| This is just one of the many 'five' themed stories we have done for our fifth anniversary bash. Sample it... |
| Toyota Camry Power: 141 bhp 0-100 kph: 8.55 sec 0-400 m: 17.38 sec Top speed: 221 kph In a line: Make way for the flying living-room |
| It would seem very unlikely, but the Camry is wild and woolly as they come. Oh, it's very refined, understated and all of that, but when nobody was looking, |
| Toyota quietly bunged in a 2362cc, DOHC, VVT-i engine under the hood. Unlike some other meeker D-segment family sedans, this one can barely restrain itself "� the VVT-i is ever-ready to rock, and then some. |
| The Vectra is slightly more powerful and more tech-heavy, and so is the Mercedes C 200 Kompressor (which is also vastly more expensive!), but the Camry is the one with the hot-rod heart, and it shows. |
| Bland-looking and softly-sprung it may be, but performance is available in spades. |
| In our standing 400m runs, the Camry's front wheels would spin furiously and the Japanese Dunlops would generate prodigious amounts of smoke, with the car streaking towards the stopwatch with the conviction of a family dragster. |
| Okay, so there isn't such a thing as a 'family dragster', but if there was, the Camry would be it "� at 17.38 seconds, it posted the quickest 0-400m run amongst this lot. |
| And to add to that, no other car in India, including the mighty Mercedes-Benz SL 500, does the 0-60 kph run in only 3.86 seconds. Prodigious luxury and the ability to waltz past at 220 kph. That's the Camry for you. |
| Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara XL "� 7 Power: 166 bhp 0-100 kph: 11.20 sec 0-400m: 17.66 sec Top speed: 185 kph In a line: Muscle monster on steroids |
| If the Camry can seat five, the Vitara will happily take seven. Yet, when it's time to step off the line, the 'Zook blows harder than any other SUV sold in India, and harder than most D-segment saloons available here. |
| The beast has just been revamped, and along with cosmetic changes, also gets a hike in power output "� from 154 horsepower earlier, it's gone up to 166, which is more than what an E 240 makes. |
| With that 2700cc V6 under its hood, the Vitara is Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde shoehorned in one mega package. |
| If you are so inclined, it'll pussyfoot its way around town in a manner so docile, Maruti 800s would be puttering past you without a care in the world. Yet, when you are in the mood for some high-octane action, the XL-7 is right up for it. |
| Floor the throttle in first, and car instantly fishtails this way and that, while the V6 shrieks in frenzied ecstasy, lighting up the rear tyres in a spectacular display of muscle. It's an SUV. It's a muscle car in disguise. It's a rowdy street brawl waiting to happen. |
| During our 0-400m runs, the Vitara's problem was wheelspin "� half the power, it seemed, was spent in laying reams of smoking rubber on the tarmac, and only the remaining half was spent in propelling the car. |
| Still, we managed a best of 17.66 seconds, which is only 0.28 secs off the Camry's time. |
| The Vitara is some 25 bhp up on the Camry, but I suppose the Camry's weight, gearing and aerodynamics advantages won the day for it. |
| But what's still for sure is, if you are looking for the kind of adrenaline rush that only comes from the knowledge that you can, if you want, smoke every other car on the block without any trouble, the Vitara is your SUV. |
| Ford Mondeo Diesel Power: 115 bhp 0-100 kph: 10.90 sec 0-400m: 18.12 sec Top speed: 200 kph In a line: Wait, my other car's a Jaguar X-Type |
| Okay, so what's a diesel doing here, then? Doing its bit for the cause of performance oil-burners, that's what. The Mondeo's 1998cc turbodiesel makes 115 horses, which may not sound very impressive next to the Grand Vitara's or even the Camry's power output numbers, but is enough to make it the quickest and fastest diesel D-segment car you can buy in India. |
| It goes from 0-100 kph in all of 10.90 seconds, which is a full 1.88 seconds better than what a Mercedes C 200 CDI can do. |
| And it doesn't stop at that "� the diesel Mondeo keeps even petrol cars on their toes "� the old (2002) Honda Accord used to take 11.25 seconds to get from 0-100, and the Sonata 2.0 still takes 13.09 seconds for the same. |
| In our 0-400m runs, the Mondeo felt slightly sluggish (relatively speaking) while getting off the line, but actually managed to post a creditable 18.12 second best run. |
| This, as you would note, is only half to three-fourths of a second off the petrol-burning top guns in this group, which is not bad at all for a 2000cc non-CRDi car. |
| Not only is the Mondeo diesel quick, it's also sufficiently fast "� it does a comfortable 200 kph, no worries. The car looks good (those big alloys are definitely the best of the lot), is quick, fast and frugal, and drives very well. |
| Ride comfort isn't in the Camry's league, but high-speed handling "� taut, composed and sporty "� is certainly far superior. |
| The Mondeo does not have the rogue-ish charm of a Vitara, or the smooth stomp of a VVT-i, but along with diesel economy, it's fast and furious enough, and will also out-handle any car in this segment. |
| Drive one, and you'll soon be subscribing to Diesel Car magazine, and not for its scantily-clad 'diesel divas' alone either. |
| Fiat Palio 1.6 GTX Power: 100 bhp 0-100 kph: 11.87 sec 0-400m: 18.28 sec Top speed: 180 kph In a line: Paint it red, stick some prancing horse stickers on it... |
| The smallest and least expensive car in this bunch, the Palio 1.6 GTX acquitted itself with grace nevertheless. When I first drove the car more than two years ago, I was mighty impressed with what Fiat had done. |
| As Volkswagen established with their Golf GTi decades ago, small hatchback plus big engine equals lots of excitement, and so it is with the GTX. |
| Actually, it all starts with the 'GTX' moniker, which hints at what's to come from this nifty little package. It still isn't up there with the hallowed 'R', 'GTi' and 'GTO' badges, but certainly stirs more emotion than the usual 'DX' and 'LX' tags most Indian cars are saddled with. |
| Turn the key, and there's more than hint of promise from the GTX's 1596cc, 16-valve, 100 horsepower engine. It sounds busy, rough and even a bit guttural (none of the Honda City's Japanese-spec sewing machine smoothness here), but getting brutal with the gas pedal gets results right away. |
| The 1.6 GTX sprints from 0-100 kph in 11.87 seconds (making it the quickest hatch ever sold in India), and goes on to a top whack of 180 kph. |
| It really is a simple, honest piece of performance machinery. When put to the 0-400m test, there was no drama from the Palio "� no theatrical wheelspin, no scuttle-shake, and certainly no complaint "� the car just went for it, posting a best time of 18.28 seconds for the run. |
| Sure, this is 0.90 seconds off the Camry's time, but the Camry has an additional 800cc of engine capacity, an extra 40 bhp, and costs about three times as much. |
| The Palio GTX has, to some extent, been ignored in the Indian market, which is highly sensitive to fuel economy, but enthusiasts should be loving this one. |
| It's a well-rounded package "� enough power to shame lots of bigger, more expensive cars on the road, great ride comfort, C-segment space for occupants, and above all, a glorious engine note which only these Italians could have engineered. You'll want one just to sit in it and hear the engine revving... |
| Hero Honda Karizma Power: 16.8 bhp 0-100 kph: 10.55 sec 0-400m: 18.62 sec Top speed: 122 kph In a line: Spin it up, lay it down, go your own way |
| Just when we thought we'd be forever stuck with generic, small-bore "econo-commuters," the Bajaj Pulsar 180 came along and changed things for the slightly better. That was two years ago. |
| Now, Honda have upped the game with their Karizma. With its big-bike styling, 16.8 horsepower, 223cc engine, alloy wheels and front disc brake, the Karizma is doing its bit to take Indian motorcycling out of the stone-age it's been stuck in for decades. |
| It's a smooth, refined package which delivers the goods, though at considerable expense. Though the Pulsar 180 DTSi beats it by a very narrow margin, the Karizma is still one of the quickest and fastest bikes available in the country. |
| It will sprint from 0-100 kph in 10.55 seconds, and has a top speed of 122 kph, which is acceptable. |
| In our 0-400m runs, the Karizma showed just how important power-to-weight ratio is. The bike posted a best time of 18.62 seconds, which is still 0.34 sec slower than the slowest car here (the Palio 1.6 GTX's best was an 18.28 sec run), but creditable nevertheless. |
| The Karizma is, after all, three cylinders, 83 bhp, 1373cc, and about Rs 4.25 lakh down on the GTX. Maybe the new Pulsar 180 DTSi feels sharper and more agile, and the numbers prove that the Bajaj is marginally quicker and faster, but if you're hankering after something that has that proper big bike feel, the Karizma is hard to beat. |
| In a drag-race, my old RD would have probably blown the Karizma's fenders off, but the Yammie is long gone, and isn't coming back. So for now, the Karizma is the one to have if you want an Indian performance bike. |
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