“No acceleration, no deceleration, no turning”-a fuel efficiency tune with a different dimension concept

In May 2024, more than 200 Alto, Suzuki’s proud light car flagship, were gathered at the “Arukusai Festival,” where a wide variety of Alto models, old and new, in various styles and tweaks were on display. One of the most unique and customized cars was the “Fuel Economy Junkie Alto,” as the owner himself called it. The tuning menu was full of surprises.

Reduction of resistance to achieve 37 km/liter fuel economy

The owner of a 2015 Suzuki “Alto X” with a homemade front license plate cover that read “Fuel economy junkie Alto, achieved 37 km/L in actual driving & 1000 km with a full tank of gas, and is evolving toward 40 km/L with a vehicle weight of less than 800 kg. Mr. “Kurotetsu”. He chose the Alto X as the base vehicle for the fuel efficiency challenge because he happened to find this Alto inexpensively in his neighborhood.

“The main focus is on weight reduction, and we are also trying to reduce air resistance, intake resistance, electrical resistance, exhaust resistance, and other resistances as much as possible. We have added various aerodynamic parts, changed the coolant to low-viscosity water to reduce the rotational resistance of the water pump, and applied arcing to reduce electrical resistance at key points. When I bought the car, I got about 27km/L on the first fill-up, but now I’m getting 37km/L on actual driving. It doesn’t accelerate, decelerate, or turn, and if a normal person were to drive it the same way, he or she would probably lose his or her mind.”

Tuning has also shifted in the direction of low fuel consumption

In addition to reducing various resistances from the Alto X, Kurotetsu aims to improve fuel economy by tuning the car to enhance the quality of driving. The suspension was set up with “Alto Works” shocks and a half-down suspension to reduce roll. This was done not only for driving pleasure but also to “increase cornering speed, which in turn increases fuel economy a little.

To further lower the center of gravity, the engine and transmission mounting positions were lowered by 5 mm, and the fuel tank was also lowered by 10 mm. In addition, efforts have been made in a different direction from the usual tuning.

“Where people haven’t done much is putting in crank pulleys, water pump pulleys, and air compressors for vans. The belt for the van is a little lighter because it is one mountain narrower. The belt originally had a 6-mount belt, but now we are using a 4-mount belt.

We are struggling to shift to floor shift

In addition to this, they have reduced the weight of the interior and exterior with a semi-dry carbon hood and seats, and are currently working on a floor shift because the driving position has been made as central to the car as possible, making it difficult to shift gears.

“Originally, we had an instrument panel shift, but since the seats were positioned much further back, it was hard to downshift because of the distance, so we wondered if we could somehow move it to the floor.”

“Also, there is a person who is making an FRP rear gate for racing and putting it up for auction on the Internet, so I’m thinking I’d like to have one someday. Lately, I’ve been thinking that I don’t need fog lights, so I’m also looking for a bumper without fog lights.”

translated by DeepL