Buying a car

In the 3 years since I bought my Santro, I’ve been quite happy with it, but there are times (especially on the highway), when I wish I had a car that feels more at home on the highway. I’ve been thinking about upgrading for the past few months, but it has been an exercise in frustration.

I want a car that is a size bigger than the Santro, not particular about a sedan or a hatchback. But, I definitely want it to have a powerful engine that will go from 0-100 in less than 12 seconds and a top speed of around 180 kmph. Not that I would ever do 180 on Indian highways (maybe when the NICE road is completed:-), just that a car capable of reaching those speeds will be extremely comfortable at the speeds I drive at (100-120 kmph). It should have space for 5 adults, safety features like airbags, ABS, disc brakes all round. I absolutely want a car with alloy wheels, an Ipod compatible music system so that I can plug in and control my ipod from the HU. Good mileage is a must, atleast 12 kmpl in the city and 16-18 kmpl on the highway. I don’t care about petrol or diesel. And I want all this at an affordable price (max 7 lakhs on the road). But, I find it frustrating that a Hyundai Accent costs 14000 dollars in the US, while we pay almost 800,000 rupees or 20000 dollars. Manufacturers price their lowest end model with no frills at an attractive price and gouge for everything from diesel engines to interior trims to safety features that should be mandatory to begin with.

I've gone through 2-3 cycles. It always starts with me thinking that I should just stop bothering about the robbery and go ahead and buy the damn car. But then when I start thinking about options and digging deeper into road tests and user opinions, I find compromises in every single choice.

Indica: love the space, but engine is too rough, image is an issue

Chevy-UVA: love the looks, but can’t get it with a powerful engine beyond the 1.2L

Palio: really want the Palio Stile 1.6, pricing is attractive, but am still not comfortable with Fiat

Swift:interior too small, don’t like the styling

Getz: lprobably the closest I've come to liking a car, it's just wonderfully packaged and the one car I've driven a bit, but it’s too expensive, the 1.3L option

Fusion: great car at a good price, but why did they take out the frills like alloy wheels? Where’s the new Fusion+?

Ikon/Esteem: good cars, but are 10 year designs. Only an idiot would buy one of them at this time

Coming to the C-segment

Aveo/Fiesta/Verna Petrol: their loaded version costs 8 lakhs!!! And no safety features like airbags, ABS.

City: the only one I want is the VTEC and it costs 9.5lakhs, out of my budget

Fiesta Diesel: only 68 bhp. Indica DICOR is going to have more

Verna Diesel: base model at 8.5 lakhs lacks even basic equipment. The SX version has more but its almost 9.5 lakhs

I also briefly considered a couple of C+ segment cars

Elantra: seems a good value at 8.5 lakhs, but then you realize that it’s the lower end model that lacks many essentials. It does not have a reputation for good mileage. The diesel is better but its over 10 lakhs

Optra : the magnum diesel is new and initial impressions are good. But the loaded version is way over my range at 11.5 lakhs

One car I haven’t mentioned till now is the SX4. I really like this car, it has everything going for it, fully loaded, good safety features, Maruti’s service and it comes at a price of 8 lakhs. It has really exposed the way in which the other manufacturers are ripping off the Indian public, which is why it has a 3+ month waiting list. I am leaning towards it, but then you can’t get one right now unless you’re Sonia Gandhi. Another car I’m looking forward to is the Getz with a CRDi diesel (hopefully the Verna’s diesel at a decent price).

At this time, it does look pretty bleak, maybe I will just wait a a few months until the landscape changes and make a decision. Until then, it’s up to Santro KA-19-P-1615 to keep me entertained…

हिन्दी में टेस्ट पोस्ट

This is my first test post in हिन्दी
I am learning/getting back in touch with தமில், so expect a few posts...

US Grand Prix

This was one exciting race. I really enjoyed the battle between Alonso and Hamilton. Especially after the first round of pitstops when it did seem that Alonso was much faster. But in Formula One, position is everything and try what he did, he could not get past. Position is indeed everything, as Kimi found out. If he had not lost out the positions at the start, I think he could have easily been on Massa's tail, which is less than 2-3 seconds behind Alonso. As he had almost 3-4 extra laps on his first stint, it is quite likely that he would have jumped Massa and possibly Alonso on the first stop and potentially won the race. Unfortunately for him, he got stuck behind Kovy, Rosberg and Massa and eventually finished almost 15 seconds behind. The one positive for Kimi fans like myself is that he does not seem to have lost his natural speed and when things come together, he is really going to fly!!!

A few friends have also asked me about my thoughts on the Indian Grand Prix. Firstly, I think it is extremely unlikely that it will happen. Formula One is all business and only money speaks. I doubt that India can come up with the required investments or the guarantee money to be paid to Bernie. Secondly, the infrastructure. In a typical race, the teams bring planeloads (I think 7-8) of equipment on Wednesday and fly out on Sunday. Can you imagine Indian customs clearing all of that in this short time? I didn't think so. Also, as the playground of the rich and famous, it will require hundreds of hotel rooms, which are in short supply in India. And somehow, I don't see Indians paying the 10-20K to see a F1 race in large numbers. So, the audience will end up mainly being those with the right "connections" and influence who will pull off free passes. It will make for a huge financial disaster, which the Indian government can ill afford. My advise to Mr Kalmadi will be to concentrate on the 2010 Commonwealth Games at first and once we make a success of it, think about Formula One.

My first 10K run

I last ran more than 10K sometime in 1998. I've been able to run for close to an hour for quite a while now, which is around 8-8.5 km. But the hour mark has been like a psychological barrier, somehow when I get close to an hour of running, I start to slow down and down and then just stop.

Today, I decided to take a different approach. I run around the Agara Lake, a round of which is around 2.5 km and I decided to aim for 4 rounds. I also decided not to look at the time throughout. At two rounds, I really felt like stopping, but after 3 rounds, I was really flying and when I finished the fourth, I felt that I could go on for another round or two.

When I looked at the times on my ipod later, I found that I was remarkably consistent, all the rounds were around the 18 minute mark. In total, I took around 1 hour 12 minutes to do the 10K. That's around a 8.5 kmph speed, which I'm quite pleased about.

In sporting heaven

It started at 2:30 pm and ended at 12:30 in the night. 10 hours of pure sporting bliss, that left me totally exhausted from all the adrenalin rush at various times.

It started with the Motogp. The 125 cc race was thrilling with over 8 riders all within 2 seconds of each other. The amazing thing is just how these kids (most are below 20 years) race so fast and so close without crashing or falling. This year, I’ve felt that the 250 cc races were even better and closer than the 125, but it was not to be yesterday. Though Lorenzo had 2 riders close to him until the very end, I always felt that he had enough in reserve and I was proved right in the end.

Motogp was thrilling as always. Even when the racing is not close, it’s a privilege to see a magician like Rossi. He now has two worthy opponents in Stoner and Pedrosa. Rossi’s Yamaha was able to keep up with Stoner when he was in the slipstream. But, when he moved to the front, it was a different story, Stoner just motored past. Still, it was a lot closer than in the first round at Qatar where the difference was just stark. The problem for Rossi is that Stoner is almost as fast as him through the twisty bits and on the straight, it is a no-contest. So, Rossi always has to push over 100%, whereas Stoner looks more calm and composed on his bike. The last 10 laps were truly edge-of-the-seat stuff, some of the best racing I have seen (I seem to say this of almost every single Motogp race)

The amazing thing about the events yesterday was the timing. The motogp finished at around 6:15, just in time for the French open final to start. I missed the first 5 games as I had to go out and complete the weekly shopping. The match was a bit of a letdown. The tennis was brilliant, with both players producing some amazing shots. But, I felt that Federer just made too many unforced errors and his first serve % wasn’t good enough. Also, a theme I’m always noticing when I see Federer play is the commentators complaining about how his game is a little predictable and how he should mix it up a little more. I tend to agree, for someone who has won Wimbledon for the last 4 years and has such a good serve-and-volley game, he really doesn’t come into the net as often as he can. I feel that he needs to dig deep and do something different, his current style of play is just not good enough to get the better of Nadal on clay. Sure, he’ll beat him (and everyone else) everywhere else, but then he really wants to win the French more than anything else.

I was expecting a lot from the Formula One race, but it was a bit anti-climactic. There was a lot of drama with the various safety car periods which really screwed up the race for many of the drivers (especially Ferrari). But really the racing was just not there at the front. Mclaren now seem to be much faster than Ferrari on race pace and BMW too seem to have the edge. Kimi really needs to pull up his socks, I can’t believe that this is the same driver who famously caught and overtook Fisi in Suzuka 2005. He seems so lackluster and definitely not worth the gazillions that he is being paid at Ferrari. The moment of the race for me was when Sato caught and overtook Alonso. Who would have thought this would happen? I was also really worried that Kubica would have a serious injury or even worse with his accident, but amazingly he was totally unhurt. Just shows how strong the cars are today.

What a Sunday in store

Motogp at Barcelona - will Rossi build on the momentum or will Stoner blow past him on the ultra long front straight? Will Dani drive the Spanish fans wild?

French Open - Federer vs Nadal Round 3 - what more can you say...

Canadian F1 Grand Prix - just can't wait to see how the balance of power will shift.

Who needs movies

when nature can throw up such drama...