In the past 6 years plus have been busy with work and life and totally ignored the blog. Had got hacked and lost a lot of content also. In the meantime sold two cars (my Getz and Swift) and bought two cars(Tata Nano and Tata Tiago JTP). Hope to restart posts about the car scene in India again.
Here is one photo of the Tiago JTP.
If your days of carefree life with minimal responsibilities(read- bachelorhood) are numbered, do take some time to prioritize how you spend your last years/months/days. After the noose – you will be expected to involve the other half in pretty much everything and you have to start thinking of a variety of things such as – purchase of a residence, loans to be repaid (college/home), future family(if kids on the way), emergency funds, kids education funds, annual holidays, household expenses – maintenance / first time purchase or replacement of existing – TV, Fridge, sofa, beds, washing machine, dish washer, vacuum cleaner, water purifier, household items, health care etc etc …this list goes on.
Rather than spend the rest of your (married) life wishing you had done this earlier – take a look at these and make your own bucket list (A Top movie of 2007/2008).(Buy the movie on Flipkart on VCD/DVD/Blue Ray if you don’t have it already – I definitely recommend watching this).
This Bucket List includes both products and experiences – what is listed is not a list you should blindly copy but use as inspiration to build out your own list. This could be a start to your own life time Bucket List as well that includes everything you want to do before finally giving that big kick to your bucket. Also make sure you remember this list when you define your budget for spending money as well :-).
Big Ticket/Luxury/Are you out of your mind:
You don’t really need this/Mid Level (you may get away with some of these – spread out over time):
Lowest Level(Lowest impact – and cheapest – you may get minimal resistance but WW-III wont break out either if you get any of these):
Again just so that it doesn’t seem that your life is over after you get married – just that you have one more voice that will speak practically (in addition to your own conscience 🙂 ) – and that your priorities may change.
Please do share your own lists as well through the comments.
Please make sure you cross off at least one big ticket item before marriage 🙂 and then try to aim for the smaller ones each year.
PS: Make sure your criteria for a future spouse has “must be an auto enthusiast” as one of the key items.
Spent a bit of time on this. Got the idea looking at a popular automotive forum avatar photo of Sonu who sent me the larger version. Thanks again Sonu for the help.
Here is the original:
I took the following photos during various stages of the drawing:
I had initially wanted to make it a watercolor but I decided to stop here before I ruined this further :-).
This one was done with an ink pen on a sketchpad. Done late at night.
Dupont has published their annual studies of vehicle color popularity data for 2009. Am really happy to see that for the second year in a row India has warranted its own data collection and analysis. Till 2007 India was not considered separately and the closest was Asia which had data from Japan ! Shows India has reached a stage where the data coming from it is meaningful on a global scale.
For India as indicated in the graphy above Silver still is the most popular color followed by white, red and blue. Last year White was the most popular closely followed by silver. Other colors constituted less than 6% each. Unfortunately DuPont has not released the breakup by other colors this time around.
On the global scenario silver is still the most popular color followed by black, white, gray and blue. Below is the trend of color popularity for the past 10 years.
The full DuPont report is here.
I noticed this when the Ford Figo was announced – that vehicle tail lamps have now started the unstoppable climb upwards on vehicle backsides. I am wondering when they will get replaced by a strip of lamps lining the roof. This seems predominantly on hatchbacks and some MPVs. Sedans still havent caught the bug it looks like.
Here are some examples of this evolution of tail lamps that are now at door handle and higher levels:
Have I missed some newly launched newly designed vehicle from this list ? do let me know.
I have been really bothered by the “new” launches that have been all over the news for the past month. Are these really “new” vehicles – maybe its just me – but I think when the words “all” and “new” are used together in the same sentence to define a vehicle launch I expect the vehicle to look very different from the previous one and to also feature a whole lot of changes to everything in it from engines to interiors to exterior shape and design. A lot of manufacturers very shamelessly call changes to headlamps, tail lamps, introduction of new color schemes for the interior as a “new” vehicle. Most of these can be done by aftermarket accessories shops – we didn’t need the manufacturers for it.
Since I have been out of action for a while I am taking the liberty to consolidate my thoughts on the most recent launches of the past month or so here.
Toyota Fortuner (Aug 24, 2009)
This is really a new launch for India. Wheelosphere.org has details about the launch here. It took a long time to get to India. The only downer is that the interiors are too similar to the Innova. Quality is good and the vehicle is capable and comfortable – but Toyota did not plan for the demand and has closed bookings for the next 7 months – or is it just a ploy to get dealers/brokers to make some quick money through “premiums” being charged to get this popular vehicle soon. (Has Toyota been keeping a ear open to how Maruti and its dealers handle the Swift/Dzire Diesel’s popularity). (Toyota in the recent past called the refresh of the Innova the launch of an “All New” Innova – with just head& tail lamp changes, a new grille & climate control).
Maruti Suzuki Estilo (Aug 25th, 2009)
New engine and significantly face-lifted exteriors – very close to being a new car. The wheel arches look a bit funny IMHO – well actually the whole front has been a sore point even from the previous iteration. The headlamps look better than the original ones and the bonnet and grille have been re-worked to be more rounded than the older version and more like a tall hatchback than the previous version. The interior has some minor changes. The heart of the car has changed – this is a significant change in my book and will classify this as a new vehicle. Most significant change was the fact that the “Zen” name has been laid to rest instead of being slaughtered on this ugly duckling – which has tried to change its looks slightly for the better I should say.
Hyundai Santro (Sept 1, 2009):
Facelift only. This cannotbe called a new car. Beige interiors, grille & wheel cap changes do not make it a new Santro. This should have been decently called a refreshed Santro which is the only way Hyundai can try to move out existing stock till the actual new Santro is brought out. www.motorbeam.comhad a poll on this and as of this time 57% of respondents say no. 27% say “Who cares” while a surprising 14% has said it is a new car. People who answered “Yes” – folks you really are being conned by Hyundai and you do not know it. Motorbeam has a detailed post on what is “new” here . I am finding it difficult to figure out the “new” grille – which looks exactly like the old/older/oldest Xing ones – is this a case of only the intelligent seeing the new grille ? In that case I must be the stupidest person around !
Honda Civic (Sept 8, 2009)
Facelift only. Minor changes to the tail lamps, smoking of head lamp, changing the bumpers and alloys doesn’t fool me :-). They also have no creativity – they introduce a new trim always called a “V” trim and the main feature is guess what – Fog Lamps and a USB capable music system ? Cruise control is added new – a feature I feel should have been there from day one – for the price charged.
Ford Endeavour (Sept 9, 2009)
This one is a bit difficult and I will call this a significant faceliftand not really a new vehicle. The front has undergone fairly significant changes all the way till the “A” pillar. But aft of that there is not much of a change my untrained eyes can detect. The engines on offer are still the same but the 4×4 now comes in Auto-trans only. The Sat-nav system is a cool feature to have. Toyota for sure will be bringing this one and an automatic in soon on the Fortuner to keep up. Our Indian customers are crazy and just run out and throw money at anything branded Toyota and Honda – so Ford has to give away extra to get and keep customers.
Soon to be inflicted on us:
Honda City (Sept 15, 2009)
Again a facelift only since this vehicle has been around for just around a year or even less. The “V” series makes its presence felt but details are scarce at this point other than new alloys (wow – Honda finally relented and are giving poor Indians alloys and fog lamps ! Thank you Honda – we are so touched !) BS Motoring has a writeup here .
Nissan Teana & X-Trail (Sept 16, 2009)
Significant facelifts of these low selling vehicles are to happen says Motorbeam.com. These do not excite me since they are really niche vehicles which are neither VFM, neither sporty and no where worthy of their prices and they need to be built in in India rather than be imported for their sales to pick up. I am more interested in the vehicles Renault-Nissan has in the works that are focussed at the mass market rather than these :-).
What are your thoughts on the “all new” vehicles being brought out these days ? Please do make your voice heard.
I usually park my car in such a way that I have to back the car into the spot. Every time I do so, I worry that someone from my family will be behind the car and I may hit them by mistake. This fear has grown ever since my son started walking a couple of months ago.
I saw this on the net: Miracle Baby Pinned Under SUV Survives Unharmed. I proceed to freak out even more. The story referenced a website called: http://kidsandcars.org/ which seems to be a site collecting and maintaining statistics of children injured/killed in accidents involving automobiles. Their statistics reveal that of all fatalities involving children from 2002 – 2007 the top 3 reasons were:
Having freaked myself out enough – I started to worry that since this is not tracked well in the US which usually has statistics of everything, the statistics in India would be very different. I do not even want to think of it since it will be more gruesome than the US statistics. Rather than think about that I thought maybe I should put together some tips for parents / drivers.
Tips for vehicle drivers with little children around:
Request: Dear readers – have I missed any key tips ? Please doadd more tips through the comments – I need your help to build this list up. Please do share these tips with parents of small children who may find it useful as well.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=26c1bafd-b47d-44f6-8783-6603cec7c67a)
Pls Note: The list updated as of March 2012 is here : http://cars.zimbly.com/2012/03/automatic-cars-in-india-costing-less-than-16lakhs-updated-2012-march/
Indian customers have limited choice in transmission options. Most Indian manufacturers have decided to provide manual transmissions because of our well known obsession with the mileage of vehicles. This has resulted in a state where only a minute number of cars feature auto transmissions.
This is the list of vehicles priced under 16 lakhs on road listed in order of increasing price:
The number of vehicles over 16 lakhs with automatic gearboxes is significantly higher.
Common Myths regarding Auto transmissions:
When should you get an automatic ?
When you should not get an automatic:
Auto Clutch ?
What about the much advertised auto-clutch conversion kits for manual transmissions that costs anywhere between 25k to 40k ? My only advice is first check if the dealer of the kit provides a guarantee and service in your city? Also get it done only if you have no choice as I would choose a factory fitted transmission any day over a bolt on mainly from the point of view of a factory warranty over a installer warranty.
Manufacturer Blabber:
Manufacturer Support for automatics has been very reluctant in India with the obsession with mileage.As of today Hyundai is the only manufacturer that provides an automatic option for all segments of vehicles it provides(I10,I20,Verna,Sonata) . The dealers are usually reluctant to sell you an automatic. They have been advertising the Verna Automatic which is a segment first and that too in diesel trim.
Maruti will dissuade you against buying the automatic vehicles. They will try their best to sell an automatic Grand Vitara on the other hand which no one wants in its Manual version itself. Strangely Suzuki which sells automatics in every other market in the world in India as part of Maruti keeps insisting that there is no market for it and hasn’t been serious with auto transmissions.
Wishlist & In Summary: I think there is definitely a market for small fuel efficient automatics, mainly diesels in all segments. Any hatchback car that has the Multijet diesel engine from Fiat is a good candidate to get an automatic box. They have adequate power and already provide great mileage so will not suffer much from having an automatic box.
Tata and Fiat need to look into automatic options soon to stay abreast of competition as the currently have ZERO vehicles with automatic transmissions.
Mahindra has the automatic on the Scorpio but need to start providing more options on the Xylo, Logan and Bolero soon.
Maruti – please wake up and add automatic versions to the Swift, Ritz and DZire diesels – please – and price them well !
Ford – the new Fiesta could do with an automatic with the new 90 BHP diesel as well.
PS: This post was actually put together around the same time as my I10 post but I delayed putting this up.Do you know what car has the steering wheel & gear lever pictured in the images in this post ? 🙂 . The answers are in my post itself.
Updated: March 10th,2011 and added the Maruti Suzuki, A-Star,Chevrolet Cruze,SX4 , Vento. Also removed the Wagon R AX as it is no longer sold. Also added the below list of costlier (greater than 16L) automatic options.
Vehicles costing just over higher than 16L :