[RedDevil]

I have owned a Suzuki Alto, but I would not buy it again.
I don't mind it being spartan, but I don't feel safe in it either.
And it was built really cheap - also it never got really good economy, hardly better than my Nissan Almera and much worse than my Insight.

Same for my old '85 Civic and '86 Golf Diesel; I had a minor accident in the latter and the front folded in like paper. It did not even slow it down, or so it seemed.

Those were not 5000 dollar cars... which can only be worse.

The I10 in my garage is a much better car than the Golf and the Alto, and much more 'luxurious' at least than my Civic.
It is much heavier too, to name one thing, yet it could be more economical - but that would require me driving it Current tank log reflects really short trips in town only at high RPM.
It is about the cheapest car you can buy here, still it would surpass 10.000 dollars on the US market.

Modern cars have all kinds of little tweeks designed in to make them use less fuel, but have cost money in the design phase and probably in construction.
A $5000 car cannot have those. It will be light but use more fuel than a car that light should.