Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2022 i Car India

WITH THE NEW 7, BMW ARE PIONEERING new ways to enjoy driving, unrivalled long-distance comfort, and a cutting-edge digital experience and the i7 is at the heart of this reinvention. BMW have unveiled the i7 xDrive60, the first all-electric version of their full-size luxury sedan, after months of teasers and a gradual trickle of information. The G70 iteration of the 7 keeps a more classic saloon profile, but with a radically new face. As a first, the new BMW 7 Series will only be offered in one long 3,215-millimetre wheelbase guise. There will be no standard and long models anymore. All four doors have integrated power opening and closing. The interior has undergone more significant revisions than the outward appearance. It features the same huge curved screen layout as the…

THE 1970S-THEMED PORSCHE 911 SPORT Classic is the most powerful manual-transmission Porsche 911 one can buy and the latest entry into Stuttgart’s Heritage Design collection, featuring retro styling inspired by the original 911 (1964-1973) and the 1972 911 Carrera RS 2.7. This is the second of the four retro-themed limited-run models that Porsche will reveal over the next few years. Only 1,250 are available. The 911 Sport Classic is distinguished by its retro “ducktail” spoiler, a double-bubble roof, Fuchs-style alloy wheels, and twin stripes on the bonnet, roof, and spoiler in light Sports Grey; the first vehicle to feature the Sport Grey Metallic shade inspired by the Porsche 356. The 3,745-cc, twin-turbo flat-six engine puts out 550 hp and drives the rear wheels only via a seven-speed manual gearbox, with…

THE LEXUS RZ 450E IS AN ALL-NEW BATTERY ELECTRIC SUV AND THE first Lexus electric vehicle to be developed from the ground up on the new e-TNGA platform. It does not simply adopt battery electric power in place of a conventional engine, but it goes much further to realise the potential of new technologies that enhance performance and driving pleasure. The new front design distinguishes the RZ as an EV. With no internal combustion engine, the bonnet has been lowered and the intake openings have been reduced. The long 2,850-mm wheelbase adds to the impact of the design, underscoring the low centre of gravity and excellent weight balance. The eAxle drivetrain has superior power density thanks to optimized rotor and stator design. The front motor produces 150 kW (204 hp)…

BMW X4 Silver Shadow Edition BMW have introduced the new G02-generation X4 sports activity coupé in India. Two 30-badged flavours, the xDrive30i petrol and xDrive30d, are available, priced ex-showroom at Rs 71.90 lakh and Rs 73.90 lakh respectively. Both are offered in an exclusive M Sport trim level. The X4’s unique silhouette makes it one of the sportiest looking cars in the line-up. The new model brings an aggressive face and a potent set of engines to go with it. The 30i petrol has a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine with 252 hp and 350 Nm, whereas the 30d diesel has a 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine with 265 hp and 620 Nm. Both are paired with an eight-speed automatic and xDrive intelligent all-wheel drive. The limited X4 Silver Shadow Edition brings additional high-gloss…

A ROAD TRIP IS ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE ways to revitalise and improve one’s spirits. People who enjoy travelling prefer road excursions because these provide a unique experience. Whether travelling with family or friends, road trips are among the best ways to get the most out of a holiday. There are several tourist attractions spread across India. So, no matter which part of the country one lives in, there is always the possibility of planning a quick road trip. Short road excursions of six to seven hours are preferred by most since they are comfortable. Many others, though, choose longer ones that are spread over several days. For us, at Car India, it is the latter that keeps us going and this time we are taking an incredible premium…

LATELY, THE INDIAN MARKET HAS BEEN FLOODED WITH seven-seater cars. Indeed, the segment now has so many players that manufacturers have further diversified the segment in the form of distinct mid-size SUVs and MPVs. One of the leaders in this segment has been Maruti Suzuki’s Ertiga for the longest time. When Maruti introduced NEXA as a brand, they had to offer a more premium iteration of a seven-seater that wouldn’t just look different but would target the chauffeur-driven folk as well; that’s how the XL6 came into existence. While the XL6 hasn’t been doing great numbers for the car-maker, an update was the need of the hour. And now, for about a lakh of rupees over its predecessor, one can get a lot of bang for one’s buck. So, what…

YOU WAIT FOR YEARS for a battery-electric reincarnation of the VW Transporter—also known as the Kombi, the Bulli, the Microbus—and two come along at once. Passenger and commercial versions of the ID. Buzz both go into production in the first half of 2022 ahead of arriving at UK dealerships in October. And the preproduction version we have driven gives every reason to think they could both be a big success. In some ways, the ID. Buzz is very close to the 1950 original: rear engine, rear-wheel drive, low centre of gravity, front seats close to the windscreen, sliding side doors. In others, utterly different: the motor is electric, many functions are controlled via touchscreen or vocal command, and it weighs around 2.5 tonnes. Oh, and it produces the equivalent of…

THE AUDI E-TRON GT’S moniker might make you think it’s a variant of the e-tron all-electric crossover. Unfortunately, your instinct would lead you astray. The e-tron GT is, in fact, a completely different model—a low-slung sedan with the appearance of a sports car idea. It’s nearly identical to the concept version shown at the 2018 LA Auto Show and featured in Avengers: Endgame. The bond between Tony Stark and Audi is well-documented throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), but it reaches a pinnacle in Avengers: Endgame with the 2022 Audi e-tron GT. Unlike the e-tron SUV, which can be mistaken for one of Audi’s other traditional crossovers at first sight, there’s no mistaking once you see the e-tron GT with its sleek sports coupé design for anything else. Audi have…

AS A TEENAGER, MY GREATEST FEAR going into college was that when my time came to drive some good stuff, the only V8 would be two banks of four batteries under the bonnet or under the floor, as it turns out. Yet, I thank my stars, three-pointed and otherwise, for several opportunities to drive many of those and some even quicker ones without having to save up and spend my entire life’s savings on just one of them. With that thought bouncing from one side of my brain to the other, I approached the baby blue—Frozen Blue Metallic—Taycan. This is the entry model. The one with a 79.2-kWh battery pack, one motor on the rear axle, 408 horsepower, and 345 Nm of torque. But look at it. Not much, if…

NOW-A-DAYS NOT MANY LUXURY car manufacturers are willing to give out cars for long-term testing. Most such luxury cars are allowed out for a short-term test with temporary registration number-plates or trade plates; the obvious reason being the prohibitive road tax and registration charges. That, fortunately, is not the case with Volkswagen. They have given us a properly registered Tiguan for a long-term test. The car came to us in the first week of April with 1,690 kilometres already clocked on the odometer. What better way to induct it into our long-term fleet than a drive down to Goa for the Easter weekend? I left Pune at 5.00 am in order to avoid local traffic up to Kolhapur, but, to my surprise, everybody seemed to be thinking on similar lines,…

MERCEDES HAVE INTRODUCED THE NEW AMG 43 powertrain, the fourth high-performance four-cylinder powertrain in their present line-up; after the 35, 45, and 45 S. The first models to get the new engine are the new entry SL 43 rear-wheel-drive roadster and the first new W206 AMG C-Class, the C 43 4MATIC Saloon and Estate. The new-spec “M 139l (“l” for longitudinal installation) is the mild-hybrid version of the 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol engine featuring the EQ Boost 48-volt system with an electric turbocharger and a belt-driven starter-generator (RSG). This is the first four-banger with this tech after the six-cylinder AMG 53 line. The electrified turbocharger was designed using technology derived from Formula 1, integrating a 1.6-inch thin electric motor on to the turbocharger shaft, allowing it to directly drive the shaft,…

THE NEW FERRARI 296 GTS IS AN OPEN-TOP VERSION OF THE 830-HP mid-engined hybrid GTB supercar, rivalling the likes of the McLaren 720S Spider and Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet, with “class-leading levels of driver engagement”. An evolution of Ferrari’s mid-rear-engined two-seater berlinetta Spider concept, the 296 GTS is powered by the new 120° V6 engine good for 663 hp, coupled with a 167-hp electric motor that made its début on the 296 GTB, which unleash a massive total of 830 hp from the plug-in (PHEV) set-up. It gets a retractable hardtop which largely maintains the look of the coupé. The folding roof needs just 14 seconds to go up or down even when travelling at speeds of up to 45 km/h. A button lowers the top and the roof…

Why did you select this design language and what was the theme you wanted to follow? We started from a blank sheet of paper because it is a Gen 3 product, a pure EV. It does not happen a lot in the industry or in our careers to get a chance to start from zero. As a company, Tata Motors has a very humanistic and human-centred aspiration. That is sort of the DNA of the company. For me, as a designer, design is about solving problems and that is how I was educated. We said, okay, it is a skateboard, we have people moving from A to B; how do we make their time better spent? We all use a vehicle and after the journey, do we feel that we…

HYBRIDS. THE MIDDLE GROUND. PETROL engine still there for support, but the electric motor is the hero. Unlike a PHEV (or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle), there’s no huge, heavy battery—it’s a light, compact unit—and there’s no plug point, so there’s no time—read that as no long hours—spent charging the car. The engine plays generator and the e-motor drives the car. It’s, as a rival brand pushes for it to be called, a self-charging electric vehicle. Accurate. So, then, the new City e:HEV, or “e series” Hybrid Electric Vehicle, is the first Honda e series model, with the all-electric Honda e hatchback being the spearhead poster child for the sub-brand of sorts. The new City e:HEV looks like the City i-VTEC and i-DTEC we’re used to seeing. The bestselling sedan from…

FLEXIBLE INTERIOR Whatever form a Microbus or Transporter took when it left the factory, it would continually evolve to suit the needs of subsequent owners. Seats, beds, dainty curtains, racks for surfboards or bikes… if you can imagine it, someone has done it. For the new ID. Buzz, VW have started modestly, offering a five-seat passenger version and the three-seat Cargo. But a longer wheelbase will follow, along with seven-seat and camping versions. And then the independents will wade in with ice-cream vans, hearses, and the rest. MINIMAL MECHANICALS The early Microbus and Transporter had Beetle engines at the back, 912-style, and rear-wheel drive. When the family evolved in 1990 to have front engines, Transit-style, the grooviness quotient dropped by about 600 per cent. The Buzz gets back to basics,…

THE NEW ŠKODA SLAVIA SEDAN IS BASED ON the MQB-A0-IN platform designed specifically for the Indian market as well as sold and manufactured in India. The model’s name, “Slavia”, refers to the beginnings of the Škoda firm. The company’s founders, Václav Laurin and Václav Klement, began selling bicycles of their own design under this brand in 1896 and the name was later used on the company’s first motorcycles. As a result, Škoda selected the “Slavia” name for India by way of a reference to the company’s long heritage while also signalling a new beginning in this region. Škoda intend to continue this trend with the Slavia, which builds on the history of the Octavia, which became a benchmark in the sedan market. The Slavia speaks a powerful Škoda design language,…

IN DAMP CONDITIONS, THE FIVE RED LIGHTS went out to start the Formula 1 Rolex Gran Premio Del Made In Italy E Dell’Emilia-Romagna 2022 with Max Verstappen in the lead while his teammate, Sergio Perez, and the McLaren Mercedes of Lando Norris slotting ahead of Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari. Red Bull were off to a great start. Come the Tamburello chicane and it was Daniel Ricciardo in the McLaren who made contact while moving right into the back of the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, spinning him around and sending him off into the gravel and into retirement. Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo, meanwhile, was also a victim of the incident and dropped to seventh. Fernando Alonso in the Alpine and Mick Schumacher’s Haas also made contact. Ricciardo made…

JEHAN DARUVALA OF Prema Racing started the sprint race in third place and got a great start off the line to slot into second, behind Marcus Armstrong of Hitech, who took the lead. He retained that position through an early safety car and then a subsequent Virtual Safety Car period before unleashing his pace. Overtaking proved to be tricky on the narrow Imola track and Jehan finally crossed the line 1.4 seconds behind the Hitech driver. His Prema teammate, Dennis Hauger, was third, completing a double podium for the Italian team on home soil. In the feature race on Sunday, Jehan started eighth on the harder prime tyres which would have put him in the fight for the win in the latter stages of the race. He got into the…

CONCEPT CARS GIVE THE DESIGNERS A platform to showcase the extent of their imagination before moving on to optimizing the styling for real-world use. Tata Passenger Electric Mobility gave their design team the chance to come up with a pure EV concept for their Gen 3 architecture and the result was the “Avinya” (Sanskrit for “innovation”). The Avinya is a sleek, shiny concept with futuristic bodywork that is set to pave the way for the latest direction that Tata Motors have decided to take. After the sharp and angular bodywork, the next highlight about this car is its lightwork. The signature LED at the front stretches across the width of the bonnet to form an iteration of the Tata logo but the lightwork at the rear takes the cake. The…

THE SECOND MODEL FROM VOLVO’S PERFORMANCE BRAND, Polestar, and their first all-electric one, the 2, has been updated with new solutions connected to climate impact and transparency, along with new design details and specification updates for a renewed visual appeal and improved efficiency. The battery in the new Polestar 2 Standard range Single motor sees improved cell chemistry that provides a higher capacity, now 69 kWh, and increased range of up to 474 km WLTP, besides faster charging of up to 130 kW DC and higher 170-kW motor output (231 hp). The aluminium tray that carries the battery casing sees a CO2e reduction of 750 kilograms per car, thanks to the decision to only purchase aluminium for this component from smelters that use renewable energy. The performance software upgrade in…

THE TATA CURVV CONCEPT SUV GIVES AN INSIGHT INTO THE INDIAN automaker’s future EV intentions. Expected to hit the market later in 2024, it does, however, introduce a fresh design ethos, a redesigned interior, and better structure. Tata Motors are a market leader in India’s SUV business and promise that the Curvv will continue the tradition. The concept is a progressive and sophisticated SUV that represents simplicity in complexity, according to the business, with the design philosophy of “Less is More.” The elevated bonnet, horizontal LED DRL, triangular fog-lamp housings, gloss black details, sloping coupé-like appearance, squared-off wheel-arches, door panelling, and dual-tone alloy wheels add to the appeal. A single-piece LED stripe spans the length of the boot, emphasised by the triangle cut-out on the bumper, while the gloss black…

THE UPCOMING EV6 HERALDS KIA INDIA’S ELECTRIC FORAy. THE ALL-ELECTRIC EV6 WILL GO on sale from 26 May. It will be introduced via the completely built-up unit (CBU) route and, initially, it will be limited to 100 units. The Kia EV6 is an electric crossover SUV with a minimalist design philosophy that avoids harsh creases and character lines. A streamlined front grille is complemented by big LED headlamps and the “Digital Tiger Face”, taking the “Tiger Nose” grille into the electrified era. While the interior is simple, it is packed with features such as 12-inch twin displays for the touchscreen infotainment system and digital driver display, a panoramic panel for climate settings, ambient lighting, and heated and ventilated front seats made from eco-friendly recycled polymers. Safe exit assist, lane following…

The Fortuner or the Meridian? My family enjoys spending weekends at our farmhouse but the journey involves about 10 kilometres of off-roading once we leave the highway. I am looking for a car that can transport my family in comfort and it should have good off-roading ability as well. Between the Toyota Fortuner Legender and the new Jeep Meridian, which one should I go for? Please advise me. Vishal Samrat, via social media Dear Vishal, From your pattern of use, it looks like the Jeep Meridian should meet all your requirements. The car's cabin is well equipped with entertainment options and creature comforts. Moreover, it is also quite capable off road. After a test-drive, if you feel you need a larger car, then go for the tried-and-tested Toyota. More details…

REKINDLING AN OLD FLAME CAN BE A heartening experience or it can simply wither away again, even with a spark. Yet, some sparks create a roaring fire sometimes. Red hot and burning bright with potential. Volkswagen seem to have not just rekindled the flame but stoked a fire with their new Virtus. The new Volkswagen Virtus steps into the dwindling premium sedan space as an all-new model. Built on the new MQB-A0-IN architecture, overseen by the collective effort known as Škoda Auto Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd, the Virtus, like the Slavia, is a distinctly stylish sedan that offers a combination of unique design and eye-catching features. However, VW were always expected to deliver a sportier alternative and I can safely say they have delivered indeed. The new Volkswagen Virtus looks…

THE MERIDIAN, JEEP’S NEW FULL-SIZE SUV, IS THE LATEST TO JOIN the highly competitive seven-seater segment. It’s no secret that it’s built on the popular Compass platform, but the wheelbase has been lengthened to accommodate a third row. The Meridian will only be offered in diesel and as a seven-seater for the time being. According to Jeep, this premium SUV is more than simply a practical, spacious vehicle; it also has off-roading skills unmatched in its segment. There are only a few manufacturers who can rival Jeep’s legacy when it comes to SUVs. The iconic American car-maker first entered India in 2016 with the CBU-imported Wrangler and Grand Cherokee and then came the début of the Indian-made Compass five-seater premium SUV which is still the bestseller for Jeep in India.…

IT’S LIKE YOU EITHER LOVE THE STYLING OR YOU THINK IT’S fugly. But there’s one thing no one can deny: the X4 drives like a proper BMW! It has a large dose of sheer driving pleasure that manifests from the perfect cooperation of wonderful steering feel, strong brakes, engaging handling, tight body control, and that smooth yet punchy straight-six diesel engine sending a wave of torque to all four wheels. But let’s see what’s new in the facelift model of the mid-size SAC. The X4 looks sharp in this special edition guise. The black highlights and detailing add to the already strong appeal with the bold new front grille and Adaptive LED lights. Striking muscular lines, black roof-rails, and big black wheels with mixed rubber—245/45s front and 275/40s rear—add to…

IT WAS A FERRARI LINING UP AT THE head of the order with Charles Leclerc claiming pole and the two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in close proximity. His scarlet teammate, Carlos Sainz, was down in ninth with Lando Norris starting fourth for McLaren and the two Mercedes-AMGs of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell behind him. At 40° Celsius, it was a hot track as the lights went out. Leclerc went off into the lead narrowly ahead of Verstappen who suffered a little wheelspin, while Hamilton managed to jump into third. On the very next lap, Sainz, having fallen to 14th on his hard tyres, got on to the grass and lost the car, spinning into the gravel to bring on a Virtual Safety Car that turned…

ON A TIGHT CROATIA Rally shakedown stage, Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä beat Thierry Neuville by a mere tenth of a second. After the first loop over the 3.65 km On his third and final run, Rovanperä overtook Ott Tänak at the top of the leader board as the times gradually fell apart., clocking in at one minute and 52.5 seconds. While Rovanperä appeared to be having a good time on the Oki road, Elfyn Evans was not. The Finn dominated the three-day rally in his Toyota GR Yaris from the start in the hills above Zagreb, only for a storm in the penultimate speed test to wipe out his hard-won lead. Ott Tänak, who took a chance on softer Pirelli tyres to give his Hyundai i20 N a performance advantage on…