This Week's Driving - October 30th, 2000 - Log 30

Sometimes when the mind is in turmoil and much-needed sleep is at a premium due to tension at work, therapy in the form of motoring media becomes a welcome respite. Inspite of it being an even more critical topic as far as the eventual stakes go! After all, you can't die banging on a keyboard as you can while driving a car. Or can you?

Computer fatigue along with jet lag caused by the absolutely wierd arrival and departure time that international airlines prefer at our airports here causes strange things to happen. One is a total mix-n-match of the sleep-wake eat-crap and drive cycle. Which is why, when Swissair and Avis offer the option of a very attractive all-in price for the weekend rental of a "Smart" car at Zurich, the mind was willing but the body weak.

Till one got into this little . . . car. About as long as the car I rent in the US is wide, at all of not more than 2.5 metres, with an engine throwing out over 50bhp. Strictly a 2-seater, it still managed to fit around my overweight frame as well as pack in a large suitcase. I think I drove about 200 kilometres during the 2 days there. I saw only one other Smart car while I covered that much in highly disciplined Switzerland.

One of the side-trips I made during the last few weeks was to the rather hush-hush European research and development centre of one of the automobile manufacturers with an interest in India. Not your usual media wine-and-dine junket, but what you could call a "spin-off" from the Paris show. One of those "you tell us what would be good news in India in 10 years from now as far as automobiles go" and in exchange a "we will show you what would be good for India in our opinion" kind of deals.

Well, I think a good and solid people carrier, maybe a 12-20 seater minibus configuration built on a monocoque body and powered by an environmentaly friendly engine of any sort, would be a good idea for India. So I was shown one with an engine that did not require cam-shafts, but had each valve operated individually by an electro-mechanical actuator instead. Operated off a 42volt alternator, with enough power left over to inject torque into the main driveline, this sort of a bus would run on electric in crowded stop-go city areas and on liquid fuel in open flat-out areas.

And was it smooth? Yes. Expected date: 2008.

But more importantly, I asked to be shown new and viable products from manufacturers already in India, but not released here for whatever reason. And was I in for a surprise? Saw many, sat in a few, and here is my pick:-

First off the firing line, who else but old favourites Maruti-Suzuki. Going to town over their "new" Alto lately, of which more later on in this column. But is that really "new" from Suzuki? Not, actually, and unless the top brass at MUL are fast asleep, I cannot understand why on earth they would not even talk about launching here in India for us, their new world car, the Ignis.

The Suzuki Ignis, one of which I hope to import soon, has everything going for it to become a success in India. Huge 14" wheels. An upright seating stance without the tall boy bullshit. An optional 2 wheel or 4 wheel drive mode. The 1.3 litre engine, code-named M13A, delivers about 90 bhp at 5500 rpm and looks absolutely like the engine in our very own Esteem and Gypsy King. Almost 500 litres of cargo space within the hatchback configuration. In looks, a bit like an Alto gone up by almost 15% in all dimensions, without increasing on the weight.

Such a practical car! Will MUL give it to us in India? No reply. The rest of the world gets it first.

The other one that caught the eye as a potential practical car for India, again another manufacturer who has been around for decades, is the Turkish built Fiat Doblo. Here again, based on the Fiat Palio platform, a striking van/car with a choice of one or two sliding doors aft. A 1.2 litre petrol and a 1.9 litre diesel, and eminently more practical as well as useful for India than any station wagon.

Such a potentially succesful car! Will FIATgive it to us in India No reply. The Turks get it first.

They won't even build these cars in India. So much for the commitment of automobile manufacturers towards bringing the best into the country! Phoooeeee!

As we write, we hear that Toyota takes another bunch of eager Indian journos to get a look at the latest in . . . Japanese food and wine. Oh well, the damage done by the reports on falling rear wheels and monsoon deprived engines on the ancient Qualis apart, somehow the fact that the existing Indian manufacturers, especially Tata and soon Mahindras, are giving them a run for the money as was the case a few decades ago when the Tata 407 had them retreating on the LCV front, makes for interesting Japanese food. Happy vacation, boys!

But while there, please do try to find out more about whether the greens at Toyota would even let a diesel-powered Qualis anywhere near, say, Kyushu? Talk about discrimination, talk about the Ainoo tribe, but here in India, we get an ancient reject from the nearby countries badged "Toyota". More phooooeee.

Maruti again. Invites us to buy a signature edition Alto. In a shade of purple appealingly re-named "Lilac Mist". Jagdish Khattar, esq., Mg. Dir., presiding, says to me in a personal computer generated and signed letter that . . . Dear Mr. XYZ . . . You are amongst the most admired personalities in the country. Keeping in mind your special status and position, he takes the doubtful pleasure of presenting to me a privilege I will be happy to exercise. A limited edition Alto which is alleged to be extremely spacious . . .

Mind you, they selectively didn't call us for the launch though!!

While on the topic of Maruti, little bird tells us that quality in their cars has gone up . . . and for the strangest of reasons! The labour is on strike, and about 1000 recently trained apprentices along with senior staff and management are putting shoulder to production line. This has brought about 80-90 of production back on stream and a noticeable improvement in quality. Or so the market says.

Strange but true. Companies like Volkswagen, General Motors and others tend to classify entry level "world cars" like the VW Gol and Fiat Palio as well as GM's new concept small cars as "5000 dollar" cars. Rugged and serving a need, this is supposed to be the price for Opel Corsa hatchback equivalents. Then how come the figure climbs to beyond 10000 dollars for India? Or how come Honda says that making small cars is just not profitable in India?

Wierd . . . till you look around at trends worldwide. With dropping sales and rising gasoline prices, somebody needs to buy those big gas guzzlers, right? With fuel in India now at almost half the price as that in, say, Western Europe, here we come!

Diwali is a great time for getting gifts from automobile manufacturers. When i was, shall we say, more intently associated with print media and pushing promos based on media handouts, I would get more than my share of greeting cards and sweets. Editorial discretion and blue encils kept the copy, well, not so ccynical. Now that we have InterNet and I can write what I want to, the supply has dried up! I need to lose weight anyways!!

Drivers Log
Veeresh Malik
The Edit Team
bluepencil@cybersteering.com

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