Indian Autos blog

This is a new section dedicated to bringing you the fun and hassles in owning an automobile. Thank you Nazish for kick starting this venture.

Nazish, an avid Indian Autos Blog reader, and a Yamaha enthusiast, was kind enough to share with us his story as a Rider and how a Black Yamaha R15 transformed the same.

This section may be considered good consumer advice for all those prospective Yamaha R15 buyers who need an owner’s take. Below, is an account of IAB questions and Nazish’s responses.

Hyundai has launched new limited edition models of its i10 and i30 called ES (Extra Special) editions, designed to appeal to scrappage customers of UK.

The two models, according to Hyundai, are meant to cost the same as their respective base versions due to something called Scrappage discount.

What are ‘Scrappage discounts’?

It is a new scheme introduced by the UK government to give a boost to the car industry during the current downturn. The government provides upto £2,000 to those buying a new vehicle to replace a vehicle more than ten years old.

With this in mind, Hyundai has craftily created the attractive ES versions that are based on the entry level cars in the ranges, but add more standard equipment. Doing so, Hyundai lets customers make the most out of the scrappage scheme.

How different is the ES compared to the normal i10?

The i10 ES comes with Classic variant’s equipment including four air-bags, air-conditioning, central locking and front electric windows. In addition, the ES adds driver’s seat height adjustment, remote central locking and colourful inserts on the interior seating, dashboard and door panels. Outside, the i10 ES features body-coloured door handles, body-coloured mirrors and bumper inserts.

Only 1,000 i10 ES and 500 i30 ES edtions will be sold, priced at £7,195 (Rs.5.4Lakh) and £11,795 (Rs.8.8Lakh) respectively. Hyundai will encourage owners to trade into an ES Hyundai i10/i30 by matching the government’s scrappage allowance on eligible trade-ins – making an i10 ES available for just £5,195 (Rs.3.9 Lakh) and the i30 ES for £8,295 (Rs.6.2Lakh).

Will the i10 ES be launched in India?

click through for answer and high resolution images

William Lee of Car Blogger has posted an interesting rendering of the about-to-be-launched Hyundai i40/Sonata YF. So has another Korean auto blog, which we’re featuring today.

Displayed above are William’s latest impressions. It’s fairly clear how Hyundai has waken up to the call for a stylish and desirable sedan. The Hyundai i40/Sonata YF will be much in tune with Hyundai’s new design philosophy- Built with multi cultural markets at the back of the mind.

Just like the BMW 3-Series and Mercedes C-Class, there will be an estate version for the Europeans. The car will be launched by the end of this month in Korea.

If you have payed attention to our sidebar news, you would be aware of Audi’s decision to introduce the R8 convertible in the year 2011.

A full-length soft top will be offered on the mid-ship supercar with V8 and V10 engine options. The V12 TDI engine, which rumors insisted to have made the cut, has been scrapped.

Porsche confirmed it will fit a light bulb inside the glass casing mounted over the engine bay, so at night fellow drivers won’t be confused whether it is the V8 or V10 version (why can’t Audi just provide a badge ? )

It’s an Audi, it’s a supercar so it’ll not be cheap. It can’t be fuel efficient either. The basic V8 version will set you back by as much as £90,000.

Source- Auto Express

We’ve seen supercar configurators before which haven’t sailed our boats. The brilliant thing with the Internet is it stimulates creativity, formulating a possibility of utilizing it in infinite ways to win our brownie points.

We came across the Skoda Fabia Color Studio last night, and to be frank, we’ve seen nothing like it before. We won’t break the surprise by telling you what it does or how it does it. You have to to click the link and wait for it to load. If you are a Skoda Fabia fan, it’s worth every bit of your time.

Tip- Use Full screen mode

Go there – Fabia Color Studio

There’s a lot of Honda news to be had today. As you might have read, Honda is releasing the Jazz hatchback in the Indian market next month, after a lot of trouble and thought.

The Honda Jazz comes at a price tag above the City in some markets however in India, the hatchback buyer isn’t willing to spend the extra money nor is he ready to buy a hatchback costlier than the sedan variant. He feels cheated.

Honda decided to address this issue by bumping up the localization level and called for a smaller and cheaper engine. The result is this- A 1.2-liter iVTEC four cylinder engine, tailor made for Indian customers.

The 1.2-liter four cylinder engine sends out 90PS @6200 rpm and 110Nm @4800 rpm. Those figures are enough to confirm the title of the most powerful 1.2-liter engine in India.

The new engine is E10 compatible and according to ARAI’s study returns 16.1 kmpl.

Well to start with I got a brand new Mercedes Benz ML 320 sent to me by Mercedes Benz for Indian Autos Blog, and it was at my disposal for the next two days, during which I had planned an on and off-road test on it. The M Class is one of the most established in the SUV class of the Mercedes range and it truly is one hell of an off-roader. Under the hood was a V6 Diesel with 3000cc of raw power churning out 234Bhp with a massive torque of 535nm

now hows that for a starter?

click through for the entire review and Image Slideshow

Over the next five days, Indian Autos Blog will publish one post on the Maruti Suzuki Ritz/Splash. Today we feature a colossal crash test clipping of the car. We’re no NASTRAN or crash test engineers. We’ve not specialized in destructive testing, but to the common man’s eye, it looks safer than many of the Chinese junk cars that we’ve seen tested.

Crash Test Lesson – The Crumple zone at the front is made of a material inferior in terms of strength compared to the passenger cells. It absorbs kinetic energy and dissipates it by crumbling.

Come back tomorrow for more information on the Splash/Ritz