CONTENTS MARUTI SUZUKI page 6 FEATURES PAGE 67 BLITZEN BENZ BUGATTI VEYRON 46 page 71 OLD CAR PRICE LIST PAGE 63 page 51 HONDA CITY 1.5 HELLO!! DIRECTOR’S CUT 2 EDITORS’ NOTE 3 FEEDBACK 4 THE TEAM 5 FEATURES CARMA. NEWS 50 NITROGEN 65 GADGET ZONE 66 READER’S CORNER 69 CARMA. QUIZ 70 YOU CLICK WE 80 PICK CARMA. | CARS UNLIMITED India’s First Free Automotive e-Magazine | Volume 1 Issue 2 CARMA. ISSUE STATS No. of Subscribers : 115 No. of Views : 165 No. of Downloads : 164 Just in case you didn’t catch Issue 1 of CARMA. Visit http://autocarma.in/issues/ Thank you for your support and hope you enjoy this issue. THIS PDF VERSION OF THE magazine IS BEST VIEWED IN THE followinG SETTINGS. PLEASE follow THE STEPS below FOR THE ultimate VIEWING EXPERIENCE. STEP 1: GO to THE VIEW MENU AND UNDER page display SELECT two page VIEW STEP 2: UNDER THE SAME MENU SELECT show COVER page IN two page VIEW 1 India’s First Free Automotive e-Magazine | Volume 1 Issue 2 CARMA. | CARS UNLIMITED India’s First Free Automotive e-Magazine | Volume 1 Issue 2 DIRECTOR’S CUT the rest of the automedia trains its fickle atten- As For all the trivia-bugs out there, we have an auto- tion on the Auto Expo in New Delhi, it may seem a quiz compiled by our friend R.S. Mukunth from NIT, little odd that we at CARMA have come out with a Trichy. We thank him for his generosity in sharing his special on the Maruti Suzuki. So, this issue will be de- interesting material with us. Another interesting fea- void of the customary glitz that seems to accompany ture that we are sure you will relish is a collection of every Expo, numbing our minds with glossy pictures vintage pictures of automobiles by Mr. Royce Ram- and pompous praise. We have chosen to trade such sey. Mr. Ramsey is an ace automotive photographer cosmetic analyses for a tangible tribute to a national and works with Mercedes-Benz corp. We invite you hero. Sure, the Expo has an abundance of content that to take a journey through antiquity and a beauty may genuinely interest the reader, but can it surpass a which only time can impart, a beauty captured and 30 year legacy of putting Indians on wheels? We don’t enhanced so elegantly by Mr. Ramsey’s lens. We think so. There is something about the Maruti that thank him profusely for his contribution and the kindles a sense of being Indian and the car is looked invaluable glimpse it provides us into auto-history. upon as being one of our own – a relative. It definitely is a matter of pride that an organization which origi- As CARMA enters its second issue, we would like nated in the murky years of the licence-permit raj, at to thank our kind readers for their ardent sup- a time when auto manufacture was a nebulous dream, port and honest feed back that helped us correct has come this far. For the wonderful product they our errors from last time. We pledge not to re- provide and for the impetus they gave to the Indian peat them. We sincerely hope that you keep writ- auto industry, CARMA salutes the Maruti manage- ing to us as we enter unexplored territory and carve ment. The fascinating evolution from the maker of out a special niche in automotive literature. Do the humble yet ubiquitous 800 to a behemoth with send in your feedback for this issue to feedback@ its foot in every sector makes for an enthralling read. autocarma.in . Enjoy your read! Maruti built strong bonds with its customers by of- fering vehicles suited to our meandering, bumpy and Vignesh Venkatakrishnan Ramakrishnan dusty roads. They designed an ineffable Indianness Co-Founder/CEO into their vehicles. So, is it not appropriate to set aside CARMA. flashy cars and flashier models and remind ourselves [email protected] of the pioneers that started it all? We certainly hope so. Here’s to the Maruti – may your service continue. This issue will focus primarily on a detailed analysis of all the cars that Maruti has produced to date. Since the manufacturers are known for their ability to roll out a robust and rugged product, we decided to test cars that are over 2 years old. What better way to display the qualities of a car that, regardless of whether it is carressed or tortured, continues to chug along loyally? If ever you’ve given away a Maruti, you’re sure to have experienced a vague melancholy. Such is the depth of the bond that Indians and their Maruti’s share. We hope this tradition continues. It reminds us how far we’ve come. 2 CARMA. | CARS UNLIMITED India’s First Free Automotive e-Magazine | Volume 1 Issue 2 EDITOR’S NOTE irst of all I would like to thank you guys for the F The part I’m happy about? This problem is not limited phenomenal response we got for issue 1. Yes, we did to India. This exists everywhere from the overpopu- receive our fair share of brickbats and bouquets; all lated Beijing to the eloquent Los Angeles. Its obvious encouraging nevertheless! This issue packs quite a that tiny, mice like interest rates are driving people to punch too. We’ve gone down memory lane by doing buy cars. I think Shashi Tharoor once said that if peo- this Maruti special and we really couldn’t ask for more ple stop driving SUV’s, the traffic and pollution could when the Bugatti Veyron came in. be contained. Well Mr.Tharoor, with NO respect what- so-ever, do you know that there are 30,000 brand new Last month I had to drive down to the airport at 3 in Maruti Alto’s, 14,000 Wagon R’s, 11,000 Nano’s and the morning to pick up my aunt. I was ready for this a 8000 Eon’s added to our roads every month? This rep- week before, that’s how excited I was!! I even charted resents the chunk of the small car community and I out a longer route which would take me through some have just named the Top 5. These are the cars that lead of Chennai’s best roads and corners. What happened? to traffic, NOT a Scorpio or CRV or a XUV500. That drive was so refreshing it keeps me going till now. Then I began to think about the people who work dur- It would be very stupid, if I end this without giving a ing this time of a day. Murderers, robbers and prosti- suggestion. So here it is. Dictatorship. Thats the an- tutes were all that came to my head. And you know swer. Cut out the democracy, bring back the good ol’ what? All these people are highly successful in what Hitler. Start by making us the Transportation Heads the do! Yes, you’re probably saying that these people and we promise to have roads exclusively for super are caught in the end and I’m talking like an idiot. But, cars! when do these people get caught? During the daytime when there is a certain component called Traffic. Enjoy this month’s issue ! I watch my dad and many other people leave for work at 9 in the morning. Irritated. It’s obvious that the traf- fic plays a major component in their work. People Anjan Ravi feel lazy to go out and meet clients citing traffic as a Editor reason. People employ chauffeurs, who ultimately get CARMA. irritated. How do they show their irritation? When [email protected] you’re not sitting behind, they drive like crazy hyenas. So its obvious that Road Rage is one form of venting your anger. However, it’s not the best in a country like India where everyone resorts to it and someone gets hurt in the end. At this point, you’re probably saying that its the gov- ernments fault and that the roads should be improved. You’re 50% correct. Yes, they can improve the quality of the roads. However, this traffic menace will contin- ue. Take the OMR expressway for example in Chen- nai. 25kms of 6 lane Malaysian engineered roads. Make the mistake of entering this road during office hours, and you’ll wish you were dead. I once ran out of petrol while waiting for the 1 hour signal! 3 India’s First Free Automotive e-Magazine | Volume 1 Issue 2 CARMA. | CARS UNLIMITED India’s First Free Automotive e-Magazine | Volume 1 Issue 2 YOUR FEEDBACK We would like to thank everyone who sent us their feedback on our first issue. It helped us to work for issue 2 in a big way. We received a lot of feedback in our facebook page which we are not publishing here. Please send your feedback for this issue to [email protected] Hi!! The first issue is great. The content is good, but Salute to CARMA founders and the team, there are a few minor grammatical errors. I wish to A letter from your sincere fan!! focus my feedback mainly on the design. The layout is First of all I was literally shaken by the efforts I could very good, but the images used should be of a better see behind the details of many things in the first is- quality. And, some of the images are skewed. Keep up sue of CARMA. I really like the name CARMA and the good work.