Head On: Camry vs Accord

Posted on August 24, 2009 by savaiz

Eversince Honda introduced Accord & Toyota launched Camry as their up-market luxury sedan models there has been tough head-on competition between the two.

Although the sales figures suggest that Accord has been outselling Camry looking at their specs the reason isn’t clear. Both have identical 70-litre fuel tanks, near-identical engine displacements (Accord:2354cc & Camry:2362cc) and similar Torque Ratios: 226Nm/4300rpm for Accord while for Camry it is 224Nm/6000rpm.

Top speed of Camry is listed on Toyota Indus Motors (www.indus-motors.com.pk) as 211kph for Manual Transmission version and 204kph for Automatic Transmission. Honda Pakistan (www.honda.com.pk) being more concerned with Safety & Environment hasn’t listed a top speed instead it focuses on the safety / environment-friendly features of the car.

Finally as always it all boils down to the physical ‘looks’ of the car & price of both cars. In that department Accord having a more sleek/elegant & less ‘bulky’ design that Camry (see photos for evidence) wins’ hearts & minds’ of the customer hands-down.

The other factor helping customers decide in favour of Accord is the price tag Rs.4.699M (for A/T) while Camry retails for Rs.5.999M (M/T) to Rs.6.199M (A/T).

Can’t believe this super car is an EV!

Posted on August 23, 2009 by savaiz

mercedes-benz-sls-amg-gullwing-prototype_3 A zero-emission supercar, tentatively named LS AMG eDrive, features 4 electric motors with a combined output of 392 kW (526 hp) and 880 Nm (649 lb-ft) of torque enabling it to rocket from 0-100 km/h in around 4 seconds.

This compares favourably as a matter of fact on par with the petrol-driven 6.3-liter (6208cc) V8 powered (571 hp and 650 Nm) SLS that accomplishes the same task in 3.8 seconds. The stats maybe okay for the petrol version but the electric version is as good as its gets (for now anyway).

In a statement, Mercedes-AMG GmbH’s CEO Volker Mornhinweg said, “With the SLS AMG with electric drive, we wanted to redefine the super sports car. For us, it is not just about responsibility. We attach just as much importance to excitement and classic AMG performance.”

I surely believe thay have. Its expected that the car may well be in production by 2011. When it does start commercial production it will offer fierce competition to Tesla Roadster eV & Lightning GT Electric Sportscar (both already in production phase).

PS: Photos may not depict the final production version as it has been shielded by the manufacturer & pix are only ‘spy photos’ of the prototype.

The ‘All New’ Honda City

Posted on August 20, 2009 by savaiz

img_gallery01 What I don’t understand is that why do Honda meed ‘so many’ sedan brands? If Accord is a class apart & in the same league as Toyota Camry then why are City & Civic cutting into each other’s market share? Conceeded that City started as an attempt by Honda to make a ‘budget’ sedan but isn’t that like Suzuki’s job?

The introduction of City (which is neither cheap nor expensive @ Rs.1.139M for 1.3L M/T & Rs.1.399M for 1.3L A/T) has ‘only’ allowed Suzuki to rias its products’ prices so that City is no at par with Liana and we being a nation ‘riased on a Suzuki’ will trust a Suzuki more while viewing the ‘reduced’ price of a Honda brand (City) with suspicion.

I myself (& those like me) have driven a Japanese-assembled Mitsubishi Lancer for about four years & it is yet to be taken to a garage so I will Insha Allah buy another Lancer once the current lease ends in May next year.

So the question is: WHOSE MARKET HAS THE CITY MOST ADVERSELY AFFECTED? I think its CIVIC’s which is (despite local-assembly) still priced slightly below the Lancer. (CIVIC 1.8L VTi Oriel @ Rs.1.734M to Mitsubishi Lancer’s 1.6L GLX @ Rs.1.899M – both M/T models).

I think Toyota has got it right. Instead of 2 brands they have ‘sub-brands’ within Corolla Brand such as Altis & 2.0D. (Altis of same displacement as Civic is a lot cheaper i.e Rs.1.639M while Altis 1.8 M/T SR is also priced below Civic VTi Oriel i.e. Rs.1.724M).

All manufacturers/marketers do make up their own names for similar technologies to ‘differentiate’ otherwise similar products. As far as I am concerned they all have engines, doors, windows, Steering, Gears & brake/clutch/accelarator pedals what else is there to have.

Mitsubishi makes the best micro car?

Posted on August 17, 2009 by savaiz

mitsubishi_i_hello_kitty 800px-mitsubishi_i_1

Although it may not be virtually unknown outside its ‘native’ Japan it won the 2007 Car of the Year award from the Japanese Automotive Researchers and Journalists Conference (RJC), and two other “Car of the Year” awards, from the Carview Corporation website and the Consumer’s Choice.

It also won the “Most Advanced Technology” Special Achievement Award at the 2006–07 Japan Car of the Year awards, where it was nominated unsuccessfully in the overall Car of the Year category, and ranked first in the Japan Mini-Car APEAL Study published by J.D. Power Asia Pacific in October 2006, with a higher score than any previous winner. Aside from the 2006 Good Design Grand Prix, its style won Design Awards from the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame (JAHFA), and the magazines Popeye and Car Styling.

Even the 2008 Car of the year 2008 Toyota’s iQ although better performance wise & designed by Toyota’s design studio in France pales in comparison to the sleek shape & georgeous look of the “i”. Agreed that microcars or ‘kei’ cars as they are known in Japan are made generally for the ladies &/or ‘sissies’ but offlate the modified versions of Smart Cars having superbike engines have been known to pack quite a muscle (0-100kph in under 3.5seconds.

“i”s breakthrough success with the said market came after a “Hello Kitty” customized “i” was put on display in a large Japanese Department Store for a week in 2007. Other close rivals include Smart Mortor’s fortow & K models, ZAP (zero air pollution), Toyota iQ the proposed Aston Martin-Toyota joint venture Cygnet & Honda’s Insight.

Suzuki has also marketed its own budget version of the smart car known as Suzuki Twin while rounding off the European competition are Mercedes-Benz’s Motsy & Subaru’s R2.

Buying Used Cars

Posted on August 13, 2009 by momekh

Pak Suzuki has come out with this very ‘sensible’ offer.

Now you can buy a Suzuki Certified USED car from Pak Suzuki Motors Co Ltd.

The car that you end up buying from them comes with a ONE YEAR WARRANTY and is evaluated on 130 check points (I wonder what those check points are!!?). For more details check out this ad that appeared yesterday.

(Click on the image to view in full size)

Used Suzuki Cars - now official

Buying a used car is usually considered something that is not for the masses. People here talk about ‘resale’ value of a car and endlessly tell you that the car that you really, really want to buy will be hard to sell. They are right in saying that, but that is not why you want to buy a car that you really like; you are not buying the damn thing to sell it! You are buying it because you like it, period. That is what most people don’t look at, and for good reason of course – it is a ‘safer’ bet buy something that can be sold immediately when cash is required (liquid assets and all that!). The Toyota Corolla for example, is considered a great car to buy, not because you want to impress your neighbor, but because it has great re-sale value (a lot of people in the market looking for second-hand Toyotas, no doubt!)

Suzuki is the KING in used cars market

But I think you all will agree that the KING of re-sellable cars is Suzuki. I mean, you just have to give one ad in the newspaper classifieds section and you can kiss your car goodbye the very next day. For example, I sold my Suzuki Baleno at EXACTLY the price I had asked for the day after I gave the price. The gentleman who came over to look at the car, paid the amount at the bank (the car was leased from Faysal Bank) and the deal was done in a matter of hours, not days. Before Baleno, I owned a Mehran, which was also sold with the same ease (and again, with a price a couple of thousand rupees more than what the ‘dealers’ wanted me to believe – LESSON # 1: ALWAYS sell your car through the classified sections without involving your typical dealer). So I have had the experience of three Suzukis in the last mmm, 7 to 8 years. The first one was a 1990 Suzuki Swift that I sold to get the Mehran. So yeah, I can say that Suzuki sells easily and quickly.

So it is no surprise that the good folks at Suzuki Pakistan have realized this great opportunity and made the whole ‘second hand’ Suzuki market official.

Daihatsu Cuore Review

Posted on April 22, 2009 by nabeel

daihatsu-cuore

cuore-interior

The Daihatsu cuore is a car from the 90’s so it doesn’t feel like a modern car at all. It was built to be basic and cheap and it sure is basic, but cheap…I don’t think so.

Even the engineers at the daihatsu dealership admit that this car has some design faults which can’t be fixed especially some clutch related issues. Apart from that it is very reliable and easy to maintain and it’s always welcome in the second hand car market.

	Score	Remarks
Performance	7/10	Lack of weight covers up well for the lack of power
Grip & handling	4/10	Not great
Comfort	4/10	Poor
Reliability	8/10	Very good
Fuel economy	6/10	Let down by its prehistoric fuel injection system
Maintenance	8/10	Easy to maintain
Resale	9/10	Anytime
Price	4/10	Too expensive
Equipment	4/10	Bare minimum

MODEL	PRICE
CUORE CL	569,000
CUORE CL CNG	609,000
CUORE CX	619,000
CUORE CX MET	625,000
CUORE CX CNG	664,000
CUORE CX CNG MET	669,000
CUORE CX A/T	649,000
CUORE CX A/T MET	654,000
CUORE ECOMATIC	704,000
CUORE ECOMATIC MET	709,000

Source: Toyota-indus.com

Rivals:

Toyota Vitz/Platz

Suzuki Alto

Chevrolet Joy

Chery QQ

Suzuki Mehran

Verdict:

Cuore is not a bad car but you can get a much better car in the same budget.

World’s cheapest car – now available!

Posted on March 24, 2009 by momekh

For starters, I do not like the word ‘cheapest’. It gives the impression that the product in question is well, is cheap … this car might be the most affordable car in the world, or it can be the cheapest. Let’s see…

I am talking about Tata’s Nano. Tata, for those who do not know, is another one of India’s fairy-tale companies; they not only produce a wide range of cars for the Indian market, in India, but they not-so-recently acquired iconic brands like Rover and Jaguar. (Those even still wondering, yes, Jaguar and Rover are now Indian companies — don’t know about you, but it sounds weird).

The Tata Nano – which at roughly 1300 pounds (comes to about one lac fifty thousand rupees) – is the cheapest car in the world, is no accident. Tata announced it eons ago, it seems. What I mean to say is that unlike Mehran, Tata Nano is no accident – they actually planned it that way!

What about the design?

But the over riding question in my mind is that when it comes to a unique concept, where do all the designers run off to?

Toyota took a unique concept – hybrid cars – and made the Prius. It looks like a freak-of-nature, overly stuffed insect, that comes in different colors no doubt. Only recently, Honda has made a much better looking Hydrogen fuelled car that doesn’t induce a gag reflux.

Tata took a unique concept – the cheapest/most-affordable car – and made this Nano that looks like an angry midget. No seriously, just look at it and imagine an angry midget – that is what this car looks like.

But seriously though, we all could do well with cars with a price tag like this to be on the roads… what do you think?

Inside of Tata Nano

The Nano Dashboard

The Tata Nano

Rejoice - it has gears

Made in China

Posted on March 16, 2009 by nabeel

chery-m14

These days you can buy a Chinese fake version of almost anything for a fraction of the price of the original.

You can buy a carbon copy of the Honda 70 for half the price, or an iPhone look-a-like with a logo that shows an apple eaten from all sides…

Even cars from Chinese brands are not that uncommon these days.

Chery is one of the leading car makers from China. Their 800cc car “QQ” is

Chery QQ

becoming quite popular in Pakistan. And you have to give them the credit for making a car that offers a much better build quality, performance and more features than its rivals. And the best part is that even the top-spec model of this car costs nearly the same as the cheapest Suzuki Mehran, which, as we all know, is made from used tin foil.

The only thing that lets this car down is its looks. But don’t forget that Mehran doesn’t exactly look like the Mona Lisa either.

But I’m not very interested in talking about 800cc family cars right now. I want to talk about a car, made in China, which has just two seats, an electric folding roof and a 2.0 liter, 195 bhp, turbo-charged, petrol engine. Yes, Chinese sports cars are coming our way…

For those of you with large bank accounts and a fleet of cars parked outside, this might not be something to look forward to. But it is a very exciting piece of news for petrol-heads like me who love cheap thrills.

Chery M14

It’s called the Chery M14. It was introduced back in 2006 as a concept car. Designed by a car designer from Pininfarina, it was displayed in several car shows around the world and received a lot of appreciation from the public. It was promised that its mass production will start by the end of 2007. But it didn’t. And strangely after spending so much time and money designing and advertising this much awaited car, it seems that Chery have suddenly backed out of the cheap sports car business. There are no mentions about this car on their global website and the Chery Pakistan website lists it as an “upcoming model” whose mass production will start in 2007.

If this car ever goes into production, it will cost around $19,000 which roughly equates to 1.5 million (15 lac) rupees. For a car like this, trust me, it’s the biggest bargain in the world.

M14 interior

I know what you are thinking…you’re thinking that it will have a crap build quality like everything else made in China. Well, think again…because it can’t possibly get worse than the cars we are already used to, like the Suzuki Cultus or Toyota Corolla XLi which happen to be two of the highest selling cars in Pakistan. If we can live with these cars, we can live with anything. Bring it on Chery!

Let’s hope that the M14 goes into production soon and then other car companies from China also join the competition.

Chery M14 promo

Family cars sorted by power

Posted on March 7, 2009 by nabeel

In the following chart, cars are sorted by their Engine Capacity. The Coure seems to rule the 0.8 Litre category, while at the top end, the 2.4 Accord wins by 0.1 second margin! – Ed’ Note

FERRARI vs MEHRAN

Posted on February 28, 2009 by nabeel

ferrari-vs-mehran-small1

People of Lahore are familiar with three forms of driving…

Driving in the city (which can turn into serious off-roading),

Driving on the highway (often with donkey carts going in the other direction),

And last but not least, reckless driving.

Oh and there’s one more; driving in the fast lane at 30 km/h. Actually this is even more dangerous than reckless driving because it puts you at the risk of being murdered.

But don’t forget that this is also the city where literally hundreds of people own top of the range cars from Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, even Ferrari and Aston Martin. These are just a few names from a long list that’s growing fast.

Aston Martin DB9

Ferrari 360

Porsche 911 Carrera 2S

Ford Mustang Shelby GT500

When I first realized that my fellow citizens drive these exotic beauties, I almost fainted with excitement.

But if you think about it, you will realize that people are driving cars that can do 320 kph on roads that hardly ever allow 120. That means my 40 horse power Cuore can easily keep up with a 400 horse power Ferrari on the highways.

And as soon as we are off the highway, I will instantly leave the Ferrari in my dust…

Yes…and the reason is that now we’re in speed breaker territory, most of which happen to be taller than the Ferrari itself. And there’s a very good reason behind these world famous speed breakers. You see, building sky scrapers is an extremely difficult task, that’s why we decided to go for the tallest speed breakers in the world.

By the way, these speed breakers are usually nicknamed “jumps”, which says it all. I call them something else which I can’t tell you.

So if I had the job of issuing license plates for cars, I would issue a special golden “Jackass” plate to anyone who has one of these imported exotic cars in Lahore. I mean what’s the point of having a Ferrari when you can’t even keep up with a Mehran in a race???

Let’s face it, Ferraris are not designed keeping the streets of Lahore in mind, and you can’t explore their potential without getting stuck on a speed breaker with all four wheels in the air.

And I would love to take a picture of a Ferrari driving behind a donkey cart on a highway.

That means all three forms of driving known to Lahore-kind, have been ruled out for Ferraris and Porsches. A Mehran, on the other hand, is not only perfect for all of these scenarios, but also much faster. It’s the super-car of Lahore.

Now that I’ve proved that you can go faster in a Mehran than a Ferrari. I want to prove it wrong. I’m not going to ramble on about road conditions and government policies because, let’s face it, we are on our own.

It’s time to introduce a brand new form of driving to Lahoris. This form of driving is the reason why names like Ferrari and Porsche exist, and no Mehran has ever seen it. This is the form of driving where you need a racetrack. nurburgring1

Perhaps I should explain that a racetrack is a road that doesn’t go anywhere, it has no speed humps, donkey carts are not allowed to use it, and you can go as fast as you dare. Oh and it’s a little bendy too. In fact it can scare the hell out of you with its high speed bends.

Only trouble is that this magic road doesn’t exist anywhere near Lahore. It doesn’t even exist anywhere in the country.

So would you like to know why racetracks are non-existent in our country even though we have hundreds of cars designed only for the purpose?

Here’s why…About 1.6 million years ago, Martians came to earth. They marked out the boundaries of Pakistan and then cursed it to make sure no one ever enjoys driving here.

This is the best logical explanation for the fact that no one has ever built a racetrack inPakistan. I’m not kidding; I even have strong evidence to support my theory of Martians.

Indian Formula Rolon

Across the eastern border, India is currently hosting four separate motorsport championships on proper racetracks with purpose built formula cars, now that’s more like it. Here are some names if you are interested; Formula LGB Hyundai, FISSME (aka Formula Maruti), Formula Rolon and JK Tyre National racing championship.

Still not convinced? Well even if you only watch PTV and you’ve never heard of Michael Schumacher; you would know that Formula1 is the most prestigious car racing championship in the world. To give you an idea about the success rate of Formula1, theShanghai race circuit built in 2004 cost $300 million to make. And it’s such a money tree that they hope to recover its cost by the year 2014. You do the math.

Now please take a deep breath because what I’m about to tell you might come as a big shock…

India will be hosting a Formula1 race in the year 2011 on the streets of New Delhi. Not to mention that their Formula1 team, Force India debuted back in 2008.

Enough said?

I think it’s time for us to call the Martians back to earth and beg them to lift the unbreakable curse before we become a laughing stock for Indians. Otherwise it’s a possibility that soon you will be offered an unused Ferrari in exchange for your old Mehran. And you will probably say, “No thanks!”

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