Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2017 i Car India

THE PREVIOUS W222 AND X222 S-CLASS MODELS were leaps and bounds ahead of not just the rest of the field, but also their predecessors when they were launched back in 2013. The new car retains the proportions and some of the interior layout styling, but is heavily revised not just in the features department, but also in the engines and badging choices. Updated autonomous solutions, more comprehensive safety and interface ideas, and an array of all-new OM656 straight-six and V8 engines make their presence felt, and in a big way. The most noticeable change is the form of the new headlamp clusters. The MultiBeam LED headlamps with Ultra Range High Beam now feature even more advanced active lighting, telling with the three ‘torches’ acting as the light signature. The headlamps,…

AUDI HAVE LAUNCHED THE THIRD EDITION of their Mobile Terminal in India offering the Audi experience in over 40 cities. Initially introduced in 2015 as a customer-focused initiative, the Audi Mobile Terminal, which is based on the Audi Terminal concept, is a fully-functional mobile showroom designed to provide the complete Audi experience to potential customers — whether in a metropolis or a non-metro city. The aim of the Audi Mobile Terminal is to take the brand to the doorstep of the Audi customer, while also showcasing Audi brand values experientially. Besides displaying a host of Audi range of products, Audi Collection and accessories, the Audi Mobile Terminal concept serves as a hub for conducting test-drives and enables customers and potential customers to connect with Audi dealers for enquiries, new bookings,…

AUDI A3 The 2017 Audi A3 sedan has arrived and in two variants, 35 TFSI petrol and 35 TDI diesel, priced at Rs 30.50 lakh and Rs 32.30 lakh onwards (ex-Delhi) respectively. Audi’s entry-luxury sedan has been given a makeover with the petrol variant getting the biggest cut of the updates. Both cars get new headlamps and tail-lamps. The MMI navigation plus with a retractable monitor is standard. The biggest change is in the petrol variant, which gets the 1.4-litre turbo unit with 150 PS and 250 Nm. Power is delivered to the front wheels via Audi’s seamless seven-speed, dual-clutch, S tronic. Making an appearance for the first time is Cylinder On Demand (COD) technology, which cuts off two of the four cylinders when not required; for example, when idling…

PULLING A BOEING 737, CLIMBING hills and going through some seriously rough terrain is how Tata Motors have depicted their latest MPV, the Hexa. And I must say that the advertising team has done a good job of creating a rugged and tough image of this MPV. However, the question that popped up in my head was: is the Hexa meant do all these things or is it here to shake up the MPV segment ruled by the Toyota Innova Crysta? Hence we decided that a proper road test would reveal the true nature of the Hexa. To begin with, the styling of the Hexa reminded me so much of the Aria, Tata’s former attempt at making a modern MPV. According to Tata, however, the Hexa is all new and…

FROM THE DAYS OF THE HUMBLE AND game-changing Maruti 800, hatchbacks have always been in demand in our country. The segment has flourished as more and more manufacturers joined the fray, giving us a flood of small, frugal and feature-packed city cars to choose from. The cars you see on these pages fit into the same compact hatchback segment priced between Rs 6.5 and Rs 7 lakh, but built with totally different philosophies; they couldn’t be more different from each other. Hyundai have, over the years, carved a firm niche in the Indian market and their Grand i10 has been one of the bestsellers since 2013. Although getting a little long in the tooth, the Grand i10 still holds its own amidst the new models being introduced every year. It…

SHELL IS ONE OF THE MOST NOTED NAMES IN the world of fuel and lubrication and for good reason. They have been associated with one of the best-known and revered automotive brands, Ferrari, and been on one of the most iconic cars in motor sport: Michael Schumacher’s dominating Ferrari Formula 1 race car that won five straight titles from 1999 to 2004. They have been making great strides in lubrication and the fact that their oil technology allows them to use blends and conjure lubricants from natural gas tells you all you need to convince you that they mean business. After the introduction of Shell Helix Ultra with PurePlus technology — one that offered a lifetime warranty, no less — there was a matter of their Concept Car that was…

DO YOU HAVE A HANKERING for performance? Then look no further as Jaguar India bring you ‘The Art of Performance’ tour, which was kicked off recently at Aamby Valley, Lonavala. Jaguar will be conducting 32 such events in 2017 in major cities in the country. Jaguar’s way of organising this event is simple: they invite customers and prospective customers to experience the full potential of Jaguar’s Indian line-up by letting them loose in a controlled environment. The event was held on the Aamby Valley airstrip and the day was divided into three parts — acceleration test, handling course and braking zone — each to experience various aspects of the entire Jaguar line-up. For the acceleration test Jaguar got their sports car, the F-Type R convertible, for maximum enjoyment. Next up…

FORCE INDIA MAY WELL BE THE STRONGEST connection that India has with F1, with the Indian GP now confined to the history books, but there has been something deeper for the past five years. The year 2012 saw a sporting legacy begin for Tata Communications. In February 2012, they announced a deal to become Official Connectivity Provider to Formula 1. Later, they linked up with Mercedes AMG Petronas to become their Official Managed Connectivity Supplier. From being at the first-ever race in a little store room with one laptop and an MPLS router, trying to deliver high-speed connectivity to Formula One Management from half the world away, it was hard for them to imagine their 100th race. Now, five years and 100 races on, Tata Communications run their operations from…

NEW THIS MONTH LEXUS RX 450h Hybrid luxury crossover SUV, anyone? Lexus are finally here in India officially and have two new offerings with more to follow TATA TIGOR Tata's new 'StyleBack' promises a lot more in terms of design. Available in petrol and diesel from Rs 4.83 lakh (ex- Pune) 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 ASTON MARTIN BENTLEY BMW FERRARI FIAT GENERAL MOTORS GENERAL MOTORS HYUNDAI HYUNDAI LAMBORGHINI LAMBORGHINI MAHINDRA MAHINDRA MASERATI MASERATI MERCEDES-BENZ MINI RENAULT RENAULT TATA MOTORS TATA MOTORS VOLKSWAGEN…

A CAR-MAKING VENTURE THAT BEGAN BACK IN 1927 has become a notable name in the automobile world today. Volvo Car Corporation began back on 14 April 1927, with the roll-out of the ÖV4. From there on, automotive safety was priority. In fact, Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson founded Volvo on the idea that “cars are driven by people. The guiding principle behind everything we do at Volvo, therefore, is and must remain safety”. Their core values remain safety, quality, and environment care even today. Volvo went from being a Swedish carmaker to a global player, taking on established names, balancing simplicity and luxury with functionality and reliability — a blend of much appreciated elements. From iconic models like the P1800 to more popular models today, notably the XC60. From using…

KOREAN AUTO MANUFACTURER KIA MOTORS, ONE OF THE FASTEST-growing automotive brands, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government of Andhra Pradesh to build a new manufacturing facility in the Anantapur district. The construction of the facility will commence in the last quarter of 2017. This will be Kia Motors’ first facility in India, representing an investment of US$ 1.1 billion (Rs 7,050 crore, approx). Production is expected to begin in the second half of 2019 to the tune of about 3,00,000 units each year. Kia have stated that they plan to make a strategically placed compact sedan and compact SUV especially for the Indian market. Kia currently have many distinct products in their stable, the likes of the Picanto, Rio, Cee’d, Cerato, Optima, Soul, Sportage, Sorento…

AFTER INVESTING US$ 280 MILLION (RS 1,800 crore), FIAT Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) India are all set to roll out the Jeep Compass from their plant at Ranjangaon, near Pune, this June. FCA claim that they have had to invest in quite a bit of new technology and processes to realise the made-in-India dream. At the current rate, they expect to launch the Compass in the third quarter of this year. It will be the most affordable Jeep yet. Like every Jeep, the Compass will have all the goodies not just for tackling a rough road, but for those who seek to kick their off-road lifestyle into gear. It’s 4,398 millimetres long, 1,819 mm wide and 1,667 mm tall, running a 2,636-mm wheelbase. The Compass offers 178 mm of ground clearance…

WE’VE GOT A NEW CAR to shoot. And in order to make the pictures more spectacular we decided to do a night out and capture the brilliant sights of the Maximum City. The car in question is the recently upgraded Renault Logdy Stepway, which fits in the sweet spot between the ultra popular and more expensive Toyota Innova Crysta and the über practical and compact Maruti Suzuki Ertiga. The 2017 Stepway gets a bunch of cosmetic upgrades, including stylish chrome accents on the grille, body cladding on the sides, bumpers in a new shape, and new matte grey 16-inch alloy wheels. It also gets the variant badge on the A-pillar (our car boasted of being the top-of-the-line RxZ) and ‘Stepway’ branding on either side. The base RxL version comes with…

The Figo S is similar to the standard diesel variant, which means it has decent acceleration, good roll-on timings and the ability to cruise at triple-digit speeds without any problem ADDING A LETTER TO THE NAME OF A car can mean a world of difference depending on what the letter stands for. Like Ford’s iconic racer, the GT40, wherein ‘GT’ stood for Grand Touring and ‘40’ represented the 40-inch height of the car. But when Ford announced the Figo S, where the S stands for Sports, things got interesting. Now the concept of a sporty family hatchback is not a new one; however, we were excited to see Ford’s representation of the same. Therefore, we headed to the Little Rann of Kutch to see how well the Figo S justifies…

A HEATED ARGUMENT IS ON AT the office garage. Sipping the morning chai, my colleagues are divided over the new MINI Cooper S Clubman. It has just returned from the early morning shoot and one group strongly argues that it’s a tad unfair to call such a spacious car a MINI. The Clubman is the biggest car in the MINI line-up, over a foot-and-a-half longer than the regular MINI. The other group, meanwhile, loves this substantially larger car and the practicality it brings along. The stretched silhouette, long roof-line and a steep D-pillar give it estate car-like proportions. This bunch loves the design nuances such as the familiar MINI face, attractive circular LED headlights that come with DRL (daytime running lights), the unmistakable hexagonal grille, and, finally, the bonnet design…

PERCHED IN THE KANGRA valley, under the imposing shadow of the snow-capped Himalayas, a sense of almost spiritual calm seeps through me. Crickets chirp in the cedar trees, not a soul in sight, every crunch of a twig and sway of a leaf amplified in the silence. Serene as it is, at the back of my mind there is a notion that it is the quiet calm before the chaotic storm that only a proper road trip across India can bring. A quick, reassuring glance to the left reminds that this particular trip might not be so bad, and that nugget of consolation comes from seeing the Hyundai Tucson waiting for me. On paper, it seems like the Tucson is that missing piece of the puzzle. A perfect fit for…

Car India ( CI ): Lubricant technology has come a long way, so how much would you say has progressed in the past 10 years from what we had back then to what we have now? How much in layman’s terms would it mean to the average car-buyer? Erik Bonino (EB): In layman’s terms in the last 10 years the contribution of lubricants to overall fuel efficiency you would say is about 30 per cent. Mansi Tripathy (MT): In terms of the dimensions on lubricants, I’d say they are divided into five big dimensions which have improved. The first one is really more about how clean the engine is left behind. You have to look at a 30-year journey of an engine which a lubricant was able to clean…

THE SEASON-OPENER AT ALBERT Park in Melbourne always throws up some interesting results. This time, however, something happened that a lot of people were waiting to see. The grid line-up saw one Mercedes-AMG on pole and one Ferrari next to it, with the same order on row two occupied by the two Finns. Following them was the Red Bull of Verstappen and the rest of the field. The other Red Bull of home hero Daniel Ricciardo started from the pit-lane, after the Aussie’s crash in Q3. The start was clean and everyone got off the line quickly. Hamilton was in the lead. No one pitted until lap 20. The new Pirelli compounds seem to have a lot more life in them along with just size. The cars were braking later…

WITH TWO SEASONS IN FORMULA RENAULT 2.0, Mumbai lad Jehan Daruvala has this year graduated to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, the first round of which was held at Silverstone in the UK. Driving for Team Carlin Racing, Jehan was faced with a wet race one, and the slippery track conditions saw him slip to 10th place, but he was able to make up and finish eighth in race two. Race three was Jehan’s best outing and saw him hold on to fourth place until a mistake put him two places behind, but second in the rookie classification. With the first race weekend of the season behind us, Jehan stands third in the Rookie Championship and eighth in the overall points table. We look forward to following his exploits…

1 The first interesting change is that unlike all the older versions of this compact sedan, the 2017 Maruti Suzuki DZire drops the ‘Swift’ prefix to its name and will now be marketed simply as the ‘DZire’. This will help differentiate itself from the Swift hatchback and, in turn, help improve the pride of ownership of the sedan buyers. 2 Even though Maruti are trying to project the Swift and the DZire as different cars, the front design of the 2017 DZire and the forthcoming 2018 Swift (launch expected around the 2018 Auto Expo) have a lot in common. Right from the shape of the new projector headlights to the new hexagonal grille, the DZire and the yet to be launched Swift appear to be mirror images of each other.…

ŠKODA HAVE USED THE SHANGHAI MOTOR Show to share their vision for change with the Vision E Concept, which is the Czech manufacturer’s first electric car. The new Škoda Vision E Concept is a five-door SUV coupé which boasts of a claimed 500-km range on electric power and meets Level 3 requirements for autonomous driving. Škoda plan to add five purely electric models to the company’s product portfolio by 2025. The Škoda Superb will be offered with a plug-in hybrid option by 2019. The Vision E Concept is powered by a powerful lithium-ion battery pack, which powers motors generating up to 225 kW (305 PS), allowing a top speed of 180 km/h and a claimed range of 500 km. The two electric engines, one on each axle, drive all four…

SHELL HAVE OFFICIALLY OPENED THEIR NEW TECHNOLOGY Centre in Bengaluru. A major technology hub, it is spread over 52 acres, custom-built to house up to 1,500 experts, who would collaboratively work on worldwide innovative energy projects. The Technology Centre is one of the three main technology hubs in Shell’s global network of R&D centres. The other two are located in the Netherlands and the USA. The new centre houses a variety of technical experts, laboratories and technology demonstration units, and is home to a wide spectrum of technical disciplines with specific expertise in fields such as liquefied natural gas, subsurface modelling, data analysis, engineering design, bitumen, distillation, water technology, and enhanced computational research. The centre is also helping pioneer efforts — using its IH2 (waste to fuel) technology — to…

FIRST CHOICE WHEELS BY MAHINDRA have given India its first platform for pre-owned electric vehicles. Mahindra First Choice Wheels (MFCWL) and Mahindra Electric have set up shop in Bengaluru. Their partnership has borne fruit in the form of ‘Elektricfirst’, a unique warranty programme for pre-owned electric vehicles. MFCWL assure that the platform will be transparent and will offer customers the option of buying, selling or exchanging pre-owned electric cars. In addition to this structure, Elektricfirst covers various electric and electronic components of the car. They are also offering an Elektricfirst+ option which has additional warranty benefits.…

LARGE VEHICLE FOR A LARGE FAMILY We are a large family: two adults, three kids, and a large dog. We enjoy travelling during vacations and try for two to three long holidays every year. We are looking for a suitably strong, easily repairable (hoping that occasions for repair are few and far between), and spacious vehicle that can accommodate us and our luggage. It should also be comfortable for long journeys. Any suggestions? Prateek Anand, Jalandhar Hello, Prateek, There are a bunch of MPVs available in the market that you may choose from. If your budget allows you, check out the Toyota Innova Crysta. If you need something more economical, consider the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga and Renault Lodgy. Make sure to test-drive all the cars to zero in on one…

There’s no commotion, no vibration, just the muted roar of 16 cylinders and the whoosh of air being barged aside. Coming through! FOR A CAR THAT MAKES A BIG noise about going fast, the Bugatti Chiron does a great job of going slowly. Slow, of course, is a relative concept. At 200 km/h, the kind of speed when your average affordable fast car is starting to breathe a little heavily, the Chiron’s cabin is an oasis of calm, your right foot treading as lightly on the right pedal as a pond skater dancing on the water’s surface. A pond skater that’s about to slip on some concrete wellies. ‘Okay, you can start picking up some speed now just to get ready,’ my co-driver Loris tells me gently from the other…

BIG AND MIGHTY WITH A brave warrior’s heart. Well, that’s a Viking for you and me; however, these colossal human beings from centuries ago were also kind, gentle and loving people. And there is no other company in the automotive world that helps us envisage that side than Volvo. The Swedish car-makers, known for being the flag-bearer of safety technology in the magical world of cars, also have a side we Indians are not quite familiar with. And that is their wild side; the Polestar side. These Swedes come up with unique, and often crazy, cars that are capable of surprising the inner child and bring a massive grin on anybody’s face. This time, on their 90th Anniversary, they have launched a car with qualities that are often not associated…

AFTER LAUNCHING THE 2017 VERSION OF THE Grand i10, Hyundai have now updated their entry-level sedan, the Xcent. However, it doesn’t just get a facelift; the changes are more than what meets the eye. To begin with, the front end of the Xcent now gets substantial updates with a new face that features a funky chrome grille that dominates the fascia. Then there are the LED DRL (daytime running lights) that add to the stylish layout. At the rear, new tail-lamps, bumper and a shark-fin antenna add class to this little sedan. Inside, things are pretty much the same as before. The black-beige theme continues to give the cabin a rich feel, with high-quality plastics and fabric adding to the overall chic character of the interior. Equipment remains pretty much…

IN OUR FIRST PART OF THE SERIES, we saw how AMG came about when Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher set out to do more with what they had. The result was a high-performance car that raised the bar and the standard of performance in the 1960s. The following decades saw more involvement from Mercedes-Benz and, in 1993, the first co-developed car, the Mercedes C 36 AMG, came to be. Just about six years later, in January 1999, Daimler acquired 51 per cent of shares in AMG, leading to the company becoming Mercedes-AMG GmbH. This acquisition came about as a result of the introduction of one car. The car that put AMG on the map, one that left an indelible impression on car enthusiasts: the E 55 AMG. The E…

DODGE CHALLENGER SRT DEMON Dodge have resurrected the Demon and it is here to attack the world’s drag strips. The demon under the hood is a 6.2-litre HEMI V8 making 840 PS, 1,044 Nm, and 0-96 km/h in 2.3 seconds; the fastest accelerating car in the world. It’s so fast the national drag racing body had to ban it from competing. ALFA ROMEO STELVIO We saw it in Geneva, now Alfa’s first-ever SUV makes its début on American soil. AUDI R8 LMS GT4 Audi’s all-new race car for the 2017 season AUDI RS 3 The sedan version of the Audi RS 3 Sportback, packing the same 400-PS 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbo-petrol seen in the Audi TT RS. CADILLAC DPI-V.R Cadillac’s entry in the 24 Hours of Daytona making its first appearance;…

THE KOREANS WERE the happiest on the Mediterranean island of Corsica as their ace rally driver, Thierry Neuville, thrilled everyone by winning the fourth round of the season. With this victory, Neuville also became the fourth different driver to win a rally in 2017 and Hyundai the fourth different manufacturer to do so. The French round started on a calm note with Kris Meeke of Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT taking charge of the rally, followed by Sébastien Ogier of M-Sport WRT, who was a close second on Friday. Hyundai’s very own Neuville, who has always had a good start, was in third place at the end of day one. On day two, however, things started to turn around for Neuville. The Hyundai driver won SS5 and SS6 and moved…