Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2017 i Car India

BMW 5 Series The contemporary evolution of the Bavarian executive saloon, the G30 BMW 5 Series, has arrived with a choice of a petrol and two diesel engines, priced between Rs 49.90 lakh and Rs 61.30 lakh (ex-showroom). The BMW EfficientLightweight design concept has focused on increased use of aluminium and high-strength steel, thus bringing down the weight of the new car by up to 70 kg over the outgoing F10 model, even though the new car is slightly larger than the model it replaces. All the three engines are equipped with BMW’s TwinPower Turbo technology. The 2.0-litre, four-cylinder 520d produces 190 PS and 400 Nm, while the larger 3.0-litre, straight-six in the 530d produces 265 PS and 620 Nm. The 2.0-litre in-line four petrol in the 530i produces 252…

Be it tarmac, mud, or any other surface, the Creta seems to conquer it all with a majestic grace THE PITTER-PATTER OF SPORADIC RAIN — sometimes heavy, sometimes light — was the soundtrack to our drive as we made our way out of Pune and towards Kabini and the expansive verdure of the Nagarhole National Park. It’s only so long that you can enjoy said soundtrack before getting enough of it, so it was quickly drowned by some pulsating rock music emanating from the Creta’s superlative sound system as my phone (via an easy-to-use Bluetooth interface) turned conduit for some banging tunes to keep us company as we covered the 900-plus kilometres it took to reach Kabini. Having left in the early hours of the morning and with the miles…

ROLLS-ROYCE WRAITH Price: Rs 4.69 crore (starting price, ex-showroom, Mumbai) Engine: 6,592 cc, twin-turbo V12, direct-injection petrol Max Power: 632 PS at 5,600 rpm Max Torque: 820 Nm at 1,500-5,500 rpm Transmission: Eight-speed, automatic, rear-wheel drive Weight: 2,360 kg OUNGER NOW THAN THEY were before? That’s exactly the message Rolls-Royce are sending to potential clientele, who themselves are often fresh fruit from a long and wide family tree. The titans of the super-luxury automobile realm have made a statement. No longer is a six-metre super-luxury suite on wheels the only offering from the marque long known to deliver what has come to be called “the best car in the world”. They have derivatives, new models. Sportier, too. No need to spill your champagne, though, because they’ve done it right. You…

The car started driving itself — going round corners and maintaining distance from the car in front even while slowing down to 80 km/h when the speed limit came down to that figure MERCEDES-BENZ S 560 L / AMG S 63 L Price: Rs 1.90 crore / 2.50 crore (expected, ex-showroom) Engine: 3,982 cc, V8, twin-turbo, petrol Max Power: 469 PS @ 5,250-5,500 rpm/ 612 PS @ 5,500-6,000 rpm Max Torque: 700 Nm @ 2,000-4,000 rpm/ 900 Nm @ 2,750-4,500 rpm Transmission: Nine-speed, twin-clutch automatic, all-wheel drive Weight: 2,070 kg MERCEDES-BENZ S 400 d L Price: Rs 1.30 crore (onwards, expected, ex-showroom) Engine: 2,925 cc, in-line six, turbo-diesel Max Power: 340 PS @ 3,600-4,400 rpm Max Torque: 700 Nm @ 1,200-3,200 rpm Transmission: Nine-speed, automatic, all-wheel drive Weight: 2,075 kg…

TATA NEXON REVOTORQ / REVOTRON Price: Rs 7-10 lakh (expected, ex-showroom) Engine: 1,497 cc, four-cylinder turbo-diesel / 1,198 cc, three-cylinder, turbo-petrol Max Power: 110 PS @ 3,750 rpm / 110 PS @ 5,000 rpm Max Torque: 260 Nm @ 1,500-2,750 rpm / 170 Nm @ 1,750-4,000 rpm Transmission: Six-speed, manual, front-wheel drive Weight: 1,305 kg / 1,237 kg Length x Width x Height: 3,994 x 1,811 x 1,607 mm Wheelbase: 2,498 mm Ground Clearance: 209 mm OUR WORLD TODAY CONSISTS OF SEVERAL BILLION PEOPLE, each doing their own thing. While some tiny percentage of them bond for a common cause, there are still far too many such common causes that, in effect, completely ignore the greater good. Yet, what’s painted is a picture of one utopia where all sorts of…

Force Gurkha Xplorer (three-door) Price: Rs 9.13 lakh (ex-showroom, Pune) Engine: 2,596 cc, in-line four, turbo-diesel Transmission: Five-speed, manual, selectable four-wheel drive Max power: 85 PS at 3,200 rpm Max torque: 230 Nm at 1,400-2,400 rpm Weight: NA T’S A VIRGIN PIECE OF LAND: LUSH GREEN IN THE MONSOON, surrounded by undulating hills and streams flowing quietly. I absorb all this, take a deep breath and gear up for the daunting task ahead. Hands firmly on the large steering wheel, I take a quick glance to check if the 2017 Gurkha Xplorer is slotted into 4x4 High, and I step on the gas. Darting straight ahead I hit the ridges and we’re off. It seems straight from a slo-mo action flick. The wheels are in the air for a few…

DEEP FRIED STUFF TASTES THE BEST. It’s the worst, mind you. You’ll die sooner, but you’ll die happier. Er, perhaps. Oil isn’t good for the body, no, and, as a form of propulsion, its next of kin, diesel, doesn’t really have a reputation for being particularly fun either. However, those who say that, I believe, hold back. And they hold back something important. Torque gets you going. It’s what gets you moving when push comes to shove. And shove it does. BMW have been making diesel fast for over a decade now. We know they have a 400-PS 3.0-litre quad-turbo M550d, but that’s another level. What they also have — and, more importantly, in India — is the all-new G30 5 Series with a TwinPower Turbo straight-six diesel engine that’s…

OVER THE PAST 70 YEARS FERRARI HAVE GIVEN US TINY V6S, monster twelves, bent and flat, and screaming eights. But they have almost, though not quite exclusively, shared one trait: until very recently they were all naturally aspirated machines. Turbocharging is rife these days, and we understand why. It makes small engines perform like big ones everywhere except at the pumps. Even Ferrari adopted turbocharging for their 458 successor, the 488 GTB, partly to cut emissions, but mainly because they couldn’t meet their power and performance targets with a driveable naturally aspirated engine. The resulting F154 engine is hugely impressive, but for us even the 488 is missing something that the older cars had: an organic connection you only get when there is zero lag between the movement of your…

2017 MARKS THE 20TH YEAR THAT JK TYRE HAVE successfully been organising racing events in India, doing their bit to promote young motor sport talent in the country. This year’s National Racing Championship includes two classes of open-wheel race cars, the premier-class Euro JK 17 and the smaller FGB Formula 4, and we were on hand to witness the top teams and racers as they settled in and collected the first points for the 2017 racing season. EURO JK 17 Race One With qualifying for both classes taking place on Saturday morning, it was well past noon that the racers lined up on the grid for the first premier-class race of the 2017 season. Having graduated from the smaller FGB F4 class after winning the championship last year, Chennai’s Vishnu…

Honda BR-V Variant: i-DTEC VX Kilometres driven: 15,282 Like: Space, practicality, comfort Dislike: No rear parking sensors/camera THE HONDA BR-V I-DTEC VX IS the latest addition to our fleet, this one being the top-of-the-line trim. Ever since its arrival all of us have been eyeing it. Being a seven-seater, it’s already begun being used for weekend getaways as well as office trips for out-of-town shoots. That’s also its mainstay: the BR-V is our go-to car for all tracking and photo-shoot needs, which is clearly why I and our photography team have taken to it so well. It isn’t always that we get a car which can hold all our camera bags and every other bit of equipment comfortably. After driving it around for a couple of weeks, I have been…

HYUNDAI’S FIRST HIGH-PERFORMANCE offering in the N line-up is the i30 N. Born in Hyundai’s home in Korea, the i30 N was actually raised at the Nürburgring. The ‘N’ stands for Namyang (Hyundai Motor’s global R&D centre in Korea) and for the Nürburgring, where the N line-up was further developed and tested. The ‘N’ is also supposed to symbolise a chicane. The i30 N was built around three major points: cornering, racetrack capability, and everyday sports car. Powering the car is a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol with up to 275 PS and 350 Nm. A six-speed manual drives the front wheels. The other addition to the i30 range is the Fastback. With a sloping roof-line, long bonnet and muscular body, the i30 Fastback looks promising. It will be offered with a choice…

ISOBAR, THE DIGITAL AGENCY of Dentsu Aegis Network, and Maruti Suzuki have rolled out India’s first Integrated Chatbot. The chatbot will allow Maruti Suzuki to entertain users’ first-level queries about the car and will redirect them to the main website if they require specific information. The primary aim of the chatbot is to enable a two-way communication with the relevant audience before filtering out the interested portion. Isobar came up with this innovation for the launch campaign of the Dzire. Sanjeev Handa, VP, Marketing, said, “The video chatbot used for the all-new Dzire is a very exciting innovation for us at Maruti Suzuki. It not only enables two-way communication with our audience, but allows us to immediately address their first-level queries, real time and in a very engaging manner. We…

ON A HUMID AND SWELTERING morning I stand smack outside the Rashtrapati Bhavan in the heart of New Delhi, with passers-by giving me strange looks before their eyes flicker to and pause at the car that stands but a few feet away from me. There’s no denying that the Renault Kwid is an eye-catcher, an attribute that is only amplified when there’s a photographer with his camera and all his attention focused on it. After a brisk nod of the head from Saurabh to signify that he is done with his shots, we hop in, twist the AMT dial to Drive, and drive off, the air-con mercifully blessing us with a waft of cool air. The in-car GPS (yeah, the Kwid has a touchscreen Media NAV), is set to Manali,…

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE IS SOMEWHAT A PART of the job in Affalterbach. Sure, it does take commitment and vision to create a car that can set racetracks on fire, or smash barely double-digit quarter-mile times, but making something which packs supercar power, yet offers massive ground-clearance and comes with more than a few sets of locking differentials — now, that’s a different story altogether. Enter the G-Wagen. ‘Geländewagen’ or cross-country vehicle, the ‘G-Wagen’ is the very essence, the seed, the Higgs Boson of the luxury SUV line bearing three-pointed stars we see today. What began as a project in 1979 with the G-Wagen quickly branched out into everything from military involvement globally to further generations for varied use; one that even sprouted another axle and set of wheels. Humble beginnings?…

The A3 is a delightful car and the new one feels nothing less than exceptional AUDI A3 35 TDI Price: Rs 35.29 lakh (ex-showroom) Engine: 1,968 cc, in-line four, turbo-diesel Max Power: 143 PS at 3,500-4,000 rpm Max Torque: 320 Nm at 1,750-3,000 rpm Transmission: Six-speed, twin-clutch automatic, front-wheel drive Weight: 1,340 kg A FEW MONTHS AGO I WAS driving the new Audi A3 in Vizag and it was a splendid experience. Recently we got our hands on the diesel variant, which is powered by the VW Group’s highly capable 2.0-litre TDI engine. After driving it around for a few days this is what we have to say. The A3 is a delightful car and the new one feels nothing less than exceptional. This mid-life facelift has given the car…

Volvo V90 Cross Country D5 AWD Inscription Price: Rs 60 lakh (ex-showroom) Engine: 1,969 cc, in-line four, twin-turbo with PowerPulse, direct injection, diesel Transmission: Eight-speed, automatic, all-wheel drive Max power: 235 PS @ 4,000 rpm Max torque: 480 Nm @ 1,750-2,250 rpm Weight: 1,881 kg (kerb) ESTATES HAVE COME AND GONE, BUT NONE OF them have really made a lasting impression in India. Some were great cars but, sadly, social perception played a big role and sedans continued to be preferred as family cars. The estate car returned just a couple of years ago, in a completely unexpected form, too: packing 560 PS and four-wheel-drive and sporting a price tag of around Rs 1.4 crore. The second one arrived more recently, a cousin of the first, and sporting an equally…

The big change is that engine, because now the redi-GO is powered by a 999-cc petrol unit that produces 68 PS at 5,500 rpm and 91 Nm of torque at 4,250 rpm DATSUN REDI-GO 1.0L Price: Rs 3.75 lakh (ex-showroom, Pune) Engine: 999-cc, In-line three, petrol Max power: 68 PS at 5,500 rpm Max torque: 91 Nm at 4,250 rpm Transmission: Five-speed, manual, front-wheel-drive Weight: 681 kg JAPANESE CAR-MAKERS DATSUN ENTERED India’s entry-level hatchback market with the redi-GO in June 2016, and a little over a year down the line, it has been given a bigger, more powerful engine. Datsun like to describe this redi-GO as an ‘Urban Cross’ and keeping with that theme, we were let loose on the streets of Goa to see what the new engine brought…

AFTER A MILD MAKEOVER, THE GLA WAS INTRODUCED in India just last month. As you know, it’s based on the A-Class platform, produced locally at the company’s Chakan facility and is one of the top-selling new models from Mercedes-Benz India. Now it looks more like the bigger GLC, which is an attempt to shed the GLA’s ‘hatch on stilts’ image. And it does, to a certain extent. With the new styling the soft-roader appears more butch and sporty. To go with this sportier image, the GLA 220 d 4MATIC comes with a more powerful diesel engine and a four-wheel-drive system. Using these it dares to tread paths that the milder front-wheel-driven GLA versions wouldn’t dare to. The big attraction is that it now costs about Rs 3 lakh less than…

AUDI A8 The all-new next-generation Audi A8 made its début in style, bringing in a slew of changes, enhancements, and class-leading autonomous driving technology. With updated powertrains making more power and consuming even lesser fuel, the A8, available in standard and long-wheelbase guises, brings more technology to the fore than ever before. Audi have strived to raise the bar in the premium luxury segment and the new A8 and 130-mm longer A8 L are testimony to that. The new saloon looks striking, exemplifying Audi’s modern design language, packaging under the skin even more reasons for it to be considered a serious challenger for the very top step of the exclusive class. Visually, the HD Matrix LED lighting and OLED tail-lamps look absolutely striking. Inside, new fingertip-response controls together with new…

VOLKSWAGEN MOTORSPORT INDIA have, since 2010, been organising one-make championships for tin-top race cars, with an aim to identify and nurture budding talent in the country. The Volkswagen Polo Cup was the first and longest-running one-make car racing championship in India, and has been responsible for launching the careers of several young racers who were trained and groomed by Volkswagen Motorsport and now race in several touring car championships abroad. After four years of racing the track-spec Polo, the series evolved into the Vento Cup for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, where the racers got to cut their teeth on a race-ready version of the Vento sedan, powered by a 1.4-litre supercharged engine that made 180 PS. For 2017 Volkswagen Motorsport have developed an all-new race car, derived from the…

AZERBAIJAN GP: ESCAPE FROM THE ORDINARY No one could have predicted the podium after the last lap of Baku was done. ‘Shoey’ was back as Daniel Ricciardo made his way through the nether realm of an incident-packed race to the very front of the order. #HasStrollCrashedYet? No, he claimed a podium. And McLaren scored points (plural)! Hamilton started on pole, yes, but incident after incident saw the yellow flags out in droves, then the Safety Car and, on lap 23, even the red flag. All said and done, Ricciardo crossed the line to take his first win this season, with Stroll, who drove well to stay in position, out-dragged by Bottas on the run to the finish line. At 18 years and 239 days, though, Stroll became the youngest rookie…

INDIA’S FIRST GENUINE HOT HATCH The Swift, a youthful and sporty small car from the house of Maruti Suzuki, was the first Indian ‘hot hatch’ that revolutionised the Indian hatchback market back in 2005. It shook up the Indian automotive scene because it was a brilliant global product with superb credentials. Unlike other car-makers, Maruti Suzuki launched the Swift in India at the same time as the rest of the world. Its sporty and youthful design was aligned with the growing demand by young car-buyers in the country. And it was not just a style icon; the Swift was also high on performance. Launched with a 1.3-litre petrol engine, the Swift developed an impressive 88 PS and 113 Nm of torque. The engine was high on performance, refinement, and fuel…

Dawn Black Badge Rolls-Royce have introduced the Black Badge version of the Dawn super-luxury drop-top. Bold black elements mark it out as the higher-performance model, with the 6.6-litre twin-turbo V12 making 600 PS and 840 Nm. It should arrive in India shortly. Tesla Model 3 Detailed Tesla Motors have delivered the first 30 Model 3 cars internally to employees. The Model 3 is available in two guises: one with a 350-km range doing 0-100 in 5.6 seconds for US $35,000 (Rs 22.7 lakh), and the other with a 500-km range and 5.1-second 0-100-km/h time, costing US $44,000 (Rs 28.6 lakh). New X3, and an M Being a bestseller in the line-up, BMW simply can’t ignore their popular Sport Activity Vehicle. The X3 gets revised, yet again, with a few subtle…

GOA IS MORE THAN JUST INDIA’S HOT AND HAPPENING PARTY capital and the birthplace of Goa Trance. It is a state of mind. Possibly India’s number one holiday destination; definitely mine. Just the thought of road trippin’ to the seaside Shangri-la injects a rush of adrenaline and anticipation within me. Every time I visit Goa (and I do visit that place a lot), it’s a fresh, invigorating and magical experience. There’s always a new side to see, a place to discover or re-discover, and colourful, vibrant memories to be made. With a place that has such a chill and uber-cool vibe, you need wheels to match, though. Audi’s A3 Cabriolet? That will do the trick just fine, thank you very much. It is one of those accepted conventions, isn’t it?…

1 Cleaner and Greener Car Toyota’s luxurious Camry Hybrid is one of the best hybrid cars out there. It brings a lot to the table. It combines luxury with green technology that reduces emissions, making the world a better place. The Camry Hybrid uses a petrol engine along with an electric motor to provide excellent drive, while emitting a tiny amount of pollutants. In fact, the Camry Hybrid’s emissions are far less compared to what some of the small hatchbacks and mid-size sedans emit. With such stellar attributes, the Camry Hybrid clearly depicts Toyota’s commitment to the environment and to making great cars that care for the planet. 2 Familiar Drive Feel Don’t be intimidated by the ‘Hybrid’ nature of the Toyota Camry because this green car is as easy…

The tech doesn’t stop the driving experience feeling almost entirely natural FERRARI 812 SUPERFAST Price: £257,331 (Rs 2.2 crore) Engine: 6,496 cc 48v V12, 800 PS at 8,500 rpm, 718 Nm at 7,000 rpm Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch auto, rear-wheel drive Performance: 0-100 km/h 2.9 seconds, 340 km/h, 6.7 km/l, 340 g/km CO2 Weight: 1,630 kg On Sale: Now I’D LOVE TO MEET SOMEONE ABLE TO DROP OVER A QUARTER of a million pounds on a new Ferrari. Not out of jealousy; more so I could go through with them in geeky detail what their cash has bought them. It would be easy to get distracted by that badge, or by the stunning looks, but what makes this car so special is the hardware. And a little bit of software. To…

ŠKODA OCTAVIA STYLE PLUS TDI AT Price: Rs 22.89 lakh (ex-showroom) Engine: 1,968 cc, in-line four, turbo-diesel Max Power: 143 PS at 3,500-4,000 rpm Max Torque: 320 Nm at 1,750-3,000 rpm Transmission: Six-speed, automatic, front-wheel-drive Weight: 1,395 kg VOLKSWAGEN GROUP’S FIRST-EVER MQB CAR IN INDIA, the Škoda Octavia, looked phenomenal when it was launched a few years ago. The dynamic design with strong creases and bold lines made it an outstanding car in terms of design. It looked really beautiful. But since that car is now a few years old, Škoda thought it was time to call in the surgeon to give the Octavia a facelift. The result is rather a mixed bag of reactions, or is it? Since we were curious, we flew to Chandigarh and took a closer…

PORSCHE 911 GT2 RS Price: £207,506 (Rs 1.76 crore) Engine: 3,800 cc 24v flat-six twin-turbo, 700 PS @ 7,000 rpm, 750 Nm @ 2,250-4,000 rpm Transmission: Seven-speed PDK twin-clutch auto, rear-wheel drive Suspension: MacPherson strut front, multi-link rear Wheels and Tyres: 265/35 ZR20 front, 325/30 ZR21 rear Brakes: Porsche ceramic composite as standard Body: Carbon panels, magnesium roof Performance: 2.8 seconds 0-100 km/h, 340 km/h, 8.5 km/l, 269 g/km CO2 Weight: 1,470 kg (1,440 kg with Weissach Package) On Sale: Now (in select global markets) THERE WAS A TIME WHEN PORSCHE fitted two grab handles to every 911, but those days are long gone. What keeps you as a passenger firmly locked in position in the latest 911 GT2 RS are Lucifer-red seatbelts, a bucket-seat so tight that your ribs,…

THE WORLD GOES ROUND and round but the human race rarely follows. Unless its after hours, traffic barely moves and, more often than not, the whole ‘race’ comes to a grinding halt because of some sort of accident or another. Now, European roads have white lines and road signs, and, more importantly, people who, more often than not, follow traffic rules. However, the world isn’t Europe, and people – many clueless about basic etiquette – are on the road, with zero regard for anyone else. That’s where the need for shared autonomous mobility comes in. The 63rd Bosch press event was renamed to the Bosch Mobility Experience this time round simply because the focus is on mobility, with or without a human behind the wheel. We’ve had several assistance systems…

LAST MONTH I WAS AT THE KARI MOTOR Speedway, Coimbatore, to experience what it was like to drive a true-blue racing car around the circuit with a bunch of other journalists. You can read my first impressions of the Ameo Cup car in the July issue of Car India, where I write about letting loose the 205 PS and 320 Nm of torque that is produced by the 1.8-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine, and how the electromagnetic actuators, governed by the shift paddles, slam each cog home with a gunshot-like bang. If you have already gone through our last issue and are up to date with the specifications of the car, this month we share with you the experience of actually spending a weekend racing the Ameo Cup race car at…

THIERRY NEUVILLE HAS BAGGED HIS third win of the 2017 WRC season in Poland to challenge championship leader Sébastien Ogier for the title. The M-Sport rally driver is currently leading with 11 points. However, Neuville’s performance in Poland proved that the Hyundai man has a shot at the title. The Polish rally proved to be full of drama with torrential rain, strong winds and a lot of mud, all of which made the stages more challenging. On Friday, the competition was between Hyundai’s Neuville, Toyota’s Jari-Matti Latvala and Ott Tänak of M-Sport Ford as the three drivers kept exchanging the lead throughout the day. However, as the day came to an end, Neuville emerged on top with a lead of 1.3 seconds over Tänak, with Latvala 5.3 seconds further back.…

NEW THIS MONTH JEEP COMPASS The most affordable true-blue Jeep has arrived, in petrol and diesel. Prices start from Rs 14.95 lakh VOLVO V90 CROSS COUNTRY Blending the qualities of the saloon, estate and SUV, the V90 packs multiple characters in one car. From Rs 60 lakh LEGENDS PRICES Ex-showroom, Pune (subject to change) BO: Available only By Order 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 MINI NISSAN RENAULT RENAULT TATA MOTORS TOYOTA VOLKSWAGEN VOLVO…