Four Cars to Buy Now
New motors that are well worth your savings. Including a Skoda. Yes, a Skoda.
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X
Carmaker Mitsubishi is ready to create ripples in the teacups of those with deep pockets, with its Lancer Evolution X. Launched in Japan in the nineties, Lancer Evo gained so much popularity that Mitsubishi started importing it officially. With a bold front grille, a sporty head and body colored bumpers; the exterior is very aggressive and noticeable. Prepared to take its drivers by storm, the Evo X is powered by a new 2.0 liter engine pumping 290 hp of power. Packed with advanced instrument cluster, leather seats and ABS, it’s likely to cost between Rs 30 lacs to Rs 40 lacs.
engine: 4B11T 2.0 litre, turbocharged. Max power: 290bhp @ 7800 rpm. Max torque: 146 lb feet @ 4250 rpm. 0-100 kph: 6.6 secs. Top speed: 155 mph. On sale: Autumn 2010
Skoda Fabia vRS
If you want a recommendation for a new car, you could do a lot worse than look at what India drives day-in, day-out. And they are going to love Skoda vRS motors. Why? Because they’re very fast, very reliable and, when unmarked, they’re the best possible element of surprise.
Who in their right mind would suspect a Skoda makes a perfect high speed pursuit weapon?
And the diminutive Fabia is the latest vRS offering. It’s fast, having a feisty 1.4-litre turbo and supercharged mill under the bonnet producing 178bhp.
Which is a lot for a small car like this. And it’s firm on the buttocks with a sports suspension that is just the right side of comfortable, which means it goes around corners as though they weren’t there. It comes with a seven speed automatic gearbox, but this isn’t as girly as you might think because you can have plenty of fun swapping cogs using the manual paddle shift settings.
It copes admirably with piss-poor road surfaces and you can feel parent company Volkswagen’s influence in its seemingly indestructible build quality.
But the Fabia vRS’s real masterstroke is its price tag. For around 10 lacs, you’d be hard pushed to find another new car that offers so much entertainment behind the wheel. Certainly, a Mini Cooper, Polo GTI or Fiesta S1600 will set you back a lot more. And if you’re still holding back because ‘well, it’s a Skoda’, then it’s time to wake up and see what the fuss is about. 178 bhp and a fuel economy of 18 kpl? What’s not to like? And, unlike some of its competitors, it looks subtle, which should make it less of a target for those other vRS drivers – the police.
Tata Aria
It’s like when your neighbour buys a new car that you buy one the next month- the car producer you go to, also thinks the same way. If Toyota could build Innova and Mahindra could build Xylo, it was likely for Tata to come up with a MPV christened ‘Aria’. While the front exterior bears similarity to its sister, Indica Vista, the 2.2-litre 16 valve engine which even powers the Safari DICOR, Sumo Grande and the Xenon XT will churn 140 bhp of power. Where it does go slightly different than its family are features like satellite navigation, cruise control, GPS, infotainment & automatic climate control. Keeping you safe with ABS and airbags, it is likely to cost around Rs 12 lacs.
Suzuki Kizashi
Now we all thank Suzuki for the small wonders we drove in as kids and to date, but what do we do when we want the mother ship to churn out something bigger and better looking? It seems like Suzuki was listening to us when it launched Kizashi at the Frankfurt Motor Show back in 2007. After making a guest appearance at the annual Auto Expo, it is finally set to strut (if it can) on Indian roads. If you’re in for smooth exteriors that belie humble interiors, you might want to invest in Kizashi. With smooth contours and aluminium sport wheels, it has a .4 litre 4-cylinder engine churning 185 hp of power. Priced a little over Rs 10 lacs, this sedan surely makes its presence felt.
From the November 2010 issue of FHM India.
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