BMW 3 Series top seller ever

BMW's top seller is redesigned ahead of schedule to combat slumping sales and tough new mpg and emissions mandates. The result should be the cleanest, thriftiest, most technically advanced 3-Series ever--and no doubt the priciest

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Maruti 800 Review, specs, price

Maruti 800 Review:

Write ReviewMaruti 800 is a trusted brand for a middle class Indian family, Its lowest fuel consumption cost has made this car an evergreen choice for the buyer, Easy to park structure, It can be smoothly driven in an overcrowded street or in a narrow lane, Small structure with 4.4 meters of radius has made it a user friendly car, It used to be the largest selling car in India until the Maruti Alto recently took its title.

Maruti 800 Description :

Maruti 800 is a city car manufactured by Maruti Udyog in India. The car produces approximately 37 bhp (28 kW) of power and runs on 12 inch (305 mm) wheels. Curb weight is 650 kg (1433 lb) and 4 passengers (including the driver) fit in comfortably. Top speed is in the region of 125 km/h (78 mph) and this frugal car is known to deliver fuel economy better than 20 km/l (47 mpg) on clear and plain roads. Maruti Suzuki had earlier launched a version with 4 valves per cylinder engine producing 45 bhp coupled with a 5-speed manual transmission (currently found in the Suzuki Alto) but discontinued it after a couple of years. Various safety features of Maruti 800 give assurance of secured driving to the buyer such as Side impact beams,Laminated windshield, Additional body reinforcement. Its easy accommodating small structure with 4.4 meters of radius has made it a user friendly car, The Maruti 800 is still popularly hailed in India as "the smallest car in production" due to its tightly spaced interior.

Maruti 800 Pros :

Over proved and tested brand, Compact car that suits Indian roads, Milege and fuel economy is good, Easy to Drive, Easy to park, Low maintainence, Maruti service station is easily available everywhere in India.

Maruti 800 Cons :

Too Outdated, Less spacious, Not enough Room for leg, AC is not good after 28 degree, Bad Interior.

Ex-showroom price: 196, 350

Maruti Suzuki Car Prices (Avg Ex-Showroom Price)

Maruti Suzuki Car Prices (Avg Ex-Showroom Price)

	Maruti Suzuki 800	Rs. 1,96,350
	Maruti Suzuki Omni	Rs. 2,11,721
	Maruti Suzuki Alto	Rs. 2,30,734
	Maruti Suzuki Eeco	Rs. 2,87,582
	Maruti Suzuki Zen Estilo	Rs. 3,34,398
	Maruti Suzuki Wagon R 1.0	Rs. 3,42,098
	Maruti Suzuki A-Star	Rs. 3,65,314
	Maruti Suzuki Ritz	Rs. 4,10,949
	Maruti Suzuki Swift	Rs. 4,29,787
	Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire	Rs. 4,99,920
	Maruti Suzuki Gypsy	Rs. 5,36,744
	Maruti Suzuki SX4	Rs. 7,13,195
	Maruti Suzuki Kizashi	Rs. 16,83,766
	Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara	Rs. 17,34,385

Nissan Micra Review

The original Nissan Micra (also known as March in a few markets) was introduced in October 1982. Nissan Micra's second-generation (K11 platform) was launched in Japan in 1992, and released in Europe at the end of ‘92. The third generation of the Nissan Micra (the K12) was unveiled at the 2002 Paris Motor Show as the Nissan mm Concept. The Micra K12 was introduced to the Japanese market in late 2002 and reached European shores only in early 2003 and saw a facelift in 2007. What we’ve got in India is the fourth generation Nissan Micra which is built on Nissan's new V Platform and will be sold in more than 160 countries. In all, Nissan has sold 5.65million Micra’s in over 25 years! The new Micra production hubs will be Thailand, China, India (Chennai) and Mexico....read full review
The original Nissan Micra (also known as March in a few markets) was introduced in October 1982. Nissan Micra's second-generation (K11 platform) was launched in Japan in 1992, and released in Europe at the end of ‘92. The third generation of the Nissan Micra (the K12) was unveiled at the 2002 Paris Motor Show as the Nissan mm Concept. The Micra K12 was introduced to the Japanese market in late 2002 and reached European shores only in early 2003 and saw a facelift in 2007. What we’ve got in India is the fourth generation Nissan Micra which is built on Nissan's new V Platform and will be sold in more than 160 countries. In all, Nissan has sold 5.65million Micra’s in over 25 years! The new Micra production hubs will be Thailand, China, India (Chennai) and Mexico.
Nissan Micra - Design
The first thing that really strikes you about the Nissan Micra is just how much better it looks in the flesh. The Micra has quite a few interesting styling touches and one of these is the twin boomerangs on the roof and the slightly raised rear which you can’t really make out in most photographs. In truth, the Nissan Micra does have some interesting lines and looks a whole lot better in person than in pictures. There’s a reason for those twin boomerangs too – they not only strengthen the Micra's roof considerably but save on putting a deadener in the roof which just adds to weight. In fact, Nissan have worked really hard on dropping the weight of the Micra by optimizing parts.
Nissan Micra - Interiors
Step into the Nissan Micra and you’ll find a fairly airy environment - even on the lower spec cars with the black interiors. Like we’ve mentioned earlier, the Nissan Micra is available in four variants - XE, XE Plus, XL and XV. The Micra XV is the variant with all the bells and whistles and is available with a grayish-beige interior finish. The plastic quality is really quite good, and the fit and finish on the dashboard trim bits are fairly consistent.
Nissan has paid special attention to the Micra's materials by finishing them in a matt finish which they call MicroGrain. This really ensures that the plastic trim bits don’t have a shiny cheap look to them and is really all about visual and tactile appeal. We quite like the black finish of the lower Micra variants which will no doubt be easier to maintain and won’t show up mud spots and stains easily. The doorpads are a simple affair and we quite like the easy to grab door handles - which are finished in chrome on the XV variant.
The driver’s seat and the passenger seat of Micra are extremely comfortable places to be in. Seats are large and supportive and are well suited for even large frames. However, there is no seat height adjust on any of the Micra versions - even on the top end Micra XV where we’d expect one. While we don’t think this should be a problem, since the Micra has excellent visibility and a short snout, some really short drivers may just have an issue. The rear seat of Micra is comfortable too and the car is roomier inside than it looks at first sight. Even someone as tall as six feet will have a good four inches of headroom to spare when seated at the rear.
Nissan Micra - Engine, Transmission
The Nissan Micra is the first car to have a HR12DE engine, which has a cubic capacity of 1198cc. This three cylinder petrol engine churns out 75bhp at 6000rpm and produces a maximum torque of 104Nm at 4000rpm. Just for those of you who’d like to know, the bore is 78mm and the stroke is 83.6mm. Add one more cylinder and you have the HR16DE engine which is basically a 1.6-litre engine that Nissan will use on its other international models. Nissan engine designers have succeeded in keeping the NVH levels low, especially while idling – which is generally the issue with most of the three cylinder engines as the vibration levels are higher due to balance issues. These new engine blocks are now machined by a method called bore circularity which has helped reduce friction by 20% if compared to a conventional four-cylinder engine. This helps to increase the power output, fuel efficiency and even the life of the engine; which in short makes the engine rev freely while making it quicker and reliable too.
Nissan has got the gearing of the Micra spot-on for city as well as highway driving. The gear knob is just the right size and gearshifts as reported earlier are short, making quick shifts easier. The Micra in international markets comes with an autobox in the form of a CVT (continuously variable transmission) designed specifically for this petrol engine. Nissan, at present has no plans to get the CVT, but we believe it will be an excellent option for city drivers as it reduces driver fatigue and make the Nissan Micra even more of an urban car than it already is. We strongly believe that Nissan India should look at a CVT option and even though the numbers may not be very attractive, we think it would be a killer package.
Nissan Micra - Driving Dynamics
The Micra feels nimble and light to drive which is a real boon in urban traffic conditions. The combination of a light steering, short and positive gearshifts, light clutch action and a peppy engine make the Nissan Micra quite an ideal urban commuter. The ride of the hatch is well composed at low and high speeds, and the cabin is fairly well insulated from the outside noise. However, it doesn’t insulate you from the outside world as some other European hatchbacks do. Drive it around tight corners quickly, and your confidence does reduce a little if you’re used to larger Euro hatches. There’s no perceivable shortage of grip but it does have a little body roll and this is because the car suspension is tuned more towards ride comfort over outright handling. To our dismay, the steering doesn’t weigh up at higher speeds as much as we’d like and it feels a little artificial and this could also boil down to the fact that the Micra is a much lighter car. The brake pedal on the Micra has fairly good feel and they bite progressively. Our test car wasn’t a top of the line (we got the XL trim), so it lacked ABS, EBD and BA. However, in our braking test, the Micra came to a complete standstill from a speed of 80kph in just 34.8m in less than ideal test conditions and felt confident throughout the few hard braking runs we did . The 165/70 R14 MRF ZVTV tyres (a new tread pattern from MRF) on our test car ran fairly quiet and had good wet weather traction too.
Nissan Micra - Overall Evaluation
The Nissan Micra is a very competent and well engineered product. It has all the right ingredients to make it the next big thing in the hatch segment. To start with, it is Japanese it is spacious, comes loaded with technology & safety features and is a no-nonsense, easy to drive urban commuter. It is on par with its competitors when it comes to performance as well. Being Japanese, we expect it to be hassle-free to run and own and we expect the Micra to be low on maintenance costs. As regards the dealers for the car, Nissan India is already tying up with dealers across the country. The company has opened five new dealerships recently in Ludhiana, Gurgaon, Calicut, Jalandhar and Surat and plans to have more than 30 dealers by end of this fiscal year.

Source: LInk

Road Test: Maruti Suzuki Kizashi

Say Maruti Suzuki and the first thing which comes to your mind is surely a hatchback. But all that is all set to change considering the manufacturer’s next launch, the Kizashi! Enthusiasts will remember seeing a Kizashi at the 2010 Auto Expo, but this is not the same car. Post Auto Expo a few more concepts were seen and the production version is based on the third version.
Getting back to the present, while the Kizashi is similar in size to the Laura, Civic and Corolla Altis, Maruti wants to target the Accord with it, especially because it has a similar 2.4-litre engine that produces about 18bhp more than even the 1.8 TSI of the Laura. The car is being touted as a sports sedan and its looks complement that. The large two-slat grille and sharp headlamps, gives the car a bold front. Thanks to a rather high roofline, ingress and egress is quite comfortable. The Kizashi has also been tweaked for India and has a higher ground clearance than its European counterpart and it gets 17-inch alloys.

Inside, the Kizashi is loaded to the brim. To begin with, the dash looks smart and there’s soft touch plastic all around. The instrument panel is a two-pod affair, backlit in white. The steering wheel meanwhile gets toggle buttons for audio, cruise control and trip computer. The Kizashi also gets climate control and an iPod and USB compatible audio system. The seats are large units and comfortable to be in. To add to the package the driver gets a ten-way adjustable electric seat with memory function.
We must mention here that the quality of materials inside and the finish on the Kizashi, which is a CBU, is much better than has been seen in other Maruti cars.
Start up the Kizashi and the 2.4-litre petrol motor purrs into life. Barely audible, it is a smooth operator. The clutch feels light and the six-speed manual slots in with minimal effort but feels positive. While we are yet to test the car, the Kizashi does accelerate rapidly when the right foot is buried into the carpet.

It's also great for cruising on highways. Indeed it can cruise at 140kph all day long without tiring the driver out. Moreover there is little noise creeping into the cabin to bother occupants, except when the engine is revved till the redline on the tacho.
The steering feels weighed and is quick, but at the same time feels a bit vague. The Kizashis’s suspension too has been retuned for India and as a result it has become softer. At slow speeds, bump absorption is top notch and very little is transferred into the cabin. However this has taken a bit of a toll on the handling capabilities of the car as it has acquired considerable body roll and gets twitchy when braked hard from a high speed. Not such a good vibe in a ‘Sports sedan.’
Auto option

We also drove the Kizashi with a CVT hooked to the same 2.4-litre petrol engine. Externally there's nothing to distinguish the auto version but look at the steering wheel and you will see the paddleshifters. These are cleverly placed and fall  into hand easily and take little time to get used to. At normal speed the shifts are smooth and you will be hard pressed to tell that it is shifting. However cluck the gearshifter into the manual mode and the difference can be felt. It revs all the way to the redline and holds it there until you actually shift up. This gives it the feel of a proper manual. The engine, a free revving unit, complements this. However it is not so effective whilst downshifting as the CVT takes time to shift.










Source: Link

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BMW

BMW and PSA Peugeot Citroën have created a joint venture to pool costs and seek economies of scale in parts for hybrid and electric cars.

BMW

The German and French carmakers said the venture would develop and produce hybrid components for their operations and to sell to other companies.

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BMW and Peugeot said they aimed to create a standard set of the components needed to electrify their vehicle ranges, including battery packs, electric motors and generators,
power electronics and chargers, and the software that runs hybrid systems.

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