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#1
I am an avid automobile enthusiast. But I regret each and every passing moment of being one, and scoff at almost all cars available in India. Why? You may ask. That is because where are the cars? All I see on roads are refrigerators and washing machines! They can do everything well and even tell you what’s wrong with them, but none, NONE evoke the true sense of feeling that a car used to do. Where’s the aggression?
The involvement?The style? Tall-boy designs, boxy shapes, small wheels and huge doors, crappy shapes all over. And still auto reviews are all gaga over the designs. Where are the cars? The long low and wedge shaped ones? Whatever happened to good looking things on the planet? The only cars that look good to me are the ones which have been ageing. The humble 800, the mitsu lancer.The erstwhile baleno. The cedia looks good and so does the civic, but look at others. A-star?Gaping goldfish.Estilo? Cross between god knows what and what. I10? The worst looking car in any department. The old verna? It was designed by my Dentist. Im sure it was. The last gen City? I don’t have words for it. The Micra?The Ritz?The Dzire? And the list goes on. And the way the dzire sells, I don’t think MSIL would ever have to employ better designers! But then that’s how it works in India.
Question- I am a young guy, out of college, in a job, and a saving to buy my first car. I have 5-6 lakhs to spend and would like a car which looks good, and is thoroughly enjoyable to drive. So what do I buy?
Answer – Nothing.There’s nothing for you. Specially the fun to drive part. The Swift with the rev happy G13B was dere, but they have discontinued it. The Getz CRDi with that stonking mill was a sleeper in every sense, so they put it to sleep. Forever. The Figo has a petrol mill that I wont think twice before using it to pump water. Its that agricultural. The Micra you might say, well I thought u wanted a “Good” looking “Fun” car? What else? The I20 is good looking, but way out of your price range, and armed with a EPS, is a video game,like every car with EPS.
Coming to the handling part, which car you drove recently has the driving dynamics of a car, and involves you for the sake of fun? The last ones I drove, from the Wagon-R in my house to my friends Swift to the i20 to the fiesta. Nobody. The involving cars are all dead.
Lets pray for them.
1. Honda city Vtec.
2. Ford ikon 1.6 ROCAM
3. Maruti Suzuki Zen
4. Maruti Suzuki baleno
5. Skoda OcatviaVrs
And the list will go on. Today I wanted to buy a new car, but instead decided that will use that money to improve upon my present rides. A set of Koni’s are en route for my 800. Short shifter is already in place, the turbo is being worked again, with some head work for lowering compression. A new larger intercooler has been ordered, with a new Mikuni carb taking place of the older one. If possible, plan to go with ITB’s. A strut Brace is being fabricated as I type this, and the ICE is getting framed in my mind. Search is going on for 13inchers that appeal to me. All this while I have thrown a mail to a stockiest in Japan who claims to have a spare set of the 4x4 kit that came in Alto Rs works in the early 90’s,and will fit our 800 with some mods. Lets see what gets out of this deal.
And then I also need a bike. Fun and Aggressive. Rev maniac. And I know I’ve bought the correct bike for myself. An Apache RTR. But now the power feels less and I want more. So ehat do I do? Upgrade to a better bike? Well lets see. P220? A flame will show its true place in the twisties. And if I don’t ride for twisties, why do I ride? R15 u say, everybody has one, and in Ranchi, u see those poser boys in R’pundhrass’ withDhinka Chika horns, and u shrug to buy one. So?ZMR.Never. Even if I get one for free. What to do then? CBR 250? Looks like a good option. Explored it and found im not ready to sell of my RTR, and maybe wont ever. So looked around and found Joel Joseph. Called him to get info about his RtR big bore.Plonking it soon. 205cc big bore kit. Megaphone exhaust. Modified flow Head, compression bumped up.Bigger 29mm CV carb.Upjetted. Is rumoured to produce somewhere near 22BHP! All this in a package that weighs less than a stock 160RtR. P220s out in Ranchi, watch out. Somebody is gonna give u sleepless nights.
So overall what did u find? A middle class auto lover in India has nothing off the shelves. And thanks to the tuner culture growing here in India. Else what would have happened to people like me??
The involvement?The style? Tall-boy designs, boxy shapes, small wheels and huge doors, crappy shapes all over. And still auto reviews are all gaga over the designs. Where are the cars? The long low and wedge shaped ones? Whatever happened to good looking things on the planet? The only cars that look good to me are the ones which have been ageing. The humble 800, the mitsu lancer.The erstwhile baleno. The cedia looks good and so does the civic, but look at others. A-star?Gaping goldfish.Estilo? Cross between god knows what and what. I10? The worst looking car in any department. The old verna? It was designed by my Dentist. Im sure it was. The last gen City? I don’t have words for it. The Micra?The Ritz?The Dzire? And the list goes on. And the way the dzire sells, I don’t think MSIL would ever have to employ better designers! But then that’s how it works in India.
Question- I am a young guy, out of college, in a job, and a saving to buy my first car. I have 5-6 lakhs to spend and would like a car which looks good, and is thoroughly enjoyable to drive. So what do I buy?
Answer – Nothing.There’s nothing for you. Specially the fun to drive part. The Swift with the rev happy G13B was dere, but they have discontinued it. The Getz CRDi with that stonking mill was a sleeper in every sense, so they put it to sleep. Forever. The Figo has a petrol mill that I wont think twice before using it to pump water. Its that agricultural. The Micra you might say, well I thought u wanted a “Good” looking “Fun” car? What else? The I20 is good looking, but way out of your price range, and armed with a EPS, is a video game,like every car with EPS.
Coming to the handling part, which car you drove recently has the driving dynamics of a car, and involves you for the sake of fun? The last ones I drove, from the Wagon-R in my house to my friends Swift to the i20 to the fiesta. Nobody. The involving cars are all dead.
Lets pray for them.
1. Honda city Vtec.
2. Ford ikon 1.6 ROCAM
3. Maruti Suzuki Zen
4. Maruti Suzuki baleno
5. Skoda OcatviaVrs
And the list will go on. Today I wanted to buy a new car, but instead decided that will use that money to improve upon my present rides. A set of Koni’s are en route for my 800. Short shifter is already in place, the turbo is being worked again, with some head work for lowering compression. A new larger intercooler has been ordered, with a new Mikuni carb taking place of the older one. If possible, plan to go with ITB’s. A strut Brace is being fabricated as I type this, and the ICE is getting framed in my mind. Search is going on for 13inchers that appeal to me. All this while I have thrown a mail to a stockiest in Japan who claims to have a spare set of the 4x4 kit that came in Alto Rs works in the early 90’s,and will fit our 800 with some mods. Lets see what gets out of this deal.
And then I also need a bike. Fun and Aggressive. Rev maniac. And I know I’ve bought the correct bike for myself. An Apache RTR. But now the power feels less and I want more. So ehat do I do? Upgrade to a better bike? Well lets see. P220? A flame will show its true place in the twisties. And if I don’t ride for twisties, why do I ride? R15 u say, everybody has one, and in Ranchi, u see those poser boys in R’pundhrass’ withDhinka Chika horns, and u shrug to buy one. So?ZMR.Never. Even if I get one for free. What to do then? CBR 250? Looks like a good option. Explored it and found im not ready to sell of my RTR, and maybe wont ever. So looked around and found Joel Joseph. Called him to get info about his RtR big bore.Plonking it soon. 205cc big bore kit. Megaphone exhaust. Modified flow Head, compression bumped up.Bigger 29mm CV carb.Upjetted. Is rumoured to produce somewhere near 22BHP! All this in a package that weighs less than a stock 160RtR. P220s out in Ranchi, watch out. Somebody is gonna give u sleepless nights.
So overall what did u find? A middle class auto lover in India has nothing off the shelves. And thanks to the tuner culture growing here in India. Else what would have happened to people like me??
![[;)]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Wink.gif "Wink [;)]")
