Suzuki Alto Works Review - My First Kei Car Experience! (JDM Legends Tour Pt. 19)

[@lloydvehicleconsulting]

Oh my goodness, I remember that from the Gran Turismo series! Never thought I would see a real one in this country, let alone someone actually doing a road test of a one in Britain. Fantastic, thank you ever so much for posting this!

[@JayEmmOnCars]

My pleasure

[@LawrenceTimme]

Yes! Alto works master race. Mad turbo scoop in bonnet and comes in awd too, it's like a mini sti. 😎

[@Keroppikun]

OMG! Don’t see any of those any more on the streets of Japan! The new ones are delicious, though. J people living near the coast often dress-up their car emblem badges with crab stickers & similar. That particular sticker is probably just a circle of friends who like Suzukis and, er, crabs!

[@LiamE69]

Holding my breath for the the Mitsubishi FTO

[@Law-l4w]

I daily a Daihatsu Domino L80 1986, 3 cylinder 850cc, 45bhp an 600kg, 5speed manual. It’s like a go-cart, best car I’ve ever owned

[@DaveWebb]

Great fun to drive, these. I had an Alto Works RS-X. Upgraded ECU and a turbo from a Wagon-R Wide and the engine will happily rev to 10,000rpm!

[@DassRoc]

10?! what the hell, we miss out all the fun here in Portugal...

[@DaveWebb]

@@DassRoc Yeah, I think the stock limiter was at 8,900. The Suzuki Sport N1 ECU raised it to 9,500 and the N2 ECU to 10,000 or thereabouts!

[@danielsmith6490]

Dude, I'm the owner and I need more information please! It's getting a manual swap from a Matiz this month, engine upgrades are next on the list!

[@DaveWebb]

@@danielsmith6490 It was a few years ago I had my Alto Works, but happy to advise if I can. Club Cappo is also a really good source of info; made for Cappuccinos but there are a lot of similarities in the engine/ignition system.

[@danielsmith6490]

@@DaveWebb cheers man, if you get a few random messages in the future don't be surprised 😂 I'll be slowly starting on that in a few weeks when the manual swap is done and I have some cash again after my holidays

[@SwiftVVT]

I wish we got the new Alto here, the RS version looks awesome! If you're ever in North Wales I have a new Swift Sport you're welcome to drive.

[@ihaveacoolhat1]

I'd love one of these as a first car.

[@DavidB-rx3km]

I have a standard model of this Alto and I rate it highly! I wasn't expecting it to be so nice to drive. I had a K11 Micra at the time and much preferred this. It is very jumpy over bumps, and the fuel economy is very, very good - It's a 35 litre tank. Incidentally, the block on the 1.1 is a F10D, which is the same as the blocks used in Rascals, Supercarrys and SJ410's and go into these with very little work.

[@TheMadTatter]

I saw a Mazda Demio on a car park the other day which also brought back old Gran Turismo memories

[@johanemmenes9236]

How many did you win? I won tons of those

[@PiousMoltar]

"Quirks and features" hahaha Is it getting a Dougscore too?

[@nervsouly]

xD was thinking something similar.

[@ryanmccormick2150]

Cool little car and did a bit of Doug DeMuro creep in with the quirks and features 😉 cracking video as always keep em coming bud👍

[@51StPi]

From about 1:50 I keep checking video not playing too fast, wow your excited :) btw rear washer buttons pretty much were always on the dash, think VW were one of the first to put it on a stalk. Use to be able to get 5 in a kei car in the 80s when I was at college.

[@wiggyp1v255]

really love the diversity of the cars you get on the channel

[@trentweston8306]

Jayy, have you heard of Mighty Car Mods? They have a lot of videos on the Alto. Including one where they visit Japan to buy one and send it to Australia.

[@MarcelloTheBandit]

Oh my gawd I remember Gran Turismo 3 flipping out after I got stupid with this car. 224bhp with full weight reduction out of mine on that game. In Arcade mode, it went against the likes of the Mercedes CLK DTM and Opel Calibra touring cars. Depending on the track, I could get about third or fourth place, but it was a proper brawl to get there. Also took a Mini 1.3i in that game to near 200bhp and it competed very well against the likes of the C4 Corvette Grand Sport.

[@chrisogrady28]

Is the cappuccino a kei car? I’d love to see you find one in the UK to test. That thing reminds me more of gran turismo than anything else (knocking cones over)

[@joetaka7620]

Yes they are kei cars that have a 657cc engine. They are slightly easier to find as Suzuki officially exported Cappuccinos to the UK market.

[@ycnexu]

I'm a guy and my favourite car is perhaps a gated shifter Murcielago. But can someone explain why cute cars like this one make me happy? Not supposed to like or want this, but I do.

[@metricstormtrooper]

The Suzuki Swift Cino 1000 had similar seats, i sought them out for our 1975 VW because they looked so similar to the Porsche's.

[@psions555]

🎵 Don't go splashing your emulsion, keep your Alto Green 🎵 ABBA

[@montesa35]

This is much better than the ones built by Maruti Suzuki. No one ever beats JDM vehicles.

[@kevintaylor4780]

I hate to say it this alto is no longer on the road due to rust issues and I took the engine to repair my 4wd alto works

[@psions555]

Sorry to hear that dude 😢 Glad to hear it's beating heart has been transplanted into another project. Look forward to seeing that one 👍

[@kevintaylor4780]

@@psions555 I brought the car from the owner knowing it was not to go back on the road and to repair mine. Jayemm is welcome to review my current car

[@psions555]

@@kevintaylor4780 I love Kei Cars! Do you remap them or tune them in any way?

[@kevintaylor4780]

@@psions555 there not easy to map due to being locked out ecu only way to do it is a stand alone ecu or a control box

[@psions555]

@@kevintaylor4780 oh! So the factory ECUs are locked up tight then. I hope that doesn't include some sort of speed limiter as well. I do like the look of the works, especially the new models. The offset intercooler vent on the front is charming 😻

[@nigelmcclure6440]

These cars are so darn cool

[@PiousMoltar]

"It also come with... crab!"

[@joetaka7620]

17:52 My guess is because it weighs less than 800kg with 1990s standard of safety in an event of a crash (see Euro NCAP's video on a Rover 100 vs a Honda Jazz). I get that prices for replacement parts for most 'legendary' JDM cars are going up exponentially, but would that also be the same for this kei car, simply because they're less common than they use to be? Hope there are owners out there who'll lend you their Suzuki Cappuccino, Autozam AZ-1 and Honda Beat to review.

[@intranec844]

Hi James, first of all, I adore your content, I think you have great taste in cars (Lotus, old BMWs, jdm...) and your channel is quite unique compared with a lot of other UK cartubers. However, looking at your latest videos, I think your channel has a decent amount of potential regarding growth. Btw, I am subscribed since probably more than six months. I suggest to prepare a script for each of your future reviews/videos and maybe implement some kind of recognizable structure like explaining right at the beginning what you are going to do. It could shorten them while increase the content per minute. Anyway, keep doing what you like :) Cheers

[@JayEmmOnCars]

Thanks for your feedback. Scripting my videos is basically impossible because I don't know what I am going to think about a car before I drive it.

[@damienhowell3727]

Imagine that with an engine swap from something like a brabus smart. Bit of mapping etc that would be a riot 😆

[@klasseact6663]

A U T O T R A G I C 😕

[@christill]

I wish we had these cars here now. The latest Suzuki Alto looks awesome. The other one I want here is the Honda S660. Looks so cool. And I also appreciate the Kyle Busch shirt. And finally, totally agree about cars getting bigger. I love driving my Smart EQ after coming from a Zoe. Even though that wasn’t the biggest car, the Smart feels so liberating by comparison. I just wish it was less tall and looked a bit sportier. We need more small cars. As in actual small cars, not 4 metre long cars being called small cars.

[@VolkerHett]

Get your Vauxhall Adam as long as they last! I have the 1.4l 100hp version with the sunroof and no extras at all. Fast enough for anything in the city and on b roads. Even on the autobahn it isn't that bad.

[@nervsouly]

Huge Smart fan and driver here. RIP Smart 2022 when it goes to China. Anyway, the tallness really makes for a horrible driving experience when there is wind at higher speeds from...any direction. But it does make for a super nice visibility in town so I wouldn't want it any other way. Agreed on size, stood next to one of them VW Lupo from the late 90s at a traffic light and felt like a giant. And one final thing I love about the Smart is that it has a friendly face. Literally every single car currently build, minus the Jimny and the upcoming Honda electronic car, got an angry headlight silhouette these days.

[@christill]

nervsouly I agree about the friendly face and all the angry cars out there now. Disagree about China though. They probably would have shut the brand down otherwise unless people started going back towards small cars very soon in a big way. Don’t know which one you’re driving but I feel ok in sidewinds. The new ones have a crosswind assist feature. You can still feel it but I think it was actually worse in the Zoe I had before. Or obviously my Yamaha scooter I had before that. I hope they make another Smart Roadster. An EQ Roadster would be awesome. I never appreciated the previous one until recently. What a cool looking car.

[@nervsouly]

2017 Smart Brabus. It's supposed to have that feature but it doesn't do jack shit once you are driving 140 km/h+. And yeah without that feature it was worse in the original Smart as well, but at speeds around 60 km/h already. :P It's just so hard to enjoy any other small car once you've been in a Smart. Rear transmission just gives you this incredible turning feeling when you can angle the wheels in whole new dimensions. It's so effortless to navigate.

[@christill]

nervsouly Yeah well at 140kph I wouldn’t be expecting it to.

[@jacprendo]

How do you go about insuring one of theese in the uk

[@1silvervespa]

Canada and America Got GM Fireflys and Sprints made by Suzuki rebadged . A few Turbos made it before they faded away ....

[@zakmckenzie1475]

The seats are similar in shape to the Peugeot Rcz ❤

[@RoobehTunes]

That aerial might be the same part as fitted to the early K11 Micra/March.

[@pathigginsl649]

@4:20 who else was like ahhh ewww 😂 if you know you know

[@robertjones2014]

Stopped watching lol

[@theCinator]

If you like this try a suzuki ignis sport. Not many left now but a cracking car for a 1.5L with some great styling.

[@aljowen]

I think the insurance costs are related to what you said at the end. The stagea is a quick car, but it is stable, predictable and dependable on UK road surfaces. This altea isn't, so I guess the theory is that a crash is more likely to occur. Its not the specs that they care about, it's whether people crash them, as well as whether they have enough data to make a "low risk" judgment.

[@Dan_AYP]

I love these beauts! 😁👍 My old man's got a honda beat in bright yellow! Haha

[@DaveWebb]

Honda Beats are sweet cars. Those were on my radar when I bought my Alto Works a bunch of years ago, but the prices were high and availability low, even in Japan.

[@Dan_AYP]

@@DaveWebb yeah man, they are rare, only 30,000 of them made and the rarest colour was yellow 😁 just looks so girly haha, mad fun though!

[@mehrajmohan173]

Crab is a fortune symbol

[@harald.370]

Watched the entire SHELL crappy commercial after your vid just so you can make another 0,04€ James! 👍

[@MrSteveo114]

My heart died when I saw that dreaded sight we petrol heads fear more than god himself.....The automatic gear lever....

[@danielsmith6490]

Not for long bud, I have a manual box sitting in my garage waiting to go in over the next 2 weeks 😉

[@MrSteveo114]

Daniel Smith good, get the wheels on her and a nice wastegate and she’ll be the dogs bollox 👍Also drop a manual and a det into that Stagea of yours too lol.

[@danielsmith6490]

@@MrSteveo114 the wheels were actually on about an hour after James left, just DPD wasn't quick enough delivering the tyres for us 😂 can't wait to get that manual in though, it's going to be great. Also it'll be good to just have it back on the road again after the alternator died on me last week. Still not sure what to do about the Stagea tbh, I like the auto box but I'm looking at other options, considering putting it up for sale soon as I feel I can't look after it well enough with my puny budget. But for £3k I got a solid car I'm happy with.

[@MrSteveo114]

Daniel Smith My advice? Shift the Stagea and keep the Alto if you’re working on a tight budget. I just sold my JZX100 Chaser, like you working on a tight budget so couldn’t really use it as much as I would have liked. Mint car but road tax etc here in Ireland just crippled cars like this here sadly. €1100 in road tax alone 🤨

[@MrSteveo114]

Also, when we would go to shows everyone use to flock to these Kei cars, people love them as do I. There was a show there last year and there was two Charade Turbos at it and literally everyone was walking past GTR’s etc just to see these things🤣 Not Kei cars but same principle.

[@lilpattman]

Do an ignis sport would be great for you budget series would be very interested to see your opinion on one of those

[@BarbecuedPossum]

That's a weird looking Escudo ;)

[@LaFritePerreGoat]

ahhaha

[@chrisdavidson911]

i've been saying we should have kei cars in the uk for years! there's a type approval issue with crash tests though, i think. indicators on the right is so much better!! i'm sure i read of cappuccinos being tweaked to a reliable 100bhp, 18bhp less than an elise s1, and i - for one - think lotus need to crack on and start making it, like their take on the caterham 160

[@danielsmith6490]

as the owner i definitely agree xD the cappuccino is the same engine so i'm actually after getting this up to the same figure at some point. first on the list is a manual conversion from a Daewoo Matiz that is currently in progress

[@SilliusSodus]

Would look at a slightly larger engine. 700cc if it fits?

[@DaveWebb]

Kid Crack Out of Japan you could do that, although the engine bay is pretty damn packed. Within Japan there are very strict regulations on the kei cars (although overboring could increase engine capacity a little). Cappuccinos use the same F6A engine and I've seen those with Hayabusa engines in.

[@danielsmith6490]

Yes! The 800cc in a Daewoo matiz is very much the same engine. In fact this car is actually getting a manual swap from one this month if everything goes to plan! Still keeping this engine though because the wooshy noises are too good

[@jonathonedwards6741]

So as of this Thursday 4th April I should have some of this car’s bloodline a 2012 swift sport. Fancy giving it a go?

[@JayEmmOnCars]

Definitely! I keep getting asked about the Swift Sport - message me on [e-mail]

[@Lollllllz]

motec bored one to 720cc and threw nitrous on it made 190hp

[@janstaes2172]

do a re view of a honda beat one of my favorites or a suzuki cappuccino

[@BrandonJonesMusic24]

No Way!! I saw car at Tesco the other day and I’m from Telford! What do you think of the roads around here? If you’re still in the area I have a Focus ST170 you can take for a spin.

[@JayEmmOnCars]

Not in the area now but may be again. Some interestig roads but I am sure you have better ones hidden somewhere

[@BrandonJonesMusic24]

@@JayEmmOnCars The buildwas road towards Shrewsbury is where I go as it's close, instead of turning into Market Drayton. Loving the channel, for real enthusiasts!

[@danielsmith6490]

Haha yeah you spotted me then 😉 bet you recognise the car park the Stagea video was filmed in 😂

[@BrandonJonesMusic24]

@@danielsmith6490 I can't think, sure I've seen it around! Haha I need to hurry up and get a Mitsubishi GTO! I'm guessing the buildwas road if your touge too? 😂

[@danielsmith6490]

@@BrandonJonesMusic24 You need to educate me about this road man, i haven't been living in the area long at all so i don't know any of the good roads around here!

[@riverstour]

This reminds me of a daewoo matiz, i had a few of them as company cars a few years back they were 3 cylinder 0.8l and were the cheapest made cars ive ever come across, great to drive, but a crisp packet in an accident.

[@danielsmith6490]

funny you should say that, that 800cc matiz is actually a bored out engine from this without the turbo! because of that i've just also bought a matiz for peanuts and am in the middle of converting this alto to manual using the gearbox from that!

[@riverstour]

@@danielsmith6490 I didn't know that, wouldn't surprise me though that a lot of the parts are borrowed, what reminded me of the matiz oddly was the boot and petrol cap lever on the floor of the car on the drivers side. They for what they were were good cars, cheap to run, parts were cheap to buy, you could rev the hell out of them as well, they looked like frogs though!

[@danielsmith6490]

@@riverstour yeah dismantling it at the moment so many of the parts look identical for sure. I agree though, driving it back from where I bought it was pretty fun, first manual I've ever driven without a rev counter so having to rely on sound. I think the levers on the floor really are identical, though it's a pretty common thing on the older cars I've seen so I could be wrong. I can't comment on them looking like frogs look at what I drive now 😂 those mismatched wheels annoy me so much, the new tyres didn't arrive in time for the review but it was sorted about an hour after James left

[@majortom1164]

Please try to do a review on a Daihatsu Mira TRXX Avanzato.

[@Charsept]

Gorgeous

[@aevans148]

Are you still in Telford Jay?! Just down the road from me so would be easy for you to review my car 👀

[@JayEmmOnCars]

Which car is that? I lose track. This was filmed a couple weeks back

[@aevans148]

@@JayEmmOnCars Sorry James Integra DC5. It's not 100% ready or at least how I'd like it but if you were in the area then I'd have been happy for you to have a go

[@TheDutchGarage]

Cool car, got one myself.

[@dutchyFal]

Still got it?

[@MrKeyboardCommando]

Dinky and adorable⁉️ That makes me think of Clovis‼️ You very well may be able to fit into a narrow bodied Caterham. The question is, do you leave room for a passenger⁉️ Two cars, and which do we like the MOST⁉️ Come on, Cletus, you can do better than that‼️ Don't overuse, nor overemphasise " Hilarious " , it makes you sound like a Southern prat‼️ Great video, by the way, I really enjoyed it.👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@ChrisKuni]

The Suzuki Alto Works and the Daihatsu Mira TR-XX (Avanzato) are sooo good mini sportsters for daily driving. :D They're completlely underrated and mostly laught off to my view. These 660cc turbo rev 'monsters' are so fun to drive and reliable too plus capable of hight km's. :) Not even mention they are cheap in their cost...^^ But instead of this model here with AT and AWD I would prefer the MT version and frontwheel drive. ☝😁 A LOT more fun to drive and even if these haven't much weight it is a pack lighter and much more agile compared to the AWD model. ;P😋❤💥

[@backseatcovers]

Insurance companies in the UK are clearly out of their minds.

[@kenbakie4590]

I love the car despite it being a bit tatty in places. The plastic crab has to be the star of the show. Very HubNut in fact.

[@1silvervespa]

Should be able to make it as fun as A Mini Cooper .

[@nolahahnshouse3389]

I want to import a lupo GTI to the states too bad I can't though

[@RichardFanders]

I've paused before the start, I'm guessing a Mazda Demio.

[@chrisdavidson911]

i was thinking that, but doubted it as there's exactly nothing special going on there

[@StaticVapour590]

Nissan Pulsar GTI-R was my favourite

[@davespooney8472]

Static Vapour - mine too. Spunked all my credits getting it fully upgraded. Was a beast!

[@markrobinson5178]

Have never managed to see one in person but I would love to have a go in one, although twasn't a kei car, used the sr20det

[@CC-qe1gq]

has it the same engine than the Caterham 160/165?

[@JayEmmOnCars]

A close relation

[@guysullavin]

How tall are you?

[@jonesy66691]

WANT!

[@1183newman]

used to like the rx7 and the speed 12, from gt2.

[@1silvervespa]

Give me the Chaterham with same Motor & Turbo !!!

[@scannaunderscore1]

I had a Subaru vivio and a daihatsu mira

[@Tallretrodude]

Its interesting... Nearly everyone here in Japan doesn't think these cars are cool at all. (I do though)

[@LaFritePerreGoat]

So Jaymemm better buy a 500 abarth 135bhp or a twingo rs, similar price, bit bigger, more power. still fun, made for europe streets and roads and city frendly.

[@JayEmmOnCars]

Twingo

[@ImBarryScottCSS]

Shouldn't this be on Lawries channel?

[@JayEmmOnCars]

Na I get the good stuff ;)

[@Dockhead]

wagon R next.

[@dahmandahman694]

I have one in red for sale with rs body kit very cool check it out on shpock, north London Enfield area

[@Tom.G.Wright]

Hi James, really enjoy your content! Unrelated to this particular video, but I recently watched your piece on the flipping and inflated values of limited production Porsches and today learned that the Porsche CEO plans on selling exclusive models under a leasing programme which would force buyers to keep their cars for a certain period of time. Do you think this could be a solution to the problem if implemented correctly? Would be interesting to hear your thoughts.. Link to the article here: drivetribe.com/p/porsche-looking-to-put-an-end-to-L2VSFhQ8TdmNhBwd9K6_ng?iid=HNUuyUTATDayoFY94BP1aw

[@JayEmmOnCars]

It would. Ferrari did it with the F50

[@Tom.G.Wright]

JayEmm on Cars I thought so too. Cheers for replying :)

[@forexsniper1164]

I gagged when I saw the auto trans

[@psions555]

They dropped the overdrive unit saving weight, thus sporty 😂😂

[@mickles1975]

Pikes peak Suzuki Swi... Oh.

[@pgtmr2713]

The Escud... oh. GT... oh

[@majortom1164]

I got excited until I saw the auto mission shifter.

[@danielsmith6490]

Not for too much longer bud, have all the parts for the swap now 😉

[@taylorharrison8765]

Jesus, my man was out of breath throughout the video.

[@TheKaappari]

Why can't they make Gran Turismo like they used to?

[@christill]

I think the game has grown up like we have. Or I have anyway. These days I don’t tend to want to take a slow, old car and upgrade it with every possible engine and turbo option to make it utterly un-driveable.

[@tombell7670]

I know what the switch does.

[@AA-lo1bn]

Medal?

[@dontbesoserious1]

looks simmilar to deawoo tico

[@AntonyThorburn]

66 and 6, ffs

[@1970boggy]

No disrespect but that looks shi@ I’ll watch the video thou 😂👍 Great presentation and visuals anyway.

[@ALTO-FR]

アルトワークス(^-^)v

[@SickWill]

HAHAHAHAHA YESSSSS

[@deezball6422]

WHY ARE YOU HAVING SUCH TROUBLE BREATHING

[@alastairmckenzie3279]

Possibly the shittiest example of an Alto Works I've ever seen.

[@AC-iy1ov]

a kei? you serious??

[@tombell7670]

Horrific ugly car.