Figo is Fords first and desperate measure in desperate times to jump into the small car segment of developing nations like India. As this segment is where the number game is played Ford’s homeland rival GM made it clear that it would grab a bigger share with its recently launched Beat. Beat is the most lively car in the country’s deal ships right now and with a price tag of 3.34lakhs it has already booked over 10,000 in 25days of its launch. So you could say Ford is resting its shoulders heavily on the Figo to beat the Beat and GM, but has Ford done enough?

Figo is a completely different car from the Beat though they will be sold in the same price segment (I am taking a guess here). At this point I am going to stop comparing the two and get on with my thoughts on the Figo. Figo is a perfect Indian Ford, rather too perfect that’s what its problem is. There is nothing new to the eye. The body panels are too stereotypic, I get a feeling that they have squeezed in Fiesta’s styling in to Fusion’s body. But being a Ford it is quite civilized and simple but a grownup car in this segment wouldn’t be adequate any more with Maruti’s unlimited supply of peppy hatches and the beat around Ford could have gone an extra mile on making it interesting.

It ticks all the boxes when it comes to that fordness except for one, the dashboard. Ford in its relentless efforts of make at least the interiors a bit bonkers, it gave Figo a red (or something close to red) plastic dashboard. But then you can get it in black as well. Other than the cross-dressing, Figo’s interiors are indeed fresh in terms of functionality. For instance the bonnet open switch is accessible only to the shotgun. The head lights dim and dip are no more on the stick below the steering but on the dash with an A/C switch like knob. Speaking of the A/C, it will turn a bottle of water on the back seat into ice when set in full, it is that good. Armrests on the door can rest a water bottle, other than your arm. There are plenty of cubby holes around for all your storage needs from holding your drink to holding toll road change. Figo’s party piece is its size, dimension wise it is far bigger than its rivals. The 284litre boot is the biggest in the class. If that’s not enough for you, fold the rear seats to make your own football field.

From the picture that ever one else is painting, both the 1.2L 4-cylinder petrol and 1.4L Diesel lack grunt, with no emergency in the rev or the acceleration but then again it’s not a part of Ford’s intensions. Ford’s plan of a small car for India had practicality as the main priority and I feel that ford has delivered.

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Photo courtesy: Team-bhp

Bajaj launched a few days back what it calls a Street version of the Pulsar 220. But what it actually is can be explained in more than one way. It can be called a faring removal job on the P220 or a P200 with a 220cc engine or a P220 with the standard Pulsar doom. The 220 S costs about 3 grand less than the normal P220 at an on-road price of Rs. 78,000. Frankly I don’t see any takers for this one, may be if they had fiddled with the doom a little.

At Delhi Yamaha showcased two of its models which are likely to be launched in the third week of February if reports are to be believed. Though these two are no R15s or FZs but one of them isn’t pretty bad. The SZ looks promising to play the role of a tone downed conventional Yamaha for the commute kinds. With a 150cc engine from the FZ range the bike is quite punch packed as far as power is concerned. It would be retailed around Rs. 60,000 on road which would make it cheaper than its rivals Pulsar 150 and Unicorn by 5000 rupees. As far as I can find the only reason for the lesser price is the absence of front disc brakes. If the SZ would get the mileage figures right it would put Yamaha into the numbers game.

SZ up close 360 degree video:

The YBR is the Yamaha of the recent past, from when Yamaha made bikes like Alba and G5. Honestly compared to the G5 YBR is pretty dull. One would think given Yamaha’s current trend it might as well add a bit of life to the G5 to make a commute Yamaha like YBR, but no.

The 370Z launched in India comes with the Synchro Rev Match manual transmission. This system facilitates a smooth gear change by increase or decreasing the rpm of the engine so that the clutch plate and the flywheel mess at the same rpm. For instance when you change down from 4th gear to 3rd you would take the foot off the throttle, apply the clutch and change the gear, at this moment the Synchro Rev Match kicks in. It matches the engine rpm (i.e. flywheel’s rpm) to that of the clutch shaft’s (i.e. shaft connecting the clutch and the gearbox) and then re-engages the clutch which results in ultra-smooth gear change.

It does this by means of sensors (obviously). Synchro Rev uses engine rpm sensor, gearbox rpm sensor throttle position sensor and a sensor to monitor the position of the gear lever. In the 6-speed manual 370Z, the output shaft spins at the same rpm (5000 assuming) as the engine at 6th gear as the gear ratio is 1.1 (almost) but the gear ratio for 5th gear is 1.56:1 (assuming) hence when the gear is shifted from 6th to 5th the engine has to spin at 5000*1.56 rpm for a smooth gear change. Synchro Rev increases the rpm of the engine to 7800rpm so that both the flywheel and the clutch plate spin at the same rpm and then re-engages the clutch. Other than the smooth gear change, Synchro Rev reduces the wear and tear of the clutch plate.

here is a video of 370z’s engineer explaining how the Synchro Rev match works:

Juhu’s flying club saw something extraordinary than it is used to, a Nissan’s 370Z. Nissan launched the 370Z in India yesterday, when I say launched, the 370Z was literally launched off a truck container on to the ramp and then on the tarmac where it did what Japanese cars do best, drifts and doughnuts. It was quite a surprise when Narain Karthikeyan walked out of the red hot Nissan.

With the launch of the 370Z Nissan has opened its supply of its sportier Z family to India. As most of us know Z is one of the iconic ranges of sports cars to have ever drifted on earth. If Americans have the muscle cars the Japanese have the Z. Read this to know how significant the 370Z launch in India is.

Apart from its pedigree the car is quite the sports coupe for the Tokyo drifting kind of persona. But in India it is going to be more of a car for the “look how deep my pocket is” kind of persona as it is priced at Rs. 53.50 lakh for the 6-speed manual variant and a lakh more for the 7-speed automatic both ex-showroom Delhi. Actual cost of the car in the US is $33k and up on adding the 110% tax as the 370Z arrives as a completely built unit (CBU), the cost comes to about 35lakhs max. So Nissan priced the370Z rather greedily. Other two cars on this segment in India, the Boxster and the Z4 are priced at 47lakhs and 59lakhs respectively both ex-showroom Delhi.

The number 370 refers to the cc of the 370Z’s engine which is 3700 (almost). This V6 engine with a Power output of 332 hp and 370 Nm of torque pushes it from 0 to 100 kmph in 5.1 seconds. The 370Z launched in India is the sports package variant and it hosts 8speaker Bose sound system and 19” wheels. But what is unique about the 370Z is its world’s first SynchroRev gear matching system which I will get to in detail later.

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Photo courtesy: Team-bhp

Fiat displayed the Linea Dualogic at Delhi which might even be launched later this year. The word “Dualogic” refers to the transmission of the Linea. Dualogic on the functional basis is both automatic and manual but it is not the same kind of automatics with torque convertors. It is so unique and brilliant that it is 10% fuel efficient than any other automatic gearbox and 3-5% fuel efficient than any other manual gearbox.

It is a known fact that a good car with a bad driver behind its wheels will get lesser mileage than a good driver. All these mileage is lost mostly in the shifting of gears which involves shifting at the right time and short time. A conventional automatic gearbox doesn’t solve this problem either as it is worse on mileage however good or bad the driver is. Fiat thought out of the box to solve this and thus was born the Dualogic.

Dualogic transmission consists of the same 5-speed gearbox as a manual but it doesn’t have a clutch pedal. A servo arrangement which consists of an electronic motor which turns on and off up on receiving of electronic signals, this engages and disengages the clutch through a mechanical linkage. This servo arrangement also has the actuating mechanical links which shift gears. In simple English instead of you depressing you foot on the clutch pedal and shifting the gear with your hand, the computer controlled robot inside the car depresses the pedal and changes the gear at the right time for better mileage and better power. If automatics aren’t your thing switch to manual mode in which you move the gear lever forward for shifting up and backward for shifting down.

Though Dualogic refers to the gearbox, it’s got its roots spread all over the car. There are sensors to monitor how far the brake is depressed, the car will start only if the brake is depressed which is an indicator of a driver’s presence. If the driver’s door is open the gear will shift automatically into neutral. There are sensors to monitor the inclination/declination the car is taking and gearshift is based on that. In fact every parameter which would affect gearshift is monitored and gear shifting is done to get the best performance from least amount of fuel.

Though The Auto Expo closed down a week back we aren’t done with it.

Fiat showcased two new variants of it Honda City rival Linea. One is a turbocharged variant of its current 1.4L petrol engine. This car is called the Linea T-Jet and is expected to make it to the showrooms by March this year. The T-Jet would have 20 more PS of power at 110ps compared to the current turbo-less Petrol engine.

The second Linea is more significant in terms of new technology. This Linea is called Dualogic which means the logic behind this car is double fold as the Linea Dualogic could be driven in both manual and automatic modes. This is no conventional automatic gear box, the technology behind is so smart that it is not just 10% more fuel efficient than any other automatic gearbox it is 3-5% more fuel efficient than any other manual gear box of this capacity. The Dualogic and T-Jet were spotted sporting 16” inch alloys.

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Since Maruti didn’t have any new facelifts of its existing models as it has already launched various BS-4 compliant models, it decided to show what modifications you could do with your current Maruti. I for one was awestruck by the potential of these hatchbacks and I wonder why modification stereo types exist.

Modified Swifts:

Let’s start off with the Swift which is the most modification friendly car in India. Auto Expo saw two of these one a very usual modified Swift in Red with white stripes and a pretty good body kit which you can live with, the other had outrageous Alien machine sort of modification. Modifications were done on the interior as well, with dashboard material and colors changed and Stock seats were replaced with very comfortable old school sports coupe kind of ones.

Modified A-Star:

Modifications done on all these Marutis included exterior body kits like, front and rear bumpers and side skirts and even a spoiler in the case of A-Star which definitely was the most craziest mod on the show. A-Star’s body kit must have taken more quantity of molten plastic than all the other mods combined. It was so enormous that it looked like a lotus with endless layers of pink petals.

Alto Xcite:

The best modified cheap car award (if there was one) has to go to the Alto Xcite. Selling at 22,000units a month, it is definitely the most lovable cheap car in India. With that Maruti could have called it a day but no. Maruti has given the Alto a new avatar for the Expo. What we have here is the reincarnation of 70’s best looking hot hatchs. I am even tempted to call it the DB5 of cheap cars. This amazing blend of paint job and red blue racing stripes running down the sides is hugely responsible for the outcome. The 70’s style alloy wheels and tire threads seal the deal. This package wins me over completely.

Modified Ritzs:

The best mod on the entire floor has to be the Ritz blue whose modifications are done very tasteful and the fit is finished to the last millimeter. The color is fresh and the interior refreshing. The other Ritz, the one is gold is quite a show dog on the outside with a big hollow front grill. Again the interior is as neat as plain paper.

Wagon R Hiker:

The most happening mod on the floor has to be the Wagon R Hiker not because everyone was rampaging towards it but because it had the most amount of things on it, including a ladder. Interior is done in a mix of black and orange which is alright expect for the hideous center console orange cover.

Estilo Elegenza:

Estilo Eleganza as it is named, this modified Estilo is the most uninteresting mod on the floor, it would have been better off if it didn’t have any of those body kits on or if it was painted in a different color.

Modified SX4:

Let alone the body kits, the enormous radiator grill, what is kick ass about this SX4 mod is its alloys.

Grand Vitara Modified:

There were two Grand Vitara modifications on the floor one in purple and another in a greenish gold paintjob which is unique and the alloys it sports look like a sharp Kung-Fu weapon. On top of these mods this Vitara has a spare wheel on top of it. But for some reason a big SUV doesn’t fit well in a family full of hatchbacks.

Swift Dzire Luxury:

Swift Dzire Luxury was more of a sportier mod than luxury. Out of all the mods the Dzire luxury was the only one which looked familiar.

Scorpio Special Edition:

This Special Edition gets the trim treatment with European leather upholstery kind of thing. On the outside it gets a few checkered flag stickers and that’s about it, oh ya only a 1000 of these will be made. If you are into fine interiors you might want to act fast.

Scorpio Lifestyle Modified:

This Scorpio was spotted outside of Pragati Maidan where the Auto Expo is going on. Best guess is that it’s a modified version of Mahindra’s Scorpio Lifestyle which is made only up on special orders by Mahindra’s Customization Department. Some call it the Platoon, why? Cos some guy named his customized Scorpio Platoon and the name kind of got stuck.

Xylo Celebration Edition:

Xylo Celebration Edition gets a bit more than the European leather upholstery treatment. This edition gets a DVD player, a new music system, blackened B and C pillars, roof ski racks,new pearl paint job and distinguishing Celebration Edition Decals. Again only a 1000 of these will be made available.

Xylo Modified:

M&M showcased the body kitted Xylo we saw on the 2009 Autocar Performance show. This body kit costs 3.5 lakhs and include some seriously bonkers modifications. Click here to read more on this one.

Polo has had two ceremonies recently, one being the starting of production of Polo in India and the other an official showcasing during the Auto Expo. Yet the price of the car has not been revealed but official quotes suggest it would cost around 6lakhs. The booking for the Polo will open soon and the delivery will start in March.

Polo will come in 3 variants namely Trendline, Comfortline and Highline. All these 3 trim levels will be available in both Petrol and Diesel variants with a 1.2Litre 3-cylinder engine with 75hp. The torque of the Diesel engine will be 180Nm while for the petrol 110Nm. A more powerful 1.6Litre 4-cylinder engine with a power of 105hp will be launched in June; this variant will possess all the features of the top of the line Highline.

The impression we get from the brochure is that the Polo is a very rigidly made car with exceptional build quality. It is not a car which is high on features but it has all the features you would get you through. The car doesn’t try desperately to be cool, particularly on the inside; the dashboard is very much focused on functionality rather than been attractive.

One special feature I like in the car is the access to the rear boot through the rear compartment. The parcel tray covers the boot top and adds more storage space; hence VW has provided an arrangement in which one of the rear seats can be folded to access the boot. Polo’s top end comes with dual airbags and ABS which one would expect in a car of this niche, what the Polo has which others done is an electronic anti-theft immobilizer which makes life hard for car thieves. Quite a car then.