The Boy's Toys

Its all in the NAME....

2010-07-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

All of us are aware of the value of a Brand today. Brands test our psychology, they are much more than just names, they tell us more about our own selves. Possessing a branded object grants you unchallengeable bragging rights and at the same time allows you to downplay similar objects of not so "upmarket" value. Brands make you pay many fold more for a product than what a brand-neutral person would pay and that proves beyond doubt that products these days are not just meant to be used for their respective purposes, the obvious ones, a car meant to go from one place to other, clothing meant to protect you from the nature, a home meant to live or even your undergarments for that matter. Brands are everywhere, but through this article i will try to bring forth a world of brands that is strange, mysterious and illogical, yet we come in contact with it everyday without even giving a second thought. sometimes knowingly, sometimes not.

Brands usually are a result of a very special type of ideology of usually one person, which give a unique character and appeal to that respective name. One may call that way of thinking idiosyncratic, eccentric or even plain and simple crazy but this craziness is what gives it the unique identity.
But what happens when that brain behind the brand, that ideology, that craziness is not there anymore?
Before i touch that, i would like to bring to your notice a brand structure system that i got to know just some time back. It baffled me.
Volkswagen is not such a well known brand in india, but here are its subsidiaries..
Volkswagen owns
BENTLEY
BUGATTI
SCANIA
SEAT
SKODA
AUDI
LAMBORGHINI

Porsche owns VOLKSWAGEN

Fiat owns
FERRARI
ALFA ROMEO
MASERATI
LANCIA
ABARTH

BMW owns
ROLLS ROYCE
BMW MOTORRAD

GM owns
OPEL
VAUXHALL
DAEWOO
HOLDEN
CHEVROLET
BUICK
CADILLAC
GMC

Daimler owns
MERCEDES BENZ
MAYBACH
AMG
SMART
FREIGHTLINER

Hyundai owns KIA

Geely owns VOLVO

There are a lot more of such examples. The most important thing to note here is the extent of Porsche. Ferdinand Porsche founded Porsche, but he also founded Volkswagen, now Porsche owns it. The Porsche family effectively own majority of the world automobile industry.
Now, its a well known fact that Enzo Ferrari hated to sell his cars, he only wanted the cars to race and bring him glory, he was compelled to sell them for money. Again, Lamborghini wanted to build strong, small family cars and not the monsters that they are known for these days.
My question is that the mindset with which these brands were formed don't exist anymore because the mind doesn't.. So can these big automobile companies do justice to this ideology?
I don't think so..

Review: Hyundai Dealerships Chandigarh

2010-07-21T03:02:00.001-07:00

I recently read that chandigarh has the highest car per person rate in india, but sadly the dealerships here aren't that good as you might expect, specially the lower middle segment dealers for cars and almost all motorcycle dealers. My recent purchase of a Hyundai i10 got me into contact with various dealers in and around chandigarh, i hope you benefit from this information.

1. ULTIMATE HYUNDAI CHANDIGARH
Since i bought my car from here and have had extensive contact with them, i start from here.
There are 4 hyundai car dealers in chandigarh and mohali, Ultimate hyundai chandigarh, Charisma hyundai chandigarh, KLG hyundai chandigarh, Joshi hyundai mohali. My obvious initial step was to go to each one of them, try to know how good they are or how bad, get a test drive, interact with them, get a quote and then finally decide. Here is my first impression of Ultimate Hyundai: NO WAY IN HELL I'M BUYING FROM HERE!
You read it right, its a government office, worse than it. Nothing gets done on time, everything somehow hits some inexplicable roadblock, you hear silly excuses all the time some of which are so absurd you can laugh a whole week thinking about it.
But anyway, i went there again, to get a test drive, here is what they said: WE DONT HAVE A TEST DRIVE VEHICLE AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW, WE HAVEN'T BEEN ALLOTTED ONE. ANYWAY CUSTOMER WHO IS SERIOUS ENOUGH TO BUY WILL NOT ASK FOR A TEST DRIVE PLUS THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE WHO COME HERE FROM THE ADJOINING PVR CINEMA JUST TO ENJOY A DRIVE AND NOTHING MORE. SO OUR MANAGEMENT DISCOURAGES US TO GIVE TEST DRIVES TO CUSTOMERS.
I finally got a test drive from KLG hyundai.
Then came the time for taking quotes, and believe me i have no idea how they managed to bring a gap of Rs. 4000 as compared to other dealers. Comparing with KLG, which i like the most, they were having a a price already less by Rs. 1000 and above that they were giving some accessories which i got converted into cash which fetched another Rs. 3000 making the total gap.
Now you would think 4000 isn't a big deal when you are talking about buying a 5 lac thing, but trust me, when you are trying to find small things to reject or prioritize a dealership, such things matter. So the decision was made, Ultimate it is. I gave solace to myself thinking that once i get the car from here i will always get it serviced at KLG so i will have the best deal from all respects.
I always asked the dealers very categorically how long will the delivery take, Ultimate said at max 12-13 days, i said lets make it 15 to make room for any glitches. I got the delivery after 22 days.
Don't think the damage was just emotional, that they cheated on the delivery date, i placed the order on 15th February 2010, car arrived on 10th march 2010, during this period the excise duty increased. Initially i thought it would not affect us since we already had made the order well before the date of increase, but as it turns out, Ultimate hyundai placed the order on such a date that the car was billed on 28th February 2010, a day after the prices rose.
You can imagine my rage, we had to pay 10,000 more just because they could not make the order on time even when i made all the payments and bookings well before that date.
Even here don't think they made any apology or anything that could have comforted us, hell even their explanations are so vague you want to get the car, throw the money in their face and get it over with. The guy i was dealing with told me the car was billed on 26th, the manager told it was 28th. I said you could have taken the whole of the amount before 27th, he says your car was not even billed, so it was not possible. Now whose mistake was it that my car was not billed even 12 days after i actually made the booking?
Anyway, the car arrived, finally. They don't do any PDI(Pre Delivery Inspection), just hang a card saying PDI done, even that they didn't do with my car. When i did the PDI myself i found that that even when that car was off, not even the key inside, the rpm meter was on 1000, naturally i asked the dealer, his answer: SIR AUTOMATIC CARS HAVE DIFFERENT PROBLEMS THIS IS BECAUSE ITS AUTOMATIC DON'T WORRY CAR IS FINE EVERYTHING IS ALL RIGHT.
Trust me, this is just one of the million excuses this guy gave me that were absurd like anything. I asked him what is the L mode in automatic transmission, he said its for long distance driving. I asked him what is the O/D mode for, he said its for overtaking. He was like a school kid, who just blurts out anything that first comes to his mouth and thinks he is right, always making silly excuses.
So the delivery, my family came along and we were ready for the delivery. Even when i had told them i would be there first thing in the morning, still when i arrive and ask then the car is taken for washing and fitting. Paperwork is done, they make us pay even 39 rupees with this excuse from my beloved dealer: SIR ITNA MARGIN NAHIN HOTA ISMEIN. For god's sake! he wanted me to believe that in selling a car worth 5 lac the dealership didn't make more than 39 rupees?
So, we take the car out, there is no ceremony, nothing at all i mean, we take the keys and head out, just like that, like it was some car park.
I have not even scratched the surface of what i had to face, but then i don't want to sound all weeping and dejected.
On 14th May i brought my car for service at Ultimate only, because there seemed to be some problem in the steering and i thought it would be better if the selling dealer saw to it. Here again, the government office did its job. They had made such a mess of cars on the entry of the service area that i would have to sit in my car on the road for atleast an hour before it could go inside, then again how long it would take god knows.
I finally made a good decision, reversed, sped away straight to KLG, got it serviced within an hour and went home satisfied.

VERDICT: DON'T GO TO ULTIMATE HYUNDAI IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A BUYING EXPERIENCE. HELL DON'T GO TO ULTIMATE AT ALL UNLESS YOUR ONLY AIM IS TO BE HAPPY SAVING 4000 OVER 5 LACS, WHICH AGAIN ULTIMATELY, YOU MAY END UP LOOSING OR PAYING 6000 EXTRA INSTEAD.

2. JOSHI HYUNDAI
Because i live in mohali, joshi hyundai was closest, i went there a few times for inquiries. I cant be as comprehensive about any other dealer as i have been about ultimate because of the obvious fact that i bought the car from there, but here is what i experienced at joshi.
They have nice infrastructure, good dealers and overall good vibes. The first point that drew me away from them was that they were asking for the highest price, along with KLG hyundai, which didn't seem much justified to me. The second reason that made me swear never to buy nothing from joshi hyundai:
I HAD TO MAKE 3 APPEARANCES TO FINALLY GET A TEST RIDE, 9 AM IN THE MORNING. THEIR TEAM LEADER IS GOING WITH ME. FIRST OF ALL, UNLIKE ALL OTHER DEALERS TILL DATE THAT I HAVE HAD TEST DRIVES WITH, HE ASKS ME TO WAIT AND REVERSES AND GETS THE CAR OUT HIMSELF, LIKE I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DRIVE. WHEN HE CROSSES THE GATE, HE ASKS ME TO DRIVE. I GET ON THE SEAT, MAKE MYSELF COMFORTABLE, PUT ON THE SEAT BELT, PUSH THE STARTER AND WHAT I SEE? THE GUY SITTING NEXT TO ME, THE SO CALLED TEAM LEADER IS SITTING WITH HIS RIGHT HAND FIRMLY ON THE HAND BRAKE. NOW EITHER THAT GUY HAD EXTREME FEAR OF BEING DRIVEN BY SOMEONE ELSE, OR HE THOUGHT I NEEDED HELP WITH BREAKING, BUT ANYWAY I DROVE THAT CAR AS DANGEROUSLY AS I COULD WITH TOTAL RAGE.
That guy treated me like a kid. like i was there just for fun and won't be buying anything. When i asked him for a quote he just started speaking this much amount, we will give you this this and that, not even sitting down to discuss anything.

VERDICT: NOT A BAD PLACE AT ALL, IF THEY CAN BE A BIT SENSITIVE AND FIRE THAT TEAM LEADER RIGHT AWAY.

3. CHARISMA HYUNDAI
Right about the time i was planning for my vehicle, charisma was in the limelight because some person had won a case against it in the consumer forum. Apparently, charisma had said it will give the exchange bonus but did not in the end. So you can understand i wasn't much enthusiastic about buying from there from the start. The place isn't bad, the staff is a bit careless, its not a big deal if you keep standing for a few minutes waiting to be noticed.
Then i got my dealer, someone who will make you remember that fat girl from comedy circus. I asked her, just for information, if i could buy i10 automatic through CSD? She said in the most certain tone that its completely impossible, that their owner is a retired army officer and the maximum number of CSD sales are made through them in chandigarh, all this when i had just returned from KLG hyundai after being told there would be no problem with an i10 automatic.
Anyhow, i went there for a qoute, their price was in the middle, and they were giving some cheap seat covers. When i asked if i could convert them into cash as i didn't want to put on those cheap things and it would be of no use to me then, she refused. That put the final nail in the coffin.

VERDICT: NOT A BAD PLACE, NOT A GOOD ONE EITHER, THE LEAST REMARKABLE DEALER HERE.

4. KLG HYUNDAI
This is where you will get an actual buying experience, something that you will want to tell others about and recommend them to buy from. The dealer, Ms Shobhita, very straightforward and cool. Got my first test drive here, which actually was not very nice, not in the sense of the drive, which in itself was perfect because she didn't interfere at all, let me do anything i wanted with the car, take it anywhere and come back when i preferred, but in the sense that the car was not an actual test drive vehicle, it was just a new car.
Now this can be taken both negatively and positively, she tried her best to get me the test drive and got it by any means possible, but what about the poor guy to whom the car belonged? We all know how test drive vehicles are driven. Saying that they are driven would be an understatement, they are properly abused.
Barring that, it was a pleasure dealing with them.
As i have already told i got the first service done from KLG only, which was a very very pleasant experience and i swear my allegiance to KLG for the rest of my life!

VERDICT: THE BEST PLACE TO BUY A HYUNDAI IN CHANDIGARH. DON'T GO FOR DISCOUNTS, THEY COUNT FOR NOTHING IN THE END.

Review: Other car dealers in chandigarh

2010-07-21T03:01:00.001-07:00

I recently read that chandigarh has the highest car per person rate in india, but sadly the dealerships here aren't that good as you might expect, specially the lower middle segment dealers for cars and almost all motorcycle dealers. My recent purchase of a Hyundai i10 got me into contact with various dealers in and around chandigarh, i hope you benefit from this information.

1. GENUSS MOTORS, VOLKSWAGEN
Just about the time i was going for my purchase, polo was going to hit the market. Its reputation preceded it, so i had to give it a try.
The showroom isn't huge but it feels cozy. Just as i entered i was greeted by a smart sardarji who had me seated properly when i inquired about polo. He went back, brought the brochure and then sat with me explaining all the features and differences between different models. Then he took me to each modal, one by one, in increasing order of price, making me sit in the car, letting me get a feel and explaining the product side by side. Once we were done with this, he offered me a test ride.
Here i would like to mention that Genuss motors were the only people who actually "offered" me a test drive, everywhere else i had to ask for it, not a small thing.
The courtesy level shown by the salesman was the best in my experience.
So we went for the drive, the drive was good. At one point i tried to get into a bad road to test the car's suspension setup, here he intervened and took me to a road which was 100 times worse than the road i had chosen, surprisingly flattering.
We got back, he prepared me a bag with a poster of Polo along with the paperwork etc neatly folded in an envelope.
Some of you may think that this is expected of Volkswagen as they are a very very big company, i beg to differ. They are also selling a product in the 5 to 6 lac range, at least to me, its all about courtesy, knowing what to do and what not and simple respect. It takes nothing to show these human values, i don't know why some others skip these, its neither beneficial to them nor to us, i have no idea why.
I eventually did not buy the car, first of all because there was a huge waiting period spanning months, plus i did not like that car that much, maybe i was expecting too much, but somewhere that car failed to be that Polo which i had imagined.

VERDICT: LIVES UP TO THE EXPECTATIONS FROM A VOLKSWAGEN DEALERSHIP, IN EVERY POSSIBLE WAY.

2. DYNAMIC MOTORS, CHEVROLET
Another new car in the market was Beat and with its ad campaign showing it as a racing machine rather than a tiny hatchback, i surely went to check it out.
The dealership is good, so are the salespersons. Nothing remarkable in negative or positive except one thing, i had to wait a whole day to get the test drive of Beat, reason? The owner of the dealership had taken it for some personal work, at least that is what i was told.
Now that is not very inviting but anyway i hung around and got the drive at 6pm, which was a disaster. The car is nothing it says it is, at all.
There is no other choice as far as buying a Chevrolet car is concerned in chandigarh, this is the only dealer and there seems to be no plausible reason to say its not good, although there isn't any to say its good either.

VERDICT: BUY A CHEVROLET FROM HERE, THERE IS NO CHOICE EITHER AND ITS OK.

3. PRESTIGE HONDA
The Jazz, costliest hatchback available, good reason to check it out, plus its a honda.

Dealership is nice, although seems a bit crowded. The sales person was very smart and courteous, although he exuded some sort of vibe which made me feel sympathetic for him, not that he said to me that his targets are not being met or he will be fired or something, he made me feel to buy the car for his sake, without saying anything, he was so humble.
I don't like such situations, they hamper your decision making ability. I made myself strong and went on. Got a test ride, he let me take it out from a jam packed car park and drive wherever i liked. Got back and parked again, got the brochure and price lists neatly in an envelope, went on.
The car isn't worth 7 lacs, not in this world.

VERDICT: VERY GOOD PLACE TO BUY A HONDA.

4. BHAGAT FORD
Another new car, Figo, very competitive pricing and filled with features, had to check it out.
Bhagat Ford was never in my good books, after that incident in which cars serviced from there got stolen within a month with duplicate keys made by the mechanics. I don't think the management had any hand in that, but their workers are their responsibility, so were the thefts consequently.
Anyway i went on, had to wait for around 20 minutes before anyone came to heed me, which was in part because of the already huge number of people wanting to know about Figo plus their carelessness.
Finally got the information, couldn't get the test drive as they did not have any test drive vehicle. So went out.
The very next day the sales guy started calling me about my decision. Now that i think is a bad move, customers should be given time to think, atleast 3 days, don't hog them like you are desperate to sell this one.

VERDICT: IF I HAD TO BUY, I WOULD GO TO SALUJA FORD, FOR NO REASONS EXPLAINABLE.

5. SALUJA FORD
Test drive of the Figo brought me here.
The place is cramped, very cramped, plus the road building on its front gate wasn't helping matters either. I went in, instantly got a sales guy, told him straight i want a test drive nothing else. Got it, the car is good, for its price its a gem.
The guy looked hell bent on getting me to buy it today only, not a good thing, i think he was new.

VERDICT: A LITTLE ROUGH AROUND THE EDGES BUT I WILL TAKE IT.

6. BERKELEY AUTOMOBILES
Swift, the most notable car in the segment i was looking and one of the strongest contenders, brought me to Berkeley.
The dealership is huge, plenty of space and nice infrastructure. People are very cordial. My sales guy was sort of an amateur, i didn't mind that much. People care about you there, trust me, so much that even if you get out of the comfort of your chair to check out some other cars you are immediately called back to sit comfortably and not loiter around because it feels like you are not being listened to.
I recently went there to give an interview for the post of sales executive too, that was also a very pleasant experience.
The test drive was good, didn't like the car that much mostly because of visibility problems and its size.

VERDICT: BEST PLACE TO BUY A MARUTI SUZUKI. DON'T GO ANYWHERE ELSE.

7. JOSHI TATA
Although i have always hated the indica for its downmarket quality, its sheer value for money was enough reason to make me go check it out.
The dealership is very very small and the effect is more pronounced with fiat also sharing the space. Its chaos anyway, nobody knows where anyone else is, i had to wait a good 10 minutes before someone came to help. Sales guys are best described as ok. Wanted a test drive for the petrol version, was not available, had to go with the diesel instead. The car was a disaster too, as expected.
My test drive was cut short by the sales guy because there seemed to be not enough fuel in the vehicle, annoying.
Got back, got the brochures and got going, nothing here.
I got a call back from them 2 months later saying they had a petrol test drive vehicle now.

VERDICT: BAD PLACE, BAD CAR.

8. HIND TATA
Hind motors, one of the biggest dealerships of bajaj and tata under their belt, went there to give another chance to vista petrol.
The place is worse than a government office, they are better these days. It fits perfectly the image of a decaying govt. office, old chairs and other furniture covered with older files, fat and old babus sitting on place of sales guys, ask anything and you will be referred to someone else after a fixed gap of 15 minutes and the process will go on until you shout to get your answer.
They also did not have the petrol version.

VERDICT: AVOID IT AT ALL COSTS.

9. CHITTOSHO MOTORS, MARUTI SUZUKI
Its in mohali, so it was my first stop for checking out Swift.
Its difficult to reach, the road looks like it faces 2-3 earthquakes daily. The place itself is not that bad, a big cramped i would say. The staff is good, my sales guy was again, like berkeley, sort of naive. No swift test drive vehicle available. They said you could take the test drive of Ritz as it has the same engine.
I have no idea how in god's name they could compare ritz and swift, not just compare but equal them and present one as the substitute of other. Anyway i declined their offer, got the paperwork and went on.

VERDICT: NOT A BAD PLACE, PEOPLE LACK COMMON SENSE THOUGH.

10. CM MOTORS, MARUTI SUZUKI
Its located in ropar, on the way to my home, so i dropped buy to check it out, in case it was good it could be a good location to get my car serviced from.
The place is good, lots of space, the staff is nice too. The sales guy told me that he had worked at chevrolet and hyundai as well before here.
Again the same stupid problem here, no swift available, go with the rest. This time i tried to feel how it feels to do such a stupid thing.
The car is not bad at all, having the engine of swift and removing its visibility issues, its a good buy, a bit cramped on space for sure.
Got back, got the papers and went on.
A few days later got the call from the guy asking about my decision, i told him it was i10, he seemed very dejected, i could not help. Next day i got a call again, some guy saying he is a sales guy from CM and wanted to meet me at home, i told him that i had already made my decision known to the other guy, this did not stop him, he was almost begging, saying that there could be action against me if i don't come to your place, i said i don't want you to come why would there be any action? Finally he relented when i said i will tell anyone who calls me asking about you that you visited me and tried your best. Hell of an ordeal.

VERDICT: FOR PEOPLE LIVING FROM NANGAL TO ROPAR, NOT A BAD CHOICE AT ALL.

Review: Motorcycle dealers in chandigarh

2010-07-21T03:00:00.001-07:00

I have owned a pulsar 150 for 3 years now, buying it and getting it serviced had brought me in contact with the 2 motorcycle dealers for bajaj in the region, here are the insights.

1. HIND BAJAJ
The place is a disaster, just like hind tata, its worse than a government office, the haryanvi manager is totally incompetent to manage even a rehri what to speak of a whole dealership. Nothing gets done on time or upto your satisfaction, everything tends to hit roadblocks. People with silly contacts with silly insiders get their job done while others wait and curse.
I had to get the official services done from an authorized dealer, so i did not have much of a choice.
Their mohali office is even more damaged. You can't be sure at all if your bike will come out from there repaired or even more damaged than before, the workers are complete nuts. I once faced a problem with the starter, he set my idle RPM at 4000 so that it started easily.

VERDICT: NO CHOICE, AT ALL, OTHERWISE I WOULD NEVER EVEN LOOK TOWARDS THIS MESS.

2. PRATAP AUTO
I don't have much experience with pratap auto, although my first and last was enough to make me never go there again.
I had to get the bike serviced and was fed up of Hind, went to pratap, its like a slum, really, with strange entrances and exits from filthy places. I parked my bike where i thought someone would come to take it for service, the guy came, let me explain his look to you. He was the sort of guy who will not be hired by even a rikshaw puller, has no competence in anything but will have the air of the maharaja of hydrabad.
Anyway i waited, that guy came and went taking other bikes inside, some of which came after me, after shaking a hand or two with the owners, pure govt office work. I started my bike and left.

VERDICT: WORSE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE.

3. BHAKRA BAJAJ NANGAL
So, recently when i was in nangal my bike started leaking fuel from the petrol T and wouldn't start, i had no other option except taking it to the nearest service center because in my experience local mechanics usually multiply the problem rather than fixing it.
The place is good with an AC waiting area for customers but the best part is that no one pulls your shirt if you want to stay with your bike and see it serviced. Its not huge but sufficient.
I had certain problems there as well. Firstly, their philosophy is "change everything that has even a remote relation to the problem". The simplest solution was to just change the T, but they changed the spark plugs and the air filter. They were forcing me to change the battery as well even though it was working fine. The chain set was also bothering them a lot. I don't mind changing worn out parts from my bike but they were excessive.
Secondly and most importantly, while cleaning the carb, which i have no idea why he was doing, the mechanic lost its needle. The needle is a very small thing that plays a vital role in the carburetor, and its costly. The other mechanic while sounding all concerned about it starts playing me that it was faulty and should be replaced. I didn't say much and let them find it, which they did finally. When i was paying the bill i saw that the price of the needle, all 169 of it, was billed to me, i told them that i did not buy one and then it was cut out.
The problem here is that their staff misplaced the needle and i was told to pay for it, although they found it and the situation never got to that, but i am sure had that happened they would have happily told me to pay for it and get lost, which sucks.
I wanted to buy the type of petrol T that can be locked, so i asked them to get one for me, they told me its not available at the center but they can get it from outside, i said fine, they took the money and bought one, 140 they told me the price. After the service my friend told me you can get one for 110, without bargaining. Never mind. Later i find out that the system of the T is such that i can't just leave it on ON and take the key back, every time i have to get the key i need to turn it to off, which is not so clever. So not only did i pay more, i paid more for an inferior product.

VERDICT: NOT GOOD, IF YOU ARE CARELESS ENOUGH THEY MIGHT TELL YOU YOUR BIKE IS LOST AND MAKE YOU BUY A NEW ONE.

Auto or Manual?

2010-05-25T03:44:00.000-07:00

There was a time when an automatic transmission car was unheard in India, cars with long throw, harder-than-a-truck transmissions were abundant and this time isn't too much in the past. The Indian automobile industry has changed completely in a span of 7-8 years, not just in the four wheeler segment.
From the past 2-3 years automatics have been available, yet their presence on the road remains to be only a fraction. Here i will try to explain why you should go for an automatic, defying all the myths and proving all excuses against it wrong.

Most of you must be aware that in countries like US, barely anyone buys a manual tranny car, most of the manuals are sports cars. Even if someone buys one, they have very poor resale values. Now why do you think such a developed nation with educated people would choose one thing over other? Ignoring the fact that Americans are known to be very lazy, there is not one clear explanation that would show why they prefer automatics.
The reason is simple, its much much simpler and easier to drive.
Most of the people in India consider automatics to be a luxury, against the fact that a very decently loaded automatic i10 would set you back by just 4.7 lacs, and we all know that is not a big amount at all for many fat bellied folks here.
An automatic setup usually costs a premium of around 30-50 thousand over a manual drive. This is the biggest reason why it is a flop in India, it is considered a waste of money when you can have a 'normal' car at such a big discount.
Here are the reasons why you should go for an auto setup
1. Very very easy to drive, no clutch pedal means no mixups.
2. Very very easy to learn to drive, specially for ladies who usually find clutches and gears more difficult to handle than begin asked to make food for 300 people.

3. For the special Indian conditions, which i call video game driving, its a must, because anything can come out from anywhere at anytime, dogs, bricks, potholes, vomits, kids anything, so its much better that your full concentration is on the front, on the road, rather than being divided into the clutch play, which gear i am in, how much speed i am at and how fast is that cow going to be hit.

4. Its not that bad on fuel consumption as you think, no doubt automatics don't give those magical numbers that manuals are capable of, although some high end cars have even worked around that with 8 speed automatic gearboxes which is insane, anyway a manual i10 gives you around 16 to 18 kmpl, an automatic i10 would give you from 11 to 15, on a good highway it can give 19 even. Automatics are usually lagging in mileage in city driving, stop and go traffic that is. But then again its the most comfortable to drive in such traffic, with nothing to worry about, no gears or clutch actions to deal with.

5. There is no loss of sportiness in an automatic, rather its much eager to go forward due to smaller shift times as they are done by computer not you and that automatics almost always have lower number of gears than their manual friends, so there is plenty of revv.

For the elderly, ladies and people like me who would like to worry more about the road than the car must consider buying an automatic to make their life so much easier. People who just care about saving money and boasting about a bike-beating car mileage of course would not even look this side.

Just to make things more clear, here is the general setup of gears in an automatic vehicle, yes it still has gears.

P stands for parking, used to lock the shaft just as we would do it by leaving a manual car in gear, most cars would only start in this mode.

R stands for reverse

N stands for neutral

D stands for drive, drive in itself contains 4 gears (i10 specifically, varies for others) which are shifted up and down sequentially as required. As soon as you put your car in D, it will start moving, unlike an Active which most people compare it with. Activa has a variomatic tranmission, this is completely different. So when you put it in D, control it with the brake pedal.

2 stands for upto second gear, it will restrict the gear up shifting until the 2nd gear only, 3rd and 4th gears will never be used in this model.. Used for steep slopes and high load driving, or using engine braking while going downhill.

L stands for load, will restrict the gear up shifting to the 1st gear only, no other gear used. Used for very steep slopes and very high load.

There is another mode, O/D mode. The fourth gear is called overdrive in an i10, normally overdrive is on, means car will go upto 4th gear, if you turn overdrive off, it will go upto only the 3rd gear. Useful for engine braking on slopes.

Automatic transmissions are a gift, accept them.

Comparision: Bugatti Veyron and SSC Ultimate Aero

2010-04-07T02:48:00.000-07:00

Everyone has a dream in life, dream house, dream girl, dream job, dream car.. The cars that i am discussing here are capable of being any mortal's dream come true. Behold the SSC Ultimate Aero TT vs the Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4, the fastest and the second fastest car in the world..

Lets talk about the more well known and costly beast first, the Bugatti Veyron. Its manufacturer is Bugatti Automobiles SAS whose parent company is none other than Volkswagen Group AG. I was surprised to know that at first because Volkswagen is known for the cute Beetle and the classy Jetta and Passat rather than bloodthirsty 1000 odd bhp wielding monsters.

History tells us that its named after Pierre Veyron who won the 24 hour le mans race in 1939 for the original Bugatti company, one lucky guy. There have been a number of different versions, mostly different externally rather than under the hood but its unnecessary to talk about their features and specs. The main news is that the Grand Sport will replace all other models of the past. It can reach 408kmph with hardtop, a meager 367 kmph with no roof and paltry 130 kmph with temporary soft top. The first of these was auctioned for Rs. 13crore+..
Lets now talk about what we like the most, specs.
8000cc W 16 DOHC 64V Quad Turbo charged petrol engine with 7993cc displacement
987 bhp
1250 nm torque
Seven gear DSG
446.3 bhp/tonne
3.44 kmpl in city driving
1.28 kmpl at top speed driving

Top speed 408.5kmph

0-100 2.5 secs

0-300 16.7 secs

0-400 50 secs

Four wheel drive

100 Liter fuel tank

base model price Rs. 6 crore+

Pheewww!! So these are the 'regular' specs of this car, now lets talk about some irregular (read crazy as hell) specs.

The engine used is a W 16 engine which is functionally two narrow angle V8's matted in a W configuration, but finding a W 16 engine is quite rare, the closest is the Cadillac Sixteen concept(V 16) and the Bentley Flying Spur (W 12), which essentially means this is the only production, street legal W 16 in the world.

So much power going to the four wheels has to be controlled in some way, an Electronic Stability Program (ESP) ensures necessary flexibility and maneuverability at any speed, easy to write, but what is behind this technology is even beyond imagine.

Even with such technology, a car going at 400+ kmph has a wee bit higher probability of crashing than the regular ones at 100, so these perfectionist maniacs at Bugatti installed a F1 safety concept to reduce risk of injuries in accidents.

It has a total of 10 radiators, that is why its so hot!!

Take a look at these

0-100 2.5

100 - 0 2.3
400-0 in less than 10secs.

Thanks to its Carbon Fiber Reinforced Silicon Carbide brakes, this thing slows down faster than it climbs the speedo up, an amazing feat.
At is top speed of 408.5 kmph, the fuel lasts for only 12 odd minutes, the tyres last for only 4 minutes though..
If you thought there was any dearth of crazy heads, listen to this. Mansory, a german tuner, gets a brand new Veyron, tunes it to make 1,094 hp and 1,310 Nm with modifications to the car's cold air induction system and exhaust and names it the Linea Vincero. There are some cosmetic changes too, both inside and out, but anyway how can you even imagine to make the best better?? Maniacs..

If you thought that driving Veyron to its top speed needs only a straight track and the fuel, think again. The driver must, using a special key (the "Top Speed Key"), toggle the lock in order to attain the maximum speed of 408 km/h. The key functions only when the vehicle is at a stop, when a checklist then establishes whether the car—and its driver—are ready to enable 'top speed' mode. If all systems are go, the rear spoiler retracts, the front air diffusers shut and the ground clearance, normally 12.5 centimetres (4.9 in), drops to 6.5 centimetres (2.6 in). Sounds like some sci fi flick.
Again, if you thought only buying this drool maal was costly, think again. The cost of its first service is Rs. 10 lac+, yes thats what you read. Every 4000kms the custom made Michelin tires need to be changed, and they cost Rs 4.5 lac+ a set. The cost to extend its warranty for 2 yrs is Rs 46 lac +.. No wonder ambani's and bacchhan's do with Bentleys and Phantoms.

After this beast, lets focus on another one of this kind, the SSC Ultimate Aero. Its manufactured by Shelby Super Cars, an amercan company. They too are nothing less than total maniacs as suggested by their tagline, Life Begins At 250. Now here 250 isn't referring to 250kmph, its 250mph that converts to 400kmph, cool. Now lets take a deeper look at this marauder, which the comany says took 7 yrs to design..

Under the hood, this thing is vastly different from the too-many-cylinder approach of the Veyron. Its a normal 6.3l V8 twin turbo. The trend continues with the Ultimate Aero being a sole rear wheel drive vehicle, as opposed to Veyrons all wheel drive. Now this difference provides Veyron with the best traction but gives the Ultimate Aero pure sports car feel.

Dont get fooled by the smaller engine and lesser number of cylinders though, it can give much more than just a scare to the mighty Bugatti. It produces a staggering 1183 horse power and 1112ft lbs of torque. These specs dont only look good on paper, being verified time and again over the track. In september 2005, the Aero clocked 411.76kmph, usurping the Veyron as the world's fastest production car. Then again 2 years later, it bettered its own record by crossing 413kmph, now thats some feat. Presently the company claims it can do 434kmph, but it hasn't yet been substantiated..
And its cheap! relatively speaking that is. You can buy 3 Aeros for what you will get one Veyron for, sounds like a better deal then doesn't it? Sell your house then and get it, if you have a house of 3 crore value that is, otherwise sell your kids to madonna or brangelina and you are just about there.

Here are some hard specs now
Displacement 6.345 litres
Engine V8 twin turbocharged
Horse Power (claimed) 1287
Torque (claimed) 1112ft lbs
0-100kmph in 2.78 seconds

So here i have tried to show you some amazing machinery that some crazyheads have endowed upon us, but then there is no dearth of such people, the Zenvo ST1 is waiting around the corner to topple these two to the top..

Review: Sony Ericsson C510 cybershot

2009-10-02T01:15:00.001-07:00

I have been using this phone form the past 4 months now and surely i am in a condition to present to you my users review.

To begin with it is a very very sleek phone, and a very beautiful one. Because of its looks its been used by both guys and girls without any issues. It has got a big screen with clear display, dedicated shortcut button, 3.2 cybershot auto focus camera and flash..

The flash is almost useless, though you can use it as a torch! Taking night pictures with this camera is impossible. Anyone reading this, always go for a xenon flash, like in N95. Otherwise day pictures are very clear and full of colors. It does not have that much image stability as was in K810i, you need to hold it pretty stable.
The keypad is a little cramped, but once you get hold of it its easy to use.
Good battery backup for a phone of this type.
The Auto-rotate feature is also quite useful, specially in media and gaming as well.
Additional features include Google maps, facebook, youtube etc.. They are available by default.
One of the most beautiful yet trivial thing about this phone is its light pattern, whenever you get a message or a call, the lights go in a very cool wave pattern to the screen.
There is no option of standby mode clock.

I had bought it for 11,270 Rupees. Now its available for 10,000 Rupees. For anyone with a budget of around 10k, this phone is worth and will give you the VFM. But if you can afford, buy a xenon flash phone, like N95 or N82, it will give you night photos like its day with stability that can show a moving fan's blades still.
aK

Review: Burnout Paradise Game(EA games)

2009-10-01T12:26:00.001-07:00

Its one hell of a game!!!!
That is the first thing that came out of my mouth after playing it continuously for 3 hours the first time i got hold of it. Never before i had seen this level of graphics, such detailing, such imagination, such variety and such madness!!..

The game has 2 options, car and bike. The bike section is a very small subsidiary of the car section which is like a big daddy of 75 cars, although out of those 75 cars half are just the upgrade of the other half. There are only 4 bikes, completing the bike section was like a piece of cake.
There is another very interesting and innovative thing, start a party, no its not just a regular offline multiplayer thing, you can have a number of players and a number of 3 types of races
stunt
speed
skill
You get points according to your performance and yes, the background music is cool!!
Now coming to the best thing about this game, CRASHES!! They can sometimes be so real that you feel a thud on your chest, other times you just pray its a driveaway and when it does you cant hide your smile!! Although it has many many different styles of racing

stunt run
burning route
midnight ride
marked man
road rage
race
I find just scurrying around the paradise city power parking, taking barrel rolls and smashing my car till the point of being wrecked the most interesting..

There is one annoying feature in the game, if you loose a race, you need to travel back all the way to restart it. Sometimes when you have lost a race by just the smallest whisker, its frustrating like hell. And yes, one more thing, you always need to come first, nothing else does.

This is the non fun part, you need one hell of a system to play this one hell of a game. The system i was playing on had core2duo 4gb 500gb and still i could play it only in the lowest graphics.
All in all, this game rocks, will play NFS Undercover now and let you know how it stood in front of this..

Turbocharger explained in simple terms!!

2009-10-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

All of us see in games, and sometimes around us cars with turbo specs, don’t you feel like knowing what turbo means?? Lets see what lies behind that beautiful name and much more beautiful sound..

TURBOCHARGER is a type of forced induction system used in automobiles to increase their performance, horsepower I mean. That may sound rocket science, but believe me, the basic behind this is all but complex..

Lets go down to the basic of an internal combustion (I.C.) engine, it has an

intake valve

an exhaust valve

spark plug

piston

cylinder

camshaft

flywheel etc etc..

What happens is fuel and air mixture goes in, its ignited with the spark plug and bang!! down goes the piston and that through crankshaft and power train and transmission and the axle goes to the wheels. For more info on how I.C. engines work watch this

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine1.htm

Now that we know what is the basic thing inside and engine, lets talk about human nature. It is basic human nature to take what he has to the next level, to be always unsatisfied with it, and to always look for a better option. So there was this unsatisfied swiss engineer Alfred Büchi who said in 1905, lets push some more gas in there!!

Engines are high pressure devices, the force of explosion produces a good amount of pressure that throws the piston out. But it’s a natural law that only a certain amount of air can be in a certain space, as is permitted by the atmospheric pressure. So accordingly only some specific amount of air can be inside the engine cylinder, due to that only a specific amount of fuel can be there because there is a definite amount of fuel air mixture to be fed. This automatically places a limit over the size of the explosion.

What turbo does is so simple yet so elegant, it simply sends air at a HIGHER PRESSURE so that more of it can go inside the cylinder so there will be a bigger explosion and more power!!

COMPONENTS OF A TURBOCHARGER

A basic turbocharger has two components, a turbine and a compressor. Turbo has one more distinguishing feature, it draws its energy from the exhaust gases. The outgoing exhaust gases move the turbo which moves the compressor as they are on a common shaft which then sends compressed air into the cylinder. This is the reason for the turbo lag, and this is what separates it from a supercharger.

I feels simple enough, doesn’t it?? But it’s a mighty more complex than that. Imagine you have a turbo car, you accelerate, the exhaust gases increase, so does the turbo speed, it again sends more high pressure air into the cylinder, which when burns sends more exhaust gases and so on the process grows exponentially until we get a blown engine. To fix this we have the concept of a wastegate. 2^nd thing, imagine you have a turbo car and you accelerate, now there must be a threshold at which the compressor starts working, so when the threshold comes, there is a sudden push. So it would be very difficult to control such a beast on indian roads. These are some of the problems that come with this thing, not to mention others like air surge, cooling etc.. So, in short, you cant make one yourself!!

Turbos are seen all around us today, but it is a very complex technology, dealing with physics, chemistry, mechanics, aerodynamics etc..

Again, as I said, man is a very unsatisfied thing. Once you have a turbo, the obvious next thing is, lets put a hell load of them on!! So now we have multiple turbos. Twin turbo, sequential turbo and what not.

Its now time to discuss a related thing, intercoolers.

You must have seen it on one of the endeavours, or on those modified vehicles that have ugly stickers all over them. What is an intercooler?

It is a device used in between the two stages of a sequential turbo. When compressed air comes out of a turbo, its too hot for obvious reasons known to everyone who has read chemistry. When air is hot, its volume is less, so lesser air will be going to the next stage of turbo and hence to the engine which we don’t want.

An intercooler cools the air from one stage to the next. There is also an aftercooler that cools the air form the last turbo stage to the engine.

Now lets discuss that big thing with holes that pops out of the hoods of those mighty muscle cars that wheelie the moment you push the throttle, supercharger.

SUPERCHARGERS

Turbo is form of supercharger. Again, man is unsatisfied with everything. So he says why make the turbo work on exhaust? Lets give it its own power!

A supercharger, unlike a turbo, has its own power source, from the crankshaft. Rest it does all the same.

A well set turbo can add as much as 50% more power to the engine.

Just as a passing remark, the world’s biggest truck, caterpillar 797 series, has a 117000cc V-24 quad turbo 3400hp 12170 lb-ft diesel engine. It can carry 380 tonnes and still go at 67 kmph.