Yearly Archives: 2011

It was going to be my last weekend in the United States. I was going back to India after a year’s gap. Of course, I was excited as one usually is when going back to family after a long gap. Upcoming events like my parents’ wedding anniversary and my cousin’s wedding also added to the excitement points.

Amidst all this, I was also feeling sad about leaving the US. Not for leaving one of the most developed countries of the world and the financial benefits that come along with working out of there. But because I would not be able to drive the kind of cars that I drove here in the US, back in India.

Right from the time I took my first rental car in the US, I had made a decision that I will try out all the different types of cars that I could possibly lay my hands on. And that I did. From Chryslers to Mazdas and humongous GMCs. But now, when I had just one weekend left, I was feeling sad at not being able to drive a car that had always tingled my sensation whenever I had heard or read about it. After having been in the land of the muscle cars, I had not been able to lay my hands on one of the greatest of them. I had not yet driven the Ford Mustang.

Mustangs were always rare in a car rental agency. Rental cars are not usually meant for performance oriented people. A car like the Mustang does not necessarily make much sense there. That was the answer that I got whenever I had asked for Mustangs in such agencies earlier. My roommate consoled me saying that I could buy one if I am here next time. I too had resigned to that fact.

Being the last weekend, I had to do lots of shopping. I believe I do not need to delve into the details regarding the kind of shopping one has to do when you have an extended circle of family and friends back home. It was chaotic and fun at the same time, needing to think and think again regarding the justification behind buying a particular stuff for an individual. Backup plans to accommodate any final goof ups will also have to be thought out. I had made the list ready and was just waiting for the weekend to arrive.

It was Friday morning and I had just entered my office. The phone rings and it was my roommate at the other end. He says, “I am at the car rentals now to pick up the car we had booked for the weekend. But they don’t seem to have any right now”. We had booked a midsize sedan category car and it was usual for the rental agency not to have a car in the category that we have booked.

“So what? Ask them for something else. That is what they always do”, I replied.

“Ahem… That they have offered. They only have two cars right now. One is a brand new Jetta and the other is a Mustang. I was planning on the Jetta. What do you propose?” I could feel my friend’s smirk when he said that.

I spent the next few minutes explaining to him the need to get the Mustang, in a language which is inappropriate to put in here. Coming to think of it, that wasn’t entirely necessary as he, after having listened to me lots of times, had this feeling that Mustang was not an ordinary car.

In the evening, the parking lot was the first place I headed to after I got down from the bus. There it was, the two door coupe, jet black in colour, gleaming in the afternoon sun looking just as I had expected it to. Silently thanking God for having given me this opportunity, I headed towards the apartment.

My roommate had taken the car to New York on that day and he was waiting for me to let loose his commentaries about the car. He told how he was late to start but was able to make up time as he was able to zip in and out of traffic easily and effortlessly and about being stunned about the pickup at times. Even though a considerable part of his commentary was beefed up, it was easily understandable that the excitement bug had caught him too.

The next day he accepted my request to let me do all the driving. I got ready before him for the shopping exercise and went down to the car to take a look around.

I had gotten used to the practicality offered by the Japanese cars and the finesse of the Germans, that the first emotion that stumped me when I sat in the driver’s seat was that of amusement. It looked rather bleak, dull and monotonous. The dashboard and the controls didn’t cheerfully call out their names in the order of functionality. They rather yawned at me and looked indifferent. I spent the next few minutes plugging in the GPS and setting up the iPod. I had some trouble finding the seat adjustment controls and getting used to them. Once this was successfully accomplished, we set out.

There wasn’t much noise as I fired the engine which added to my list of amusements. And the cabin seemed to be decently sound proofed as well. I gingerly backed her out and headed onto the country road outside our apartment complex.

I was doing a painfully slow 20 MPH. My friend, worried about getting a honk from a car behind us asked me to speed up. But I continued at the same speed, knowing very well that I was just executing my plans.

There is an interesting part to the American road system. The highways have a speed limit ranging from 65-75 MPH and the country roads around 25-40 MPH. Which means that the ramps which connect the country roads to the highways become small drag strips where you need to speed up from country road speed to highway speed. Now with the Mustang at my disposal, I was looking forward to getting onto the highway more than in any other car.

As I entered the ramp, my speed further dropped due to the incline. I slowly covered half the distance of the ramp, not heeding to the constant high pitched rant coming out of my friend’s mouth.

And then I did it.

Just when I thought I had only a few hundred metres remaining before I joined the highway, I floored the accelerator.
And the world transformed.

The high pitched shrieks from my friend were replaced by a noise so belligerent, so fearsome, so deeply bass-ed that my friend jumped out of his skin. He turned back in time to see a grin pasted on my face.


The grin of having had your neck pinned to the headrest with a thud. The grin from the adrenaline rush which would rival the speed at which fuel is being dumped into the big engine at the front. The grin from realising that my list of earlier amusements were no match for the experience that I was having and that my theory about the sound proofing was wrong. The grin from hearing a cacophonous mayhem at its harmonious best.

I hit 80 MPH at the blink of any eye. All through my driving experience in the US, I had always maintained my speed limit. This was the first and the last car where I did not. Because I simply couldn’t. Any speed below 80 and it made me feel foolish. It made me feel like someone who would only play Super Mario on a PS3.

I drove it almost nonstop that weekend. When we were returning it on Monday morning, I felt I had found the single reason that could make me prolong my stay in the US.

The experience with the Mustang also taught me a lesson. That such pieces of machinery had the power to appeal to non enthusiasts as well. Because after another one of my country road-ramp-highway exercise, my colleague who was sitting next to me said, “You know, it feels different when this car does that. The sound… The surge… Something that I had never experienced before”.

She didn’t bother that I didn’t reply to her. Because I had the grin back on me, my eyes looking at the highway ahead, over the swooping long bonnet with the casted silvery shape of a running horse at the grill, aptly representing the feel and sense of the car.

It wants to roam free. And it wants to be fast and furious when doing that.

Jaguar, the British luxury and sports car maker was languishing in the hands of Ford when it decided to sell it. The Tatas gained possession of the brand along with Land Rover. While Land Rover was profitable at the time of purchase, Jaguar was not. The Tatas therefore have been spending considerable time, energy and money in returning Jaguar to profitable ways. And it seems to be paying of, since not only is the world looking at these cars with renewed interest but also purchasing cars from the marque in larger numbers. The management does not want this trend to ebb and has been introducing newer and exciting models to potential customers. At the New York Auto Show, Jaguar have shown an exciting new sports convertible in the form of the potent little XK and the XKR Coupe, which come with a 2.2 litre turbo diesel engines that will take care of concerns of pollution, performance and fuel economy. At the said show, Jaguar also showed a face lifted range of XFR cars. Good for you Jaguar and Tata.

This year’s International Car of the Year award goes to the Nissan Leaf which has been created to draw support from “friends of the environment” who always bash the IC engined cars as being polluting. The fraternity of automobile journalists also seemed to have joined the ranks of those who want to make politically right but incredibly stupid statement. Wish there was a dislike button on our website. Maybe we will create one, specifically for such instances. Meanwhile the Jaguar XJ has won the International Luxury Car of the Year award. Good for Jaguar and the Tatas.

Alvaro Bautista crashed and broke his leg and he was substituted by John Hopkins at Jerez the last time out. Hopkins rode a sensible race to finish tenth on the Suzuki GSV-R which has never been a great performer. This year Suzuki brought down its involvement in MotoGPand World Superbikes to one bike each. Bautista is therefore their sole rider this year. Hopkins was belatedly made a reserve, but now there is a problem with him as well. He has been contracted to Suzuki to ride in the British Superbike Series in preparation for a possible return with Suzuki to MotoGP when engine regulations change. That means that he will not be available as a substitute for Bautista. And Bautista is keen to get back on the bike so that he does not lose out on a career in MotoGP. Hence he is supposedly working on a return to get back on the bike for the next race which will be in Estoril, Portugal on the first weekend of May. However, Kevin Schwantz the legend who always rode a Suzuki believes that Bautista should not get back on the Suzuki till such time that he is 100% fit.

Valentino Rossi is Italian and so is Ducati. So when Ducati signed Rossi for this year and the next, it was believed that this was dream pairing which would have the support of all Italians. It is well known that Rossi has a whole legion of loyal fans as does Ducati. So this signing should have brought the two legions together over on one happy ground. But that has not happened. While Rossi fans are fans of the rider, Ducati fans are fans of erm, the Ducati bike. The problem is that the Ducatisti do not want the character of the Ducati to be disturbed. It is unlike Japanese motorcycles and the Ducatisti want it to stay that way. And they are extremely suspicious of Rossi since he has a win at all costs attitude. They remember how he and his crew chief the legendary Jeremy Burgess have transformed the Yamaha into a championship winning bike by changing it completely. Now they are worried that the Ducati may become another M1 with Ducati badging. However, Rossi has stepped into allay their fears and has said that while his intention is to make the Ducati more rideable it is not to make another M1 out of it. Kevin Schwantz believes that by the end of this year the Rossi-Ducati combo will be winning races.

Daniel Pedrosa’s size and weight have always been a problem in the GP paddock. When Honda threw its weight behind Pedrosa in the 250cc and developed their then new 250cc bike around him, it caused a great deal of heartburn for Roberto Rolfo who was his team mate and who had been riding the 250 longer than Pedrosa. Pedrosa weighed only 48 kilos and Rolfo was much heavier and taller and found the new bike completely uncomfortable. It even ended his career in 250s. Now another Italian Marco Simoncelli seems to be kick starting the same debate in the MotoGP class. Simoncelli is many inches taller and weighs more than 20 kilos in excess over Pedrosa’s weight. Both ride for Honda. Simoncelli has been complaining that his height and weight have been to his detriment and to satisfy him Honda have tried to create a new fairing around him by putting him in a wind tunnel along with the bike. While that has improved Simoncelli’s performances this year, the man believes that there should be a minimum weight for the rider and bike combination, which means rider such as Pedrosa will have to carry some ballast to come to the minimum mark. Simoncelli has found support in Rossi and Nicky Hayden both of whom are heavier and bigger riders. But Pedrosa has lambasted the whole proposal and has unsurprisingly found an ally in Casey Stoner. Casey Stoner is still smarting from having been been taken out of the last race by Rossi and therefore is likely to be in the camp opposite Rossi’s. Also Stoner is no heavyweight himself. Setting the politics aside, it is indeed stupid to come up with weight penalties when the manufacturers are trying to make bikes lighter, faster and more fuel efficient.

Just a few days back the automobile space on the World Wide Web was agog with anticipation of a new Yamaha 250cc to take on the Honda CBR250R, the Kawasaki Ninja 250R and the up coming Suzuki 250cc. The speculation was kicked off due to the leaking of a sketch of a new bike. Now Motorcycle News correspondent Guy Procter has poured buckets of cold water on this idea by saying that this is an upgrade of the existing R15 and that it will continue to be only for India. For nearly six months now there has been talk of an upgraded R15 but the said bike is yet to make its appearance in public. This has led to great deal of frustration among the motorcycling community in general and Yamaha fans in particular. For now the guessing game of when and which bike is still on.

Volkswagen seems dead serious about the Indian car market. It is not here with half measures nor is it taking tentative steps. The Vento promises to be a runaway hit, with it already selling more than the Honda City in the last month. The diesel option of the Vento seems to be doing the trick. Volkswagen has now decided to get into the pre-owned (nice designation for used cars or second hand cars) cars business and is likely to bring Audi and Skoda (both Volkswagen group companies) under its umbrella as well.

Bajaj seems to be following a strategy of trial and error leading to some consolidation in the market place. The Discover that started life as a 125cc has turned a full circle after going through a 135cc iteration and a 100 cc iteration and returned back to the 125cc. Now in an interview with Business Line news daily, quoted in Wheelsunplugged.com, Rajiv Bajaj is hoping that the 125 cc Discover will become a block buster. He says that he does not mind if sales are cannibalized from the 100 cc. That is a pity because it is the 100 cc Discover that has kicked up the sales of Bajaj when they were dwindling.

Controversy has been at the centre of the Tata Aria from the time that it was launched last year. Most people felt that the money that was being demanded for a product with a Tata badge was too high and therefore the product would bomb in the market place. Whatever the reason, the prediction seems to have come true since the Aria has not been selling too well, in fact, the last month it managed to sell only 98 units. This has now got the usual rumour mill going and now everyone is sure that there will be stripped of the goodies version of the car that will retail for about 2.5 – 3 lakh rupees less. The axe is supposed to fall on the four wheel drive, and some of the other luxury items. This it is hoped will bring the Aria closer to the Innova from Toyota and give it a fair chance to sell.