Automobile Technology

Bebo came in to boost sales of the Mahindra's scooter - Duro. Asin came in for TVS and now its Deepika Padukone here to endorse Yamaha scooter range. The scooter is called 'Ray'. We know John Abraham is wooing people with the Yamaha bike range. Lets hope the scooter sales picks up too. Personally I am in love with the Yamaha FZ series. I think the bike looks masculine and awesome and I am in fact planning to own one very soon. I think it looks way cooler than most of the bikes out there in the market and Yamaha has nailed it. I frankly have not seen much advertisement of the FZ series and looks like Yamaha wanted to cut costs on branding and advertisement as their sales were going down. However the bike is already a hit in the market and I think Yamaha can now breathe a sigh of relief.

It is now affordable and it is not a hatcback. Isn't that cool? For the price of a hatchback you now get a fully loaded sedan. Sometimes I wish they came up with such offers in early 2010. Its not I dont love my hatchback but just that I could have maybe settled for someting better. Anyways the ex-showroom price for the classic titanium is about 6.8 lacs for the petrol and 7.8 for the diesel version.  This is the old fiesta model. renamed as classic. What is astounding is that Ford claims the classic to provide a mileage of 32 Kms for the diesel version and 21 for the petrol. This is in test conditions. I wonder how much it would match to the onroad conditions. With the rules being stricter now I wish Ford actually hits the mark on this one.  Many claim it to be cool car to drive but having a poor resale value. A cool looking car and loads of cool features. I feel its worth the money. What say?

A new vehicle would not have clocked even a mile, would smell good and is less likely to give you any kind of problems for several years. It does however cost money. If you are ok with saving couple of lacs on a vehicle that has clocked say 10k to 20k kilometers then I think its worth the buy. You should have a trustworthy mechanic check and test the vehicle you buy. New car sales have dropped this year however the used car segment still has a steady growth in its sales. In fact in India the new car market is more or less of the same size as the new car market.

Suzuki is trying hard to win the race. Honda has been there for a while, TVS is slowly picking up, Mahindra tried hard, and now its Suzuki. The new Suzuki Swish is in the market. Its sports a 125 cc engine and can reach 60 kmph in 8 seconds. Susuki tried with Access 125 but I have not seen much in the city. Swish 125 also has the same specifications. So I am not really sure what suzuki is trying to do out here. Also it sports a analog dial which is less sporty than the digital ones we have in the market today. I guess suzuki still has a lot to do and has to go back to its drawing board to trigger to come up with something intuitive and different.

Force India is forced to pay 60,000 pounds to a design company Aerolab. There has been a dispute between Force India, Aerolab and Caterham according to which Force India had to pay the other two companies over the intellectual property shared by the other two companies. Its a fee and fine combined. The fee is to be paid to Aerolab and the fine is to be paid to Caterham for misuse of confidential data. Vijay Mallya is definitely going through a rough patch.

The new beast series 2012 coming soon from TVS.

On my way to work I did not realize how fast the time flew wondering about the intricate details and R&D that goes into design these clever aesthetic elements in a vehicle. Its like the icing on a cake and it just needs to be appealing. The design plays a crucial element in the value of a vehicle. Yes! I am talking about the head and tail lamps. So lets start with the classic Ambassador from Hindustan Motors. The lamps are very blunt, yet simple in design. The front lamps are circular in design, The tail lamps are simple and small. HM continues with the classic design like the Vespa and never wants to do anything different. Its heritage and its the Harley Davidson of the Indian auto industry. For almost three decades it has been having the same design elements and have not upgraded drastically. The Maruthi Swift has experimented from its predecessor. The latest design is different but the tail lamps are a let down. They dont gel well with the design in the rear and for some...

The Italian automaker is back again with the Vespa. Unlike the existing scooters we have in the market currently the Vespa is very old school and classic in its design and presentation which I believe would kindle the taste buds of passionate bikers in the country. Think of it being something like the Volkswagen Beetle or the Mini-Coupe with two wheels. It truly an Italian icon and blends with the spirit of the country. You can feel the Italian in it. It brings along with it the old memories of riding around with your parents in the 70s and 80s. The automaker claims that the Vespa would give a mileage of about 60 kmpl.  Its got a 4 stroke, air cooled 125cc engine. This is good power for a scooter. Everything else is what you see in any other scooter. What makes this scooter distinct is its design. It definitely stands apart from the rest. It is said that the designer of the Vespa had a lot of hatred for motorcycles as he found them to be heavy and unreliable. Thus the tradition...

The new Honda Aviator has a disk brake in the front. This means its more stable and has a better control. It also looks good. Its a 110 cc though and the disc brakes come only in the deluxe version. The standard version has the drum brakes. Other than that it has the same goodies as the honda dio.

I own a Honda Dio and this vehicle is a classic. After about 2 years of using it the engine still sounds very refined and smooth. The one thing you can bank on always with Honda is the engine. I believe all their vehicles have this top class with the engines. Anyways, so my favorite gearless bike now has a facelift. The new Honda Dio is bigger, better and sexier. Its sports an 18 liter storage space, all new exterior design, a wider and longer seat, 15% more mileage(they claim so) and a new feature for safety where the rear and front brakes are applied the same time when the rear brake lever is pressed. So... Get Noticed.

I got to see a KTM on road yesterday and I must say its impressive. The 200 duke is the only bike currently available in India. The shape of the bike makes it easy to commute around off/on-road with ease. The elevated handle bars seem to be the liking of most bike riders as they find it comfortable while cornering. I believe this also makes for a better posture for riding. I have always been a fan of the mono-shock since the time Honda Unicorn came into market. It makes the vehicle less heavy and yet give a smooth ride. It sports disc brakes in the front and the rear and a broad 150mm rear tyre is a delight. What is striking about this bike is where the silencer is positioned. Its right at the center of the vehicle. Its a three chamber silencer positioned intentionally at the center of gravity to provide better handling.  KTM review by Autocar India: Basic Specification - 4 Stroke single cylinder, 200 cc, 25 hp, electric start, 6 speed transmission,  125kg in weight. ...

An attempt by Maruthi to try out something different. The launch of the LUV - the Ertiga. From the looks it is obvious that maruthi tried really hard to try and blend in all design elements of most of the car out there in the market right now. The length of the vehicle reminds me of Honda Jazz and the protruded wheels guards in the body from Ford. There are some features that this car boasts about. Glove box, rear seat pockets, chrome handles, cup holders, arm rest, fog lamps etc. Yeah! the same old thing we find in most basic cars. So as you see there isn't anything new or special in this car that is worth mentioning excepting for the space. Its a LUV - a life utility vehicle, whatever that means. Maybe this means you can accomodate upto 7 people in this car as it has three rows and that is like life in heaven. Thats the only plus I can see in this car. Otherwise the interiors are cheap and so are the features. Its priced between 6 to 9 lacs and you can rather opt for a Omni or t...

On my way to work I there is this white vento going past us and I notice the driver simply ignore the speed braker ahead and just driving through. What made me probe more into this car was how superbly the suspension worked. If it was my i10, I am sure my car would be thrown up in the air and it would literally shake things up inside it for a while, but the vento handled it really well and the reason I say this is because the car had a passenger in the back seat drinking her coffee and it was like she felt nothing. Verna on the other hand has a very soft suspension until the vento which is a little solid, but in comparison to the vento the verna is better in mileage, looks and a fanstastic interior. It is costlier than the vento but its worth the package. So will I choose a verna over vento? Yes! I would.

A close comparison on the build and design of these two cars would make you realize how badly designed the SX4 is on the outside. Its bulky, the rear and front do not sync, the cuts and edges are very un-symmetric and the gaps between panels seems like marthi just built it out of hurry. In comparison the vento is superbly designed. Its very even, clean, neat and sensible. Its like the lego blocks fitting in together very nicely. The gaps are less, the design is complete and it makes a lot of sense. So if its the design you are looking for then Vento is the car and the Germans have done a fantastic job by just working on simplicity.

I have been pondering over this for a very long time now and I feel now that Figo has an edge over the i10. Damn! when I purchased the i10 figo was not available in the market. The reasons why I like Figo is the boot space, the length of the car, and the cost. With ABS and other cools features in the Titanium version and at a price lesser that the i10 it seems like a good deal. The downside of this car is the noise inside the cabin, no rear power windows, low height and poor response of the engine. I recently figured out that Ford intentionally decided not to invest on a rear power window as they felt the window was too small to have one. They decided to invest on something else instead. Its a good thing but when my son wants the window to be open I can just do it sitting in the driver seat and yet prevent it from being opened fully. Nevertheless, I have been using my i10 for 3 years now and I have not had any issues. Its still smooth, power packed and lovely.

The new i20 has the Gamma version which sports a 1400cc engine. Atleast its now not as same as the i10 and the gamma version also comes with a VTVT technology. It comes loaded with automatic rain sensing wipers, auto start, rear parking assist with reverse parking camera, 6 air bags, clutch lock to prevent the car from starting when in a gear, auto headlamps that switch on based on the visibility outside and lot more. Its surprising that the clutch lock feature too a long time to be implemented when its one of the basic problem we have most of the time. Anyways, all looks good with the revamp but what about the price?? The high end model is estimated to be over 7.5 lacs ex showroom. So for that price you can also get a sedan nowadays.

Too many things happening this year. I have not had the time to update this blog much. I always think to manage my time but it never happens. Updating the blog goes way down the priority. Work can get hectic I guess. I need to get cracking.