Test Grande Punto 1.3 MJD & 1.4 Petrol
Skin deep Getting under the skin of the new Fiat Grande Punto Words & photography Martin Alva
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Road Test no. 790-791 OD Rating Diesel Petrol Price Rs 6,31,700 (1.3 Diesel) Rs 5,80,240 (1.4 Petrol) ( Prices are ex-showroom Mumbai)
+ The gorgeous looks + Ride comfort - Lazy performance - 1.4 petrol low on mileage
uckily for me, things were going according to plan. I got my hands on the Grande Punto right on the weekend and I had some grand plans. Driving around on a wet Sunday in Mumbai, I was secretly hoping for a traffic jam, and ironically there were none when I needed them. Why did I go looking for a jam? I wanted to show off the new Fiat Grande Punto, and I could do it only in a traffic jam or in a long traffic light queue in south Mumbai. Anyway, I discovered hordes of women ogling me in the swanky new car. But why was I showing off exclusively in traffic jams or at traffic signals? Read on. The Grande Punto or ‘Grand’ Punto, as Fiat has named it, is certainly one of the prettiest cars I have seen since I started reviewing cars for money and fame. I’m kidding about the fame. And maybe about the money as well, economic recession and all. This car is internationally in its third generation and Fiat India has, in a way, bet its future on the new Grande Punto. Even though the Linea is a fine car and has won numerous accolades including the Overdrive comparison test against the new Honda City and the Ford Fiesta S, its placement and price do not make it a volume generating proposition. The Punto is in the heart of the volume hatchback segment. It is available with a choice of one diesel and two petrol engines which makes it a worthy competitor to the Swift, i20, Fabia and Ritz. So, what needs to be figured out is this: does it have the necessary ingredients for a successful revival of Fiat in India or is it going to be just another model which will build up the hype but fail to deliver? All Fiat cars sold in India so far were in no way below par but poor dealer and service networks have let the company down in the past. But now with Tata and Fiat being allies, I see a promising future for Fiat and its customers.
nitely appears high end. Design is a matter of taste, but no one dislikes a good design, which the Grande Punto has been blessed with. It is chic, upbeat and elegant. Simply put, it is classier overall than the other hatches. Why I would go so far as to call it strikingly beautiful with its Giorgetto Giugiaro and Italdesign styled exterior. The clean, fuss free design has minimal elements but makes a telling impression. It displays a thoughtful arrangement of soft flowing lines from the grille to the tailgate that do the business without ever breaking away from the understated nature of the design. The headlights stretch back slightly over the bonnet and enhance its attraction majorly. The silver mesh grille with the brand logo looks much like an Audi’s, but less flashy. It houses the company logo. The diesel grille has a Multijet badge plastered on as well. The fog lamps are surrounded by an eyecatching silver plastic cowl. In profile, the rakish windscreen appears to be slightly higher than the waistline while quarter glass treatment on the A-pillars aid visibility. The rear however is not as dramatic and attractive as the front. It is reminiscent of the Palio and has a simple looking (compared to the front) tailgate. Thin fog lamps are buried in the lower part of the bumper, making them appear plain boring. The Punto logo with a ‘P’ which simulates a person in the driving position, adds a touch of humour. The 15-inch alloys are simply superb and have a bit of an Alfa Romeo touch. Our test car sported 195/60 R15 tyres, the widest OEM fitments for a hatchback in India. With a length of 3987mm, height of 1495mm and width of 1687mm, the Punto certainly is large on the outside. The wheelbase is 2510mm, among the largest in its class. But in terms of design philosophy it isn’t a genuinely clever triumph of packaging really. As you are about to see, the interiors aren’t quite as expansive as the exterior dimensions would seem to suggest.
DESIGN From the front the Punto brings to mind Maseratis and Alfas; it defi
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Ride Ducati Streetfighter
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Gladiator gene Taking on the Ducati Streetfighter Words Harriet Ridley
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ummer’s here and that can only mean one thing. The Ducati Sporting Club’s annual Track Attack at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire. I could call it a track day, but that wouldn’t do it justice. I first joined in with the fun here in 2006 and you could say it changed my life. Four years ago, Ducati invited me to test their stable of bikes at their two-day DSC Track Attack. The manufacturer from Italy’s Bologna had just started bringing their bikes to circuits across the UK to let riders try them out on track for free (well, unless you crash then you forfeit your deposit of a few hundred quid). It’s something the Italian manufacturers had been doing for a while in Italy: I’d been to Misano and Mugello with Bimota that same year to test-ride the bikes they’d brought along for potential customers to try out. So Ducati took the idea to the UK. And so I spent two days at Cadwell Park, hopping from one Ducati to the other. On day two,
Butch the club racer offered me a ride on his Ducati 600ss Desmodue racebike. Riding it was a blast. The bike was so light and easy to handle, with just enough power to fly into corners and keep the throttle pinned on the exit without the threat of a highside. I just couldn’t get enough of it. I must have done four consecutive track sessions on it without ever coming in. I had more fun on that than on any other Ducati that day. My friend and photographer Ian Cobby saw the look on my face when I finally came back to the pits. He asked me if I fancied racing in the Ducati Sporting Club’s Desmodue championship. YES! I said. And before I knew it, Cobby had bid on a knackered old Ducati 600SS on eBay in my name. I ended up getting it for £741 and the project to turn it into Betty the racebike began. I’m now in my third year of racing in the series, having the time of my life and enjoying the company of a load of new friends.
All this because one summer’s morning, I decided to get out of bed and head for Cadwell Park to ride Ducatis. No wonder I’ve been going to the event each year ever since. Except I enjoy the Ducati Sporting Club’s event even more now as it’s not just about testing Ducatis. It’s also become the chance to meet up with both old and new friends. Old from the bike industry as press gets invited to try out Ducatis. New from being a signed-up member of the Ducati Sporting Club and having met fellow Desmodue racers with whom I share unforgettable adventures tearing up the UK (and Dutch, we go to Assen!) racetracks. The atmosphere in the paddock at the DSC’s event is special. You’re there simply to have fun, not to risk life and limb for a trophy. But like a race meeting, everyone stays overnight in tents and caravans so it’s BBQ and beers galore in the evenings. I only get a couple of track sessions on Monday morning before a thunderstorm interrupts
play. But I don’t mind. I know we have the whole of Tuesday to enjoy as well, and the weatherman forecast sun and soaring temperatures all day. And he was right! This year however, rather than hop from one Ducati to another, I decide to bring along one particular model to test. Ducati’s Streetfighter. The bike’s brand new for 2009, but the name Streetfighter certainly isn’t. Streetfighters have existed since the dawn of the sports bike, when cash-strapped riders dropped their superbikes and, finding themselves unable to afford a new set of expensive bodywork, removed it completely to build an unfaired creation out of what was left. These machines became known as streetfighers. The phenomenon soon developed into a full-blown category with manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon, producing ready-made versions. Bikes like Triumph’s Speed Triple and of course, Ducati’s Monster used
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Feature Himalayan Odyssey
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Final frontier The Royal Enfield Himalayan Odyssey is an ultimate riding experience Words & Photography Martin Alva
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here is a difference between seeing and looking. Those who choose to travel have the luxury of seeing and experiencing things which many only dream of. If you don’t go looking for it, you won’t see much. And sometimes, you embark on a journey that turns out so great that returning home is cold reality, almost as if someone woke you in the middle an incredible dream. The sixth Royal Enfield Himalayan Odyssey was like that for me. I’ve dreamt of riding amid the mighty Himalayas for as long as I can remember. A dream I hadn’t done much about, really. Until now. This year, with some luck, the opportunity beckoned, and I was more than raring to go. And now, I am back - I cannot travel indefinitely after all. And I
know that the Odyssey experience will forever be deeply rooted in my mind. In hindsight, the Odyssey is about finding answers. It questions your riding potential and survival skills and allows you the time to answer those questions. It puts the rider’s endurance to the test through freezing altitudes, scorching plains and an all-pervading lack of oxygen. I was more than willing to take the challenge and trade in my wonderful, cosy little one-bedroom, with the attached sports bar and Greek restaurant, albeit temporarily, for what would turn out to be a tent shared with another biker attached only to a vast, unforgiving, breathtaking wilderness with no hot water and freezing temperatures outside. There is a
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Test Hyundai i20 CRDi
Urban airs The Hyundai i20 unveiled in diesel guise
Words Karanbir Singh Bedi Photography Gaurav S Thombre
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hat’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet. Shakespeare’s lines ring true even now, when economics dictate our lives, and marketing philosophy in times of conspicuous consumption demands otherwise. Diablo and the Countach are names of cars that have attained immortal status. The new Ferrari road car is called the California and is aimed at a new breed of owners looking not for a track car but for one that will brighten their day. ‘California’ conjures up images of sizzling blondes zipping down the Malibu beach stretch in open-top roadsters with a pet chihuahua in the co-driver’s seat. Spot on! More down-to-earth manufacturers who make cars for the hoi polloi and not four-wheeled fantasies, however have the same approach to marketing the positioning. Hyundai’s ‘i20’ tag sounds pretty plain Jane, not one to write home about. Unpretentious, is what it sounds like, and that’s what the car is as well. It serves a definite purpose and does it well. It is a sensible car for the urban masses to tootle around in the city that also is game for the occasional road trip. The name fits the car’s image and market position just right. Building on the success of the i10, Hyundai launched the i20, the international replacement for the Getz, early this year. The i20 has not replicated the runaway success of its predecessor, the i10 but the Korean manufacturer has now launched a diesel variant that should hopefully reignite sales.
and the torque peaks between 1750rpm and 2750rpm at 220Nm. The powerful common-rail diesel incorporates innovative technology like the Electrical EGR (Exhaust Gas Re-circulation) to reduce pollution. The Hyundai Verna and Getz share a 1.5-litre CRDi engine but the i20 gets an all-new 16-valve DOHC in-line four that is currently imported. The 1.5-litre CDRi engine produced 110PS and 235Nm of torque which could scare the living daylights out of you with tyre spin on loss of traction. If the 1.5-litre engine was about brute power then the new engine is all about refinement. Roller rocker and HLA (Hydraulic Lash Adjusters) ensure noise dampening without compromising performance. There is minimal diesel clatter even on cold starts and the superb insulation keeps the cabin sound and vibrations free. That there’s a diesel motor under the bonnet is evident only on the outside. It is arguably the quietest and most refined diesel in a hatchback in India. The engine’s refinement is matched by its relaxed demeanour. At 120kmph the tachometer hovers around just 3000rpm. The tall gearing compromises lowend power between 1500rpm and 2000rpm. That said the turbo lag is even more pronounced since past 2000rpm the engine characteristics change and it revs freely till 5000rpm. Mated to the 1.4-litre CRDi engine is a fantastic, precise and slick, short throw five-speed gearbox that is a delight.
Engine and transmission
The monsoons cramped our i20 test. However, despite the wet conditions, the i20 clocked a
The new diesel 1.4-litre CRDi engine makees 90PS at 4000rpm
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Performance and fuel efficiency
Road Test no. 787 OD Rating Price Rs 6,83,431 ex-showroom New Delhi
+ Refiened diesel engine + Interior space + Gearbox - Low end torque - Lifeless steering
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Cover Story Jaguar XJ
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Cat scan Meet Jaguar’s new flagship, the XJ. And it’s coming to India! Words Ray Hutton
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Comparo Honda Jazz vs City
Different strokes Which makes more sense, the City or the Jazz?
Words Bertrand D’souza Photography Gaurav S Thombre
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n the automotive business it’s not often you see siblings going head-to-head for a slice of the same pie. But in a very interesting turn of events the all-new Honda Jazz has been positioned such that it now finds itself chewing into big brother City’s market share. It’s no secret that the two cars share the same platform. However Honda has made every effort to give the cars very distinct identities. That is why every body panel and every interior component are different
on the two cars. So while one is a three-box sedan, the other is a hatchback and that is where the confusion sets in. The big question is: should one be paying a fullsize sedan price for a hatchback? A classic example is none other than Maruti Suzuki who took the Swift hatchback and stuck a boot on to produce the Dzire. It turned out to be a fairly successful story for both cars despite several commonalities. However both the Swift and Dzire are targeted at a much more price conscious buyer and
their pricing is also significantly different. But where the Jazz and the City are concerned the pricing gulf is not as wide and potential consumers are far more affluent but have bigger mental blocks with regard to the hatch versus sedan debate. We put the two cars through a duet to see which hit the high notes better.
the Jazz is any less stylish. It is quite a handsome car but compared to the City it lacks visual energy. When first launched the Arrowshot form of the City was an immediate head-turner and those necks are still craned. Edgy lines and muscled flanks give it the look of an Olympic sprinter. The City’s sleek silhouette in fact makes the Jazz feel a bit well fed especially around the edges. The Jazz has a smart front end and one that looks best in the base variant thanks to the honeycomb
DESIGN AND ENGINEERING Where styling is concerned I simply don’t find the Jazz more attractive than the City. Not that
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Feature Jazz Yatra
Jazz good friends Sudheer and Shumi go to Goa in search of Jazz in one Words Shubhabrata Marmar Photography Gaurav S Thombre
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am a musical philistine. No, that does not mean I am a barbarian that sings but that musically speaking, I am about as enlightened as a fused light bulb. I realise that this is probably not the smartest way to open an article that has as much do with cars as it as to do with music, but cold, self-inflicted truths are a erm, code I live by. Or something like that. I started this musical journey by first picking up the very same Honda
Jazz that I rather enjoyed piloting around Goa at the launch. Poetic! Then I promptly parked it and called a chap called Sheldon D’Silva. The young lad is an accomplished bass guitarist who plays jazz with Mumbai’s most famous jazz band, which stars Louis Banks and his son Gino. Sheldon mentioned the one place in Mumbai that I was to hear every time I opened my mouth and uttered the words Jazz and Mumbai, Blue Frog. The cerulean amphibian isn’t, in fact, a jazz joint,
it’s a swanky pub that enshrines live performances, be they kooky poetry, ragged rock or indeed, just jazz. So I duly visited the said establishment and heard a superb band called Pink Noise (formerly Skinny Alley, I’m told) playing a Floyd tribute dipped heavily into something called Steely Dan. They played well, but I seem to have gained a rather chauvinistic attitude to Floyd and I quickly made my exit. Or maybe it was the fact that the place was packed to
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Drive Mitsubishi Cedia Sport
Big splash The Mitsubishi Cedia Sports edition unwrapped
Words Karanbir Singh Bedi Photography Gaurav S Thombre
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ithout a doubt the highlight of motorsport in India is the Himalayan Rally which ran in the 1980s. Perhaps the most demanding rally of its time along with the Paris-Dakar, adjectives can’t possibly do justice to the terrain and challenges the drivers and machines were put through. It’s gained almost a mythical status and such was the popularity of the rally that factory teams from around the world along with some of the top rally drivers participated in the epic event. After winning the 1987 Himalayan Rally in a Mitsubishi
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Galant VR4, Kenjiro Shinozuka was asked by an Indian journalist to sum up his experience. “You need a parachute here, not a roll cage.” This was the first win for Shinozuka in twenty-one years of rallying and Mitsubishi successfully defended its title. Next year the Shinozuka-Mitsubishi partnership again triumphed as the Japanese manufacturer steadily built its motorsport legacy in India. The next big win for Mitsubishi after the Himalayan Rally came in 2000 when Vicky Chandhok won the Chennai leg of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) in a Mitsubishi Lancer.
An iconic rally car, the Lancer in the hands of Tommi Makkinen won four straight World Rally Championship titles. A manufacturer with strong rallying pedigree, Mitsubishi has made its mark by showing the capability of its machines in motorsport. In the same way one associates Ferrari with F1, Mitsubishi is associated with rallying. It has won the Dakar rally, the world’s most difficult event, no less than 12 times. Back home in the INRC, the car to beat is a Mitsubishi. The Cedia made its debut in Indian motorsport in 2006 when Team
JK Tyres’ Gaurav Gill drove it to victory in its first ever outing. It has dominated the INRC since then and with over 200+bhp on tap in full rally spec it has won the national title for the last two years and is sure to make it a hat-trick of titles this year. Both the top teams in Indian motorsport, Team MRF Tyres and Team Red Rooster Racing field the top Indian rally drivers in the Cedia. Though it’s a distant cousin of the Cedia available in the showroom, it’s not without good reason that the top teams choose the Cedia as their rally car. Even though motorsport isn’t
Momo air-bagged steering wheel is a first for India as is the integrated navigation system
OZ Racing alloy wheels look great
as popular in India as it is in the west or even the east, Mitsubishi is one of the few manufacturers present in India that we associate with it. Not to mention the huge fan following it attracted after The Fast And The Furious movie which had an Evo pulling four-wheel dr if ts in ever y other scene. Apart from serving as an R&D platform to test and develop products, motorsport build brands and heroes and in the sideways
world of rallying Mitsubishi is an institution in itself. Building on its motorsport legacy Mitsubishi has launched the Cedia Sports. Though no alterations have been made to boost power or to the suspension, the Sports edition is primarily a hopped up version of the roadgoing Cedia. The Sports edition gets a new matte finished front grille, clear lens rear tail lamps, 15-inch,″six-spoke OZ alloy wheels and Ralliart sports
...Sports edition is a hopped up version of the roadgoing Cedia
stickering. Like Mitsubishi, OZ Racing has also built its credentials in the world of motorsport and has been making alloys for F1 and WRC for thirty years. Ralliart is the motorsport division of Mitsubishi Motors. It is responsible for development and preparation of the company’s rally racing vehicles, and is also used as a performance brand with parts available to the public. Ralliart has also served as the operational base for Mitsubishi’s global motorsport activities. On the Cedia’s inside is a carbon and titanium finish dash panel a la the Mitsubishi Evo,
black leather seats with red inserts, aluminium pedals and a leather wrapped Momo steering wheel. An Italian design company with a motorsport heritage, Momo makes automobile accessories and components. The Cedia Sports also has a leather gear knob and central armrest and touch screen music system with navigation - India’s first factory fitted navigation system, ladies and gentlement - and Bluetooth. The Mitsubishi Cedia Sports is available for Rs 9.90 lakh (exshowroom price across India) and comes in red, white, yellow, black and blue shades.
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Drive Lexus RX450h
Hybrid haven The new Lexus crossover boasts a flurry of frills Words Ray Hutton
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hat’s the point of a hybrid car? Asking the question may seem like heresy in these environmentally-conscious times because in some parts of the world hybrids are held up as the panacea for all the ills of motoring. It is worth taking a step back to examine their advantages. Of course, hybrids which combine a gasoline engine with an electric motor are more efficient than cars which have a combustion engine alone. So they use less
fuel, produce less carbon dioxide – saving the owner money and doing a (little) bit to mitigate global warming. But then hybrids are more expensive to make and to buy – they are bound to be because they have, in effect, two engines - and their batteries increase the demand for different earth resources. The truth is that hybrids allow buyers in Europe, the US and Japan to continue to drive cars of a size and type that might otherwise be seen as socially unaccept-
able or exorbitantly expensive to run. In many countries there has been a backlash against large and heavy four-wheel drive SUVs. The motor industry has reacted by offering crossover vehicles that have the high stance and interior space of an SUV but disguise this with the styling of a more conventional car. Combine a crossover with a hybrid powertrain, a smart interior, and a specification that includes all the bells and whistles and you have the Lexus RX450h.
This is a substantial high-set five-seater with four-wheel drive. It has 295bhp from a combination of a 3.5-litre V6 gasoline engine and two electric motors. This provides the 2,200kg car with 0100kmph acceleration in less than 8 seconds, and a maximum speed of 200kmph – figures comparable with a Mercedes ML350. It is the fuel consumption numbers that set the RX450h apart: an average of 14.7kmpl on the EC combined economy cycle and 148g/km CO2. Not many
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Test Mercedes-Benz C230
starlight serenade Our biggest terster drives India’s top C-Class
Words Martin Alva Photography Gaurav S Thombre
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lanning to buy a new Me r c e de s - B e n z CClass? Visit the company’s India website and you will spot the car configurator. Surprise, surprise, the C230 does not figure on the list, while its siblings, the C200K and the C220 CDI do. Why? Well, the C230 is loaded with everything that the company offers on the C-Class in India as standard so there is nothing on the options list. Our test car sported 17-inch wheels and the sporty grille with the large, intimidatingly beautiful three-pointed star. When Mercedes-Benz brought the might of AMG to India and offered auto journos a taste of that heady brew, I was not among them. This, the C230 Avant Garde then, is my consolation, I guess. It is of course the most powerful C-Class on sale in India today except for the C63 AMG. There is no denying that there are other beautiful cars in this compact luxury segment, like the new Audi A4. However, no rival can boast the degree of grace and refinement that this Mercedes does. I have not been fond of the oval, amoebic headlamps on the older CClass. So I was most thrilled when the new C-Class launched last year turned out to be cast from the same mould as the classic shaped car from the seventies. The C-Class with a regular grille and narrow tyres may be mild for some, but to me the C230 is like a flaming shot of vodka in every way. The front exudes aggression thanks to the AMG-esque grille which is available on the other two models as an option. The lashings
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of chrome around the fog lamps are unique to the C230. The star is missing from the bonnet - no, it’s not that some light-fingered logothief has made away with it; it’s just that Mercedes-Benz has decided to exclude it, stylishly. The rest of the front however remains the same. The visual signature of this car is the lateral line that starts out near the front wheels and then rises gradually all the way to the rear, much like on the S-Class. In profile, the front appears hunkered down and the lines gradually rise moving towards the rear, which is the same on the other two variants. This one however, has sportier twin tailpipes. On board, the C-Class offers a blend of simplicity and modernism. There is no mind-boggling array of buttons. The controls are simple and remarkably easy to use and figure out. The interiors are draped in rich material. The plastics and the metal accents are high quality in keeping with Merc’s premium tradition but the faux wood panels are a let down. The seats feel firm, offer good comfort and front leg room is enormous. The driver’s seat gets three-position memory and everything, including the headrest is electrically adjusted via the knobs on the driver’s door. The overload of black on the interiors is akin to the AMG, conveying a strong sporting intent. However the sombre black and the monsoons induce gloom. This C230 Avant Garde sports larger 17-inch alloy wheels shod with wider rubber. The 225/45R17 Michelins are available as standard only on the C230 and provide good traction on wet, slippery surfaces
Road Test no. 788 OD Rating Price Rs 34,09,448 ex-showroom Mumbai
+ Striking looks + Decent mileage + Brand Value V6 engine could have - been more powerful
- Low eqipment levels - Handling could be better
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Motoring News
Jaguar, Land Rover O n a rainy Sunday morning Tata Motors roused the Indian media with a simple and non-glitzy launch ceremony of two of the largest British marques in existence. Jaguar and Land Rover finally set sail from the limestone cliffs of Dover straight into Mumbai harbour a year after they were bought out by Tata Motors. This year long journey has seen Tata Motors plagued with JLR’s labour issues, a weak model line
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up that was quite frankly taking the company nowhere and a slowing economy. Surprisingly Jaguar, which about a year ago was deeply sunk in the red finally showed signs of recovery just around the time when Tata Motors took the firm off Ford Motor Company’s hands. A slew of new, exciting and very capable products put Jaguar back in the black. Land Rover on the other hand was having problems of its own though more recently even they seem to have ploughed
their way out of the mire, capturing audiences in developing markets especially China, Brazil and now hopefully India. The world over JLR share resources, for instance sales and distribution, components even, while in several parts of the world they even sell their products from the same showrooms. In India Tata Motors will be the sole and exclusive importer of the JLR cars through a new division headed by Rohit Suri called the premier car
division. It is similar in operations to Tata Motors passenger car division or the commercial vehicle division. In the initial phase a swanky and state of the art dealership has opened up at Ceejay House in Worli, Mumbai with plans to progressively open showrooms in several more parts of India, the immediate areas of focus being Bangalore and Ludhiana. Tata Motors have not disclosed their sales targets for the current fiscal though we have already learnt that
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arrive in India they have managed to garner quite a few bookings, so we're expecting the Taj Group hotels to shortly have shiny black Range Rover’s parked in the porch. Speaking at the launch an ebullient Ratan Tata mentioned that “Over time the two brands (Tata Motors and JLR) will have some resemblance, including dealing with customers, spares, commonalised vendors and customer relations.” This also opens up the possibility of Tata Motors leveraging JLR’s technical know-how
with an IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) sharing in the future. Good news then for die-hard Tata Safari fans especially if Land Rover’s expertise is employed to improve the SUV line-up for the Indian and international markets. Of course we may not expect premium class luxury but at the very least what we hope to see is a more comfortable and competent SUV both on and off-road. The Indian Jaguar line-up will consist of the XF, XFR and the
flagship XKR. JLR CEO David Smith also told OVERDRIVE exclusively that the newly launched XJ will also enter India early next year. The XK was born in 1996 to replace the XJS. Available in various engine iterations and editions at the time, it sported an old school design that in later years was not too well received. Then in 2005 it went back to the drawing board and an all-new design under the able direction of Ian Callum was unveiled at Frankfurt
the same year. It was well received the world over and was responsible for putting Jaguar back in the black. However the car available in India is the supercharged XKR in both coupe and convertible form. Under the hood is a 5.0-litre AJ-V8 GEN III R engine that has a massive maximum output of 425PS. With all that power it’s not hard to believe that the XKR can hit the ton in just 4.6 seconds as Jaguar claims. Priced at Rs 87.8 lakh for the coupe and Rs 92.5 lakh for the
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Drive Laura vRS
Czech this out! The stonking Laura RS driven in Prague Words Bertrand D’souza Photography Skoda
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ast month alongside the Skoda Yeti first drive Sirish and me also got to try out the new vRS. It’s coming to India and for the first time ever we could have the option of both a petrol and a diesel vRS. Yes, diesel, you heard me right. We all know just how brilliant the diesel Laura with the 2.0TDI engine is. You read about her in the July 09 issue, where she was pitted against the VW Jetta and the Hyundai Sonata. While that test placed the Jetta above
the Laura, what I cannot forget is the stupendous performance of that 2.0TDI engine in the Laura. It’s one of the quickest diesels we have ever tested and now it’s been given the vRS treatment making her a genuine firecracker! And like we keep shouting out loud, diesels today are raising the performance bar, the 2.0 TDI vRS being a case in point. Under the hood is a 4-cylinder 1968cc common-rail, direct injection, turbocharged engine whose power output is rated at 170PS.
Among the present generation of luxury cars that may not sound like much, but in its segment there are no cars with such strong antecedents. Add 350Nm of max torque available from 1750rpm to 2500rpm to the mix and what you get is a car that Skoda claims flies past the ton in under 9 seconds. Of course when it does come down to India, our fuel quality will degrade this power output. Nevertheless the car I drove around Prague was quite a brilliant performer. Power delivery is smooth and linear and
there is enough iron in its punch to deliver a knockout blow. And because this engine is contemporary in its structure and workings, it does not have the turbo lag that plagued some of the older VW group diesel engines. Incidentally this very engine is also employed by the Passat available in India, albeit in less powerful form. But the diesel Laura vRS is not the one going to create waves among the Indian motoring enthusiasts. The ‘bada-bing-bada-boom’ explosion will come from the 200 horse-
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Drive Porsche Cayenne S
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Pepper mill
This is the SUV that brought Porsche a fortune. What makes it tick? Words Shubhabrata Marmar Photography Mohd Nasir
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he Cayenne I really wanted to drive was the Transsyberia edition with its off-road package, cool orange details and rugged, manly look. So here I am, instead, driving the Porsche Cayenne S in a civilised white with normal tyres, adjustable suspension and lots of features. But, hey, it isn’t bad at all. When I point it down a fairly lumpy dirt track, it feels calm and composed at anything from 20 to 45kmph on road tyres. There’re some signs that the wheels spin up and others that the vehicle is going where I want it to, though it isn’t quite pointing there, but that aside, the Cayenne S brushes off my misdemeanour with a calm, unruffled, German smile. I’m beginning to like this. I think that’s always how I’ve
gotten along with Porsches. I’ve driven two until now, and both started out a bit scary - wide bodies on narrow foreign roads with daunting reserves of power and both rapidly became two of my most favourite cars. Will the Cayenne make the same leap up my personal charts? Well, to be honest, there’s a fair bit of controversy about it, so many years after we first cast eyes upon it. There are still journalists who barely acknowledge how good the Cayenne has been for Porsche, and can’t stand the sight of it. There are others, who think it’s the best thing in the world. I think it isn’t pretty. But it looks expensive, desirable and from the inside, the world looks, um, more affordable. Anyhow, the plan was to whoosh down the Delhi-Jaipur
highway, hang a left at Neemarana, fill the belly with good grub at Khana Mahal or whatever it is the Neemrana Palace Hotel calls the buffet (the toilet is delightfully called Loo Mahal) and then whoosh right back. Whooshing along is something the Cayenne does remarkably well. In the normal setting, ride quality is extremely good though somehow the steering feel doesn’t fade out. At the same time, when confronted with sweepers, it pulls a neat trick by settling into the corner and going around it in a manner that is most impressively flat. I tried to outsmart it at 80, 120 and then 150kmph. Each time, the Cayenne’s poise and ability is unflappable. Neat trick? There’s at least one Porsche engineer who is, as you read this, looking
very upset that I called his carefully tuned double wishbone fully independent front suspension and the multi-link rear set-up a trick. The suspension on our car came with optional height adjustment as well as an option that allows me to run the suspension at its softest setting for the magic carpet experience or click it to sport in which case it emulates, roughly, a slab of granite, transmitting full feedback, curbing roll and allowing the Cayenne to hustle apexes like no 2-tonner has any right to. Okay, it’s not a trick, it’s a triumph of technology. Having that massive V8 under the hood obviously helps. As is with most Porsche engines, it isn’t completely silent. You can hear that offbeat thrum at idle and prods on the throttle are rewarded with a great,
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Test Land Rover Range Rover Sport TDV8 HSE
Brit grit
The Range Rover Sport exudes unique British appeal Words Sirish Chandran Photography Gaurav S Thombre
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Road Test no. 789 OD Rating Price Rs 77,25,000 ex-showroom Mumbai
+ Bold, aggressive and stylish + Amazingly competent off-road + Refined and powerful - Ride quality - Cozy, cluttered interiors - Expensive
DESIGN
emories are rather shortlived. W hat we do remember was that before Tata Motors got its hands on Land Rover, Ford was in possession of the iconic 4x4 brand. But did you know that Ford wasn’t Land Rover’s guardian for very long? In fact BMW let Ford have Land Rover, for a rather trifling sum, after burning its fingers with the enormously expensive, and embarrassing, English patient - Rover. Look back at that period, around the start of this decade, and you’ll notice that neither BMW nor for that matter its German counterparts Audi and Mercedes, made a luxurious SUV. There was no X5, Q7 or ML-Class. The segment was the sole preserve of Range Rover who planted the seeds back in the ’60s and lay claim to not only the best 4x4xfar but also the most luxurious. It’s no coincidence that after relieving itself of Land Rover, BMW went on to make its first SUV - the X5 - to much acclaim and applause. Undeniably the Germans learnt a thing or two about how to get an SUV to crawl up a mountain but they also left Land Rover with a completely developed and fabulously engineered Range Rover line-up that can still lay claim to being one of the most luxurious vehicles around. Ford did Tata Motors a similar favour when they sold JLR; never before in its history did Jaguar and Land Rover have such an appealing and desirable mix of cars and SUVs. And now the entire range is available in India via the Premier Car Division of Tata Motors, JLR’s official Indian importer. For now there’s only one dealership in Mumbai but with the strength of the Tata-Fiat dealer network to tap into, expanding this network might not be an uphill task. What will be arduous is penetrating a market in which Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are already well established with great reputations, networks and brand recall. Will the Range Rover Sport, with its uniquely British charm and appeal overcome those hurdles?
Sport, as a suffix, is often used and worryingly often abused in the motoring firmament. Hatches, little sedans, SUVs and, troublingly, 100cc motorcycles with racy graphics get the sport tag. And now here is an SUV that propounds the diametrically opposite objectives of being sporty to drive but with the goanywhere ability that’s central to the Land Rover brand. Cynical sleight of marketing hand? Unlike what the name suggests though the Range Rover Sport isn’t a Range Rover with bigger wheels and snazzy stickers. This in fact is a completely different vehicle and is based on the Discovery 3 with 14cm lopped off the wheelbase. That means it can chase Bin Laden up the Tora Bora but because it has the Range Rover badge it does it with loads of panache and luxury. It definitely looks the part - stylish enough to hold its own down London’s High Street and with characteristic Range Rover cues (the mould for which was incidentally cast by BMW) with that hewn from solid styling, floating roof, distinctive bejewelled headlamps and clamshell bonnet. It has great on-road presence and is guaranteed to turn heads with its sheer sense of occasion. It sits lower and is shorter than the Range Rover and that gives it a sporty appeal with an undercurrent of dynamic energy even at standstill. It’s accentuated by the massive 20-inch wheels shod with 275/40 ZR20 high performance road tyres and fast back styling that eats into interior space but does so much for visual appeal. It’s topped by a prominent roof spoiler though the side vents are a bit boy-racer. The Sport is the cheapest SUV sporting the Range Rover badge and brings a modicum of affordability to the range. It is also the best selling SUV in Land Rover’s range and will be expected to do the same in India.
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Comparo Bajaj Pulsar 180 DTSi vs TVS Apache RTR 180
Savage encounter
The TVS Apache RTR 180 locks fairing with the Pulsar 180DTS-i Words Vijayendra Vikram Photography Gaurav S Thombre
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must confess I have a massive hangover as I start this test. No, it’s not the regular ‘beendrinking-all-night’ affair nor I am ever up for drunken riding. In fact, there’s been a superbike overload at OVERDRIVE as both the Fireblade and CB1000R graced our parking lots for a considerable period. Hopping on to these ‘performance’ 180s then felt like coming back home to your lawnmower after an intergalactic voyage in speed-of-light spaceships. But in the course of our daily com
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mute, it is these lawnmowers that have kept us grinning ear-to-ear whether it is city streets or favourite twisty back roads. Remember the times when the CBUs were still a far cry? The 180s are fast becoming the new 150s, the entry level performance bikes for the masses. Everybody has been riding 150s and there are so many of them around that there’s no exclusivity or the thrill factor left in them. Of late we’ve had premium 150s like Yamaha’s FZ-series that stand
apart but also command a huge premium over the rest. The 180s then seem to be the next stop manufacturers are making to tap buyers looking for more punch to thrust them away from the 150 crowd. Blame it on cut-throat competition, but they’re much more affordable too. Till some time back, the Pulsar 180 was the only bike in the segment and enjoyed a dedicated following for nearly a decade. When age started showing, Bajaj decided to give it a serious revamp and the
2009 edition was launched a few months back. This was a serious job - it included swapping cycle parts with the ones from the more upmarket Pulsar 200 and 220 as well as tweaks to the engine to make it feel much better to ride. I was thrilled, I must say, until TVS played its cards. The Apache RTR 180 had been on the cards for eternity and comes up, finally, as the Pulsar’s arch nemesis. It invades the 180cc sphere that the Pulsar created and revelled comfortably in for so long.
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Feature Yamaha Race Kit
Power-up! Performance upgrades for the Yamaha R15 and FZ16, for on-track use only
Words Vijayendra Vikram Photography Gaurav S Thombre
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emember Mario, the moustached, headbutting midget who was our hero when we were enchanted by the first (or second) generation video games. He had to trample funny creatures to survive and his life depended on head butting bricks for coins and lifelines. The bricks that concealed the ‘magic mushroom’ that made Mario bigger, and thus invincible were the key. Another one gave him funny ammo to kill his enemies. This was the ‘power up’ moment we would await with bated breath. Fifteen years later, I am witnessing another ‘power up’ moment with the Yamaha YZFR15, our very own supersport. After enticing us for over a year (and winning a lot of awards in the process), the R15 gets even more enticing with a power-up kit which is Yamaha’s response to the mild brickbats at the R15 launch last year. Just 17PS under the R1 style bodywork had the media thumbing its collective nose at the time. I was mighty impressed with the bike on the track. The engine felt revvy and in true supersport
tradition needed to be kept near the redline. I enjoyed working the slick gearbox and scraped my knee sliders around every corner at the MMST racetrack. At the end of the day, it was the chassis and tyre combo that impressed me more than the engine itself. I knew the engine is capable of making much more power. A year later, I was back in Chennai to sample the much awaited race-kitted R15. In the bargain, close cousin FZ16 too gets a few mods from this range of enhancements. The stainless steel exhaust immediately strikes distinction while the large petal discs are hard to miss. Before I could swing a leg over, I wanted to know what makes it tick. Yamaha officials insisted that the kit has been developed keeping in mind the R15 Championship, a one-make racing series currently open to R15 owners in the country as well as Nepal and aiming to become a premier event on the Indian racing calendar. The kit has been jointly developed by Yamaha Engineering Corporation (YEC) and Daytona, Japan. The kit includes a race ECU, high lift cams, full exhaust system, quick
The bike gets radial derived master cylinder
Carbon finish tank will be available as accessory...
...and so will the pillion seat cowl
Rearsets make a world of difference to riding position
Larger discs need extension to mount the calipers
The exhaust will sport ‘Dagrex’ brand name
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throttle assembly, alloy sprockets, adjustable rearsets and a replacement braking system including a 298mm petal disc brake, radial master cylinder and stainless steel brake hoses. The race ECU comes with a ‘for race use only’ badge and proved to be the biggest bummer for us road riders restricting the kit only for track usage. The ECU cranks up the rev limiter from 9,800rpm on the stock bike to 12,000rpm for high revving performance needed on the track. Power delivery is tuned not only for a better top end but also improved low and mid-range. High lift cams provide higher lift for the inlet valves allowing more charge to flow in to the combustion chamber for increased power output. The stainless steel exhaust is designed for higher exhaust efficiency and weighs only 1.09kg against the 5.3kg stock system. It is synced with the engine management system to work in harmony with rest of the components. The quick throttle provides full opening of throttle at 60 degrees compared to the stock bike’s 90 degrees. Yamaha claims a power hike of up to 30 per cent on the
Yamaha YZF-R15 acceleration
0-60kmph 0-100kmph
Stock
4.3s
11.6s
40-tooth sprocket
4.0s
10.4s
42-tooth sprocket
3.8s
10.7s
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Drive Skoda Yeti
Big foot Skoda’s maiden SUV driven
Words Sirish Chandran Photography Manufacturer
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ompromised: at the very basic level that’s what all SUVs are. In exchange for the ability to traverse deserts and start civil wars in Africa, SUVs are left with questionable dynamics and a rather forgettable on-road driving experience. You get height but you also get weight, lots of it. And that endows SUVs with disconcerting roll, weave and wallow and when faced with those challenges the steering just gives up any pretence of precision and feedback. We’re talking affordable SUVs here not Rs 45-lakh plus Audis, BMWs and Mercs which bludgeon that analogy. But let’s face it; none will ever be enlisted in the takeover of Mogadishu. Neither will the Skoda Yeti for that matter but what it does have is a very different set of downtown trampling abilities
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and it’s all the better for it. In fact that could possibly be its biggest asset. When it does come down to India early next year, it will be those rounded edges and soft corners that will give the likes of the Scorpio, Safari and Endeavour a proper headache. So what is the Yeti? As with all Volkswagen group cars, Skoda has rummaged through the parts bin, picked up the best bits of the PQ 35 platform (underpinning the Laura), liberally helped themselves to the bits and bobs from the Superb’s interior, thrown in some off-road ability and Skoda practicality and knocked on a rather interesting name. The result is this rather interesting looking car that will polarise opinion wherever it goes. Me, being of a slightly left-field bent of mind, particularly like these crossover styling
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