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Making India Auto Proud---3

NISSAN

The Micra hatchback is named March in Japan and the Indian version would be christened either Micra or March, An excellent little car in everything but styling, the Nissan Micra is the sort of car you buy for your daughter on the grounds that it’ll never go wrong and won’t attract boys.

Comfort

Despite those diminutive dimensions the Micra rides very well, soaking up bumps like a much larger car, making it the ideal city transport that occasionally has to step in for longer journeys.

Performance

The right choice of a broad selection of engines is the 1.5-litre diesel. It's comparably quick with the numerous petrol options, has the same top speed but delivers a genuinely impressive 60mpg.

Cool

A Micra is never going to cut it, unless you can rescue some vestige of cool from the fact that you've bought a car that cares far more about being good than actually looking good.

Quality

No worries here. Nissan makes the Micra like it makes all its cars. Despite being the entry level car, it's nigh-on bomb proof and the materials used are all impressively upmarket.

Handling

There's a competent chassis lurking under that mumsy body. Grip levels are surprisingly good, body roll is kept to a minimum and the steering is positive and nicely weighted.

Practicality

There are various tricks within the already quite spacious Micra. The rear seats slide forwards to make more room in the boot, and there are hidden compartments all over the place.

Running costs

Insurance costs are low on the undeniably unsportyMicra, and the diesel offers cracking distance on a tank. Residuals on reliable Japanese hatches are generally strong too.

Making India Auto Proud---2

TATA NANO

The design concept and interiors of the People's Car was laid out considering a typical Indian family in mind, which has a roomy passenger compartment with generous leg space and head room. It can comfortably seat four persons. Four doors with high seating position make ingress and egress easy. Yet with a length of 3.1 meters, width of 1.5 meters and height of 1.6 meters, with adequate ground clearance, it can effortlessly man-oeuvre on busy roads in cities as well as in rural areas. Its mono-volume design, with wheels at the corners and the power-train at the rear, enables it to uniquely combine both space and manoeuvrability, which will set a new benchmark among small cars. The People's Car has a rear-wheel drive, all-aluminium, two-cylinder, 623 cc, 33 PS, multi point fuel injection petrol engine. This is the first time that a two-cylinder gasoline engine is being used in a car with single balancer shaft. The lean design strategy has helped minimize weight, which helps maximize performance per unit of energy consumed and delivers high fuel efficiency. Performance is controlled by a specially designed electronic engine management system.The People's Car's safety performance exceeds all current regulatory requirements meeting EURO IV standards. With an all sheet-metal body, it has a strong passenger compartment, with safety features such as crumple zones, intrusion-resistant doors, seat belts, strong seats and anchorages, with rear tailgate glass bonded to the body. Tubeless tyres will further enhance safety.

Making India Auto Proud---1

The original 'people's car,' Volkswagen's Beetle,

Will the card parallel the nicer interference?

is all set to roll out on Indian roads as the company plans to bring it by the middle of this year, even as the Indian version 'Nano' from Tatas hogged the limelight since its unveiling at the Auto Expo in New Delhi

Commonly known as the Bug, the Beetle would hit the Indian market in the middle of this year, Volkswagen managing director, passenger car division, Adreas Prinz told PTI.

"Volkswagen is known as Beetle in India ]. We have studied the market and feel that there is space for Beetle. We are planning to make it available in the middle of this year through imports," Prinz said.

Even though the car is known as the original 'People's Car', the two-door car would be far more expensive than the latest 'People's Car', the Nano from Tatas priced at Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000). "The cheapest Beetle to be sold in European market is for around 17,000 Euros. Since we would be importing them into India, the car would be a little expensive for many," Prinz said. Under the current Indian regulations, direct imports almost doubles the price of a car.

The company has recently launched their new Beetle model, a 2.5L, 5-cylinder engine throwing up a 150 horse power in the European market.

Volkswagen is coped with well-planned safety features. These features include ABS (anti-lock brake system), traction control, anti-skid system and front and side airbags. The ABS is an electronically regulated hydraulic braking system, which helps the car against sliding during the application of hard brake. It has an automatic door lock system, which keeps the people sitting inside the car safe. There is a special tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) attached to the vehicle. This consists of a sensor that is built into the valve of each tire. This is functional in alerting about the pressure variation in the tires of the car.

Auto craZe

Earlier this year, during the auto-show circuit, Mercedes-Benz first displayed its all-new 2010 E-Class Sedan. The previous E-Class was Mercedes’ second-best selling vehicle at 38,576 units in 2008, and behind only the C-class, which sold 72,471 units during the same period. The E’s sales were behind its arch-rival BMW 5-series’ sales, but well ahead of the Audi A6’s sales pace. Then, at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz revealed the new E-class coupe. Until the current 2010 model year, there was no E-class coupe; instead, those duties fell to the C-class-based CLK-Class, which is being discontinued. The E-Class Coupe shares no body panels with the E-Class Sedan, and even has its own architecture under the skin.