Lincoln navigator concept at the LA Auto Show, November 2016

Lincoln automobiles unveiled its navigator concept SUV for 2016 LA autoshow. This is a supersized SUV with top opening doors, retractable steps and extremely comfortable seating. Expected to be upwards of about $65000 (33 lakhs INR, USA price) it boasts of following features

– Six seater space with 30 way adjustable seats
– Wifi hotspot with Revel audio system
– 3.5 litre twin turbocharged V-6 with 400 bhp engine
– Pre collision braking system with pedestrian recognition
– Parking assitance system

Finally, the Duster AMT (Easy-R) test drive !

After a lot of lethargy a few failed visits and loads of procrastination, I finally made up my mind to get to Trident Renault at Hosur Road, near Silk Board for the test drive of the Duster AMT RXZ 110bhp version (4×2).

(The AMT Easy-R gearbox on Duster, courtesy Renault)

I did the good thing of calling the showroom, ensuring the car was available over this weekend and based on the promises went there. After checking out the RXS version of the duster for a while, I finally managed to get the Duster AMT for the test drive as promised. Without much fuss I got into the vehicle which was purring around with the engine running. As I do for all test drives irrespective of how experienced I am, I swithced the stereo off (though the sales guys keep shouting hoarse about how good the sound system is). Kept the AC to my liking not blowing too much on my face. I have this habit of diverting AC vents away from me so that I feel cool in the entire cabin not necessarily on my face.

Before I continue further, a few negatives.
<start cribbing>
> I did not much appreciate the cruise control buttons on steering and audio and phone buttons somewhere behind the steering. BAD
> The window buttons are all below hand brake or nearby. BAD
> The dashboard is so good in sports version but in the highest variant it looks crap. BAD
> The music and nav system could have been much better (like the apple car play stereo in s-Cross or Baleno)
> The lower variants have only one airbag for 13 lacs on the road. VERY BAD
<End of cribbing>

Steering

The first thing I found so good about this car is its steering. Without rake adjustment I was wondering if I’d be able to find a good seating position at all, but that was not an issue also especially considering this was an automatic. This is the first AMT for those who do not know mated to hill hold, and a six speed, with EBD, ABS in its category.

Boot

Everyone knows the amount of boot space in the duster. And enough said. Nothing even comes close to this in its category. For a five seater proper suv that is.

Road presence

You see a duster, you don’t mess with it. Period.

Suspension

I was really pleased to see the way the car handled the road. Ahem the SUV 🙂
The suspension just soaks up the bumps, and the passengers hardly feel that. Amazing. Just Amazing. And due to its ground clearance of 210mm (higher than how much we can screw up our roads into potholes), you can be rest assured the car is not going to scrape anywhere. And with nearly 35 degree rear angle and 30 degrees front angle, nothing is difficult with this car. The steering only adds to the joy. Its so easy to handle the vehicle and the size is never felt with such a smooth steering.

Space

This car has loads of space for 5 passengers and all their family items in the boot. Its a proper five seater SUV. And the three people at the back can sit very comfortably without any issue. The middle passenger having a fixed headrest is a nice touch.

Interiors

Frankly I did not like Duster’s interiors so much. It all looks like a lot of after thought rather than any planned outcome. The only exception was the sports version which had orange coloured strips and AC Vent borders which lent an exceptional look along with the seat stitching. I am really not sure why Renault is not including this along with all other versions. This is exactly what is needed to make it look much better on the inside.

The ride & AMT Gearbox

Coming to the AMT gearbox which is why I took this test drive in the first place there are a few things that I normally check with these gear boxes. So let’s go one by one
The upshift in drive mode
Put it to drive mode, and the car starts moving forward. You need to keep in mind that this will happen so that it does not take you by surprise at any time. The car drives smoothly for a while in first gear. Upon revving further rather linearly, the car quickly switches to second gear and then third. Through 1-2-3, there is no noticeable lag whatsoever. If the same thing was done with the accelerator floored, then the car holds on to 1 for a while more before switching to 2-3. If I were to put it more clearly for you, it gets you to the point of irritation and getting puzzled why its not shifting but before you can blink your eye, its shifted. This behaviour is only if you really press the pedal quite hard. If you drive normally even a bit spiritedly its no issue at all frankly.

Downshift upon braking
The downshift is in line with what you would expect and it comes down to 2nd gear quite soon upon slowing down. However just as you would expect, it holds on to the second gear for as long as it can before going to 1, something that we all do in manual. So brownie points there for Renault.
Manual mode upshifts
Switch the car to M mode, and you need to pull down for + and push up for -.
You need to switch to second gear as soon as you can for it to settle down, else the engine seems worked up on first gear if you are there in first for a while more. And it does not move either. So second gear onwards its ok to upshift as and where you would like to go.

Manual mode downshifts for overtake manouvres
As you would like to do sometimes, you can ask the car to go down a gear to quickly overtake another vehicle while on manual mode. I got limited opportunity to test this, but I would like to say that like other automatics, this maybe a hassle and not recommended. The car can get confused on how to behave suddenly in the lower gear and could give you loads of acceleration without much physical movement. Typical of all AMTs so far.

Sports mode
There is no sports mode in this car. But in any gear, the acceleration and power was always felt as per need. With 110 hp on tap, you are not going to feel this car is a laggard ever. So no issues there.

Conclusions and comparisons
At this stage I can compare this AMT with Celerio and Scorpio Automatic and I can say Renault really have implemented the AMT well. Almost comparable to Celerio and slightly mroe better itself. Of these three the Scorpio automatic is the worst as it has no clue which gear it is shifting to in any speed. One pedal less, same power as manual 110hp. No dearth of push in city traffic. Car like to drive. One leg resting. You cannot ask for more here.
I really wish Renault comes up with AMT in sports version, and RXL version and includes that freaking second airbag in both these models. Removal of an airbag is not a way to sell between versions and this is really not good. This is where I really like the XUV automatic which is now even available on W6 Trim.

Braking

Being an owner of a sunny, I have always felt the braking in sunny was not upto the mark. It leaves you wondering if the car will stop and if yes will the ABS work as expected. Thankfully in duster that’s not the case, the brakes are present and they work well as expected with lots of feedback.

Mileage

If this were a CVT it should easily return as much or more than manual. However this is AMT, so the mileage should be nearby manual figures at least. The test drive vehicle was showing an average of 9.5kmpl and even if you excuse the fact that no one would have ever reached 4th gear during the test drive, and bump these figures up a bit, expectation is that it would give around 12kmpl, nothing more. Absolutely nothing more. In fact I’d be surprised if it even returns so much to be honest.

Price

In Bangalore its starts from 11.53 lakhs on the road upto 17.29 lakhs on the road for the highest end version (AWD). Frankly I feel its overpriced for what it has to offer. But if you have the money, then this is the perfect car-like SUV. Period. No gimmicks here. For me for the AMT version which comes only in 110 hp avatar, its 16.4 lakhs on the road which is too much for a 1.5 litre engine today.

Gimmickery / Gadgetry / Features

> Cruise control with controls on steering, you can switch on cruise control and long press steering to set it to cruise. you can press + to increase cruise to certain level and – to decrease cruise. You can stop the cruise with a button, or restart to previous level in case of braking. All these four buttons are on steering.
> Power window and other such buttons are below handbrake, bad placement
> Audio and phone buttons are on a stalk fixed to steering column, bad design
> No start/stop keyless button
> Navigation system looks too basic in terms of UI design for me (being a UI centric guy)

Final words

The purpose of the test drive was to evaluate duster w.r.t to its AMT gearbox. For this the car does pretty well and will de-stress you out of Bangalore traffic on daily errands. It also should be a capable highway cruiser no doubt even with AMT. The tricky part was always about how car manufacturers implement the AMT system, and Renault looks to have mastered this in a neat way.

The AMT comes at a price which is steep and at this cost, there are lots of other contenders offering much more at the price point nearby to Duster (Creta, XUV, Scorpio, Ecosport, BRV, TUV, etc). The suspension and braking are a class apart and for Bangalore’s horrible roads, the Duster soothes like a balm for headache.

If you have the money to blow, you can easily plonk that cash into the AMT and you will not be too disppointed the way it will handle. For my own case I need to now arrange my funds as I have one contender who seems like a winner on most fronts.

A day out with the Honda BRV

The Honda BRV reviews are all over the place by now. Many channels like the CarDekho, AutoPortal, CarWale, AutoCar also went to Japan to check out the BRV first hand when it was launched. As a potential buyer more than a reviewer I had to wait my turn until the car reached the showrooms. And it did sooner than later. Took my kid along after having a chat whether the BRV was indeed available for a test drive. It was only the manual petrol though which I had to make do with, but atleast something was available.

Sure enough as I entered the showroom, the BRV was parked under decorative arches since it was the newest entrant into the Honda family in India. After having bitter memories about the Mobilio last time where I even said why I may not end up buying it, I did not have much of expectation on the BRV. After having seen many reviews which went on screaming the fact that it resembled the mobilio my spirits were further dampened. When you go with zero expectation nothing can potentially disappoint you. In fact its more likely the other way around where something can actually impress you.

Coming to my need, with about a budget of under or equal to 15 L, I had specific needs if I were to buy a new vehicle this time. My top priorities were not including the price and mileage for once. I definitely needed over 100Bhp of power, minimum of 200mm of ground clearance, 6-7 seater and a reliable and trustworthy company that can address problems in my car if any cropped up.

Among all contenders were the usual suspects ranging from the Brezza, all the way until the XUV (including the EcoSport, TUV300, Scorpio, Creta & Duster and Terrano among others). I did have a consideration for the Innova and the versatile Lodgy which I will come to perhaps in a later post but for now lets stick to what was discussed earlier.
I had three vehicles from the Mahindra stable to consider, one from everyone else.

The Duster exit the race as its interiors were below par for the price. It is no doubt the best for tough roads but that’s about it. It’s not going to lighten your mood when you are inside it.

And for perking up the same thing, the Terrano does no better for more money. The Creta is the best seller among all of this and without a single doubt the most luxurious feeling car of the lot while you are inside it. But paying over 16L for just features and no real other meat does not cut ice with me, so after a rather long while the Creta was out of the list. It was hard to let it go, but I had no other option.

Coming back to the topic, the BRV does not feel like the Mobilio. In all honesty Honda have done much better for this vehicle and they have put their heart and soul into making this vehicle. The front facia with the rather bold chrome strip shows its presence, and the headlamps have a charm of their own when you see the car in flesh.

The tail lamps though seem like its older sibling, have been beautifully though about and are chunky enough for the look and feel part. The dash is not bland anymore and though it does not offer everything everyone else offers, it does not have any bits and pieces of gadgetry peeping out of the dash unnecessarily.

Its uniform, has the City and Jazz look and feel and Honda have learnt it the hard way that the customers cannot be sold crap like the older Mobilio. I did take a test drive of the BRV and I must say that Honda undoubtedly have one fo the best steering wheels in the market.

If you want to know what is Butter Smooth, drive any other car and drive a Honda. You will understand it yourself. The steering just slices through the road in such precision that I was left astounded how well rounded the product is.

I was a bit disappointed with the rather idiotic stereo system in place. But that is something one can replace easily so it should not be an issue as such. That said, Honda has boldly made the dash fully black and it lends a certain business aura to the car.

Another point to mention is the seats. This car comes with two captain seats, which are well rounded and cushion you with ample thigh and back support, a middle bench that is 40-60 splittable, and slidable as well and a rear bench which is much much more spacious than the older mobilio. If you really want to know, I did not even venture out for a test drive of the Mobilio earlier just due to this one fact that an adult could not even get himself to get into the rear bench.

We all know and understand that there are challenges to these kinds of seats since it sits above the wheel arches, and I was quite happy that in the BRV the seats are more accessible compared to older siblings. However that said, I can certify that me being 5’11”, I can comfortably sit in the rear bench alongside another adult without much issue. But that’s about it. You could seat three kids or two adults at best. The rear airconditioning must keep these people in good comfort hopefully.

The seats themselves are full leather with high quality professional stitching which speaks volumes about the effort Honda has taken to make this a well rounded product. I must point out that the middle passenger in the middle row is likely to get inconvenienced a bit due to somewhat of a raised bottom portion of the seat and perhaps I feel Honda could have worked on this aspect a bit more.
Switch the car on and you can hardly believe that it is on. With or without AC. No I mean it really. Step on the pedal and with AC on the car is slow but steady to react. After all its got a 100 horses and it must show up somewhere and somehow. Step on the gas a bit more and it takes that tiny moment for the car to react and lunge forward somewhat unpredictably a bit, but nothing major to worry about.

The sweet spots of this car lie in the way the soft clutch has been designed and the rather slick gear shift with a six speed gearbox and that buttery smooth steering only means you have an awesome combination to enjoy the car with.

The one anohter aspect of this is the torque. You need to really drive the car slowly to believe it. I mean really slowly. Like 10kmph at 5th gear and bring it up to a full 100kph in the same gear.

Absolute beatuy of an engine. You know sometimes its not exactly about brute force power to fly about exactly but things like no gear shifts needed at super low speeds that make this vehicle an enjoyable one.

Then there is thing about ground clearance. After all Honda calls it an SUV while in true spirit its a much much better designed Mobilio in my opinion. Anyways one of the traits of an SUV is ground clearance and the BRV has 210mm of it, beating all other rivals almost. What this translates to is something I have not exactly been able to measure with the short test drive that I took up. However I did go obliquely across two deep potholes with a rather uneven mound in between and the car did not scrape anywhere below. However if you live in Bangalore like I do, you would very well know there are some roads with manhole lids the size of road humps and the road itself is much below them. Another case in point is severe water logging during heavy rains in underpasses. I am really not sure how the BRV will perform in these two scenarios. A third simpler scenario is to keep a water bottle on the road and go over it to see if it topples. I could not verify either of these cases and unless I get a real chance to, I cannot really say this would perform like perhaps a Scorpio would. I can confidently say that I have tried these on a scorpio and it has had absolutely no issues in handling them.
Being pioneers in seat configurability the BRV offers varieties of ways to generate space both in the boot as well as in the middle rows using the 40-60 split modes. Whichever situation, space should never be a problem with BRV as this is what the car is all about for its money. That said, with all seats upright with passengers, the rear boot space is going to be somewhat optimal if not minimal and it can handle only a defined amount of luggage. Nothing to piss you off though really.
So what about diesel and automatic then? Frankly everyone knows Honda’s automatic CVT transmissions are among the best. Having paddle shifters means handling the car like using a video game console to shift gears with your thumbs. However until now the CVTs were sluggish and was intended for more of mundane driving without the thrill of driver defined gear shifts. With the introduction of the revamped CVT in the newly launched amaze, Honda claims it has addressed some issues with the familar rubber banding effect of its original CVT. At the time of writing this article, the CVT was not available for a test drive and hence I cannot comment on how it feels until I drive one. So I will reserve my comments for later except however to say here that this will be one of the most effortless cruiser both within and outside the city for tired souls after a hard day’s work.

I have been chafferured around in a diesel Amaze and found it to be quite noisy on the inside. This is very unlike Honda and it clearly shows they did not research with it properly and just went in for a hurried launch party. However in the revised Amaze they claim to have taken care of this issue now. The earlier one felt like the first Hyundai Accent CRDi which had that distinct clatter all the time. One hopes that the diesel BRV will muffle these sounds even more with all the corrective feedback taken. At the time of this writing, the diesel BRV was unavailable as well due to which I could not test drive the same. It is bound to be a pocket friendly car for sure with mileages of over 20kmpl for sure. And a light clutch on the diesel as well means amazing driveability on daily basis.

But would you buy a diesel for close to 16L that has a 1.5 litre engine, or would you rather buy a Scorpio for 15.5L giving a mileage of 15kmpl, for a 2.2 litre engine generating 120bhp, or a XUV 500 for 16L giving a mileage of 11kmpl but with a 2.2 L 140bhp engine?

The choice is all yours frankly as each have its positives and negatives. Ultimately its about value for money and driveability that are the only two factors that makes a person decide what he or she would like.
Only time will tell whether the BRV will sell in huge numbers and be a hit for Honda. For sure this is not a Brezza or an Ecosport or even a Duster to sell 100,000 units in six months. But it sure will have steady sales once people understand how Honda has managed to engineer this car. And its long term reliability, acceptance for its strong virtues will decide whether or not Honda’s long term fortunes will be impacted positively or not. Honda has begun to take customer feedback and work on it which is a good sign and like Toyota the engines are legendary beyond measure which still is helping the company maintain its strong growth phase.

As CarDekho put it, if you a family man with old parents and young kids and you want a fuss free car that has SUV/MUV traits, is comfortable to be in, and keeps your senses calm on long drives, then the BRV is for you.

On a side note I did drive the Scorpio automatic which I will talk about a little later. The more I drive other automatics, the more and more I feel the Honda’s CVT just like the Nissan CVT are vehicles that other manufacturers’ products cannot beat in the long run.
So if you have 15-16L, need a great ground clearance, want to seat more people, want to have fun with a slick shifting manual or an absolutely smooth to cruise CVT, dont mind a lesser engine capacity, and prefer great mileage, reliability, and peace of mind buy the BRV.

This car is not about looks. Its about attention to detail, and character. The BRV won’t disappoint you.

Toyota Innova Crysta prices in Bangalore

The Toyota Innova Crysta is now launched and it also carries a price tag. And the price tag is not cheap. It starts with 13.83 lacs ex showroom Mumbai for the Basic-G version and it goes all the way upto 20.83 lacs for the top end versions.

As per the estimates and speculation, it also means that the Bangalore prices are higher than that of Mumbai for some reason. As per Toyota’s websites, these are the prices in Bangalore (all ex-showroom)

So for example the GX version comes to 18.43 lacs or so which is a whopping 3.5 lacs more than the ex showroom. This would mean that the Innova just went out of many people’s budget.

This also would mean more market for the already raging Creta from Huyndai. The Ecosport got bashed by Brezza from Maruti, the Lodgy is growing in numbers though being an ugly duckling, mostly due to the cab guys and the S-Cross having got eaten up by Creta.

The Baleno’s long waiting period is not helping either for Maruti. So its an interesting and exciting time for auto manufacturers this quarter with on the one side great products devouring competition and on the other a single manufacturers two products marginalizing one another.

The Innova for its new version is bound to get many takers who swear by its reliability, great engine, great service and many smiles on the road. With the automatic it just is going to ace the sales charts shortly.

The New Innova Crysta is coming

Toyota is about to launch their new Innova Crysta in a short while in the Indian Market. If you see the used car prices for Innova, a car that has done anything between 70000 and 100000 kms still sells anywhere between 7-10 lakhs. This shows how the company has managed to keep the quality of the car top notch for many years now.
The new Innova also will sport a better engine and an automatic variant which maybe the most needed for city driving. The video shows the host of new features that the car will offer which makes it a compelling buy this year. Further, the new design and some smart additions in the car will make it ever more popular. The only strong contender to this until now was the Renault Lodgy, which has failed to create any dent in the market and now sells only to cab drivers across the country mostly due to its ill formed design that makes it lose sheen in front of potential owners.
One only hopes that the Innova is available with good bank loans for longer tenures to make it more enticing to customers. Legendary toyota service only means that the whole onwership experience gets much better all long starting with the new Crysta.
Expect this car to be a scorcher in terms of sales and as usual, it would still dominate the market for sometime to come. The trump card from Honda would be the Honda BR-V which is no less better in terms of design, and being a seven seater at a lesser price tag can pose some serious challenges to Innova in the near short term. But it is no doubt that when it comes to rock solid reliability, the Innova manages to be a top notch vehicle and will continue its winning streak for a long time.
The Duster 7 seater would hardly make any impact due to its delayed launch by which time the Crysta would have an even bigger fan following. Service costs and issues with Renault as compared to Toyota will only make the latter consolidate its position as the number one MUV maker in the Indian Market easily for another 5 years or more.
With every new Auto Expo, things only get better, and we need to wait and see which other manufacturer will checkmate Toyota. But given their presence in India for a long time now, and looking at how established they are, the Innova will continue to be the mainstream people mover both for taxi operators and families alike.
So let me know in the comments if you will be buying the new Innova and if so, what features attract you to do so!

First impressions of the Mahindra TUV 300

Ever since I have been car pooling with my boss with his new Scorpio we’ve had some interesting discussions on how Mahindra and Mahindra have tackled the automotive industry with their slew of new vehicles and makeovers. Firstly the XUV was launched to a rather awestruck audience, next the Scorpio was give a makeover it sorely deserved, then the XUV was rehashed a bit again into a bolder looking vehicle, and then the Scorpio automatic was also launched. When we just thought that the dust had settled, now this – the TUV 300 (three double oo)
From a long time I have always been wondering how M&M vehicles have increased the costing of their vehicles without launch of any substantially new in the models out there. But then deep inside, they have been working hard to upgrade the current models with either higher quality of steering and dashboard materials, or gimmicks like the hybrid mode, rain sensing wipers, quality of seats, tiretronics, cubby spaces designs, toughened materials on the body, phone on steering wheels, sat nav, some cool looking alloys, etc. I find that on Scorpio the hybrid mode alone increases the mileage by 1km per litre of diesel. This said, its not hard to see how the company has reinvented themselves beyond the vehicle itself all the way from the assembly line to design to employee welfare and what not.
The Tata’s on the other hand seem to be lost in a government office style working culture even through their products are finally showing a design betterment of late.
Anyway, as I entered the showroom the other day, my expectations from the TUV 300 were not sky high as I knew its probably an upgraded version of the bolero or a slightly modified version of the Quanto. Everyone knows that, but what Mahindra have done here is seriously something different. Every manufacturer will reuse the parts from older vehicles while designing something new. But however, the stance of the TUV itself is quite imposing. After all its the same platform that the scorpio was built on. And it shows. Its majestic, rectangular, imposing and manly to look at. I did not quite like the font chrome stripes, and would have preferred it to be like the XUV, but then thats more of a design thing and I dont care much about details on the looks such as this one.

So having said that, the next natural urge was to plonk myself in the drivers seat. And just as I had expected, M&M have replicated the Scorpio seating here inch to inch. The seats are very very comfortable and the ride height is just awesome. Its almost as much as the Scorpio but a bit less in my opinion. But it does not make a difference.
The steering wheel is very nicely made with all due respect. The interiors are well made. I did not see a climate control, but nevertheless the dashboard itself was of superior quality almost hyundai in nature. This is not the usual run of the mill Mahindra. Careful selection of materials has been adhered to. The seats are really plush, and very supportive. The dashboard panels, steering, instrument clusters are all very well done.

The car gets all window buttons near the handbrake which is a bit of concern for me in 2015, but maybe its a matter of getting used to. The thing I like about Indian manufacturers is that they tend to understand Indian conditions well. So you get a rear washer and wiper without a question which I don’t have even in my Nissan Sunny.
That said, the USB chargers, stereo everything make up for more than what we expect for. A top view showing the seating configurations shows the amount of space within the vehicle

You can notice how much space is there in the middle row, the flat floor, and all the cubby storage holes on all doors and near the handbrake. Awesomely done. Indeed. My only grouse is the storage panel on top of the dashboard could have had a lid like in the Mahindra XUV 500 which is a miss.
You can notice that even in the rear door you can place huge bottles in the storage. The rear also gets jump seats which can at best accommodate children. But it apparently does not have seat belts which is not a good thing at all. Anyway what we are looking for is two adults or kids sitting in that seat for about 5-10 kilometres within the city if not more than that. Anything more than that and the discomfort shall be perceived.
The car also gets reverse assist, voice controls, driver information system and static bending headlamps in the higher versions.
I am yet to take the car on a test drive, and hope it will live upto its purpose as a true blue tough SUV. Its not clearly the best in creature comforts but then you also get what you pay for. Pay another 5 lakhs more and you will end up with the bigger brother the scorpio with all what you wanted within it. I have seen the auto car review of the TUV and for city drives it seems the right vehicle to go for. One of the grouses said in the review is the inability to remain powerful after 3500 RPM which is because of the 3 cylinder 84 bhp engine. For a non hassled driving style this car should still be able to give other sedans a run for their money.
And the next time it rains horribly on potholed roads in Bangalore, you will thank your stars for being in the TUV 300.
As a final note here is the price list of the vehicle in Bangalore City.

The autocar review can be found here, for your viewing pleasure. And the manual can be found here. If you want to make your TUV look even more tougher, you can choose from a huge list of accessories described here.
Hope you liked the information provided. If you did hit the comment section below to tell me what you liked most about the TUV 300. Enjoy your drive and wear your seatbelts.

Mahindra TUV 300 Launched today

Source: http://www.drivespark.com

Mahindra has launched the TUV 300 today finally in the indian market. As expected its a low cost mini SUV, expecting to cost between 8 lac to 11 lac in Bangalore market. It has a 1.5k CC 3 cylinder engine pumping about close to 85 bhp with 230Nm of torque. The torque figures are close to swift diesel engines, and the bhp figures are close to most 88 bhp cars with 1.5kcc engine such as nissan, renault, maruti, etc.

What is however to be noted is the engine is a 3 cylinder as opposed to many other cars which give a 4 cylinder engine at same price. The car itself comes with whats needed including safety such as ABS, EBD and airbags, but the music system seems compromised. It would have been good if mahindra included their tiretronics and some other features from the scorpio which would have set their sales charts on fire.

The boxy looks are not to everyones tastes, but for those who like it, it seems like it will be a sturdy vehicle without a doubt. Its rugged looking, has meaty tyres, and a chassis which seems strong. Though the claims are that its a seven seater, the last two seats are side seats and not front facing from what information is available. There is also talk about a 7 seater TUV 500 expected to launch in a while. With an AMT automated manual version, and fuel efficiency in excess of 16-17kmpl, this vehicle will surely be purchased by many who need good value for money.

The Hyundai Creta first look

Today I got a chance to visit the Hyundai Showroom to take a look at the Creta, their newly launched mini SUV. As you would already be knowing by now this big fella is making headlines all over India as the latest on the block to demolish all other SUVs on the market (which includes Ford Ecosport, Duster, Scorpio, XUV and also the not yet launched S-Cross from Maruti).

Will the Creta have enough under its belt to take away the throne from the others? Looks? Performance? Comfort? Space? Read on.

There was no big fanfare about the Creta and as I entered the showroom, there it was in full glory in Cherry Red colour. I have been reading all about Creta in the last one month and I must tell you that I share the same opinion as the others when it comes to looks. No amount of photographs will be enough to explain the real perspective of a human mind unless you look at the car in person.

The design is brilliant. Initially I thought that the grill in the front would jut out just too much to make it bulky as seen in many of the reviewers photos. But you know what? Not at all. I mean really. As is the case with hyundai they have created an SUV with a massive appearance. It will really have some presence on the road. You need to see it to beleive it.

The macho front grill, the beautiful fog lamps, the triangle shaped bright orange indicators, and the imposing headlamps all of these add value to the overall body. The side profile is similar so XUV but a bit more sober and lends very well to the overall character of the car. Though Korean in nature the unmistakable thud while closing the doors is a bit reassuring. No wonder then that this car apparently has very high C-NCAP ratings.

The whole design begins to rise towards the rear ending a Santa Fe like tail lamp cluster which bodes very well to complete the muscular look. In terms of looks and styling Hyundai have a winner compared to the Duster. It even beats the Ford Ecosport by a small margin in my opinion. Somehow the XUV rear end looks very heavy and not connected to the frontal portions and side profiles. The cheetah inspiration has gone a bit too far. Hyundai have kept it simple and copying the Santa Fe has worked wonders for Creta.

Enough said about the front. I got into all the seats one by one. First and foremost, I did find that there was ample thigh support in all seats. Maybe some reports might be biased on this count, but I found the seats to be pretty well made and very cozy and comfortable. Hyundai has the bad habit of placing seats so deep that even the driver cannot see any part of the car and has to drive by assumptions. But somehow in Creta the seat height is better than in a say i-20 which means you can now see the road better if not the bonnet. Having said that, the rear bench has very generous leg room even for a person my height (5’10”). And that when my own comfortable position is adjusted on the drivers seat. To give you a perspective I can make a young kid of 1-2 years stand in front of me on rear seat. Thats the amount of space available. Rest assured each and every journey will be more than satisfying on this car.

The front row seats have good cushioning, good grip and engulf you well enough to keep you cocooned. I am somehow not a big fan of vertical aircon vents, and this disappoints me with Creta. But as such the looks dont appear spoilt with this dashboard design. There are enough cubby holes for all your knick knacks. And its obviously a hyundai. So this is expected. The steering is well architected, with nicely placed controls. The driver door has rest of all the controls which make it easy to use. I specifically like the mirror adjust angled towards the driver on the door, which is really a thought out placement.

The stereo system with all functions perhaps will be available only in the top end model as defined in the brochure here. The prices on road in Bangalore vary between 11.5 lakhs and 17+ lakhs which is very steep for whats on offer. Take a look at it below

Overall the car also has ample boot space, and passenger space which is its defining point. I have not yet got a chance to drive this far enough to make a conclusion, but I do not see why it can give other SUVs some nightmares.

Until I drive the SUV more and find out its bits and pieces which are of interest, I will leave you with some stunning pictures of what Hyundai has created for the Indian market. I am more than sure this will set their sales charts on fire.

Renault Lodgy First Look

I had the chance to visit the Renault showroom to have a first look at the newly launched Lodgy MUV. Though its a bit late and all the news websites and magazines have been going gaga over the Lodgy, I still want to mention a few things here that might make sense to read for you if you are wanting to invest on the Lodgy.

From a long time I have been following the Innova, and even have taken lots of trips in the Innova. Though it was a failure model elsewhere like in Indonesia, India was a different ball game for Toyota. They were, are and would be still riding high on the success of Innova simply due to the fact that there were no real contenders to the vehicle till now. As such the vehicle itself was quite practical and served large family needs pretty well.

Maruti tried hard with the Ertiga which just passed off as a 5 seater with more luggage space rather than a seven seater, and the Honda mobilio is something I have already written about. They came close to being an Innova, but never really got there.

The only choices for space were the Xylo and the XUV500 and the former of the two is a real 7 seater. But then its not stylish, it has way too much body roll and its not really upmarket while on the road. Of course Tata has the safari and the Aria, but the Aria never really kicked off well even though it was a no nonsense vehicle in terms of practicality.

This is where Renault had a chance and they brought in the Lodgy. And they have taken time to address the basics first. SPACE. You know this word deserves capital letters for the Lodgy. I really mean it. Almost a decade of thinking about it by all other manufacturers and no one ever bothered to get it right. Renault did. And its evident in the reviews. Every single review never misses out mentioning the space. And I saw it for myself. First hand. The car can easily accomodate upto 7 adults and 1 kid. Or even 8 medium sized adults. Without the jostle for the space.

Now the rear bench always will be placed higher and is not a place to spend a 1000km worth of ride in. But then when you need to move people these things are expected. And these people would be more comfortable in a Lodgy as compared to a Mobilio is what I am trying to say. Its a genuine effort by Renault in creating the space that people look for with that kind of pricing (13-14.5 lacs OTR Bangalore) and they have nailed whats needed.

Now having said so much about space, when I pay upto 15 lacs for a car, I expect all the creature comforts it can ever offer. And the Renault does that in style. Except for climate control which is still a sore point but manageable. It has speed limiter, cruise control, height adjuster (basic version with three levels only), tilt steering, complete navigation based stereo system, 15” Alloy wheels, airbags, abs, leather seats, rear wiper, defogger, and whatever else matters most. Truly for this price, it is a complete package in all respects and leaves nothing much to complain. The difference in ground clearance between Renault Lodgy and Innova is just about 2 mm which should not be so much of a bother. Arguably the Innova surely looks more upmarket on the inside, but a full 4 lacs of money for just the engine of about 1000cc more, especially when both the engines provide similar power and torque figures is somewhat expensive in my opinion.

What is really good about the Lodgy is the accessibility to the rear seat. So many manufacturers have just made vehicles for the heck of it (the Ertiga being a case in point) but on one worked for the end customer but rather for their own profits. Even old people can easily get into the last seat in the Lodgy and thats why I adore this vehicle so much. With the rear bench being completely detachable, you can even put a bicycle into the Lodgy easily.

The overall look and feel inside the dashboard is not extremely great, but does not make you feel sorry for the time you sit in the car to drive it. I have not got a chance to test drive this car, but owning a Nissan Sunny and knowing that its the same engine in the Lodgy, its not hard for me to imagine what the ride would be like. Renault’s engines are one of the best in the world and you can only expect a ready for race engine when you buy one of their cars.

The windows of the Lodgy are really wide and make the cabin feel airy. Added to this there are rain sensing wipers, and auto sensing airconditioner which I presume will switch on if there are people in a row else not. Small innovation but big fuel saving. The seating height also is pretty good on this car and its almost at Innova levels which makes it easy to drive on the road. It is pretty long, longer than the Sunny too, so you may need to have a good amount of parking space in the house for this car.

All said and done, for the features it offers, and the price it commands, the Renault Lodgy is no doubt the LODGYCAL choice! Autocar magazine agreed with me 🙂

Does the Celerio really offer what it claims?

The ageing Tata Nano needs a refresh and our family has to now take a call on which car to go for given the limited budget and affordability at this point in time. This being a second car its purpose would be to only run it in and around home a few miles everyday.

(source: maruti suzuki celerio official website)

A call to Pratham motors in HSR Layout and a word with them on the interest in Celerio was enough for them to scramble a car for a test drive. The AMT (automated manual transmission) is lately catching the fancy of many Indian car buyers as well as automobile manufacturers. Maruti, Tata have taken early leads to jump into the business of making this transmission in order to woo two kinds of crowds – ladies who would otherwise find it difficult to drive a manual tranny car and the scores of individuals who are fed up commuting in a 2 to 3 hours gruelling traffic jam each day changing gears thousands of times.

The Celerio was the first of the bunch to sport the AMT, followed by Alto, and news of Wagon R jumping onto the same bandwagon. Tata however have cleverly put in an AMT only currently into their zest sedan, needless to say only on the top diesel variant retailing over 8 lacs ex-showroom. This cost would definitely put off a few prospective automatic car buyers.

(source: maruti suzuki celerio official website)

On the non AMT side, we do have many cars that already sport an automatic transmission including but not limited to the Maruti Ritz & Dzire, the Honda Amaze, Brio and the City, the Micra and Sunny from Nissan, etc. While these are pure automatics, the AMT is a different experiment to keep the mileage returned at almost that of a manual. While the CVTs like the micra are the most fun to drive, the AMTs are basically trying to address the mundane commute in a much better way.

A couple of pleasantries later, I let my wife drive the Celerio first after which I took to the wheel myself. There are basically two modes provided with respect to the automatic transmission. One is the fully automatic D-N-R mode where the car takes over what to do fully, and the other is the Manual (M) mode with + and – for upshifts of gear or downshifts. This mode must be enough to remind you of the fact that at heart these cars are still the manual ones, but the manufacturers have pulled off neatly the clutch handling part by automating that physical action of engaging or disengaging a clucth.

My drive was roughly about 2 to 3 kms with varying terrain: some smooth roads, few really bad speed breakers, and some roads with potholes. The first part was the fully automatic drive mode. The car picks up rather hesitatingly but settles down from first gear and the gears quickly move upto 2nd and 3rd thereon. The idea of this mode is to bring the car to the highest gear in the shortest time to conserve fuel on the drives. This is both good and bad. Good for the money saved, bad for the thrill lost of driving a manual car. With due respects to manual cars, I would not hinge on discussing those here. The only aim here is to let you know the comfort that AMTs aim to offer and evaluate whether the claims really make sense.

7-2014-Maruti-Suzuki-Celerio-Interior-Dashboard-AMT

(source: carblogindia.com)

The automatic mode is something I can term as a complete fuss free experience. Release the handbrake and you are all set to go. That’s it. Accelerate when you want, brake when you want and the car simply wont switch off. Wish granted and it performs great wherever you amble the car around. While moving from standstill since it picks up from 1st gear, all the way to 4th, its a smooth acceleration barring a momentary hesitation in second and third to lunge forward. Its not unbearable, and in my opinion not significant enough to delay you so much to get you frustrated (unlike the honda amaze automatic CVT).

While slowing down the car tends to remain in second gear most of the times unless you physically get it to a full stop where it would switch back to first gear. Now when you accelerate rather hard when its on second there is a certain vibration before the car settles down. This is rather annoying but I guess we have to live with this flaw for the remaining creature comforts of an automatic. Its just an overlooked aspect in my opinion and may be addressed in forthcoming revisions of the vehicle after customer feedback.

(source: mid-day.com)

Now the manual mode. Slide the lever to “M” or “D” on the go as you like. In “M” mode, the onus is on the driver to trip down (pull down the gear lever) each time a gear upshift is needed. For downshifts the level would be pulled upwards. This is more precise for me and its like driving a manual without the clutch pedal but with gear shifts 🙂 And the car can be made to listen to your whims of which gear you want to be on. One clever thing that you expected and is provided as a feature is that you only need to upshift while on the move. If you slow down the car downshifts by itself upto 1st gear. Smart.

(source: motorbeam.com)

Even in the manual mode, the car tries to remain on second gear as much as possible. Not sure why this implementation was done this way, but that is how it is.

For the other bits that are worth liking about the Celerio now. Some colours are head turning in this car – I loved the green, red and blue specifically. The headlamp design, the indicators in the front are certain things that make the car look definitely good and modern enough. The rear seems in my opinion a bit disconnected from the whole frame, but its not totally worthless. The LXi version is for those who dont have money, and the VXi version is for those who have money but still dont get enough features for that money.

The difference is about 50000 bucks and for that money, you get power windows, wheel caps (yea we are still talking like its 1995), auto driver window down (I call this double click down), lots of chrome here and there, vanity mirrors (LXi owners wives would be an angry lot), rear parcel shelf (oh common maruti), 60-40 split seat (necessary in my opinion as a combination of passenger+luggage is possible at rear), central locks, and power windows. This feature set is worth paying the differential amount for in my opinion.

What the car is missing though is Airbags on AMT version which is a big minus (now you remember the indian dialogue “if i am driving slow i dont need airbags” 🙂 ). There is no stereo in either AMT version which is another minus. No seat covers, etc. The rear wiper is present which is much better than defogger. Another point is the gear indicator shows up on the console only in auto mode (wonder why!) if that really matters to you.

I don’t like manufacturers deliberately cutting down on the airbags just to make a model sell well. This shows the irresponsibility from their side on the lives of buyers. Even the impending rules from government for making airbags mandatory would mean they consider only the driver as a human being and provide a single airbag to satisfy the government. What I really hate is the either automatic or airbags choices which are really senseless and idiotic in the year 2015. I wish manufacturers use their heads more than just keep cash registers ringing by selling unsafe cars year on year. I wish someone puts up a petition challenging all this in a big way. For me an optional airbag facility would have made this an A+ car to drive. Unfortunately Maruti for their own reasons cut out that pleasure from buyers and dampened them for good.

So if I buy the car, I guess I’ll be one of those owners who’d have to tell anyone who asks “I am driving slowly why must I need an airbag?” to satisfy my foolishness of buying a car without these. The other way to ask this question is to say “I am willing to pay who is giving me airbags in this combination?” – that’s atleast a better proposition.

The space in Celerio is really commendable for a hatchback, and five people might be able to sit in peace. Overall I found the headroom, legroom and general comfort to be substantial for a car this size and Maruti has really worked on the space part and got this equation right on this car. Given Celerio is coming in with diesel, it would be a right spot that the company has got with respect to having its sales charts on fire. Not that it already hasn’t with whats available.

On bad roads the Celerio is a good boy and handles most bad-boy-road-humps with ease even when loaded upto 4 people and a kid. I really went on some seriously ugly humps and it didn’t bat an eyelid. The handling was good and the occupants did not complain or were thrown about much. I did find the pickup to be slightly less with AC on and 4 people loaded but I need to drive this car more to ascertain whether this is indeed a sore point or not. A 2km test drive was insufficient for me to understand this part. The window was slightly higher to my liking and kids would not be able to see out if they are on the rear seat. The Hyundai i20 is like that and there are some cars such as these which have deep seating which is both good and bad. The driver maybe able to feel the pinch with this kind of seating.

There is no seat height adjust or steering tilt which is really sad as I am pretty sure providing that feature is not going to cost Maruti a bomb. These are mainly missed out to keep that differentiation in sales and in my opinion these are really stupid moves to say the least.

In summary the Celerio is a likeable car for the way it handles, and the space. Sprucing up the feature list can make it the next Wagon R for the next decade or so. The AMT is a breeze and its a no brainer for new drivers. Five adults would be comfortable on this vehicle and on long drives it surely would be much appreciated for the cruises it can offer. The hill holding capability is not yet tested by me but I did see that on a sloping section of road, the car did not move backwards on releasing the brakes which means there is some sort of implementation to prevent that.

The LXi at the time of writing sells in Bangalore at 5.3 OTR and the VXi at 5.8 OTR. The recommendation is to go for VXi as the features are much better. All the colours are nice to look at and Maruti’s service assurance should keep 90% of the customers happy with any purchase you do through them.

There can be many things told about the car, but experiencing an AMT in action is a totally different pleasure and I am sure you would not have any complaints on that front. Until the next car review, this is Srikanth from the Bangalore blog signing off for now.