Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg qualified in fourth and seventh places respectively at the end of an exciting qualifying hour for the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne.
Michael and Nico progressed smoothly through Q1, with Nico completing one run and Michael two on the primes
Their first runs in Q2 were aborted due to a red flag, before the pair finished in P1 and P2, using option tyres
Two option runs in Q3 saw Michael finish in P4, with Nico in P7 after making a small mistake at turn three
HMSI has finally announced the prices for the surprise launch at the Auto Expo 2012, the CBR 150R. The CBR 150R will be available in 2 variants : Standard and Deluxe.
Standard Variant : Available in colors of Black with Pearl Sunbeam White & Sports Red with Pearl Sunbeam White priced at Rs 1,16,385 (ex-showroom, Delhi)
Deluxe variant: Blackwith Candy Palm Green & Vibrant Orange with Pearl Sunbeam White colour at Rs 1,17,385
Bookings have already begun, expect the motorcycles to hit the showrooms by the end of March.
In the footsteps of the new VFR, and subsequent launches from Honda, the CBR 150R also has dual layered full body cowling, which Honda says improves aerodynamics and performance of the bike. CBR 150R also has the characteristic Y shaped Headlight, short pentagonal muffler and the taken for granted digital meter.
The CBR 150R is powered by a DOHC 150cc engine which produces peak power of 18 BHP @ 10,500 RPM and peak torque of 12.6 Nm @ 7500rpm. Adding to the sports performance, CBR 150R has twin tubular frame, liquid cooling and Honda’s PGM-FI.
CBR 150R comes with Front & Rear Disc brakes, Mono-Suspension and wide front and rear tubeless tyres.
Advance O2 sensor ( closed loop fuel injection) and air inductor leads to low emissions from the bike says Honda.
CBR 150R will be available in 2 variants – Standard and Deluxe. The Standard variant will be available in 2 shades – Black with Pearl Sunbeam White and Sports Red with Pearl Sunbeam White. The Deluxe model (with special sporty graphics) will be available in Black with Candy Palm Green and Vibrant Orange with Pearl Sunbeam White colour.
Standard : CBR 150R in Sports Red with Pearl Sunbeam White
Deluxe : CBR 150R in Vibrant Orange with Pearl Sunbeam White colour
In addition to the eco up! Volkswagen will also present the four-door version of the ‘up!’. The four-door will be powered by the same engines – the 60PS and 75PS 1 litre petrol engines. The combined fuel consumption as a BlueMotion technology version with features like Stop/Start system, battery regeneration and tyres optimised for low rolling resistance is advertised as : 4.1 l/100 km (60 PS) and 4.2 l/100 km (75 PS). Equipment versions will still include the take up!, move up!, high up!, black up!, white up! variants. There is no change in the exterior dimension of the 4 door car.
While the lower window line of the two-door rises towards the rear near the C-pillars, it forms a straight line on the four-door car. The crisp and short body overhangs are also distinctive on the four-door. The rear doors open wide and offer comfortable entry – including for adults. The four-seat, four-door car offers the same good interior space as the two-door, and the amount of space is remarkable given the vehicle’s size.
The up! has been quite the rage in Europe, registering highest number of bookings in Germany, in its class. Optional features like City Emergency Braking improve safety of occupants. This system is active over a speed range of 5 to 30 km/h.
As an alternative to the standard 5-speed manual gearbox, for the first time Volkswagen will be offering these two petrol engines with a new, automatic 5-speed gearbox as an option over the course of the year. In May, the four-door version will arrive at dealers in Germany whereas the rest of Europe will get it by early summer.
Of course, any speculations of this car or the Skoda Citigo coming to India have been put to rest, thanks to a statement from Skoda Auto.
Delta wing is a term that comes from aircraft design where the wing planform (not a typo) is in the form of a triangle. Usually aircrafts like these do not have horizontal stabilizers (tails) and are famed for efficient high speed speed flight. HAL Tejas is one example that pops to mind, that makes use of the tail-less delta wing configuration. Ben Bowlby, a Briton who started building and racing his own cars at a very early age is bringing his interpretation of the delta wing design to motor sports.
Ben Bowlby and Riot Engine have one thing in common. We believe there has been little, if any innovation over the past few years in racing, case in point Formula 1 where rules clearly stipulate how many cylinders can be used, what metals and composites to use, the angle of the cylinders and size of the intakes and so on.
Ben Bowlby, the man who came up with the concept of DeltaWing and designed it explains : “It [DeltaWing] was born out of the fact that motor racing, particularly in the States where I’ve been based for some years, has become dominated by spec formulae – which stifle design and innovation. The rules are so tight that the cars are basically all the same. I was witnessing the decline in interest in motor racing, seeing my own kids growing up and asking why they had to watch the race as ‘it was so boring’. I realised that I was part of a dinosaur industry… or one at least at risk of becoming a dinosaur.”
Bowlby wanted to build a racing car concept that would be more aligned with the R&D that a automotive manufacturer undertakes for their road cars. Bowbly understood the need to reduce the costs involved in motor sports. Focus was also reducing aerodynamic drag, reducing weight massively, and the need for a downsized engine that could deliver outstanding performance in spite of its size while being as efficient as possible.
The final product is the Nissan DeltaWing unveiled on the 13th of March, 2012. The DeltaWing is unlike any other racing car currently on track. The driver sits well back in the car, almost over the rear axle and looks ahead down a long, narrow fuselage to narrow twin front tyres, specially created for the car by tyre partner Michelin. With a rear-mounted engine, the car has a strong rearward weight bias, which makes it highly manoeuvrable, while its light weight and slippery shape make it far more efficient, says Nissan.
DeltaWing started out life as one of the prospective choices to replace the ageing Dallara chassis in the IZOD IndyCar Series. When the DeltaWing concept was rejected for the 2012 season, even though it met all the requirements put forth by IndyCar’s ICONIC Committee, Bowlby decided to take his creation elsewhere. Meetings with Don Panoz, one of the officials at American Le Mans Racing, followed up quickly with the organizers of Le Mans 24 Hours Racing, including Jean-Claude Plassart, President Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) soon gave the DeltaWing new life.
Getting involved next in the project was Dan Gurney from All American Racers who would build the DeltaWing and Duncan Dayton who owns Highcroft Racing, the team that will be fielding the DeltaWing as an entrant at Le Mans. In June 2011, ACO invited DeltaWing to take its start from ‘Garage 56′, the spot in the pitlane reserved for experimental cars. Of course, a car designed for the IndyCar series didn’t meet the regulations of Le Mans 24 Hours, and so will race with the number 0, ineligible for any podiums.
It helped that Dr. Don Panoz, the founder of the American Le Mans Series is the managing partner of Project 56, which has been set up to get DeltaWing to Le Mans.
Michelin was announced as the first technical partner, followed by key suppliers including EMCO Gears (gearbox) and Performance Friction for the brakes. Until March 2012, DeltaWing was still looking for a technical partner who would provide the engine.
“As motor racing rulebooks have become tighter over time, racing cars look more and more similar and the technology used has had less and less relevance to road car development. Nissan DeltaWing aims to change that and we were an obvious choice to become part of the project,” said Andy Palmer, Executive Vice President, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
“But this is just the start of our involvement. Nissan DeltaWing embodies a vast number of highly-innovative ideas that we can learn from. At the same time, our engineering resources and commitment to fuel efficiency leadership via our PureDrive strategy will help develop DeltaWing into a testbed of innovation for Nissan”.
“This announcement gives Nissan the opportunity to become part of a ground-breaking motorsport project and one which could shape the future of the sport,” he added.
Nissan stepped in primarily under the direction of Darren Cox, General Manager, Nissan in Europe. “We see much of our own character and spirit in DeltaWing’s engineering innovation. It’s a great fit. We are making a bold statement here, and it’s one that reflects our growing confidence in Europe. We had a record year in 2011, while globally we handled big problems like the Japanese earthquake and the floods in Thailand significantly better than our rivals. We are right to be confident. Besides, backing a project like this once it’s successful is too late. We see something really innovative here and we are prepared to take a calculated risk to help take it to the next step.” explained Darren Cox when asked why Nissan is confident enough to back the DeltaWing project until the car proves itself.
Key Design/Engineering Features
One quick glance and you know this racing car is different. Very different. The rear track width is about 70 inches whereas the front track is only 24in! DeltaWing Racing Cars says this shape reduces drag by half compared to conventional IndyCar racing cars. DeltaWing has a very small frontal area and the design uses a twin vortex underbody downforce system. There are no wings up front that would be influenced by the ‘wake’ from the lead car. This wake from the lead car passes over the car behind with minimal disruption to the underbody downforce performance. The wheels are also shrouded, which again reduces drag and improves safety.
The DIG-T race prepped engine, a 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine, featuring direct petrol injection and a turbocharger will power the DeltaWing in its Le Mans debut on the 16th and 17 June 2012. The DIG-T engine is expected to produce around 300 bhp and maximum torque output of 312Nm, sufficient to give Nissan DeltaWing lap times between LMP1 and LMP2 machines at Le Mans, despite having only half the power of those conventional prototypes. It features the same technology found in Nissan road cars, such as the range-topping Nissan Juke DIG-T says Nissan.
While conventional wisdom says a 50:50 weight distribution works wonders for handling, DeltaWing takes a different approach aiming for a more rearward bias than traditionally seen with 72.5% of the mass on the larger rear tires. Also 80% of the aerodynamic down force acts on the rear of the car which the firm says will improve inline traction under acceleration. So what’s keeping the front of the car on the ground?
Will there be any grip at all for the front tyres? Won’t such a car understeer? While we do have to wait until the DeltaWings debut to find out, Bowlby explains “It’s got a very benign, but exciting, handling characteristic in that it is an oversteer limit vehicle. In other words, when you reach the threshold of grip the tendency is towards oversteer. This is unusual in a rear-engined racing car which, unless provoked, is normally an understeer limited vehicle with an inevitable snap oversteer event at the limit of control. In our case we will have progressively increasing oversteer, allowing the driver to counter steer and maintain that threshold condition in a very controlled way, something you can’t do in a car that understeers. From a racing driver’s standpoint understeer is an unstable condition because you can’t correct it other than by slowing the car and starting again, but with controlled oversteer – intrinsic in the layout of DeltaWing – it’s much more controllable”.
DeltaWing is also unique amongst today’s racing cars since 60% of braking force is generated behind the center of gravity. Locking propensity of the inside front wheel on corner entry is greatly reduced says the company, but does not explain how. Advanced computer modeling of structures, impact energy management, aerodynamics, vehicle dynamics and tires has been used to develop the virtual DeltaWing car and its performance has been simulated on each configuration of race track.
Modern advanced materials and CNC construction techniques have been applied to achieve gains in light weight structures and occupant safety. Having started out life as a replacement for the existing IndyCar Dallara chassis, the focus was on improving driver safety. The driver position, restraint layout and energy absorbency facility have been designed with the latest data on ‘survival criteria’.
The DeltaWing also has innovative gearbox electronics. The car can run a torque vectoring system, which is unusual on a racecar. “Normally it’s banned but this car is outside rules and regulations so we can use this technology, which is relevant to our road cars (Juke and GT-R have advanced Torque Vectoring systems). By working very closely with them and embedding our engineers in the team, we can learn from them. People talk about moving technologies from F1, but in truth that hasn’t happened recently; indeed technology that started on road cars is now in F1 (Hybrid or KERS). However, Nissan sees a number of things on this car that could have a direct application on our road cars.” says Darren Cox.
“It’s a five speed sequential ‘box built for racing, but, as on Nissan Juke, features torque vectoring technology to control the torque going to each wheel to enhance the cornering, stability and performance. We will be interested to see how this technology performs in a racing environment with particular regard to durability. It’s early days, of course, but I am anticipating deep technical exchanges between NTCE and DeltaWing.” explains Jerry Hardcastle VP, Vehicle Design and Development, Nissan Europe.
The DeltaWing will also have FIA spec carbon fibre monocoque. Inconel four into one turbo solenoid controlled wastegate actuation takes care of exhaust duties. The rest of the body is of course, carbon composite.
Ford India has introduces an all-new variant : ‘Ambiente’ that will be the most affordable all new Fiesta. The Ambiente retains equipment including the Electric Power Assisted Steering (EPAS), driver airbag, height adjustable driver seat, ABS, electric outside rear view mirrors with integrated turn indicators, tilt adjustable steering, guide me home headlamps, front seat belt height adjuster and adjustable rear headrests. The Ambiente variant will have only the 1.5 Ti-VCT Petrol engine with the manual transmission.
The simplified 2012 Ford Fiesta line-up now comprises two petrol, two diesel and two automatic trims.
1.5 TiVCT Petrol Ambiente : Rs. 723,000
1.5 TiVCT Petrol Titanium+ : Rs. 885,300
1.5 TiVCT Petrol Style AT : Rs. 885,300
1.5 TiVCT Petrol Titanium+ AT : Rs. 970,300
The Titanium+ version gets features that were previously standard like Cruise Control, Rear Park Assist, Bluetooth®voice control, auto power-fold mirrors, reverse parking sensor and chrome front grille, in addition to the six speaker audio system.
The Ambiente versions misses out on in car entertainment equipment while the Style AT and the Style diesel get the 6 speaker system with AUX only, whereas the top end Titanium+ variants in the lineup get the whole shebang.
It is a bit disheartening that a manufacturer who wanted to revolutionize the game by bringing best in class features as standard has been pushed to accommodate customers who would give up on equipment found in higher segment cars for a lower price. We do appreciate Ford for retaining safety features like driver airbags and ABS with EBD. ESP is still available only on the PowerShift AT variants
Read our comprehensive review of the Ford Fiesta here.
Codenamed DM, the Hyundai Santa Fe will premiere at the New York International Auto Show in early April. Hyundai has decided to whet our appetite with these first images showing fluidic direction the Santa Fe’s design has taken. The Santa Fe has been designed around three important traits : Refinement, Smartness and Practicality.
Hyundai will keep the name “Santa Fe” for the new vehicle, it would be foolish not to, considering the brand following the Santa Fe has in the USA as one of the SUVs with highest safety ratings and reliability. The all-new Santa Fe, which is entering its third generation, has reached worldwide cumulative sales of about 2.56 million units 2000 debut says Hyundai.
The Santa Fe design is based on a design concept ‘Storm Edge’, which is inspired by the strong and dynamic images during a storm. This design concept will of course, stay true to Hyundai’s ‘Fludic Sculpture’ philosophy.
The third-generation Santa Fe features sophisticated and refined lines, which are in harmony with bold and voluminous surfaces, completing a more aggressive and classic look than its predecessor.
The design adopts the hexagonal grille – a key design cue of the Hyundai family look – a two-tone voluminous bottom car body and wider front and rear bumpers, creating a futuristic and urban-style SUV image.
Dynamic side character lines give a more aerodynamic feeling, while emotional details expressed on the exterior design deliver a premium image, suggesting a new design direction for Hyundai’s next-generation SUVs says Hyundai.
We will of course keep you posted when we get updates from the New York Auto Show.
Shown here is the Highline variant, not the Comfortline
Vento Diesel Variant has now introduced the Comfortline variant with the 1.6 litre Diesel powerplant. The Comfortline variant slots in between the Trendline and Highline trim levels.
The Vento Diesel Comfortline is on sale at all Volkswagen dealerships at Rs. 8.56 lakhs ex-showroom Maharashtra and Rs.8.74 lakhs at all other showrooms across India.
The Vento Diesel Comfortline has features like body coloured exterior door handles and mirrors, radio with CD, MP3 player music system, rear center arm rest, fog light front and rear, height adjustable driver seat, electrically adjustable outside rear mirror over and above all the features available in the Vento Trendline.
What you would be skimping on if you’re not getting the Highline model would be 15″ alloys, 185 section tyres, USB connectivity for the audio system and the one that bothers us the most, safety features like airbags and ABS.
Commenting on the introduction of the Vento Diesel Comfortline, Mr. Neeraj Garg, Member of Board & Director Volkswagen Passenger Cars said “Since the introduction of the Vento, we have received requests for the mid level trimline and it is our pleasure to be able to provide the customers with their desired car.”
The Mitsubishi Outlander has been a proper five seater in India for a while now, with a fairly large boot. Mitsubishi has decided its time to bring in the dreadful third row jump seats. The 7 seater variant costs one lakh lesser than the 5 seater variant based on information provided by user sidindica from Team Bhp. The seven seater variant will supposedly be called the Outlander LX and priced at Rs. 19,95,000 ex showroom Delhi.
While there is no doubt it will sell in India, we wonder what Mitsubishi is doing with this move, when elsewhere the 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander will debut with the P-HEV powertrain and a proper 50:50 split third row seats.
The 2013 Outlander marks the beginning of a generation of all-new global products for Mitsubishi Motors, in line with Mitsubishi’s “Jump 2013”, the business plan for a greener and more global Mitsubishi.
The 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander is very reminiscent of the Concept PX-MiEV II. The design brief is identical, the highlights being that it should be an “engineer’s car” with a “Solid – Safe – Simple”.
The high flanks, raised beltline, uncluttered surfaces or soft-contoured fenders minus strong wheel arches are the identifying design features on the car.
The most distinct design feature has to be the front grille. Mitsubishi says the hockey-shaped chromed strips (probably a reference to ice hockey sticks) seem to be milled directly from solid brass as if to shield the Three-Diamond logo and are placed bang in-between the feline lines of the sculptured wraparound headlamps.
As with the previous generation Outlander, premium materials grace the interior. Padded surfaces, soft-touch finish, silver or wood accents, gloss black surfaces are all part of the package.
The 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander was designed on a versatile platform, capable of accommodating various powertrains including Mitsubishi’s P-HEV, the EV-based plug-in hybrid technology. Mitsubishi will offer the 150PS 2.0 litre 4J11 MIVEC petrol that has been upgraded with a new valve train as well as the 150PS 2.2 litre Clean Diesel codenamed 4N14. The diesel mill packs a host of technologies including ultra-low 14.9:1 compression ratio, all geared to deliver high performance and lowered emissions. In addition to these, on offer will also be the EV-based plug-In hybrid powertrain.
This powertrain can be run in different modes :
Pure :Twin Motor 4WD EV
Series : Twin Motor 4WD EV supported by a petrol engine, that will act as a generator
Parallel : Twin Motor 4WD EV supplemented by the petrol engine powering the front wheels
Mitsubishi also claims that this would make the Outlander the first permanent 4WD electric car in series production.
The high capacity traction batteries define a range of 50km in 4WD ‘Pure’ mode. Depending on power consumption and remaining battery charge, the system will start the petrol engine automatically as a generator, switching to ‘Series Mode’. At higher vehicle speeds the petrol engine, with its better high-end energy efficiency, will supply supplementary drive torque to assist the front and rear motors, the ‘Parallel Mode’.
Driver can also select the “Battery Drive Mode” with the push of a button, to use pure EV power or “Battery Charge Mode” while on the move to use the engine as a generator to charge the batteries.
Regenerative braking is of course present, to recover kinetic energy and use it to charge the traction battery. Mitsubishi Motors’ P-HEV system uses a newly developed twin-motor four-wheel-drive system mated to Mitsubishi’s S-AWC (Super-All Wheel Control). Based on the four-wheel-drive technology developed in the legendary Lancer Evolution, S-AWC integrates control of the 4WD, ASC and ABS systems. Working in tandem with the Mitsubishi plug-in hybrid EV system, S-AWC also contributes to better fuel efficiency.
The two motors drive the front and rear axles independently. The Twin Motor 4WD system does away with the mechanical bits like the propeller shaft, hydraulic system and clutch plate used to connect the front and rear axles in conventional 4WD systems and offers virtually lag free performance. Mitsubishi’s P-HEV system as with other electric powertrains gives the torque right off-the-line with acceleration comparable to that of a 3.0-liter V6 engine, says Mitsubishi. The twin electric motor setup will guarantee the smooth progression required in difficult wintery driving conditions.
All-new Automatic Stop & Go system should drive up the fuel efficiency. Though we doubts the availability in India, there is on the options list an all-new 6-speed automatic gearbox. India, probably will get the 6 speed manual trasmission. The new Outlander has also lost weight in a number of places which should again be good for FE, and lower emissions.
Safety features include Adaptive Cruise Control system, Forward Collision Mitigation system, that detects obstacles on the road ahead of the car and automatically applies the brakes to help preventing a collision and Lane Departure Warning system.
The new Outlander comes with the Super-HiD “Wide Vision” xenon headlamps that are 1.4 times more powerful than conventional HID headlights, they provide a 1,350-lumen beam that shines over an extremely wide area of 80°x 2 in total, instead of the 42° x 2 of conventional HiDs.
While there have been reports of the current gen Outlander getting the dreadful looking third row jump seats in India, Mitsubishi has done away with these jump seats in the 2013 model in favour of a wide and comfortable 3rd row 50/50 split seating. The Outlander also gets dual zone air conditioner.
When the 2nd and 3rd seats are folded down you get a fully flat 1.69m long floor which is 335mm longer than that in the previous generation Outlander. A one-piece power tail gate also features in the options list.
A tilt adjustable telescopic steering column and a rear view display incorporated in the central console completes the features list.
Note that all features mentioned in this article may not make it to the Indian market.
Mitsubishi has said the 2013 Outlander will debut in Russia, this summer, prior to European (late summer), Japanese, Oceania, Chinese and North American debuts. There has been no official word on the Indian debut, but it wouldn’t be far fetched to see this beast on our shores sometime in 2013.
Hello, welcome to Chennai. You might want to drop that garden hose in your hand if you were just about to soak your lovely car wet, before the lynch mob gets to you. If your Sunday mornings are defined by the time spent hosing down your car gleaming wet, shampooing her up and then wiping her down, you might have to seriously consider moving. I tried once, washing my car with a hose, and the stares that burnt holes through my body still serve as reminders that people realize water is precious, very, very precious. Though the typical ‘conservative’ Chennaiite might not immediately go for your throat, there is always the possibility that they, er.. we, might try.
Obligatory tangential information dispensed with in the previous paragraph, let’s get down to the crux of the matter. Having been denied the pleasure of hosing down the car, a bucket of water and very wet cloth in hand, I was wiping down the Renault Pulse minutes before heading off for the photoshoot. In that poetic moment when the sun was just rising from behind a cluster of really tall buildings, I realized there wasn’t a better way to ‘see’ how the design of the Pulse is different from the Micra. As I ran the wash cloth over the angled planes on the hood, the edges of the hexagonal grille, the honeycomb pattern set further in from the edges of the grille, the prominent lip at the front end bottom and the wicked alloys, I realized the Pulse was a beast with a different temperament, as far as exterior styling goes. Stunning work by the cool chaps at Renault’s Design Centre in Mumbai.
The Renault Nissan Alliance has been working wonders for either brand with the Alliance selling a record 8,029,222 units world over in 2011, a 10.3% increase from 2010. The Alliance shares a number of platforms including the B platform, used for Nissan’s Note, Juke and Renault’s Clio III, Modus. The much anticipated SUV from Renault, the Duster is built on a derived platform called B0. The C platform was initially designed for the Mégane II and is now shared by the Nissan Qashqai. The C platform is also shared by two premium Renault products in India, the Fluence and the Koleos. The latest platform would of course be the V-Platform where V stands for versatile. This is the latest platform developed by the Alliance and is what the Renault Pulse is built on.
Renault and Nissan also have drafted something they call the Interchangeable Components Policy (ICP). The policy enables the use of identical components on models based on different platforms. This simple shared use of components led to some 50 million Euros saved in 2009, says the Alliance. Taking all this into consideration, Renault’s strategy of developing its third entrant into the Indian market, based on an existing model from the Nissan lineup makes sense.
The V-Platform, and what it means for either brands in the future, is something we have our eyes on. Now, let me just give you the highlights.
The aim is to deliver optimum rigidity for excellent handling without compromising on the ride, but at the lowest possible weight
Key elements are strength and lightness
Results expected : enhanced performance, good fuel efficiency and low emissions
Over the course of the next few pages we delve into how exactly these were implemented in the Pulse.
Now, back to the design. The roof has a twin set of deep grooves shaped like a boomerang. These roof line grooves work to reduce resonance in the cabin, reducing noise at all speeds. These grooves also work with the built in lip spoiler to reduce drag. The curvy side window shape is signature Micra and though there’s a chance you might get away with it in India, back in Japan and Europe people identify the Micra with this particular curve.
The rear has the prominent Renault lozenge as well as the well spaced letters that spell PULSE. The space cut out from the rear bumper for the number plate, is much bigger on the Pulse and adds to the aggression at the rear. Conspicuous by its absence is the black request button on the boot lid that would unlock the boot when pressed, if you had the key fob in your pocket.
Equipment
Having spent quite some time with the car, I can assure you, that you would be hard pressed to find a car in this segment that is easier to live with than the Pulse. Tilt adjustable steering is available on both variants, and works like a charm. Speed Auto Lock on the Pulse is something the Micra doesn’t have. Drive over 15kph and the doors lock themselves.
Rear wiper and washer is standard on both RxL and RxZ variants whereas rear defogger with timer is available only on the RxZ version. While the RxL version gets 165/70 spec tyres on 14 inch steel wheels with full wheel caps, the RxZ version gets the wicked looking 15 inch alloys with 175/60 section spec tyres.
Automatic climate control system, front fog lamps, and the Smart Access key are available only on the RxZ version. The Smart Access Key, might have 10 year-olds like us going ga-ga ( that isn’t trademarked now, is it?) over it but may not be the primary reason why most customers would buy a Pulse. We have to point out though, after getting used to the comfort of not having to remove the key at all from your pocket, if God forbid you switch cars, you might actually have to go through a phase of depression. It’s just that convenient and addictive.
The black request button on the door handle lets you lock and unlock the doors as long as the key is in the proximity of the car. After being pampered so much, you cannot fault us for wishing the boot would also unlock itself when you have the key in your pocket and hands full of groceries or photography equipment. Nevertheless, it isn’t too difficult again to press the black button on either front doors and then pop the boot.
With one new gadget comes the requirement for another. The presence of the Smart Access Key requires an additional alarm. This alarm goes off when the car is still in ignition and you walk away from the car, 3 feet to be precise. Ignore the alarm at your own peril and watch the ‘Immobilzer’ kick into action and the engine shut down.
On the topic of alarms, I cannot emphasize how much I hate the door open alarm. This is the ubiquitous alarm that you would find in every other clock manufactured from the land of the Great Wall. When it goes beep-bip-beep-bip-pause-beep-bip-beep-bip you cannot help but think of that morning when all you wanted to do was flick the alarm off the table and through the open window, but all you could do was press snooze and beg nobody in particular for a couple of more minutes of sleep.
There is one other alarm that goes off if you forget to disengage the handbrake when you set off.
