Mahindra XUV 500 : Exclusive Photo Feature!

Coming our way from the country's leading UV maker Mahindra & Mahindra is this new age, new wave soft-roader, the XUV500 (XUV - Five Double O). The new Mahindra is no softie, keeping in sync with its maker's reputation for the rugged, but in this new baby rugged melds with style and the concoction of the two is deadly delicious! Not many details and information can be divulged right now but our pictures of the car speak louder than words. Go enjoy for now and come back on September 29, 2011 for the full story including a first drive report. Adil Jal Darukhanawala lends commentary to Kunal Khadse's photo-artistry

The big bold high tech face of the new Mahindra XUV500. The grille is different while the front end treatment with projector headlamps, LED day-time running lights, large front bumper with streaked air dam and recessed fog lamps make for a menacing look. “Objects in the mirror are closer than you think” would get an altogether new meaning for others in class.

Straight out of Mad Max – imposing yet in the slickest manner possible, the XUV500 dishes out the style drill from practically any and every angle.

The devil is in the details and these are finely carved, but what is of even greater import is the fact that the craftsmanship is of a high order. Panel gaps on the car we drove and inspected were uniform yet close and the metal-plastic-glass medley on the exterior made for delightful aesthetics.

 The XUV500 in profile is all muscle and snazzy-style personified – like a strapping athlete in a designer suit! The large pronounced wheel arches with their machined-look plus the character crease at the waist level along with a similar smaller line at the door sill level imparts a good stance when viewed with the sharply raked windscreen and the well penned glass area. In profile one can clearly see some hints, on proportion, from Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V and Suzuki Vitara et al but overall the XUV500 is distinctive on its own. Another important observation about the new Mahindra is the absolutely clean and sanitized under-vehicle layout with nary any plumbing or wires or ungainly accoutrements spoiling the show or the under-floor air flow.

No one can mistake the XUV500 for anything else, even from the rear though the badging might help those overtaken understand the reason they have had to give way! Note the twin exhausts with oval end cans and the large round silencer boxes.

Honda's Small Car Legacy

Soichiro Honda, founder of the Honda empire, was a self-professed motorcycle maniac. The dynamism, performance and practicality that two wheels taught him translated perfectly onto Honda’s initial small 

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cars too. High-tech, light, agile and fun – Honda small cars made a name for themselves in not just Japan but also gave established British carmakers a tough time, eventually leading the charge that would drive them out of business. Here’s a quick lowdown on the company’s most iconic small cars.

Audi Q5 Business Edition

Armed with a two liter mill with Quattro, Audi Q5's will be available in showrooms across India from October this year priced at Rs. 35.13 lakhs ex-showroom Maharashtra as a CKD unit.

The German car manufacturer, Audi has announced the launch of its Audi Q5 Business Edition. The small SUV from Audi is powered by a 2.0 liter TDI motor pumping out 172 PS of power and 300 Nm of torque at 1750 rpm with a fuel efficiency of 12 kilometers to a liter. 17 inch alloys, xenon plus headlamps, daytime running lights, and an infotainment system with concert radio will run as standard equipment on the car.

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“The Audi Q5 2.0 TDI q is perfectly equipped to further strengthen our leadership position in the luxury SUV segment. As the Audi Q5 already has a broad fan base in India, this attractive price will now make this premium experience accessible to a wider customer base who aspire to own a luxury SUV endorsed by our ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ philosophy. The Audi Q5 2.0 TDI q powered by a dynamic and efficient engine is also equipped with best in-class interior and infotainment features,” said Michael Perschke, Head, Audi India.

In order to enhance the driving pleasure, a multi-function steering wheel, leather interiors with wood panels and rear parking aid would also be a part of the Audi Q5 Business Edition. “Audi India has experienced formidable growth, even surpassing annual sales of 3003 cars for 2010 in the first seven months of 2011. In July 2011, we sold 343 cars – a growth of 52 percent over the same period last year. Our focus is on strengthening our portfolio through the introduction of products like the Audi Q5 2.0 TDI q which are extremely relevant for India and also the expansion of our dealer network. With the opportunity that India presents, we are confident of achieving our retail sales target of 5000 cars by the end of 2011,” added Perschke. 

BMW i3 concept: Electric exercise

BMW's electric i3 concept. Photo / Supplied

Over the weekend, Frankfurt's vast exhibition centre was crowded as thousands of car fans struggled to navigate the city's biennial motor show. I'm not sure anyone actually enjoys Frankfurt - Geneva is the show that everyone looks forward to - but no motor industry journo or executive of any account would dare miss it. Some of the most powerful car-makers on the planet are German, and Frankfurt is their home event.

But there's one area where the German manufacturers, for all their technical prowess, have a bit of catching up to do; for years, they concentrated their efforts on improving the efficiency of their petrol and diesel engines while their Japanese competitors established a big lead in electric and hybrid cars.

Now, though, the Germans are trying to put that right with a huge development push that is just starting to bear fruit.

Perhaps the best example of the trend is one of this year's Frankfurt stars, BMW's electric i3, which won't go on sale until 2013.

That's a two-year lag compared with Nissan's Leaf, the first purpose-designed, mass-production electric car, but while the Leaf is in many respects still a fairly conventional design, the i3 will offer radical solutions to the problems of weight and range in electric vehicles.

There will be extensive use of carbon fibre and recycled aluminium, and decades after most cars ditched their separate chassis in favour of stiffer all-in-one bodies, the i3 will have two distinct structural elements, the Life and Drive modules, the first designed to accommodate the car's passengers, the second, its drivetrain.

At the moment, nobody knows whether pure battery-electric cars will win out over hybrids, which combine electric power with a petrol or diesel power, so BMW is wisely hedging its bets by offering the i3 with an optional 'range extender' petrol engine.

Incidentally, if you're worried that the i3, a small urban runabout, won't offer the sort of sporty drive you'd normally expect from a BMW, I can put your mind at rest.

Most discussion of electric cars has so far concentrated on questions of economy and environmental impact; that's meant that their smooth and powerful acceleration, which may eventually turn out to be their strongest selling point, still isn't really appreciated by mainstream buyers.

The i3 will, in any case, have a bigger, faster sister that shares most of its advanced technology, the i8 - and that's a low-slung performance car that looks like a proper BMW.

Price: TBC

Top speed: 150km/h; 0-100km/h 7.9 seconds
Electric range: up to 160km
Battery charge time: 6 hours
Best for: patient environmentalists
Also considering: Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Nissan Leaf, Smart Fortwo electric drive

New Hyundai EON : Exclusive Feature!

First instance of action in the cut throat low end entry level car segment is almost a revolution with Hyundai throwing style, substance, space, performance and fuel efficiency to take on the Alto league. Adil Jal Darukhanawala gets behind the wheel of the stunning Eon which he reckons is the modern day 21st century 800!

It is close to 14 years to the day when Hyundai opened its innings in India with a tall boy smallie to present not just its first car in the India market but also to present the first major challenge to Maruti Suzuki’s domination of the peoples’ car segment. Both Hyundai and Santro were unknown names in the Indian market but with some nifty marketing backed by sound engineering and design, the quirkily styled Santro helped establish the product and the brand in the minds of the Indian motorist.

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Fast forward to the present and Hyundai is now an established and genuine number two car maker in the country, having a varied portfolio which still features the Santro as its entry level offering. Though long in the tooth and having seen two to three upgrades over its existence to date, the Korean car maker realised that it needed to dip into the segment dominated by the Suzuki Alto with an all-new car and try and take a slice of this pie. So far the Alto has been a runaway success for Maruti Suzuki, and deservedly so, given its make-up, reliability, performance and pricing. What is surprising is the fact that it took so long for other car makers to see the Alto carve out such a strong and wholesome niche and then try and address it with a rival of their own. Now with development time for an all-new product taking three years at the very least from concept sketch to production, one must hand it to Hyundai for having seen this earlier than others and developed an all-new, India-specific automobile which is the best way to describe what is a unique price-specific product needed for the entry level segment in India.

Brings us straight to discussing the price point of the new vehicle which should be on or about the Rs 2.5-lakh ex-showroom sticker tag for the base Alto. Hyundai would have worked out what it had to do with a brand new modern design to try and engineer it not just to the pricing of the Alto but more importantly, allow it to deliver more in terms of style, occupant space, performance, fuel efficiency than the established segment leader. Thus was born Project HA, which saw not just Hyundai’s design and development centre at Namyang in Korea do most of the work, but the fact that Hyundai’s Hyderabad-based R&D centre also pitched in massively to firm up a product which is fresh and appealing and also meets most requirements in this class of small car in India.

The pictures here are of the exact production version of the Hyundai Eon, as the Project HA offering it will be known as when it is unveiled in India in the coming month. The writing is clear: the new Hyundai is a stunner with substance to boot, as I discovered during the course of an exclusive half an hour session driving this small Hyundai at the firm’s Namyang test track. In one fell swoop Hyundai seems to have re-written a new chapter for entry level small cars and it is here in the Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3.0 lakh space, where most entry level buyers are to be found searching for their first spanking new automobile. While the Tata Nano may be cheaper, the Indian consumer is looking at better value, more substance and style rather than just focus on pricing. And in this era where every detail counts, the Eon should be the one which could ignite an all-new and more meaningful race in this segment.

The Eon is built on a completely new platform which has no bearing on the ones used before, either for the Santro or the svelte i10. What clearly denotes the Eon is its stylish exterior with hints of Hyundai’s fluidic design language showing. It is no secret that trying to style a small package is much more difficult than a larger sized hatch or saloon.  But with the Eon, the Hyundai design team has really pulled out all the stops and emerged with a package that is fresh, contemporary and appealing. Casey Hyun, the Australian-born Korean who headed the design team, was clear in his mind that style was as important as the interior detailing needed to prepare a product which had to stand the test of time in a class which would see newer competition arrive sooner rather than later.

The overall stance of the car replete with its hexagonal-corporate face and those swept back headlights running almost all the way back, to the rakish A-pillar, is thoroughly modern and with the large air dam in front plus the slickly valanced bonnet character lines, the Eon stands out strongly. Given the fact that its overall length is just 3495mm, the Eon in profile is easy on the eye as against the Santro which shocked to make its imprint on motorists’ minds. The easily flowing glazed surfaces plus the milled wheel arches along with curvy character lines (at the waist level and lower down on the door sills) impart a level of design flair which normally isn’t prevalent in this class of car.

Design and style haven’t compromised what remains one of the key attributes punters look forward to in this class of car: usable occupant space. The packaging engineers have come up with a winner in this area, with class leading head, elbow and leg room, front and rear. I managed to spend quite some time getting my colleagues to move and slide front seats back and forth as I switched from front to rear seats. And this perfunctory course did suggest that the Eon would be impressive in its space efficiency and comfort. A quick comparison with the Alto is in order here and the figures tell their own story. The Alto measures 3620mm front to rear, while the Eon’s overall length is slightly shorter at 3495mm. However, the real story emerges when you factor in the 2380mm wheelbase of the Eon, which is 20mm longer than that of the Alto and the cabin just starts building up from there on. Clever design of the dashboard, optimising the H-points for the occupants plus also proper thought on entry and egress helped liberate more space in the interior. If that wasn’t all, the seats impressed as did the width and the height, both these being dimensionally larger than that of the Alto (1550mm width and 1500mm height for the Eon as against 1495mm and 1460mm for the Alto). So much for the occupants but the Eon also caught the eye in another department, a substantially larger boot space to gobble up 215 litres of luggage.

The interior of the Eon is funky and appealing and the dashboard with its swathe of curves and slashes highlights this to the hilt. The central stack with air con and audio system switches, the instrument binnacle (with the large diameter speedo dominating) right in view of the driver’s forward line of vision and the nicely configured ergonomics are other details which highlight what Hyundai has done to move the game along in this class of car. The level of fine tuning the interior can be gauged by the fact that Casey Hyun’s team ordered no less than 31 different makes of branded mineral water from India in various sized bottles to determine the positioning of no less than seven to eight bottle holders dotted all around the cabin.

Nissan Sunny

Yes people, the technical specifications of the Nissan Sunny have been revealed. This is the first three box entry in the country from the Japanese manufacturer

Nissan is soon going to launch its successfully running mid-sizer in the country and patience is running out. With the customer and the manufacturer. So, we thought of putting down the technical specifications of the car till the launch. First of all, Nissan is going to launch the petrol version of the Sunny for a start. No need to get depressed. The diesel will also come soon. Powered by a 1.5 liter DOHC 16 valve engine, the car is capable of pumping out 99 PS power at 6000 rpm with 134 Nm of torque at 4000 rpm. 

The engine is mated with a five speed manual transmission for all variants. Power steering is also standard. There is a Mcpherson Strut on the front and Torsion Bar at the rear to take care of all the potholes. The brakes are also standard ventilated discs up front and drums at the rear.

Enough of too technical aspects, lets talk about the key features the car has to offer. The Nissan Sunny is available in three variants – XE, XL and XV. And the best ones about the car are across all trim versions. Antilock Braking System with EBD and Brake Assist and driver airbag are available across all models. Add to this a host of warnings that are available for all who forget to leave something or the other switched on or left inside. Nissan has put in the “headlight on warning” and “key remove warning lamp” across all models alongside other safety features like “speed sensing auto lock” available in the Xl and XV versions.

Yes people, the technical specifications of the Nissan Sunny have been revealed. This is the first three box entry in the country from the Japanese manufacturer

The top-end variant is the one with push button start and intelligent key like that on the Micra XV. Also, on the inside, you would see a lot of Micra-ness since interiors of both cars are identical. We would really hope it has enough appeal to cut into the Indian automobile market and according to us, well, we will mention it in our first drive real soon .

Porsche 911

The new Porsche 911 is here, and a new Porsche will soon compete with Ferrari

Yes it has been finally revealed by Porsche at the Frankfurt Auto Show marking the end of 997 911’s seven years of glory. The new 991 911 is very much like the 911’s of the past 48 years but, Porsche now plans to take on Ferrari in the ultra luxury brand segment of automotive industry.

Although you won’t be able to distinguish between the 991 and the 997 apart from the tail-lights, but the new car is 100 pounds lighter, has a top speed of 180 mph, and gets a 350 hp boxer six.

While the next big news arrived from Porsche’s CEO, Mr Muller who said there would be a new Porsche which would compete with Ferraris, not the 911, it however is an icon of German engineering, no doubt, and to Porsche fans epitomizes speed and quality, but it still lacks the exclusivity and head-turning allure of some of Ferrari’s top models.

The Porsche 918 Spyder, a limited-edition hybrid supercar expecrted to be launched in 2013 and boasting a 3.4-litre, 500-horsepower V8 engine, will retail at €750,000. But the price range between the 911 and 918 is dominated by Ferrari, with cars such as the 599 and FF.

“It has always irritated me that the 911 stops somewhere around €250,000 and doesn’t start again until the 918 for €750,000,” Mr Müller told the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung in August. “In between sits Ferrari, relatively comfortably and without competition. We’ve got to get in there.”

Mr Müller said Porsche might develop a larger sports car than the 911, one similar to the Porsche 959, which was built in the late 1980s and was the world’s fastest street-legal series production car at the time of its launch, with a top speed in excess of 320kph.

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“I could imagine such a model in a price range of €250,000 to €400,000,” said Mr Müller.

But that could only work if Porsche boss decides to make it a bit different looking than the rest of the Porsche’s otherwise, the current Porsche range looks so similar that ordinary man can’t tell apart whether what model he just saw.

Maserati's all new luxury SUV, the Kubang

Exotic sports car maker Maserati had decided to go the SUV way by saying that they were going to make a sports luxury SUV. Their new SUV, the Kubang is on display the at Frankfurt Motor Show

When a regular car maker puts some effort to make an SUV, the Sports Utility Vehicle turns out to be reasonably good both on the road and off it, or exceptionally brilliant at one and reasonable at another. Along came sports car maker Porsche with their SUV, the Cayenne. The car was brilliant both on the road and off-road. It truly lived up to its character name of an SUV. Now, Maserati has announced that they are going to stray off their exclusive luxury sports car range and take a share of the SUV market.
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Maserati had come up with plans for the Kubang way back in 2003, the new car is now ready and on display at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Maserati say that the Kubang will come with their sports car DNA which means that it should be fantastic to drive on the road. The Kubang is not just an SUV taken from another manufacturer and rebadged as a Maserati. The styling, suspension, brakes, steering, automatic transmission and engine are all exclusively designed and built from ground up for the Kubang by the Maserati Product Development in Modena.

The Kubang will undoubtedly stand out on the road with its distinctive styling and since it is a Maserati it will most certainly be a hoot to drive, on the road at least. 

Renault Koleos: First Drive

"Drive the change" is what Renault's tag line says, and that's pretty much what the French manufacturer wants to do with its latest offering, the Koleos

What are the essentials of a good drive? Lets see, first of all it’s the roads, they should be good, with sparse traffic, scenic with good music in the background and of course a good set of wheels. And that’s pretty much how the new Renault Koleos drive turned out to be. Renaults latest SUV is made to take the rough with the smooth and that’s exactly how the route from Bangalore to Kabini was. 

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Coming back to the Koleos, this smart looking SUV is Renault’s third baby if you consider the recently disowned Logan. With the launch of the Fluence just a few months ago, Renault is definitely on a resurgence spree in India. With the Koleos, Renault realized that the Premium SUV market is definitely one of the fastest growing markets here in India and if they had to make an impact on Indian customers this was a great segment to begin with.

Now the Koleos isn’t an all new car. It’s been around in the international markets since 2008. However the car that you see in the pictures is the updated 2012 model. It’s a good thing that we get the new car since the predecessor wasn’t too much too look at. The new car though while not being the most handsome SUV, isn’t too bad to look at. The dimensions are just right and the Koleos is big enough to make its presence felt and at the same time compact enough to not feel cumbersome driving around town. The big grille along with upswept head lights looks like the Koleos has got just the right dose of botox. The skid plates at the front and rear add a touch of butch-ness to the otherwise pretty conservative stance of the Koleos. 

Open the door and the first thing that strikes you is “Bose” written on the door sill. While that would want you to believe that there is a Bose system in the car, but we couldn’t fathom why would you want the audio systems name on the door sills and not to mention on the front fender as well. But a quick chat with Marc Nassif, MD-Renault India led us to believe that this is indeed the Renault Koleos Bose edition.

Slip into the driver’s seat you find yourself in a typical high perched driving position which is common is SUV’s. The steering wheel feels great and quality of materials is brilliant. We specially loved the soft touch dashboard materials and the fake carbon fibre panels. It’s quite roomy at the back as well, but considering the Koleos is a five seater and not a seven, legroom is pretty average at best. The seat back tables which otherwise serve well, make for a pretty hard surface resting against the rear passengers knee in case the driver/co-driver seat is slid all the way to the back. As far as luxury and flexibility is concerned, the Koleos has it covered. Dual zone a/c, leather all over, rear a/c vent with separate blowers, 6-way power adjustable driver seat, parking sensors and then some. But the best bit is the Bose audio system. The 8-speaker will simply blow your socks off. The high fidelity system reproduces some amazing acoustics no matter what song you play. The best in-car entertainment system in its segment for sure. 

Good music in the background and a brilliant blacktop beneath us, the Koleos was being pushed petty hard but it was upto the task. With 150 PS and 320 Nm from the 2.0 litre dCi oilburner coupled with an all mode 4x4-i system, the Koleos had the grunt and the grip to make it an enjoyable drive, no matter how the conditions were. Even around the corners, the car held up pretty good despite its tall stance.

But the revelation was the ride quality. Throw anything at it, but the Koleos takes everything in its stride with aplomb. The last section of the journey barely had any roads and the Koleos just went through it without any problems or juggling the heavy lunch we had eaten. With a ground clearance of 206 mm and the 4x4 transmission the Koleos should be pretty capable off the road as well, but that we shall only find out once we fully test the vehicle. The only fly in this otherwise pretty good ointment is the gearbox. The 6-speed auto box is a bit slow and left hunting for the right gear whenever you need to shoot past that truck or slow moving rickshaw. A 6-speed manual would definitely make the Koleos an even more entertaining drive.

The Koleos then comes across as a pretty impressive offering from Renault. While it may not spring a surprise in any department, it seems to be quite a sensible product from a sensible manufacturer. For the moment, the Koleos will be available only in one fully loaded variant as Renault wants to showcase its very best. And it is indeed loaded with almost all the creature comfort one could ask for. But is it worth the Rs. 22.99 lakh ex-showroom Delhi price tag especially amongst such established competition? Only a proper road test shall answer that. Keep watching this space for more!

New Volkswagen Jetta : First Drive

A front like the Vento, tail like an A4 and the engine from a Passat - no matter where you look you're going to feel like you've seen the new Volkswagen Jetta before. But step inside and this newcomer's character will change your perspective!

Every once in a while there comes a car that seems near perfect for its time. Only problem is, that time doesn’t stand still and that perfect car doesn’t seem so perfect anymore. The Volkswagen Jetta that was launched in 2009 may have been in the fifth of its generations but at the time it was everything that one would want in an executive sedan – strong diesel engine, great space, fun to drive and of course the option of getting it with that fabulous dual clutch auto’box. It did have its own shortcomings too though, the biggest of which was that VW at the time was relatively a newer brand to the Indian masses and the Jetta was competing with big names like the well established Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla as well as its own cousin – the Skoda Laura. That’s all in the past now and the guys at Volkswagen’s marketing team have done a great job of bring the VW badge to the common knowledge of the Indian populace with cars like the Polo and the Vento. A little over two years since the Jetta was launched then, it’s time for the car’s sixth generation to roll in and not only has VW fixed everything that was lacking in the older car, but they’ve actually gone a step further.

First things first, and before you think the new Volkwagen Jetta is just a rehash of the older one, it isn’t. This is a completely new car and is in fact longer than the older Jetta by all of 90 mm. Now that’s quite some length in car dimension terms and what that means is that the new Jetta is roomier on the inside. It in fact comes with seats that are not only plusher, but a whole lot more comfortable as well. Since inside the car is where owners will be spending most of their time in, the Jetta now also makes up for certain deficacies on the equipment front that it had earlier. Most noteable among this is obviously the new touch-screen multimedia interface that also found itself in the Skoda Laura – extended families do have their own perks after all. Not only that, the Jetta’s audio system also now incorporates what has become business as usual for any car worth its salt.

Yes there is finally an AUX port on the centre console and a dedicated iPod setup in the glovebox! Choose the top-of-the-range Highline model and you will even get a driver’s seat that is completely adjustable electrically – even for height. Couple that with a spacious cabin, well-appointed interiors and a neatly laid out typically Volkswagen dash and the new Jetta is a good place to be driving in indeed. There is also cruise control, electrically adjustable and foldable wing mirrors and chrome touches that are not too intrusive, but exist just enough to make their presence felt.

It’s when you look at the new Volkswagen Jetta from the outside though that there are bound to be mixed reactions. While the new Jetta’s proportions are spot on and you know instantly that this is a bigger car, one can’t help but notice the similarities between this and the Vento. In fact, Volkswagen’s corporate design theme has ensured that head on, and with no references for size in the vicinity the Jetta looks exactly like its smaller stablemate. It’s only when you look closer and observe the minute details that you figure out how the Jetta is classier and worth every penny that you spend over a Vento. The same situation exists with the Jetta’s profile but when you swing to the back, you know that this part of the car looks nothing like the smaller sedan – but again bares resemblance to another car from the Group. So VW owns Audi and that makes the A4 a not-so-distant cousin to the Jetta. Ties within the two cars’ DNA shows up when you soak in the horizontal tail lamps that look so Audi-esque! All in all though the Jetta is a great car to look at and if classy wasn’t a word done to death in this segment of cars, superiorly sporty is another word that would best describe the Jetta’s styling.

Look deeper beyond the expanse of the Jetta’s hood and the next thing you know is that you’re itching to go take a spin. Earlier this year, the German manufacturer also launched the all-new Passat and with it came a fabulous 2-litre diesel engine pumping out 140 PS of power. Now imagine the same powerplant in a smaller and lighter car and you know for sure that if the Passat was quick, this one’s going to be better. And that is exactly what the new Volkswagen Jetta is. Depending on how lazy you are or how much you enjoy being in control of your gear shifts, the Jetta’s 2-litre engine is mated to either a 6-speed DSG auto’box with paddle shifters or a 6-speed manual transmission. Now we all know how good a dual clutch automatic can be and in fact it was the better option with the previous car but quite frankly we enjoyed the manual version better in the newer car. 

Taking nothing away from the DSG though, the gear lever on the manual version is butter smooth with positive shifts and a short throw through the gates. Both ‘boxes allow full use of the Jetta’s awesome 320 Nm of torque and it’s a great feeling to go pedal to the metal on a straight stretch of open tarmac. Sadly, there is no petrol version yet, but hopefully when and if it does debut in the coming months, the gasoline fueled unit will be of a higher capacity than the 1.6 litre unit that came fitted in the previous car. The new Volkswagen Jetta also carries on and betters VWs trait of getting the suspension setup right – this car not only feels stiff enough to corner totally in control but is also soft enough to iron out all kinds of vagaries that Indian terrain may throw at you. Combine that with acronyms like ABS, ESP and the likes and you have a car that you will have fun driving around in without a worry in the world. Needless to say, airbags are standard but how many of them you get in the car depends on which of the three trim levels you choose!

The price tag for the new Volkswagen Jetta starts at Rs 14.12 lakh and goes all the way up to Rs 17.86 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) for the Highline variant with the DSG gearbox and that may seem on the slightly higher side initially but considering that this is a German car and is built like a tank, it sure seems worth every digit on that sticker. Sure, many may complain (including yours truly) that the Jetta looks exactly the same as the Vento, but this car’s beauty isn’t just skin deep. And while we await the car for a complete instrumented road test, go ahead and take a test drive at your local VW dealer. You’re sure to be impressed!

Toyota Etios / Liva Diesel : Special Coverage!

With the introduction of the Etios Sedan and the Liva hatchback in their new diesel avatars, Toyota customers can now pick and choose from a wider and more efficient range of mass market vehicles on offer by the Japanese car maker here in India. From the evolution of its three-pot oil burner, to the overall changes in drive dynamics and fuel efficiency, ZigWheels gets you upto speed with all that's new and different about the soon to be launched Etios D-4D diesel twins. Variant wise pricing of the diesel versions of the Etios sedan and the Liva hatchback will be revealed by Toyota at the official launch of the two models on the 9th of September 2011. Watch this space for updated information, images, reviews and the other details

Bentley Continental Cars

Editor's View : Bentley Continental

The Continental tag has been used on a number of Bentley models over the years. These cars have varied in terms of style and purpose, however the Continental tag remains as one of the biggest brand names in the Bentley line up. Currently the Continental tag is used on the Bentley Continental GT, which is in essence a super coupe, however the tag has also been used on a large coupe in 1998 which went by the name Bentley Continental R. Today the Continental name is associated with the GTC and a four door version of the GT that goes by the name of Flying Spur.