The Suzuki Alto is full of delights and surprises. My first surprise being that I had to fight to get a look-in, and couldn’t figure out why it was so popular with the men. I should have known it would have been all about engine noise! Boys and their toys…

However, I’m rather pleased I left my normal cutting comments to myself, as once I got behind the wheel I soon understood what all the fuss was about. I have to confess, I soon got hooked on the noise this zippy city car produced. This I’m reliably informed is down to the three cylinder engine – just don’t ask me to explain why, as I zoned out at that point. However, I did recognise that we had heard a similar off-beat thrum before in the form of the Smart, so felt progress was being made in the pub-quiz stakes.

But at first all I felt was embarrassment as I zipped around North West London, wanting to poke my head out of the window and apologise to all those that were being affected by my throaty engine. Except whenever I did have the window down I couldn’t hear it. I soon realised that this lovely noise was all internal and I could enjoy it without feelings of mortification. Isn’t that clever?

So not only was the internal sound a joy, but so was the interior; there was nothing surplus to requirement, yet nothing was lacking. All the storage shelves and cubby holes are there but done in such a way as to appear frugal, but sufficient. It has that holiday cottage feel about it. Plain, simple and clean looking, which somehow makes it easy to live with, to the point where you want to transfer that simple-living feeling into your everyday life. It took me quite a while to forgive my own car for all its clever gadgets, many of which stopped working just after the warranty expired.

This car gave me thrills with its engine noise, to the point that I kept imagining myself in a little sports car, only to be faintly shocked back to reality when I stepped out. The engine note is only intrusive when accelerating fast, which just means you do it more often. The Alto’s rather funny, easy to park, fun to drive, has low running costs and emissions and is a cheeky looking number to boot. A perfect city car.