The Pride of India

In 2012 Indian automotive scene witnessed a revolution and its a matter of proud for us that the revolution was initiated by Mahindra, an all Indian car manufacturer.
The revolution was: The XUV 500.

Xuv 500 created a new segment called the crossovers. These cars are basically designed to look like SUVs but are a bit soft, modern and more efficient. The XUV is the best of the lot!

The car has the appeal of a super-model and there is literally nothing on the Indian roads that looks this stunning, The car has the presence of an SUV but still manages to look quite decent. Well played mahindra, the 1st impression is very important for a buyer. And by the looks of it any buyer would give 10/10 for its looks. And the story continues as we enter the vehicle.

The interiors of the car are very well built and look very premium. The customer by now is already thinking of which colour he'd buy it in. The fit and finish of interiors exceeds the mark and leaves nothing for you to complain about.

The third thing that a buyer wants is features, more than a space shuttle, XUV has got not as much as a space shuttle but more than enough to keep the buyer interested.

Now pricing can make or break car sales figures, and guess what! Mahindra had this in the bag too! With the fully loaded W8 version costing around Rs. 14lacs is one hell of a bargain.

At this point you may start wondering that how can mahindra get everything right?! Well mahindra has played it dirty! VERY DIRTY! What they have done is taken advantage of an average buyer who doesn't care on which end of the car the power from engine goes! They have made the XUV front wheel drive, Satan's work in a petrolhead's sense. Conventional SUVs have engine at the front and the drive goes to the rear wheels! For example: Toyota fortuner. But rear wheel drive cars are costlier to make and to make them cheaper, we have to remove all the features which the owner is going to brag about in front of his neighbours. So to make XUV accessible yet feature rich mahindra gave it front wheel drive which is considerably cheap and more economical.

On the technical front the engine is the same 2.2L diesel mHawk engine used in the Scorpio which is tuned to produce 140bhp and 320Nm torque. The engine is quite smooth and you dont get much engine noise in the cabin. But, when revved hard you do get a fair share of engine overrun which slows down your gear changes and is quite irritating. The gearbox on the other hand is worse than the gearboxes used in trucks in 1960s! Through the whole test drive i wasnt able to find the 1st gear and whenever i had to start the vehicle from idle i used to do in 2nd gear! You have to be a wizard to slot into the right gear when you drive it the first few times. 

The Ride.
This is again a place where the XUV shines. The XUV being so tall and heavy make you think that the car has enormous body roll! Well, it doesn't! the car is extremely composed in taking corner and makes you think again if you are sitting in a 7 seater SUV or a hatchback. You think that this must be some kind of sorcery! The suspension is very rightly tuned for Indian conditions and isn't as hard as a rock but it isn't even very soft. 

So with the XUV mahindra has brought a revolution in Indian motoring with world class quality and features at an affordable price. This has given this car a success which has never ever been seen before by an all Indian car manufacturer.

The XUV is a very nice car with all the worldly features at an affordable price point with very few things to complain about. The gearbox in my opinion is the only giveaway but that is just fine because an average consumer is never going to care how fast his gearshifts are as long as he gets the desired gear. Its a matter of proud for India that we have an extremely good looking, powerful, efficient, reliable, and cheap car which rules the segment and has set up a benchmark for other manufacturers to reach for. So next time when you see an XUV feel proud.

The duke of hazard

Last time i wrote about the duke 390, i hadn't been much clear about the details and the review was quite superficial. So I've ridden the 390 once again.

The duke 390 has taken the country by storm and has created a new dimension for fast but affordable bikes and given a new meaning to the words 'value for money'.

At Rs. 2 lacs you would think that either i am drunk as a pirate or have gone as mental as a rabid dog saying that this is an 'affordable' amount. But wait till i tell you that the bike produces 44-world-shaking-earthquake-bringing-horsepower! Yes even 2 times as much costlier ninja 300 produces 5hp less than the duke. Now let me introduce you to a new term called power/lac then the 390 scores an amazing 22bhp/lac which is less than only one bike that is pulsar 200ns with 23.5bhp/lac. But the pulsar though being the best Indian bike still is very poorly built in comparison to the duke! 

So now that i have proved that the 390 even though for Rs. 2lac is amazing value for money and that i am totally in my senses!

The 390 looks absolutely identical to the duke 200 with just the colour scheme and the decals indicating otherwise. The 390 though has a bit higher riding position than the 200's already high position. There is also not much difference in the exhaust note of the two dukes with the 390's being a bit more deep and loud. The build quality and materials used are of the utmost quality and leaves nothing for you to complain about.

Its when you start riding the bike you realise the difference between the 2 dukes. The first major difference is the engine which in the 390 produce 44 hp, 20 more than the 200! So as soon as you revv the bike hard and the tacho goes past 4000-4200rpm, all hell breaks loose and you feel like instead of having the accelerator in your right hand you have a hyper space jump button. The torque kicks in past 4000rpm and the speed rises much faster than you can cope with. Revv the engine till the redline in 1st gear you get a surprising power wheelie. Trust me you wont like this surprise. 44hp on paper sounds very manageable until you take a spin in the 390. This machine redefines the laws of physics. 60kmph comes in 3 seconds and in 3 more second you reach 100kmph. These are mind boggling numbers. 

And because the bike accelerates so fast it is given very potent brakes which are assisted by ABS so that even if you commit a mistake you are forgiven.The bike sheds speed like a stripper sheds her clothes. The ABS can be turned off but is suggest that you shouldn't take that risk! The bike is very stable during braking in any road condition, but the ABS kicks in very early and takes a bit of joy out of braking, but this isn't very significant and most of the owners won't even notice it.

The Ride
This is one of the most important factors which differentiate the 200 and 390! Because in the 390 the ride is even more harder than the 200. The suspensions has been stiffened to handle the extra weight of the bigger engine. If the roads are smooth enough, the bike is an absolute hoot to drive around town. But if you encounter speed breakers often you'd be angry because as the courtesy of bigger engine and stiffer suspension you have to cross them at the lowest speed humanly possible otherwise you are bound to have a broken back, increasing speed doesn't help. But with stiffer suspension comes the ability to corner like rossi, so you can take a corner at almost breakneck speeds and coming out alive with a smile on the face that is so large, it can be seen from the moon.

So overall the duke 390 opens a new dimension into the world of performance where you don't have to sell your house to get decent performance. But, this cheap performance also has its share of drawbacks. Looks similar to duke 200, stiff suspension and high riding position to name a few, but the biggest problem with the 390 is the same thing that is its biggest advantage:power. Because of the price tag a major share of population can buy the 390. Now this major population has never experienced this sort of power ever before. The maximum they have got their hands on is 25hp. So it takes quite a long time to get used to its power delivery and if you are even a bit careless while riding this bike, it can be fatal for you. This is not a bike on which you can trundle along thinking about stuff, this bike needs 100% of your attention and if you don't give it, you'll regret it later.

So the 390 is an awesome value for money and there is absolutely no bike in the market which can give this bike a competition. It is an absolute hoot to ride and is mind numbingly fast. But again you have to be very responsible riding it! "With great power comes great responsibility" is the thought you should always have in mind before riding it. But once you get used to the power there is no stopping and it turns into a dimension jumping machine with a smiling piece of meat on top of it.