Acura NSX concept is an all new sports hybrid with SH-AWD(Super Handling All Wheel Drive). The SH-AWD is a technology that collates two electric motor drive unit with a bilateral torque to the front wheels when the car is pushed at high speeds while taking a curve/corner. The car is powered by a 3.5 litre engine VTEC V-6 engine.

Quick facts of this car.

1.Dual clutch transmission
2. Electric for that extra kick in acceleration and efficiency
3. Light weight body shell

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The new M6 will have a 4.4 liter V8 engine that will generate 560 horsepower. Beautiful wheel arches will expose the big 16.1 inch carbon ceramic rotors on the front and 15.6 rotors at the rear. The standard wheel size will be 19″ rims with the profile of 265/40/19 in the front and 296/35/19 at the rear.

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We have had popular brands like Honda, Toyota and others with their premium brands like the Infinity, Lexus and so on. Now Hyundai decides to come out with their own luxury brand Genesis we will have to wait and see.

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 I was chosen as one of the winners of the Skoda unofficial expert contest held on Facebook. As the part of the contest, the contestants were to drive the Skoda Rapid from the Taj Lands’ End which was the start point to the VW factory in Chakan. There was a driver switch over point at the first food mall on the Mumbai – Pune Express highway.

The day started with all Skoda Rapids, 4 to be precise being lined up outside the Taj, all beautifully gleaming in the morning sun. The Skoda team introduced me to the other contestants and after the customary handshakes; we were made to pick the cars from the chits so that we were allotted a specific car. I got a Petrol manual on the chit. Here is my brief experience.

The Design:

At first glance the Rapid looks just like the Fabia but look closely and it is different. You actually need very keen eyes to differentiate the Rapid from the Fabia head-on. The visual difference here is that the fog lamp recesses in the Rapid are chrome finished; actually the day time running lights are done away with and instead a chrome finishing is done to the recess. It would have been nice if Skoda would have given the Rapid the day time running lights. Even the Fabia comes with them. Come towards the side and the Rapid looks exactly like the Vento. Here again the only visual difference is the Alloy Wheel design which is very simple but looks a lot more elegant than the Vento. From the rear the Rapid stands out from the Vento. The Prism shaped surfacing on the boot actually gives the rear a distinct identity. Also the C shaped Skoda signature tail lamps look a lot better than the Vento. Another interesting feature of all the VW family of cars is that there’s no weather strip provided on the roofs of either of their cars. The reason as explained by the gentleman in charge of the Production at the VW plant was that unlike other manufacturers who spot weld the roof and then install the weather strip to channel the water, all the VW family of cars roofs are Laser welded which actually looks good and the roof looks like a one whole sheet of metal and also does the water channeling duties. These minor detailing does showcase the strong areas and the attention to detail of the German manufacturers.

The Engine:

I got a petrol manual Rapid on the chit. I was a bit excited on hearing this as the petrol Rapid is powered by a 1.6 liter, 105 bhp mill. The last good petrol motor I had driven was the new Merc C class C220. I grabbed the keys and quickly settled myself into the driver’s seat. The first feature I liked was the tilt adjustable steering which you do not find in many cars but this feature is an absolute boon to the driver. After adjusting the steering, I flung the key and started the engine. The engine fired instantly and settled into a quite idle. No vibrations felt, just a glance the RPM meter and one knew that the motor was running. After getting the green Signal, I slotted the car into the fist and the Rapid took off just as I applied slight pressure on the accelerator. The Gearbox is notchy and nowhere near the Honda’s or the Suzuki’s slick shifts. I particularly found it difficult to change from the 4^th gear to the 5^th; there was a slight hesitation from the box in shifting. I almost got it right after 4-5 changes but was still not satisfied. Once on the highway I decided to check out the max limit of each gear. Gear in third, I floored the accelerator, the rpm needle came close to 5500 rpm, there was loud growl from the engine. Although I liked the noise the engine was making a lot of customers would not like so much noise coming into the cabin. Anyways I touched almost 135km/hr in the 3^rd with 5500 rpm; the car refusing to go any further, changed into 4^th and she went to almost 150 Km/hr with the engine revving at around 6000rpm mark. When I finally changed to 5^th the Rapid felt a lot smoother and it maxed out at around 168 Km/hr with the engine running at around 6500 rpm. The engine felt typical Germanic in nature as it just makes the necessary noise but the real action is missing. In case of the Honda city the 1.5 liter 100bhp non v-tech version which I personally own, the engine is so free revving even after clocking almost 75K on the odo, the engine is so smooth and the car almost goes to around 160 Km/hr as its top speed. I found the same hesitant nature on the Opel Astra too, the 1.6 liter. Same sweet sounding engine noise but the car doesn’t move. The Rapids 1.6 l engine is adequate enough for city driving and feels smooth and is vibration free. But if you are looking for performance in this then this is not for you. This is for the grown up men, not for boy racers like me.

The Interiors:

The first thing that you notice once you step into the Rapid’s cabin is the familiarity with the VW group of cars. The center console, the control stalks are typical Skoda and VW. The steering in the Rapid is familiar to the other Skoda cars. The Rapid still comes with the European configuration switchgear as in the wiper controls on the right and the indicator controls on the left. Skoda should have at least sorted this thing out as this is particularly inconvenient on an event of overtaking as when you need to flash your pass light and if one of your hand is on the gearlever then it becomes difficult to flash the light as we have to take out our hand away from the gear lever. This is also surprising that Skoda proudly advertises the Rapid as first for India and then to the rest of the world. But anyways the levers feel solid and built to last.

Finding the right driving position is not a problem as the seat adjusts for height as well as the standard movements. Nice feature included on this top end variant is the tilt adjustable steering as this a boon in adjusting the steering according to ones need. Also present is a lever for the rear left passenger to slide the front passenger seat forward or backward.

Coming to the center console, Skoda offers their STD Skoda branded music system with mmc card reader and iPod connectivity. I would have loved to see Bluetooth integration in the stereo as well as the reverse parking sensors integrated in the music system at least on this top end variant. The other thing I noticed was that there were VW monograms on the front windscreen as well as on the side windows. Even the Ashtray had the VW logo at the bottom. While this might be a feel good factor for the Rapid owners but these might to some extent offend VW Vento owners as VW is positioning the Vento as an up market brand over the Skoda Rapid.

Coming to the dashboard, I particularly did not like the dark coffee colors upper part as it was way too shiny to my liking and reflected too badly on the windscreen. Skoda should have at least given a soft feel touch to them. Even the Fabia has a soft feel dashboard. I sorely missed the damped feeling to the glove box; but the glove box was of adequate size and was deep enough to hold a notebook. The dials with the needles looked a touch more expensive and I liked the way they looked. The screen in the center displays the fuel gauge in digital format. It gives you the outside temperature readout, instant fuel consumption, overall fuel consumption, 2 trip meters etc.

The seats were adequately padded and offered the right support but the light beige color is not suitable for India as it would get soiled easily in our dusty conditions. Another useful feature that Skoda offers on the Rapid the one touch up and down operation on all the 4 windows with an anti-pinch feature. I did try out the anti-pinch feature and it works wonders. I wonder why other manufacturers do not offer this feature. Another glitch that Skoda had done is that passengers cannot lock or unlock the doors. Only the driver can lock and unlock the doors. This is a funny part and I did not figure out the reason behind this.

Overall the cabin is well appointed and comes with the robust German feel to it. The dashboard feels much better than the Japanese saloons.

Ride and Handling:

When we started our ride from the hotel towards the Eway, we traversed through the inconsistent Mumbai roads. The low speed ride quality was not that good and the there was always a thumping sound from the suspension. The suspension was good at filtering out the bumps and as the speeds increased the suspension was more than useful in filtering out the small bumps and the expansion joints. As we hit the Eway, the ride quality improved; quick turns of the steering and the Rapid responded almost instantly. The ride and handling is typically designed for high speed riding as the Germans still can’t get out of the Autobahn mentality. High speed riding is confidence inspiring and the tires were adequate enough to handle the high speed turns. I personally like the German Engineered Saloons over the Japanese/Korean counterparts as the robust built quality is actually suitable for the Indian conditions. The Japanese salons feel flimsy on the highways and not that confident during high speed turnings as compared to the German saloons. I did not get a chance to ride at the back but from the feedback of my fellow passenger, the seat was well cushioned and the ride was plush. Overall he was satisfied with the ride quality.
Overall Impression:

The Rapid is a good attempt by Skoda Auto to cover the lost ground after the Octavia as scrapped. This car will definitely appeal to people who are looking for that solid and robust built quality in a car. The Rapid delivers almost on all counts and as it is slightly cheaper than the Vento, this makes it a good buy.

My Rating for the Skoda Rapid – 3.5/5

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8 January 2012

It was a lovely sunday Chennai morning with cold wind, something rare to find here, blew across the race tracks of the Madras Motor Sport Club welcoming the tomorrows wannabe Valentino Rossis and Casey Stoners for the 2012 edition of TVS Apache Racing Experience, Chennai. The dark clouds had covered up the whole sky not even letting the sunrays to touch the tarmac. All around the pit were the grunting RTRs with their proud owners on it waiting to experience a never before high speed racing experience at the race track and unleash the hidden beast in them and their machines. It was going to be a very exciting day for many of the participants at the track to test the level of understanding between them and their machines. I was at the venue to cover the whole event for MotorHeader and its members and also to catch some live action between two die hard Apache lovers whom I know personally. The event TVS Apache Racing Experience was organized by TVS Racing exclusively for the TVS Apache RTR owners. The main aim of this event was to give the Apache customers a clear insight on what their race bred machines are capable of and to let them know all about TVS racing and their motocross and track racing machines. This event was organized at four selected cities across India, viz. Chennai, Pune, Gwalior and Delhi.

The participation into this event was very easy as the owners of RTR 160 and RTR 180 had to just register their names at any local TVS showrooms. At the time of registration, the participants received a decal which was considered as entry badge and was also presented at the venue. The entry into the event was subjected to signing of an indemnity bond at the time of registrations which was also compulsory to be presented at the venue. The bike had to be brought in their stock condition i.e. no performance tuning or upgrades were allowed on the machines so as to keep uniformity in the machines. Out of all, the main requirements were the helmets, driver’s license and lots of guts!! Non-compliance with the rules and regulation would lead to disqualification. These machines would be racing in their respective classes. Top two riders from each class would be selected, similarly from each region and they would get to participate in the final race “RTR CUP” in the upcoming month of May 2012. To reward their hardwork and talent, the winner from each class of finals would get a special training at the Silverstone track in UK.

To unleash the Racing DNA in them, all the participants arrived at the track by 8 am. It was really amazing to see the passion and excitement in the speed-possessed youngsters. It was a much awaited day for two of my friends Vishnu Gopal and Sahay Fernando. Vishnu Gopal owns Apace RTR 180 while Sahay Fernando owns Apache RTR Hyper Edge. For them what I can say is that they have a great mutual understanding with their machines than their girlfriends! Jokes apart, they are very much focused and dedicated budding racers. The familiarity with the straights and corners of the track, since both of them had raced in some of the bike racing events in the past at this track gave them an edge over the other participants at the venue and moreover, their love for Apache would definitely be taking them to the podium finish. After the registrations processes, both the 160 and 180 riders were split into two batches. The first batch riders were taken into morning session and the second batch riders were put into afternoon session. The day for the riders was kicked off by a briefing session by the National champion riders of team TVS Racing. The participants were given explanation about riding on a race track and the rules and signals to be followed. Later these participants were taken to the track by these racers to give some practical lessons. As mentioned at the time of registration at the TVS showrooms for basic safety riding gears like helmet, boots, gloves, jackets etc. were rechecked  and ensured by the organizers. Then, the TVS team racers took all the riders around the track and explained them about the racing lines and other racing techniques. After an hour of theoretical training, the riders were allowed to check how fast they can go around the track and clock their best timing. In the morning session, 15 riders from each class were let into the track and based on the timing they clocked on the track, the best five were selected for next level of selection. Now these selected riders needed to race against each other. At the end of the successful morning session, the organizers had some of the best riders of the lot.

Similar trainings and briefings were given to the afternoon session riders and out of all who clocked the best lap timings were selected for the finals. Now, it was a moment when the bests of the bests from both the session in both classes would be pulling the throttle hard to represent Chennai in finals of ARE. The first to enter on the track for the final stage of the selection were the 180cc class riders. Based on the timing clocked by the riders in the initial selection race, they were placed on the grid. My friend Vishnu, who was among the best riders of the day started his race from the first row. The start signal of the race was quite different from other races but with a gorgeous girl waving off the flag signaling the riders ‘ Gentlemen Race your Machines’!!. The moment the flag touched the tarmac, you could only smell some burning rubbers and ear deafening noise. Vishnu had a pretty bad start as three other riders took lead on him by the mid straight even after starting behind him in the grid. The first corner of the track was a long flowing right hander with quite a lot of bumpy sections especially on the outer line and speed would have been in three digits. All the riders were flowing through the inside line but there was someone who took a risk and that was Vishnu. He entered the corner in full throttle by along the outside line and overtook all of them at the mid corner. By the second corner he was leading the race. But soon there was rider to take the lead back from Vishnu. During the second lap, a rider on the RTR 180 ABS came close to him and he was trying for an overtake at the sharp ‘U’ turn section of the short loop. It seemed Vishnu was in no mood to let him go. Being in the mid corner at a higher lean angle, he pulled the throttle hard. That surely made it difficult for the other rider and Vishnu was again in the lead without any trouble. By the end of fourth lap, Vishnu managed to keep a big gap between him and the second rider. Things were all easy for him since then. He maintained his lead all the way to chequered flag clocking the best lap timing of the event 1mins 25secs and with the pole position.

The 160cc class riders were ready to burn their share of rubber and so does my other friend Sahay. He started the race from the second row and had a great start. His body build is very light and that helped him to shoot past other riders to take the lead in the first lap itself. Things were going all fine for him until the last corner in the second lap. A rider overtook him. It made Sahay chase him hard. While exiting out of the final corner, he ran a bit wide and went off the track. Surprising everyone at the track, he managed to get the bike back on the track and continued his chase. But his effort went in vain. Unfortunately the other rider had already taken quite a long lead. He didn’t lose hope. With hardly two and a half laps left, he was trying hard to close the gap between him and the leader. By the end of fourth lap, he managed to get close to him and made a move to overtake him at the slowest left hander before the bridge section of the track. But again he was unfortunate as the other rider cautiously shut the room for Sahay. Now Sahay had to settle down with the second place this time was clear. He was received at the finishing line with an applause for giving a very tough fight to the winner before letting him go to the pole position. Both the riders congratulated each other for their win. In the 160cc qualifying Sahay did a timing of 1.32 falling short of the pole position hardly by a second and claiming the second pole. The best two from both 180cc and 160cc classes would be racing against the bests from other four zones in the RTR CUP at the MMRT in May 2012.

- Sajan Mathew

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The 165mm tall KTM Duke 200 is launched in India today. The bike is strapped with a 199.60CC engine that generates 19Nm torque at 8000 RPM. The bike would cost about Rs.1.18 lakhs(ex showroom Delhi). The KTM bikes in INdia will be assembled at the BAL’s facility in Chakan, Maharashtra. BAL has exported more than 11,000 KTM Duke in 2011 and we should see more exciting bikes from Bajaj and its partners.

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Here is a glimpse of the 2012 Maruti Swift Dzire. Rajesh Dogra captures these images when these cars were being unloaded from the container in Jammu.The Swift Dzire 2012 is compact with a shorter boot. The interiors and the dash layout is taken from the Maruti SWIFT. The Dzire can be differentiated from the Maruti SWIFT by its new grill, fog lamps and hubcaps.

Petrol

• Swift Dzire LXi: Rs 4.79* lakhs
• Swift Dzire Vxi: Rs. 5.32* lakhs
• Swift Dzire Zxi: Rs. 6.19* lakhs
• Swift Dzire Auto: Rs. 6.54* lakhs

Diesel

• Swift Dzire LDi: Rs. 5.80* lakhs
• Swift Dzire VDi: Rs. 6.31* lakhs
• Swift Dzire ZDi: Rs. 7.09* lakhs

image source: megapowerbosch.in | Rajesh Dogra

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Dilip Chhabria and his DC Design lab a renowned auto design stable in India plans to introduce Indian very own Supercar priced at Rs.30 lakhs. Hold your horses now, the car may have the bling and glamour of a supercar like a Ferrari or a Lamborghini and others but not as quick as them.

The cars are expected to be delivered in 2013 which will be assembled and built in Pune where DC have their plant. The production capacity of this plant will allow 300 units to be produced in a year to begin with.

A 400BHP V6 turbocharged motor under the hood and the overall weight of the car being 1560 kgs you can imagine how quick the car can be once you have the calculation of the power to weight ratio figured.

This Rs.30 lakhs super car of India will be showcased at The Buddh, India’s F1 circuit soon.

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With petrol prices going up, Hyundai strategically launches the i10 LPG model called the Blue Drive with better fuel economy and less emission. Hyundai’s i10 had made remarkable sales in the past and now with the LPG model in the market Hyundai should see some skyscrapers on their sales chart.

The Hyundai i10 Blue Drive will come with a 35 litre petrol tank and 34 litre LPG tanks integrated in the car.

The variants are as follows:
Hyundai i10 ERA – 1.1 ltr Rs.4.16 lakhs(ex-showroom Delhi)
Hyunda i10 Magna – 1.1 ltr Rs.4.30 lakhs(ex-showroom Delhi)

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