140 for 3 months, or did it cost him more because the rego had expired?

I was hoping being a 3cyl commercial van thing I could somehow get really cheap rego! I guess not...

Not getting great economy out of it either (was hoping for 600kms from 22litres). Ive used half a tank (11litres) and only got 220kms! I guess being a new car ive been on boost the whole time - if i did the same in my legnum id get about 220kms out 60litres.

[Goofy[HSK]]

if you put seatbelts in you'd have to go through regency i'd say
and possibly will not be allowed to register it as a van any more (which could possibly mean you have to add intrusion bars if not already there)

not sure about rego, as you know I haven't got that far yet

as for economy, hmm, is that bov plumb back?>

[Goofy[HSK]]

just had a thought - stamp duty maybe on top of the rego?

[gilly]

yeh there was stamp duty on top of the rego - but isnt that normal?

my gsr rego was like this (3months):

rego and other fees $48
ctp premium $87
gst $7
total $143

the alto was a total of $240 something for 3 months. Im a bit confuised about this.

As for the BOV, no its not a plumb back. That wouldnt effect fuel economy would it?

Dont think Ill bother with the seatbelts then, theres bugger all leg room anyway!

[JohnnyB]

in the ACT, the little suzuki that are registered as van are classfied as "commercial" vehicles hence the higher rego. and with the no rear seat belts you'll need to do some modifications such as side intrusion bar sin the doors to make it complient to the ADR'S and then engineered to make it legal

[ceej]

in the ACT, the little suzuki that are registered as van are classfied as "commercial" vehicles hence the higher rego.

Not to mention little utes! $179 and 3 months road use later.

[JohnnyB]

Not to mention little utes! $179 and 3 months road use later.

I just payed that for my Daihatsu Charade! so it not that bad

[Goofy[HSK]]

any updates on the rego situation simon?
what about insurance?

if commercial stuff is going to cost more I might as well install intrusion bars and go non-commercial..
although I have heard something about being able to have darker tint if its commercial (anyone confirm?)

[Brayden]

Commercial vehicles (utes/vans/etc) have no minimum light penetration requirement for rear and rear side windows. Driver and front passenger windows must still comply with minimum state requirements. (Generally 35%)

[gilly]

Tony, I havent really looked into the rego situation - havent had much time to spend on the Alto lately, been flat out building websites!

As for insurance, I ended up going through Shannons for $600 a year. Was a lot higher than I wanted to pay, and its only insured for $3500 - I really dont like the idea of driving an uninsured car, especially such a rare car like this that parts would cost an arm and a leg for.

I got 430 kms out of my first tank (22litres!), Thats not too bad considering it copped a flogging! Maybe my next tank will be closer to 500.

[gilly]

Ive started throwing the little car around some corners lately to see how it handles....it seems to make a bit of a scrubbing noise on hard cornerting, similar to the sound tyres make when rubbing on guards.

Surely the little 13" tyres arent rubbing on the guards? the suspension is all standard and there appears to be a decent sized gap?

Im teaching my girfriend how to drive a manual in this car - so far so good, it seems easy to drive! My mum loves the car, I think it reminds her of her glory days back in the 70's driving her Mini!