Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2017 i Car India

“Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak.”— Rachel Zoe The phrase “style statement” is attributed to any object that makes heads turn and gets people talking by virtue of its presence alone, as famed American designer Rachel Zoe so eloquently put it. Style is having your own identity, one that is nothing like anything that’s come before, and nothing that will ever come after. A unique blend of character and charisma, all of which is typified by the latest premium hatchback from Maruti Suzuki launched under their über-contemporary Nexa. Style isn’t just skin-deep, though, because to be effortlessly stylish, you need to have a little bit of substance under that shiny veneer, and that is exactly why the Baleno is such an attractive proposition.…

I OFTEN WONDERED WHY SO many Spanish people still participate in the seemingly insane 14th-century sport of encierro (the running of the bulls)? What’s so fascinating about being chased, and sometimes trampled, by a bunch of raging bulls? All it took me to find an answer was one small encounter with another bull... A bull named Huracán. It’s a whole gamut of feelings... Of fear and excitement topped with shots of adrenaline and pride. Often one tries to look cool and secretly hopes not to wet the pants. All the fuss is about one single moment: that moment when the Spanish lads escape the blurry animal’s horns. And, in my context, my moment was when the mid-engine Lamborghini shifts up with a blip, breaking the three-digit barrier in seconds and…

DON’T DO IT,’ ADVISES MARTIN, OUR AUDI minder, manoeuvring the white VW Amarok support truck a little closer to the ledge. ‘You may get stuck. Or worse…’ Within the blink of an eye, a zillion thoughts cross my mind. Over 30 kilometres away from civilisation, no water supply, no spare tyre, no service, no sanity. But what the heck. At the age of 64, the child inside wins. Again. ‘Just be careful,’ says photographer Tobias, grinning across from the passenger seat and holding even tighter on to his electronic brush-and-easel. ‘You don’t want to be the first journalist to have an accident in this thing.’ A trace of a smile, a sigh, a longish silence. ‘These tyre tracks must be leading to a ford,’ says he who has been pondering…

THE NEW 5 SERIES HAS THE BMW family front end, like the 3 and 7 Series, where the headlamps merge into the kidney grille. The louvres open and close according to the engine temperature. The new cargets a lot of equipment from the 7 Series. The design of the interior and materials are top-class, with a lot of features that you find in the higher segment. The leather seats are very plush and comfortable and the leg-room has also increased over the predecessor. BMW cars are always known to be drivers’ cars and the new 5 Series carries this legacy forward. It is still a fun-to-drive car but, at the same time, the ride quality has improved by leaps and bound. The roads on the outskirts of Lisbon were very…

Boulders, ditches and a few other obstacles seemed like child’s play for the Fortuner as it vanquished everything on its off-road path OMG, IT’S A MASSIVE SUV AND QUITE intimidating too! Usually, this is how the Toyota Fortuner is referred to, at least in my circle of friends. But that’s how a successful SUV is in India. Intimidating presence is the key if an SUV aspires to grace the driveways and parking bays of the Indian populace. And no other SUV than the Toyota Fortuner fits the bill. It’s big, butch and has a road presence that others can only dream of; well, the last bit maybe an exaggeration. All said and done, however, the Fortuner is a favourite among many Indians. Its presence is everywhere, from metros to small…

The used vehicle industry in India is growing at a rapid pace, and many buyers are looking for good options in the pre-owned vehicle market instead of going for new ones. A key reason for this is that one can buy a used vehicle, which is in a desirable condition both aesthetically and mechanically, at a very reasonable price. This way, one does not have to spend a lot of money to own one’s dream vehicle. However, the main problem with buying used vehicles lies in its pricing. Most of the times, the lack of a benchmark price leads to a lot of debate and confusion between the two parties and this mistrust results in the deal falling through. Buyer and seller remorse are common by-products of such deals. In…

... brute vehicles with nearly 600 PS and acceleration from 0-100 km/h in 2.5 seconds Car India (CI): You’ve raced touring cars at home in Sweden and then the DTM Germany. How different is the environment in World Rallycross? Mattias Ekström (ME): It’s really different, not that sterile and political. You hang around with the other drivers, joking and having fun in the paddock, but also have hard and fair battles on the track. To sum it up in one sentence: Rallycross gives you everything you could possibly want from motor sport. CI: What are the main aspects of WRX that appeal to you? You have your own team. What is it that brought you here and kept you here? ME: As a young boy, I was always…

NEW THIS MONTH BMW X5 xDrive 35i BMW bring in petrol power for their X3 and X5 luxury SUV models with standard xDrive intelligent all-wheel drive NISSAN GT-R R35 Godzilla has finally arrived. The supercar killer, complete with its 570-PS twin-turbo V6, can be yours from Rs 1.99 crore LEGENDS PRICES On the road, Pune (subject to change) BO: Available only By Order * : Ex-showroom price listed NA: Price not available FEATURES F: Front only D: Driver airbag only O: Optional equipment…

THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS award in the Indian automobile domain, the Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) 2017, was announced with much glamour and glitter in Mumbai on 20 December 2016. On behalf of the esteemed jury of ICOTY 2017, Dr Raghupati Singhania, Vice-chairman and Managing Director, JK Tyre & Industries Limited, very kindly handed over the ICOTY trophy to the Maruti Suzuki team. The chairman of the ICOTY jury, Bob Rupani, presented the winners with a certificate signed by each of the jury members of ICOTY 2017. To celebrate the occasion as it should rightly be, well-known rock-and-roll artiste Gary Lawyer had a specially-curated playlist, themed around motoring, for the ICOTY award ceremony night, dishing out classics like ‘Born to be Wild’, ‘Mustang Sally’, ‘Highway Star’, and ‘Light My Fire’,…

THE TOYOTA PRIUS IS THE poster car that graces the walls of nature-lovers, polar bear saviours and treehuggers all over the world. It is a big hit with all those who consider it their duty to be responsible for a greener world and make a statement while they do so. With 3.5 million Prius cars on the road, it is a solid proof that when it comes to displaying your affection for nature, there is no better car than the Toyota Prius. Now in its fourth generation, this best-selling hybrid car in the world has evolved to become more stylish, efficient and greener as compared to the first-, second- and even third-gen Prius. Is it really that economical and green? Well, to find that out, we drove it before anyone…

THE MERCEDES E-CLASS LAID DOWN quite the marker when it was launched earlier this year. Buyers got more space thanks to a 43 millimetres longer body with an extra 65 mm between the wheels; more power and better economy; a similarly giant leap in interior quality that we witnessed with the C-Class; and there was tech galore, with a widescreen instrument display, autonomous lane-change capability, car-to-infrastructure communication and much more. Mercedes called it ‘the most intelligent business saloon’, and with some justification. Along with the refreshed C- and S-Class, the new E has been a key weapon in Mercedes’ — likely successful — battle to overtake BMW for the global premium sales crown by the year’s end. Munich, clearly, has not taken this lightly. It’s been busily re-loading the arsenal…

THE SUV IS THE MOST popular car design in the world. Let me illustrate with some statistics: according to one research paper, the first quarter of 2016 saw 27.4 per cent of all car sales attributed to the SUV segment, an increase of 4.4 per cent over this number the last year. This figure also means that the SUV is the most popular category of car by nearly 10 per cent, with C-Segment cars coming in next on the global pop charts at 18.4 per cent. You often hear, though, that the Indian car market is unique, and plays by its own rules. Well, the SUV is also inching its way up the ladder for popular car designs here in our country. You need not look further than our awards…

SEPARATED BY A TALL FENCE FROM the main runway of Burbank airport, two anonymous pre-fab storage buildings house a car collection which is every bit as colourful as its famous keeper, US television icon Jay Leno. While the two sections of the hangar to the right form a professionally lit setting for the main exhibition, the smaller building on the left accommodates a large workshop with four hoists, a paint booth and a trick 3D printer. An annex is filled with even more vehicles from all eras, the space close to the main roll-up door is crammed with vintage bikes, there is a 1960s bar flanked by a giant fridge and by an office section whose sole concession to the modern age are a couple of withered desktop computers. Every…

SMALL IS THE NEW big. Everything from storage components and mobile entertainment devices to complex assistance systems and even car engines have become smaller and more efficient. By efficient, of course, we mean more work and more results with less expense. That is the primary criterion for going small and more powerful. We’ve seen almost every major automaker create at least one new engine that’s smaller and turbocharged. Everyone from Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Volvo to Aston Martin, Ferrari, McLaren, and Porsche have bitten the bullet and adopted smaller engines with forced induction. Of course, not all of them wanted to do it; it was more about having to do it because they had run out of choices. Remember when Europe established the average-CO2-emission requirement for manufacturers? The one that…

Maruti Suzuki are set to introduce the all-new Ignis compact hatchback which straddles the crossover line. The Ignis name returns to many global markets after eight years. The iM-4 Concept, shown in 2015, was a more-or-less accurate depiction of what the future held for us. The Concept was inspired by the idea of a personal vehicle which would be able to tackle more than its fair share of bad weather and some of the rough stuff as well. The production model arrives true to the original inspiration and sports all the highlights that marked it apart: the unique headlamp design, a peppy petrol engine and, overseas at least, a choice of all-wheel drive. It’s coming to India as you read this. The car was already showcased as a 2017 model…

BMW X3 28i AND X5 35i BMW have launched petrol variants of the X3 and X5: the X3 xDrive28i xLine, priced at Rs 54.90 lakh, and the X5 xDrive35i at Rs 73.50 lakh, both ex-showroom, New Delhi. The X3 xDrive28i has been launched in the ‘xLine’ trim level and sports a 2.0-litre, in-line four, TwinPower Turbo petrol engine with 245 PS and 350 Nm, which allows a 6.5-second sprint from zero to 100 km/h. The X5 xDrive35i is available in the ‘Design Pure Experience’ trim level with five seats, and comes with a signature 3.0-litre, straight-six TwinPower Turbo petrol engine that, again, allows a standstill to 100 km/h time of 6.5 seconds. Both cars put the power down to the road via the xDrive intelligent all-wheel-drive system fed by the…

IN A WORLD WHERE CARS ARE being sold as feature-laden tools, we, the customers, often tend to overlook the safety aspect while making a purchase. Car-makers, too, tend to entice the customers by offering all sorts of gadgets and gizmos in their cars. Now, having the best of what money can buy is a good thing but we must also look beyond features and design if we want a safe mode of transport for ourselves and our loved ones. Fortunately, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) are doing that for us by offering their entry-level products with a host of safety features that can prove to be of high importance than any other convenience or entertainment feature a car can offer. TKM believe that safety has always been their number one priority…

FITTING IN HAS NEVER BEEN A priority for me, and I’m not entirely happy about people, or, in fact, cars that try to do that. However, as this is life, there are always exceptions to the rule. Some of which come about rather unexpectedly, yet justify themselves entirely. Mercedes-Benz and their high-performance AMG division have been at it for a while now and though a Benz didn’t always spend a few days in Affalterbach, there are now AMG sheets, skirts, sometimes a red tie, increasingly widely spotted around Stuttgart as well. If you recall, Mercedes introduced ‘AMG Line’ and ‘AMG Sport’ trims globally to allow a turboed 1.6-litre car to dress up like it has a BiTurbo V12 hiding under those skirts. Unfortunately – or not – it didn’t quite…

IF YOU WERE TO PICTURE an archetypal Rolls-Royce customer, I wonder what sort of character your mind’s eye conjures up. Landed gentry? Empire-building business mogul? Whoever they are, I’d wager they’re probably over the age of 50 or 60. And so far as Rolls-Royce are concerned, this new Wraith Black Badge model isn’t for them. Goodwood would like us to view the new Black Badge variants of the Wraith coupé and Ghost saloon as a kind of company alter-ego, a darker, more edgy kind of Rolls for a darker, edgier type of high roller. ‘Black Badge is aimed at younger customers — late 20s, 30s, very early 40s,’ says Rolls-Royce’s global comms director Richard Carter. ‘People who are disrupters, risk-takers, who’ve made a lot of money early in their lives,…

SAFETY IN INDIA IS AN illusion as most of us are ignorant about being safe while driving or riding. Often many of us are aware of all our wrongdoings while using the road but somehow we choose to ignore it. This phenomenon of turning a blind eye is not just limited to our road ethics; we also invest a good sum of money in buying cars that are unsafe. However, things are changing and the surprise element in this is that a car company has taken the initiative of educating and telling the masses about safety on the roads. Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) is one such company that is moving in the right direction to spread safety-related awareness. TKM are also actively involved in making their cars safer. Not only…

IT HAS BEEN A SEASON that dreams are made of for India’s shining rally star Gaurav Gill and his long-time co-driver Glenn Macneall. Not only have they sealed the APRC title with one round still to go, a twist of fate (or scheduling) meant Gill could bask in the glory of this victory while blasting across a rally course in front of thousands of fans in his own country. And while most people would have pegged this last round, held in India’s coffee hub of Chikkamagaluru, as bit of dead rubber with him having already sealed the deal, Gill had other ideas. Not only did he win this, the last round, and at a canter no less, and do it here in front of his home fans just three days…