Its been a long time I have been thinking to write this article about the two most commonly used power steering technologies, viz. Electric Power Steering and Hydraulic Power Steering. Before i tell you the difference, lets talk a few words on the basics.

What is power steering?

Power steering is a system which helps to steer the wheels with some source of power other than the drivers manual force with which he turns the steering. This feature adds to the comfort while driving as less effort is needed to turn the steering by the driver. Power Steering is specially important for the cars which have engine in front and there is a lot of weight on the front wheels.

For rear engine cars like Tata Nano or light weight cars like Maruti 800, its ok to have no power steering and still drive comfortably because of low weight on the front wheels. But for heavy cars and also as a luxury feature power steering provides lots of ease.

Hydraulic Power Steering

Hydraulic power steering uses high pressure fluids for assisting the steering movement. It uses a plunger type arrangement for its working. When the driver turns the steering wheel, it opens up the flow or pressurized fluid in such a way that helps to turns the wheels in the required direction.

Electric Power Steering

Electric power steering works with the help of an Electric Motor and a control unit which has some sensors. The motor runs on battery and will use electric power to assist the movement of steering when the driver turns the wheel.

Hydraulic Power Steering V/S Electric Power Steering

Hydraulic power steering is a primitive technology used for decades and has improved a lot with time. Earlier, it did not have any difference in steering response with speed of the car, but the new age of hydraulic power steering are speed sensitive and work better than the older hydraulic power steering.

Electric power steering are comparatively new technology with less complicated build and mechanism, takes less space and are more durable. Electric power steering use sensors to sense the car speed and will take care of the different steering response required for different speeds.

Some of the main differences are as below:

1. Hydraulic Power Steering System is complicated compared with Electric Power Steering

2. Hydraulic Power Steering System usually weighs more than Electric Power Steering

3. Hydraulic Power Steering uses hydraulic fluids for operation whereas there is no such fluid needed for Electric Power Steering, thus Electric Power Steering needs less maintenance compared to hydraulic power steering.

4. Electric Power Steering gives better response at different speeds as compared to Hydraulic Power Steering

5. Eclectic Power Steering is less prone to problems and faults and are more durable as compared to Hydraulic power steering.

6. Hydraulic power steering extracts power from engine, so it reduces the fuel mileage of the engine. Electric power steering consumes power from battery which is also charged by engine, but it consumes less power compared to Hydraulic power steering. So a car having Electric power steering will give more mileage than one with Hydraulic power steering.

Conclusion :

Electric Power Steering is better than Hydraulic Power steering. Hope this helps you decide when you look into the features of the car you are going to buy.  For instance, comparing Hyundai Santro and Hyundai i10 , Hyundai Santro has Hydraulic Power Steering whereas Hyundai i10 has electric power steering.

Its been a long time since Maruti Displayed its car Splash aka RITZ in Auto Expo 2008. The wait has been long, but finally the car is being launched on 15 May 2009. The Maruti Ritz aka splash is the production version of Maruti Splash  prototype displayed at  Auto Expo 2008 in Pragati Maidan, Delhi

Maruti RITZ Specifications:

Martui Ritz will be available in three engine options, 1.0 L Petrol, 1.2 L Petrol and 1.3 L diesel.

Maruti Ritz 1.0 Petrol :

This will be a 1000 CC petrol engine of Suzuki K series with a power output of 65 BHP. This is somewhat similar to the engine used by Maruti Suzuki A-star. This variant is expected to give a good mileage in city driving conditions.

Maruti Ritz 1.2 Petrol :

This variant will have a 1200 CC petrol engine of Suzuki K-series with a power output of 85 BHP. This engine is similar to the engine used by Maruti Suzuki swift. This variant is expected to give a moderate mileage with good power output for car enthusiasts.

Maruti Ritz 1.3 Diesel :

This variant will have a 1300 CC multi-jet diesel engine with Fiat’s technology. The power output of this engine will be about 75 BHP. This engine is similar to the engine used by Maruti Suzuki swift DDIS. This variant is expected to give a good moderate mileage with good power output in City Driving conditions. The price of this model is expected to be the highest among the three variants.

Maruti Ritz Features:

Maruti Ritz features great styling, macho looks, luxurious interiors, nice head room and leg room. Power Steering, Air-conditioning and Heating, body colored bumpers are expect to be the standard fitments of all variants.

It will have spacious and comfortable seats, nice plush dashboard with SX4 like styling. On the inside, the passenger gets a  feel of a sitting inside big luxury car. The styling will pose a competition to Hyundai i10 and i20 segment. The competition is likely to be more intense when Hyundai will launch i20 diesel variant later this year. Maruti Ritz is the closest competitor to Hyundai i10 and i 20 segment.

The top end variants will feature steering mounted controls, ABS, Air-bags, alloy wheels, leather upholstery and other such luxury features.

Maruti Ritz Looks:

The looks of Maruti Ritz aka Maruti Splash is pretty macho on the exterior. It is a tall-body design but with graceful curves and muscular styling. Large crystal headlights and grill give a nice facelift and style statement to Ritz. The tail lights are also tall and rise vertically towards the roof giving it a unique styling in its class. The height looks good and sitting position at this height must be comfortable. On the interior, the feel is going to be luxurious and comfortable. The quality of the interiors is expected to be good and the dashboard and seats are finely designed. The gear-knob placement is similar to that of Hyundai i10, AC knobs and  vents are large and well placed. The tachometer is placed on the upper side of dashboard, giving a sporty look and feel. The inside door handles are of good quality and design.

All in all, the looks of Maruti Ritz are impressive.

Maruti Ritz Price:

The pricing of the Maruti Ritz will be between 4 and 5.5 Lakh rupees. The final prices are to announced on 15 May 2009 by Maruti, I will update this section as soon as the official prices are declared. Stay tuned for more updates on Maruti Ritz.

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I was listening to the news of release ceremony of New Honda Activa 2009 version, they were telling about the new features. Like most of new releases, New Honda Activa 2009 has some more body styling, some added security features like Anti-theft alarm which is a good feature. The most un-conventional and innovative features I noticed was Combi-Brake System which really caught my attention.

What is Combi-Brake?

Combi-brake means that the brake will act on front and rear wheel together every time you apply the brakes. This means a lot of improved safety.

Why Combi-Brake means more safety?

In two wheelers (scooters and bikes), there are two separate brake controls for front and rear wheels. This is true for almost all two-wheelers that I have ever seen or ridden. Most of two-wheeler riders apply only rear wheel brake, or use only rear brake in most of the cases. However for most effective braking and stopping in small distance safely without loosing control, both front and rear brakes should be used together. Most people fear using front brakes too much because if you press them too hard, the scooter/bike may skid and the rider will fall badly.

Combi-Brakes will apply the front-brakes in the correct amount whenever rear brakes are applied, so it will apply both brakes when you apply only rear one. This means that the scooter rider need not worry about using front brakes, they will be used in correct amount automatically when the rear brakes are used. See the image above, the highlighted green area shows how they have put an extra-cable to brake lever control of Honda-Activa 2009 to make combi-brakes work.

I also suffered a leg injury because of poor-braking in my motor-bike some time back, when I fell down after a collision with the car ahead when it applied sudden brakes. If my bike had this combi-brake technology, it could have stopped in little time and could have saved me the injury and pain.

I am really impressed by this out-of-the-box innovative feature. It should be used in all two-wheelers to improve safety, because effective braking can prevent many road-accidents and injuries.

I was commuting with my friends back from office one evening when one of them asked me

What is an MPFI Engine?

You must have seen cars with specifications which mention words like MPFI and CRDI or CRDE. To an automotive engineer or enthusiast, it means something, but for a common man, it may not make much sense.

In this article I will talk about MPFI in simple English so that a person who is not an automobile engineer can also make sense of it.

MPFI means – Multi-point Fuel-Injection (also called fuel-injection system)

The term MPFI is used to specify a technology used in Gasoline/petrol Engines. For Diesel Engines, there is a similar technology called CRDI. We will discuss CRDI in a separate article to avoid confusion.

MPFI System is a system which uses a small computer (yes, a small computer without keyboard or mouse, its more like a microchip) to control the Car’s Engine. A Petrol car’s engine usually has three or more cylinders or fuel burning zones. So in case of an MPFI engine, there is one fuel –injector installed near each cylinder, that is why they call it Multi-point (more than one points) Fuel Injection.

In plain words, to burn petrol in an Engine to produce power, Petrol has to be mixed with some air, ignited in a cylinder (also called combustion chamber), which produces energy and runs the engine. I will not talk of further internal details because it will make this article for Engineers and not common people.

Before MPFI system was discovered, there was a technology called “Carburetor”. Carburetor was one chamber where petrol and air was mixed in a fixed ratio and then sent to cylinders to burn it to produce power. This system is purely a mechanical machine with little or no intelligence. It was not very efficient in burning petrol, it will burn more petrol than needed at times and will produce more pollution. But with the advancement of technology this was about to change.

MPFI emerged an Intelligent way to do what the Carburetor does. In MPFI system, each cylinder has one injector (which makes it multi-point). Each of these Injectors are controlled by one central car computer. This computer is a small micro-processor, which keeps telling each Injector about how much petrol and at what time it needs to inject near the cylinder so that only the required amount of petrol goes into the cylinder at the right moment.

So the working of MPFI is similar to Carburetor, but in an improved way, because now each cylinder is treated independently unlike Carburetor. But one major Key difference is that MPFI is an intelligent system and Carburetor is not. MPFI systems are controlled by a computer which does lots of calculations before deciding what amount of petrol will go into what cylinder at a particular point in time. It makes that decision based on the inputs it reads.

For the Inputs, the microprocessor (or car’s computer) reads a number of sensors. Through these sensors, the microprocessor knows the temperature of the Engine, the Speed of the Engine, it knows the load on the Engine, it knows how hard you have pressed the accelerator, it knows whether the Engine is idling at a traffic signal or it is actually running the car, it knows the air-pressure near the cylinders, it knows the amount of oxygen coming out of the exhaust pipe.

Based on all these inputs from the sensors, the computer in the MPFI system decides what amount of fuel to inject. Thus it makes it fuel efficient as it knows what amount of petrol should go in. To make things more interesting, the system also learns from the drivers driving habits. Modern car’s computers have memory, which will remember your driving style and will behave in a way so that you get the desired power output from engine based on your driving style. For example, if you have a habit of speedy pick-up, car’s computer will remember that and will give you more power at low engine speeds by putting extra petrol, so that you get a good pick-up. It will typically judge this by the amount of pressure you put on accelerator.

So the cars of today are really intelligent, well not as intelligent as drivers but fairly intelligent to keep pollution under control and saving the fuel.

Stay tuned for an article on CRDI, which is like an MPFI parallel for Diesel Engines.

PS : I have deliberately used least jargons and kept it as simple as I could. Please leave your comments or suggestions. Also check out the article on Future of Cars.

Tata Nano is to hit Indian roads in the month of April 2009. The cars will initially be produced from Uttaranchal plant till the productions starts in Gujrat Plant. In this article I am going to talk about the features, specifications and looks of Tata Nano. I have previously published an article for comparison of  Tata Nano vs Maruti 800. In this post we are talking exclusively and in detail about Tata Nano and what you should expect out of it.

TATA NANO Features:

• Compact and Easily Maneuverable
• Tall Boy Design – More Head-space
• Comfortable Seating Space for 4 Adults
• Euro 5 Compliant Engine
• Cheapest Car On the Planet
• Luggage Compartment At Front
• Crash Safety Norms Compliant
• Built on innovative technology
• Tubeless Tires

Technically this car has numerous innovations. Tata Motors had filed and successfully achieved several patents during development of TATA Nano because of the kind of inventions they have put in to develop world’s cheapest car.

TATA NANO Specifications :

Some key Specifications of Tata Nano are:

• 623 CC , 2 Cylinder All Aluminum MPFI Engine
• 33 BHP Power Output
• Just 580 KG in weight
• Power to weight ratio of 0.057 BHP / Kg which is better than Maruti 800
• Super Low Pollution Emissions (Euro 5 complaint)
• Length : 3.1 meters
• Width : 1.5 meters
• Height : 1.6 meters
• Rear mounted engine

TATA NANO Looks:

Need I say that I love the looks of Tata Nano. I feel that at the budget of approx 1 Lakh rupees that have produces a beautiful car. When i had not seen the car myself before its first public display, I had an apprehension that the cheap car might be having real cheap looks. When I saw the car the first time, all my apprehensions vanished and I quite liked the way Tata has managed to keep the look real smart and compact. It looks like a futuristic and nice design to me. I will personally rate it 8/10 in looks.

Pre Launch Review of TATA NANO:

I have not been behind the wheels of Tata Nano, but from the expert review I have read on different forums and from the people who have got the chance to drive it, it a nice car to drive. As per my analysis, the car of this dimension and weight must be easy to drive in city conditions at moderate speeds of up to 60 KMPH. Although it might not be a star performer on high speed drive on an expressway, mainly because of its low weight and power limitations, but it must be a great utility vehicle for city driving where you hardly exceed 60KMPH. I am keeping a close watch on Tata Nano’s launch, and will update this review as soon as the car comes on road for consumers. So keep tuned in.

I would recommend you to subscribe to the free e-mail updates from CarBlogIndia so that u don’t miss on the review updates.

Also, you may like to have a look at the comparison of Maruti 800 vs Tata Nano.

Updated on 5 March 2009 :

Tata has preponed the booking date to 23 March 2009. This means that you can now book your TATA Nano at any tata dealer in India starting 23 March and delivery will start from first week of April 2009. So rush to the dealer for early-bird TATA Nano bookings starting 23 March.

Updated on 23 March 2009 :

Tata Nano Prices have been just announced. The Prices are as follows:

Delhi :

Standard Version :  Rs. 1,12,735 ex showroom Pantnagar and   Rs. 123360 ex-showroom Delhi

CX Version : Rs 1,45,725 ex-showroom Pantnagar and  Rs. 1,51,360 in Delhi ex-showroom Delhi

LX Version:  Rs 1,70,360 ex-showroom Pantnagar and Rs 1,72,360 ex-showroom Delhi

On road price will be more. Approx

Rs. 1,30,000 for Tata Nano  Standard,

about Rs. 1,55,000 for Tata Nano CX

and Rs. 1,90,000 for Tata Nano LX version

These Price are applicable for first one lakh vehicles manufactured from Pantnagar Plant and will be allotted to people on the basis of lottery system. You can book your Tata Nano by filling up a form which costs Rs. 300 and by paying a deposit amount or Rs. 3000 with duly filled form and identity proof along with the form. One person can apply for one Tata Nano car only at this time.

I am no astrologer but an Engineer with a vision and innovative thoughts. When I look at the cars around me I realize how much these car have evolved in last 10 years. The changes are huge and drastic considering technological advances. But bigger changes are yet to come, or should I say the changes are coming faster than ever before.

I keep reading and thinking about the technologies, and I also have several ideas in my mind that i would like to have in cars. In this article I will try to list the technologies which I feel will be really common in cars of future.

Alternative Sources Of Energy :

First and foremost, I don’t see the conventional petrol or gasoline or diesel going a long way into future. The fuel prices are bound to shoot with time and depletion of crude oil from planet would make things worse. I feel the next big thing will be electrically driven cars or maybe hybrid cars which have electrical as well as conventional fuel burning engines. But electrical cars have better future prospects because they are technically simpler than combustion based engines. One of the most beautiful example of this is Michelin – E – Wheel technology. Source and picture credit : Engadget. This technology basically removed the need of an engine by putting the motor that drives the wheels right inside the wheels. These kind of innovations not only make cars cheap, but also light weight, more reliable, and easy to produce. We are seeing an era of Hybrid cars that run on petrol and battery, tomorrow we will have more cars that run primarily on batteries. Also fuel cells are a great opportunity if they can be produced for cheap cost. More than anything, pollution, cost and economy will decide what fuels we settle for, but crude is meant to go in a few decades anyways.

Regenerative Braking, Regenerative Suspensions and Solar Power

A penny saved is a penny earned, same holds true for energy. Whenever you apply brakes, a lot of car’s energy is wasted as heat is produced due to friction in brakes; but with need  to make the cars more fuel efficient, and mass production of re-generative braking systems, this will soon change. It will make the brakes sophisticated and costly than they are, but will save on fuel by getting a part of braking energy to be utilized back to run the car. Currently there are electrical regenerative brakes that are more in research labs, but they will reach your cars as they get cheaper with time. There can be hydraulic re-generative brakes and more may come out as a part of energy conservation research going around the world. See this link to know more about re-generative braking.

On the same lines of regenerative brakes, a group of researchers at MIT have developed a Regenerative-Shock Absorber, which regenerates a part of energy that otherwise goes waste when there is a travel in shock-absorbers. This is a good direction to move, I really look forward to more such innovations making the future cars more efficient.

I am a big believer of solar energy. I know it is not sufficient and reliable to run the car, but something is better than nothing, I feel that with solar panels being more efficient in future, and cheaper than they currently are, there will be solar panels on the car’s top which will at-least help in battery charging for head-light and tail lights. even if they save 5 % of fuel consumption, that will a big boon for the environment. Image Credit and Source : Autopia

The highlights of future cars will be

Regenerative Braking To Conserve Energy

Regenerative Suspension To Save Energy

Solar Power To Charge Batteries Partially

Light Weight and Aerodynamic Cars

The invention of new polymers, alloys, and carbon fiber re-enforced bodies, the cars of today are lighter than ever before, and this trend will continue to make cars more light in weight and aero-dynamic in shape, what this means is better performance in acceleration, braking and also more fuel efficiency. Imagine if the weight of your car reduces to half, the performance will surely change drastically.

More Intelligence In Cars

We have seen cars having Navigation, entertainment, DTH TV etc; but the future promises much more. Imagine a car which is well networked where you can access your data wirelessly anytime. Also some intelligent services like the ones which can suggest you and other commuters to car-pool if it finds another car on similar route on its network. Many more consumer centric applications can be built to make the cars more intelligent than ever. Something like integration with emergency services servers in case of breakdown of car or accidents. Intelligent diagnostic features which will scan your car for problems and will suggest you the solution. Maybe we will also have auto-pilot modes on some highways where its is cost feasible to implement such systems, wherein you will just need to program the location and the car’s computer will drive for you on a particular route that supports auto-pilot mode.

You can never correctly predict future, but can have a vision about things. I will update this article in future as and when I come across more technologies or Ideas in my mind.

The hottest looking bike on road these days by Yamaha is FZ16. After strikingly hot looking racing style R15, Yamaha have come up with muscular and stunning bike FZ16. Yamaha is world leader in Biking and produces real good quality bikes. In this post we are going to have a look on Yamaha FZ16.

Looks:

A picture is worth a thousand words, so lets have a look.

Side view looks good, the tank looks macho and muscular. There is Yamaha logo just below the tank, which looks classy, covers some part of the engine from the side, and is of same color as tank. There is aluminum finish at the joint of tank and seat, which extents down till foot-rest. It gives a pointed and triangular look. Exhaust looks beautiful in twin-color tone, aluminum and metallic black. Its hexagonal in shape which is one of its kind. The brake disk also adds to the overall looks.

Front also looks cool, the headlamp is large and clear, has multi-reflector technology. The turn-indicators are sharp and pointed extending just by the side of head lamp. Engine is all black coated, which looks really good. The rods of front shockers are thicker than other normal bikes, which also makes it look muscular.

The instrument cluster is neat and stylish.  Tank looks good in twin color, having beautiful bolts like design. the fuel cap is of chrome finish.

Seat looks good, but not sure that it will feel comfortable to all kind of riders or not, because styling is so high that ergonomics might have been compromised to style.

So the verdict on looks is, it is outstanding and looks great.

Features:

Engine:

Single cylinder engine of Yamaha FZ16  has capacity of 153ccm, SOHC (single over head cam), air cooled, 4 stroke 2 valve engine which can produce max power 14 BHP and a max torque of 14 Nm which is quite impressive.

Suspension:

Yamaha FZ16 has a mono cross suspension on rear side which provides higher degree of stability, handling and greater comfort. In front side there is a Telescopic hydraulic suspension which provides greater shock absorption. This is only the second bike on Indian roads after Honda Unicorn to use mono-shock suspension.

Brakes & Tyre:

There is disc brake used in front wheel of Yamaha FZ16 is of large diameter (270 mm) which provide strong stopping power, higher degree of balance and good breaking performance, and in rear wheel there is drum brake. Tyre used in both wheels are tubeless tyres, with rear radial tyre having 60% aspect ratio which is first time in Indian bikes.

Exhaust:

The exhaust used in Yamaha FZ16 is of distinct shape. It is a 2-layer type exhaust which provides passage between main exhaust and sleeve, which leads to higher degree of cooling to sleeve for safety. The shape of exhaust own one more star in its look.

LCD - meter:

Yamaha FZ16 has a Fully LCD(liquid crystal display) meter having speedometer , tachometer , fuel gauge, high beam indicator, side indicator, neutral indicator and engine starting meter (which installed first time in bike). Theses all meters and indicators are designed and installed keeping field of vision in mind clearly.

Headlight and Fuel Tank:

Yamaha FZ16 has multi-reflector headlight which has a distinct look from front side, the fuel tank is of 12 liters capacity having muscular appearance with the help of plastic resin on steel tank which enhance look from side view. The use of multi-reflector headlamps is restricted to high-end bikes only, this kind of technology is usually used in cars.

Specifications:

Have a looks at the specification of Yamaha FZ16 summarized in the table below:

It comes in three colors, all are like racing and sporty spirited colors.

Midnight black , Lava Red and Flaming orange.

Review:

I am yet to have my ride on Yamaha FZ16, but from reviews that i have got from friends and magazines and newspapers tell that the bike is peppy and stylish. Got a style statement, makes my head turn whenever I see it on road. Given a chance, I would like to buy one. Although I have more love for cruiser bikes, but for a change, its good to leave a style statement.

Photo Courtesy [Yamaha India]

Indian market is now flooded with premium global car companies like BMW Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, Skoda and what not.  Now driving luxurious cars is not a dream anymore,  all you need is good amount of money. Today we will focus on BMW 3 series.

BMW in Indian market has 3 series, 5 series, 6 series, 7 series, X3, X5 and M series.

BMW 3 series sedan comes in following models

• BMW 320i
• BMW 325i
• BMW 320d
• BMW 320d Highline

Lets talk about some very special and high tech features that set the BMW apart:

Features:

Dynamic Stability Control (DSC):

While cornering Dynamic stability control continuously monitoring forces acting on chassis and checks that they are within max limits, if it seems to skidding the system suitably apply brakes on individual wheels as needed. There is Extended DSC which is only in 6-cylinder engines it has five more functions i.e.

• Brake stand-by: for reduced stopping distance in case of emergency.
• Brake drying: to enhance brake response during wet conditions.
• Hill-start: so that we can drive uphill without any worries.
• Fading compensation: to induce consistency even though the brakes have heated up.
• Soft stop: for smooth stops and reduced brake drive.

Run flat tyre:

One more interesting thing is we can drive more 250km even the tyre is puncture. This is due to a special reinforcement side-wall.

Tyre pressure indicator (TPI):

Tyre Pressure Indicator continuously monitor tyre pressure and indicate for air.

6 Airbag Safety:

BMW 3 series is equipped with electronic sensors and 6 air bags which make your drive much safe and secure.

Park Distance Control (PDC):

There are 2 ultrasound sensors, one in front and another on backside, which warns about the proximity of obstacles.

Intelligent Vehicle key:

There us an integrated chip on key which give valuable information’s like vehicle registration number, mileage & vehicle servicing status etc.

Automatic Climate Control:

A highly developed system which automatically controls air circulation, they includes micro-filters, condensation & sun light sensors & fast heating features that create comfortable atmosphere very quickly.

Start / Stop button:

Now the dive is just one finger away, you will feel like u are in cockpit and ready to take off. You can start and stop the engine at the click of a button.

Looks:

It looks classy, neat and impressive. Its a head-turner on Indian roads. BMW is kind of a status and style statement in India. The car looks huge in length, luxurious high end interiors that will spoil you with its comfort.

Specifications:

Now lets have a look at at the muscles of this baby:

In the days ever rising fuel prices, the fuel bills are digging deep into the pockets of a common man. I’m going to share some practices which can get you more miles out of your fuel by increasing the fuel average or fuel mileage of your car.

Tip 1: Do not accelerate too fast

Too quick acceleration consumes too much fuel, accelerate slowly and gradually. That will save quite a significant amount of fuel in city driving.

Tip 2: Do not use clutch too much

If you use a manual transmission car, as is mostly used by people in India, do-not drive with clutch pressed, or use clutch only when needed, too much use of clutch will waste a lot of fuel.

Tip 3: Change gears appropriately

This is also applicable for manual transmission cars. Use correct gears at correct speeds, this will help save the fuel. For correct speeds, see your car’s user manual.

Tip 4: No Excuses to delay car service

Get the car serviced as per manufacturer’s recommended schedule. This will ensure good health of engine, less maintenance due to break-down.

Tip 5: Do you drive in dusty environment? Clean the Air-filter

If you drive in dusty environment the air-filter gets filled with dust and makes the engine suffocated. Clean the air-filter more often than the service schedule( say  every 5000 KM or so) , this will help the engine run more easy and consume less fuel. Trust me, its going to really help.

Tip 6: Red-Signal Ahead? Put the feet off the accelerator

If you are sure that you got to stop after next 100 or 200 meters due to a red signal, keep your feet off the accelerator and car will slow down on engine’s resistance, saving on fuel as well as the brake shoes, apply brakes only when about to stop. This is a great help to save that extra drop of fuel.

Tip 7: Air Pressure in tyres

Get the air-pressure in tyres up to the recommended pressure, and check it once at least in 15 days, it helps the car run smooth and drink less fuel.

Tip 8: Try to keep a constant max speed

When driving in a city or highway, try to maintain a constant speed, that will help the engine put less effort to accelerate or decelerate unnecessarily. This will help reduce fuel consumption.

Tip 9: Keep the window’s glass rolled up on highways

Driving with AC on and glasses rolled up will actually help the car move easy because when windows are open, the car faces more air-drag due to cross ventilation through car, thus consuming more fuel. So always try to keep windows rolled up specially when driving at high speeds.

Tip 10: Buy fuel during morning hours

Buying fuel during morning hours makes sense, because the fuel is a liquid and cools during night hours as temperature is low, and it becomes more dense, so in night hours, you get more weight of fuel for same litres, so its like a bargain in fuel amount

Tip 11: Re-fuel your car when tank is close to half

This will help reduce the vapors formation in tank, which moves out as you open the lid to re-fuel, thus saving some amount of fuel in the tank.

Tip 12: Clean up the crap from the boot-space

Remove any un-necessary luggage or stuff that you don’t need from back space, that will let the car feel light and run easy on less fuel.

Save fuel, burn it less, save economy and environment both, for a greener and cleaner tomorrow.

Also try to follow a car pool if you are traveling to office or college, that is fun to be with some friends and it reduces traveling boredom too

Happy saving!

I did the spray paint touch-up myself on my car using a paint kit that I ordered online. The results are fine, not too good, not bad either. In this post I will share with you how I did it, and the results.

I felt really disturbed when my sister mistakenly scratched the left side front door against a wall. It was so badly scratched that even after getting a rubbing treatment some scratches were visible.

I asked the showroom guys, they gave me an estimate of Rs. 3000 for the job. I asked the local denting-painting guy, he asked for Rs. 1500 for the same. I decided to leave it like that only.

But one fine day I came across a web-site (www.com-paint.com) that sells car spray paints of the perfect colors based on various car brands. Each paint kit costs Rs. 300 for metallic colors and Rs. 260 for non-metallic color. So I ordered one kit for my Hyundai i10 of Champagne Gold color (metallic). In that kit, you get one paint spray can and one can of Finishing Solvent. There is a video on the web-site which tells you how to do the paint job over the scratch.

Now I will tell you how I did it and the pictures of the car after the paint was done. Read on.

The steps I followed were as per what I saw in the video over this web-site:

• Clean the scratched area with a clean cloth and dry it.
• Rub the scratched area with a wet emery paper (regmark) of 1000 number or higher.
• Now clean the area and spay the finishing solvent on the scratched area.
• Now put news papers with tape around the area to be painted.
• Hold the Paint can at a distance of 10 to 12 inches from the car surface and spray gently.
• Leave for 10 minutes to dry and again apply the finishing solvent.

The results were not very good, but the scratches were reduced considerably. Those scratches that were not deep, almost disappeared, but deep scratches were still visible, but less visible than before. The surface has become a bit rough and less glossy, but it looks better than when compared to scratches.

I would not recommend you to try this until you are sure you want to try it, as it can mess up with the looks of the paint if not done very carefully. See the pictures below for the results. There are some close up images too.

If you are doing it on your car, also get a polish and rubbing agent, that will improve the finish after you are done with the paint. But leave the paint to dry properly for at-least 4 hours before rubbing and polish.

A word of caution :  These paints look really bad on the body colored bumpers, as the finishing is really bad. On car body, the finishing was OK, but on Bumper it was BAD,as it does not spread well on the plastic-like bumper surface.

Above pictures tell you the story themselves. If you are not sure you can manage it, its better to get is done from a professional painter. Please leave your comments or suggestions below.