Cashless Carnival

I do not believe in making new year resolutions. As Kiruba rightly points out - It is probably in the month of January every year that liquor and cigarette sales are the lowest, gym and slimming centers enrollment are the highest, but the sales get back to normal figures by February.

Having said that, I know my blog has been gathering dust for quite some time now and I intend to be more active with blogging this year but I will restrict myself mostly to speaking out loud only about “the” subject, for reasons that are obvious: 1. I am passionate about it. 2. A lot of regular readers of this blog are passionate about it too.

I am looking at introducing another dimension to this blog, but I’ll talk about that later.

OK, Now if you are wondering what the subject of this post had to do with all this, well here is the explanation:

According to a recent study:

• Delhi boasts of the highest car density in India - 85 cars per 1000 population.
• Ludhiana comes second at 56 per 1000. But, Ludhiana has the highest density of Mercedes’s in India and also the number of two-wheelers.
• Chennai comes third with about 51 cars per 1000 population.
• Overall car penetration in India remains at 8 per 1000. The TATA 1 Lakh car could change these figures - The study did not say that, I am speculating that.

As far as the two wheelers are concerned:

• Ludhiana ranks the highest with 376 per 1000.
• Coimbatore comes second with 321 per 1000.
• Vadodara at third with 275 per 1000.

[Source]

Maruti SX4 has been selling really well at over 3000 cars a month, and it certainly deserves to. It is a brilliant value for money car that made guys at Honda nervous too, who immediately went to on to add the ABS and Airbags in the City.

I am happy with the way the Indian car market is shaping up. Every segment has so many offerings and there is so much competition, the consumer is finally winning.

What is also pleasantly surprising is the fact that our folks have stopped fussing over petty things. The SX4 has only one reverse light on the left tail light cluster and it seems to have bothered no one. 8 years ago, when Ford launched the Ikon with the same feature [or bug], it was criticized upon so heavily that Ford had to add the second one immediately to avoid any more bickering.

Times surely have changed and so have people. For the good.

If you just saunter around the new Safari, it is highly likely that you will not notice any change. But, a closer look should reveal the new honey comb grille with shades of chrome and the new rear wheel cover. Apart from these minor changes, this fourth generation Safari looks quite similar to its first generation ancestor that was launched in 1998.

But, the most important change and a much needed one has happened under the hood which catapults the Safari back into the race with the Innova and the Scorpio. The new 2.2 L engine produces 140 bhp at 4000 rpm and a torque of 320 Nm at a rpm range of 1700 - 2700. Unlike, the Safari which I drove about 6 months ago where I had to release my leg off the clutch pedal and almost stand on the accelerator pedal to make it move, this one can be made to move with much lesser effort. It is much quieter and performs really well between the 3000 and 4000 rpm bands.

Even after four iterations, the Safari does not feel as refined as the Innova both in terms of drive and the overall quality. The paint work has blemishes [of course, it is distinctly superior than the Scorpio’s], the clutch and the gear lever still feel gravelly and at times it may take two or more attempts to move the stick to the first slot from the neutral. The interiors feel much brighter with the two tone beige and the express down power windows is a good feature considering the size of the windows. I wish, they had put an ‘express up’ on the driver side as well.

The in-cabin comfort is where Safari scores really high both in the front and the rear seats with the generous legroom, headroom and shoulder room. I drove the Safari for about 20 kms at speeds ranging from 0 - 140 and the ease with which I drove the vehicle remained consistent through the entire range. There were occasions where I had to swerve the vehicle from one side of the road to the other which was effortless and there was not much body roll. I felt the Safari would take the bad roads and the humps in its stride with the 16″ wheels and the 235/70 tubeless tyres but I was wrong.

At about 9.9 Lakhs [on-road, Bangalore] the EX - 4 X 2 makes a good choice though it does not come with the ABS, the Airbags, the leather upholstery, the wooden trims, the DVD player with the monitors and the rear view camera, but the fact that these features [on the VX] would cost me two and half lakhs more is something that I haven’t come to terms with yet.

Though the Safari looks more or less the same as it did about 9 years ago, it is still a handsome head turner. I am assuming that TATA’s have resolved the quality niggles the previous generations had, which they are trying to reassure with the 2 years / 75,000 kms warranty.

All in all, the Safari is a brilliant package now and the mind could not have agreed with the heart more to go for it. I may go for the EX soon, if my 63 year old mom manages to climb into it easily and if it manages to get into my garage on Tuesday when I have asked the dealer for a second test drive.

Volkswagen has launched its India website that features the Passat and the Touareg. Everything looks refined on the site except the image on the page that features the Touareg.

Why a dog in the picture that too of one that’s passing water on a tree?

As much as I am impressed with the Optra Magnum Diesel, I am equally depressed with the petrol variant. And just when I was beginning to think that General Motors has done a great job by discarding the Opel brand in India and bringing up the Chevy range and by completely revamping their models, they come up with a face lift for the Optra Petrol in the form of Optra Magnum Petrol with just the unenthusiastic 1.6 L engine and no 1.8 L option. The changes are merely cosmetic with the SRV kind of looks to the front and enhanced interiors. There is absolutely no change to the engine over its predecessor. It is the same 1.6 L, 104 bhp engine. You have the option of choosing between a 1.6 LS and 1.6 LT which cost 8 and 9 Lakhs respectively [ex-showroom, add another lakh for the on road price]

What is GM expecting to do with this model? On one hand they have the Diesel Magnum which can give the Skoda Octavia a run for its money and on the other they have the petrol variant which can’t even measure up to the cars in the lower segment - the Verna’s and the City’s and the Fiesta’s.

Had GM considered sprucing up the petrol magnum to make it as peppy as it’s diesel sibling, would they not have had a winner in their stable which could have created a dent in the Civic and Corolla segment?

An advertisement from the local dealer here in Bangalore tells me that they are already offering a 60,000 discount on the Petrol Magnum. I would be really surprised if this discount tempts any.

My previous posts on the Optra Magnum are here and here and all my posts on automobiles can be accessed here