Good car, rides well, short on novelty

Just test drove the Altis, was a refreshing site with the styling on the lines of the Camry. Looks much better than the Civic, which probably we have seen too many off now.

The car drives well, is sure footed and can take on different terrain without complaints. Though too much of a rough road is not where it would want to find its shoes in.

The refreshing exteriors do not seem to have made it to the interiors. It borders on the ok to just about bad. The wood finish seems overdone, the leather on the steerring wheel feels drab, the Ford Fiesta comes with better leather. The leather on the seats are good, the seats themselves are great.

The choice of interior colors could have been a little more understated

The adjustability for seat, fore & aft, needed another couple of centimeters for comfort. The lumbar adjustment was a boon for the distance we took the test drive on.

The 2 DIN system sounds ok, the one on Civic is far better.

The engine was pretty good, though it sounds gruf when taken beyond the 4000rpm, probably needs a little more running in, since the car we had run just a little over 1000kms.

The shift was ok, not very sporty but well located and with good ratios. The gear knob fell into the palm of my hands pretty well too.

Overall, the Altis makes a refreshing site but lacks novelty value.

Styling, overall fit and finish, ground clearanceInterior space, Plastic quality, music system