Talking about the rear, there’s no other way to describe it but ‘cramped.’ The seats are not suitable for tall people, especially if there’s one sitting at the front. The saving grace is the adjustable head rest. The ride at the back is harsh and sometimes very unsettled. The best seat in the house is undoubtedly behind the steering wheel.

The A-Star AT’s 3-cylinder engine is one of the best, if not the best 3-cylinder engine in this class. Fire it up, and there’s absolutely no sound. Even when I deliberately hit the limiter during the drive, it doesn’t pass on vibration – demanding you to shift up. From what I’ve heard, the K-Series engine is very fuel efficient. It’s on almost 70% of the Suzuki’s sold in India today, and the engine is arguably the most impressive facet on the A-Star.

Then there’s the steering wheel, which is ideally suited for city conditions. It’s light and allows you to make U-turns in a jiffy. At highway speeds, it gives you decent levels of feedback and confidence. The brakes, unfortunately, are spongy, but with the assistance of ABS, they do the job extremely well. The brake pedal in the AT is larger, and even size 10 shoes feel quite at home.

The A-Star comes fitted with a 4-speed torque converter. Like any normal AT, you can select D (Drive), and the car shifts gears for you. What’s more, the gearbox also allows you to choose gears, or suggest, I should say. The gearbox is more of a suggestive device if you’re trying to drive it like a manual transmission. For instance, to downshift into second gear when you’re overtaking a trailer on the highway, the transmission takes its own sweet time to digest your inputs – be it through the gear selector or the throttle. The transmission makes the engine work a bit harder than you would. Suffice to say, the manual transmission would have done a much better job of delivering higher fuel economy and quicker acceleration – essential if you’re on any highway in India.

That brings us to the question – is this car going to be driven on the highway by its buyer?

The A-Star AT isn’t for the long distance traveller – for him or her the manual is a better option. The A-Star AT is designed to make life a lot easier in congested metro, where bumper-to-bumper traffic is rapidly becoming a part of the urban dweller’s list of woes. Think how simple your life will be if you had an affordable, small car for your family without a clutch and a gear lever. People who have back problems, knee problems, especially women, beginners and grandparents will find this the perfect city commuter.

So there, if you’re expecting to drive a mini Ferrari Enzo with an automatic transmission designed to respond within a blink of the eye and boom you into outer space with monstrous acceleration and top speed, then you’d certainly be disappointed. If you’re on the lookout for a compact, comfortable, driver-focused hatchback that’s inexpensive to buy, easy to drive and park, and costs little to maintain, the A-Star AT is the right car for you.