ALL THINGS ELEMENTAL

Wrong country to go seeking motoring nirvana? India's best-selling car disapproves

- Ruman Devmane

Cars in Japan are known, simply, as cars. It's like how the Chinese refer to their lunch. It's just rice mixed with whatever animal isn't required to show up that morning at the state-funded chemistry lab. There's no Chinese lunch in China and there aren't any JDM cars in Japan. To them, they're simply lunch and cars. It could be alleged, therefore, that there's an entire breed of enthusiast cars that hasn't received its due nametag and the western patronisation that typically follows the IDM scene. That's short for Indian Domestic Market, for those of you who couldn't figure. Welcome to something you've been a part of all your life.

Think about it. It's quite an illustrious list, even if you look at just the last couple of decades. The Ford Ikon 1.6 SXi, Maruti Suzuki Zen, Mitsubishi Lancer, Honda City... okay, so most of these are hand-me-downs from elsewhere in the world but it's in India that they found an identity and celebration.

The first-gen Honda City made in 1981 was, for instance, so ghastly, Honda had to stuff a free scooter into its boot just so someone would buy it. Look up 'Motocompo' on the web. In India, though, there's hardly a more coveted name than the City, as unimaginative a nameplate as it may be. A little better on imaginative nomenclature is the Alto. A musical range lower than a soprano and higher than a tenor. Yes, sure.

Mash the accelerator pedal into the flimsy carpeting behind it and some form of high-perched musical note does emerge from its footwell.

The Maruti Suzuki Alto is a fast car. It may be the slowest car in this issue (Karl's VW doesn't count, okay?) but it's among the most fun.

You need to have spent long enough behind the wheel of a featherweight, front-engined, front-wheel-drive car to know what kind of dramatics it holds the ability to perform. Wait, we're in India in 2024 - we've all spent long enough in that kind of car!