Touring

11 people with a spare weekend. A long ride in mind, we settled on two cars on a ride to Ooty. The innova fit the bill, but we could only manage one. So I took a swift to get the rest who were stranded. Initially, people preferred the innova, as it proved to be the luxury ride everybody wanted for the long stretches of seamless tarmac ahead of us. Its middle row is enormous with more space to spare than to sit, but then the back seats are more a space to get rid of nasty friends, than to enjoy the ride.
The roads were straight and driving the innova here was pure fun. Its superb torque meant I didnt stay long in anybodies mirrors, despite its payload of 6 full-grown boys and their potbellies. The trailing swift struggled to keep up, like Indian athletes chasing medals, not too far behind but neither getting there. Now don't misunderstand me, the swift was no slow poke. It just didn't show the road presence to scare the big ones on road. Smaller trucks were easy preys, but the long ones were a bit of a challenge for both especially the swift.
In the winding roads, getting to drive any car was a matter of luck and muscle, with 11 boys fighting for the two priced seats. Being the gentlemen we were, we fought it out quite viciously in front of a public which payed people to do the job we were fighting for, funny.After a night of campfire and cottage stay, we were ready for more. If there is one thing I know for sure, nothing like a morning drive, nd nowhere better to do it than Ooty.
After the first thirty miles, we had our first puke. Then we had a puke rally each stage about 2kms each. Every stop gave one person hell, and others a chance to take a update their fb profile pic. I was driving the swift then and I coined the unmistakable truth - "No one in the swift had puked.". Thus started the exodus from Innova to Swift, taking turns to keep their mouths sealed.
Thats why even while drinking petrol its a champ in eating away the miles you wanted behind. It gives you the kind of freedom you wanted from a car. The real sense of multi-utility. Swift is a city car, and a very good one at that too. But it doesn't fail you if you were to take your family or friends into roads , straight twisty or rough. And the new swift is like the Yuvi`s second appearence, an allrounder whos back for more. I LIKE IT.

SWIFTER .....

And heres the "NEW" Swift. It looks the same, has the same engine, same transmission and the same price. Thats after half a decade of virtually the same car in the market. Now its not an old fool, mind you. Its THE benchmark for all hatches, and bestseller by all means.

Its grown up by all dimensions and quality. Its more planted and it feels as cramped and as noisy as before.

The Flu Ence

Reincarnation is the way to go ..... Fiat tried it twice, looks like it needs another ; but its time for the french giant Renault to try a hand in rebirth with the" FLUENCE ". Having surrendered (scrapped) Logan to Mahindra, they have to start the account with zero balance.12 new dealerships and sister company Nissan might help.

Logan is not a product you would badly miss,but somethin would`ve been better than nothing. Anyway the fluence is a good point to start again, right in the middle of the hottest segment of the year. Fluence has the trendy high posture in accordance with the newbies, fiesta and verna. Big in every sense and every dimension it lives upto the real CAR dream.



It comes in 2 variants, a fully loaded 2-litre automatic petrol with all the bells wistles and horns, from automatic twin-zone air-conditioning, automatic headlamps and rain sensing wipers keyless start-stop, an on-board computer, leather seats, four airbags, anti-whiplash headrests so on. The other a more humane 1.5 diesel with a smaller list and bigger mileage.


As for the feature list its intimidating,but considering  the competition from skoda and honda , its tight . But indians have always proved, a good car is not enough, SERVICE matters. Look at fiats cars and the situation is all the more clear. So keep your fingers crossed enjoy the fashion show on indian streets.

Killing a CITY

There is a serious conspiracy going on in the car circles ..... did the city do something wrong r is it simple jealousy ? Out in the open are city slayers. It all started with the HIT-ler Vento from Germany. Now there are more cars launched against city than in any segment of indian car market. 

City is no easy car to beat though, from its inception into indian market since 90`s its the best seller each time everytime. The one thing the city didnt know was the indians love for Diesel. Followed by the vento, before the citycould react, came SX4 diesel with fiats 1.3 diesel, which powers half the diesel cars in india. While all this was happening, local assassins were on the queue for a second chance.

Enter Ford Fiesta and Hyundai Verna. 

The ford is coming into india as part of the one ford strategy.Its the same fiesta thats sold everywhere else in the world, at last. The exterior is a bit quirky with a very high rear and kinetic design styling upfront. Its coming with higher end features as standard and no strip down version. The 1.4l tdci  is the diesel option along the figo line, and the 1.6 pet might be the more affordable model. At 7-9 lakhs its straight on city territory with the diesel power on hand. 

Ford Fiesta

 

For the korean version of the story, though the verna has not officially stepped in, its right around the corner with a launch any time soon. Now a verna might not be the queen of ur wet dreams, but the new version just might. Its a quantum jump over the current version with a beauty of a car. And the fun part is its coming fully armoured with 6 different variants! ranging from 1.2 to 1.4 to  1.6 in petrols and diesels its just might be the car for all segments let alone city.

Hyundai Verna ("Accent"- other parts of the world)  

Psst.....its new

There used to be a time when Indian versions of global models were generations older than the US or European versions, then there used to be 2 models at once. Now the iterations are instant, its de-facto to introduce the global version in India. The new Passat is in Indian shores within weeks of its introduction, though with just minor changes, its here. With the same 2ltr engine the car is all the same inside except 4 the bluemotion technolgy(Fancy name for adjusting the same configuration to reduce emmissions). Its all the same as Greenline (skoda) ,and Ecomotive (Seat) technologies used by sister companies. Witha more mature stance and LED`s all over its no generation jump but a better car to the outgoing edition overall.

Supercars Supercars .....

If you thought the tongue twister KOENIGSEGG was the last super to come to India, its a long queue left bro. Maserati was an Italian marquee who is in late, but all geared up for action. Its coming with all its got, in the form of Qattroporte, GranCabrio and GranTurismo models. All models powered above 400bhp and priced above 1 cr each, v hope v can see more action in indian homes than on walled villas.

Maserati GranCabrio

Maserati GranTurismo

Maserati Quattroporte

Tongue blowing ......

If you have about 12 crore rupees and a year to waste, this might just be the right exercise ... try pronouncing this, KOENIGSEGG. Its the latest in the barrage of supercars to hit indian showroooms. Pretty hard to pronounce but great to drive they say, powered by a 4.7-liter aluminium V8 engine with twin-turbo super chargers developing a mind-blowing 910 bhp. It is marketed in India by an aviation company, Interglobe General Aviation,right choice if you consider the price .

KOENIGSEGG AGERRA