Automobilestillnow

What is it? Hyundai's much-awaited SUV. Expected to be launched this month, the Creta is a Renault Duster-sized rival that's expected to be priced at around Rs 8-12 lakh. Unlike more compact SUVs like the Ford EcoSport, the Hyundai looks and feels half a size bigger. It has a long bonnet with an upright SUV stance. The full-sized look also works well with the big front bumper and the upright grille. It's attractively proportioned around the back too. The lower half of the car is wider, so it looks well planted, and the simple but attractive tail-lights look neat. On the inside, dashboard is attractive and not over-styled. The centre console is blended neatly into the surface of the dash and to make the insides more attractive, Hyundai has used a lot of beige, and even some nice brushed silver accents. On the top spec SX (O) trim, at the centre sits a seven-inch touchscreen while lower down and there are the climate control knobs similar to those on the i20. There...

The Ssangyong Tivoli is scheduled to go on sale in Korea around June. It will rival the likes of the Skoda Yeti and the Renault Duster in international markets, and is expected to be an attractive and strong option for customers looking for a good value-for-money compact SUV. Now, the carmaker is considering the Tivoli for the Indian market too. The Tivoli comes with a 124bhp, 1.6-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine or a 113bhp 1.6-litre diesel. Transmission options include a six-speed manual gearbox or a six-speed automatic. The Tivoli can either be had as a 4x2 or a 4x4. Although still in the pipeline, if Mahindra actually works to bring the Tivoli here, it is likely to equip the car with the new 1.5-litre diesel being developed in-house. The engine once ready will be carried in Mahindra's new compact SUV (U301), and plunking it in the Tivoli will help keep costs in check, as the engines come from the same family. This crossover is around 4.2m long, has an a...

Mercedes-Benz launched the armoured variant of its S-class, the S 600 Guard, in India on Thursday at Rs 8.9 crore (ex-showroom, Delhi). Mercedes has called its latest heavily armoured offering ‘one of the safest luxury spots on earth’. The other ‘spots’ competing with the S 600 Guard are the BMW 7 Series High Security and the Audi's A8 L Security that also offer high levels of protection along with the luxury quotient. While the S 600 Guard, or a Pullman version of it, is the car favoured by the President of India, the BMW 7 Series High Security has been transporting India’s Prime Ministers since 2003. So let’s pit the three fortresses against each other and see how they stack up, shall we? Under the hood While both the S 600 Guard and BMW 760Li High Security have massive V12’s under its hood, the Audi A8 L Security is powered by a 6.0litre W12 engine that also powers the Bentleys. The engine in the 7 series is slightly more powerful than the S-class and much powerful...

The average Indian buyer may not know it, but Nissan does a whole lot more than the Micra, Sunny, Terrano and Evalia. And that’s something Nissan India wants to make a noise about. Ironically, it wants to do so by bringing in the carmaker’s quietest model yet, the unique Leaf. Unique not for its interesting shape but its source of propulsion.  Much like the Mahindra e2o we are more familiar with, the Leaf has no traditional engine and relies on an 80kW (107bhp) electric motor. The motor draws power from a 48-module lithium-ion battery (marginally larger than what’s at the back of your phone!) stacked under the cabin. It takes eight hours to fully juice up the battery, that can power the car for up to a claimed 160km. Of course, you’ll work through the charge much faster if you drive with a heavy foot but the regenerative brakes are there to maximise the distance before you need to bring out the power cable. The Leaf cabin has its interesting elements and is pretty well-fin...

India’s largest self-drive service provider, MYLES, has now started its services in the city of Coimbatore. With this addition, the car sharing and self- drive service by Carzonrent is now present in 21 cities and more than a 100 locations. All MYLES cars are centrally tracked through GPS technologies which allow the customers to find a car within walking distance of their location through a mobile application. At present, MYLES has a fleet of Toyota Etios cars in Coimbatore. The sharing and self-drive service allows everyone to have a car without the burden of owning one. The self-driven car operator’s space has recently witnessed quite a buzz with players such as Car Club and ZoomCar also being actively involved in expansion activities. While Car Club plans to invest Rs 180 crore in the next three years to expand its self-driven car fleet to a strength of 5,000 cars from the current 300, Carzonrent is keen on developing the MYLES fleet to around 40,000 in the next fiv...

Ever since its launch in 2005, the Toyota Innova has been a runaway success for the Japanese carmaker in India. Toyota sold more than half a million Innovas in India without making too many changes; it did get a few, like the introduction of an intercooler, a few cosmetic changes and additions to the equipment list. Here are the changes implemented on the Innova over the years: 2005: On February 24, Toyota launched the Innova with a choice of a 2.0-litre VVT-I petrol and a 2.5-litre D-4D diesel engines. The pricing started from Rs 6.82 lakh and Rs 7.42 lakh for the base petrol and diesel variants.     2005 Toyota Innova 2009: Major changes include the addition of an intercooler; however no changes were seen in power and torque figures. Cosmetically, a new chin and grille were added.   2009 Toyota Innova      2011: The second facelift gave the Innova a new bumper, grille, new headlights and newly designed alloy wheels too. ...

Having launched the Celerio ZXi AMT, Maruti is now readying the Celerio diesel for its launch. The diesel Celerio, badged as Celerio DDiS125, uses an 800cc two-cylinder diesel engine which is expected to make it the most fuel-efficient car in the market. Recent spy pictures reveal that Maruti has been stocking up on demo cars of the Celerio DDiS125 at its Manesar plant. The cars, all bearing graphics advertising the model as Celerio DDiS125 were spotted at the plant’s stockyard awaiting delivery to dealerships. The DDiS125 badge is likely to be referring to the torque output of the diesel motor, expected to develop around 12.7kgm (125Nm) of torque and around 45bhp.  The closest rivals — the Chevrolet Beat diesel and the Hyundai Grand i10 diesel — develop around 15.29kgm and 16.31kgm respectively from their larger capacity motors. The Celerio’s 800cc diesel powerplant will become the smallest in the segment and could make the Celerio the most fuel efficient in the mark...