Its in the news, its in the papers, its there everywhere. Everyone is talking about the fuel crisis. Be it the farmers in France, or the daily commuter in Mumbai, everyone is affected by it. With rising crude oil prices, Oil companies around the world have no option other than raising the fuel prices. This invariably leads to a price hike in all commodities, but the consumer in pinched directly by the money he has to shell out to fill his car’s gas tank.

Fuel Efficiency in cars has been talked about for a very long time. The situation is getting worse everyday. I stay in Bangalore, the silicon valley of India. The city is known for its traffic snarls, traffic jams and unruly driving. With the number of cars increasing day by day, there is no respite for the commuter. A distance of about 10 kilometers takes almost an hour in peak hour traffic. This slow moving traffic has its effects on the vehicle’s fuel consumption. Invariably all vehicle owners start complaining about their cars, with some people even taking the issue to the company itself. One cant blame the manufacturer though.

As mentioned in the previous post, companies usually quote figures of fuel efficiency for city and highway driving conditions. These tests are often carried out in very ideal conditions. There are no passengers, no luggage in the boot, and the cars tested usually have minimal equipment. So, in real driving conditions, one should expect something lesser.

There are a few reasons as to why fuel efficiency decreases in real driving conditions. First and foremost reason is the idling time. Now, the engine keeps running during idling, say at a traffic light, or in a traffic jam. Thus, a minimal amount of fuel is fed to the engine, and this is never used for any useful running. Thus, idling is just a waste consumption of fuel. One may burn fuel continuously for a minute or two without actually runing any useful distance.

Driving styles also play an important role in increasing or decreasing the fuel efficiency. A very smooth driving style definitely increases the fuel efficiency. By smooth driving, i mean avoiding sudden bursts of acceleration, sudden braking, and driving at low rpm (revolutions per minute). It is always advisable to drive in a low rpm range. As the rpm increases, the number of times the piston reciprocates in the cylinder increases, and thus also increases the number of times the intake valve opens every minute. As the valve opens more times in a minute, the amount of fuel supplied to the engine also increases. So, say in case of a manual transmission, it is advisable for the driver to use the next higher gear for the same speeds, thus driving at a low rpm. For example, instead of driving in third gear at 4000 rpm, one could rather use the fourth gear at a lower rpm of say 2500. In cars, which do not have a tachometer, and one cannot see the rpm, it is advisable to run the vehicle such that the engine noise is less. If the engine roar increases, it means that the engine is running at a high rpm range, and is consuming more fuel than required. Well, youngsters may say that there is no fun driving at low revs, as performance is hindered, and one cannot show off that cars power. But then, one has to choose between performance and efficiency. There has to be a compromise.

Sudden bursts of acceleration also reduces the fuel consumption. It is better for a driver, to smoothly shift through the gears, maintaining low revs. Accelerating as such, reduces the efficiency, as the engine needs to produce more power to increase a vehicle’s speed. Thus, unnecessary bursts of acceleration must be avoided at all costs. A very important point to note here is that, the vehicle spends more fuel in accelerating from  a standstill to a certain speed, than when cruising along at constant speeds.

The next contributing factor has got to be braking. Sudden braking, and reduction in speed essentially reduces fuel efficiency drastically. When the vehicle is running at say 50 km/h, it can easily cruise a distance of about 100 meters without a significant reduction in speed if the foot is taken off the throttle. Most of the cars made today, have sufficient cruising power once the vehicle is at a particular speed. So, lets say, a driver spots a traffic light around 200 meters down the road, it is better for him to take his foot off the throttle, and let the car cruise the distance and finally come to a stop. Keeping the foot on the gas, till the very end is really a waste of fuel, and doesn’t save too much time as well. In the end, one still has to wait for the traffic light to turn green to start moving again.

In short, to improve fuel efficiency, just follow these simple steps

• Drive as smooth as possible
• Avoid Sudden bursts of speed
• Drive at low revs
• Avoid sudden braking
• And minimize the time you spend on the throttle.

Well, one may ask, “Is this really possible in city driving conditions?” or “All this is a matter of no significance, as the traffic situation is pretty bad, and cant follow these steps.”

To answer these questions, let me share my own experiences.

I took it up as a small experiment to study the effects of driving styles on the fuel efficiency of a car. I drive a Honda Civic Automatic, and a car like this is not very fuel efficient on Bangalore roads. So, i filled up gas in the tank, and made it a point to drive as aggressively as possible in the first week. I used to drive during peak hour traffic both in the morning and evening. I made it a point, to accelerate as hard as possible, brake as late as possible, and drive at very high rpm with the engine roaring just to show off. At the end of the week, the car gave me a range of about 240 km on a full tank of fuel.

Then i made it a point to drive as smooth as possible. I tried to follow my own advice. Well, driving was a bit boring, and not ‘fun’ at all. But at the end of the week , i noticed that the car gave me an astonishing range of around 300 km on a full tank of fuel. Well, thats a big increase. Then, i just drove normally following the regular traffic and ended up with a range of about 270 km.

So, try driving as smooth as possible, and see the change for yourself. Well, after all you could drive into the gas station with lesser money in your pocket and still maintain the same running.

Drive Safe !!

Cheers

Invariably everyone in the family turn to me when buying a car. And it is very difficult to appease all of one’s need.

The typical Indian customer has changed from being someone who just wants a vehicle with a roof, and good mileage to a more sophisticated and demanding customer. Gone are the days when Maruti could sell its prized 800 so very easily to the customers. There are many reasons for this change in scenario. The first one being, the overall economy of the country has progressed. The number of options for customers have also increased, with more and more manufacturers stepping into India. And, the biggest change has obviously got to be the knowledge of the customer. The customer now knows what he wants, from whom he wants, and why he wants. Most of the companies are taking Quality Function Deployment very seriously in India.

For example, people in India have realized that manufacturers like Honda, Toyota, Skoda offer a excellent products. They also understand that tata cars may be rugged, but do not have the same build quality as the competition. Its a very assumable fact that, a typical Indian would spend anywhere between 3 lacs to 5 lacs to buy an entry level car, and may spend around 6 lacs to 9 lacs to buy a luxury car. This is something that the companies are cashing in on. The very fact that the swift has sold in great numbers points to the fact that, the customers are now beginning to look into the features, quality, technical specifications of the product rather than the mere “mileage” and “size” factor.

Just take a look at the automobile sector in the early 90s, the late 90s and the present day. This will show u how the market has evolved.

Early 90s

Small Cars : Maruti 800, Maruti Zen

Mid-Size Cars : Maruti 1000 / Esteem , Premier 118NE, HM Contessa, HM Ambassador

SUVs : Mahindra Jeep, Maruti Gypsy

The majority of the customers could afford only the Maruti 800, and very few opted for the Zen or the Esteem. The gypsy was primarily bought only by enthusiasts, and the Ambassador and the Contessa was the vehicle for the ‘babu’

Now, Take a look at the late 90s

Small Cars : Maruti 800, Maruti Zen, Hyundai Santro, Daewoo Matiz, Tata Indica

Mid Size Cars : Maruti Esteem, Daewoo Cielo, Ford Escort, Opel Astra, Mitsubishi Lancer, Honda City

SUVs : Mahindra Armada, Tata Safari, Maruti Gypsy, Toyota Qualis

Premium Cars : Mercedes E Class

Again the 800 was the people’s choice, but the market share was being eaten away by the likes of Santro, Matiz, and Indica. The common perception changed to, “The other cars have quality, so that is a good reason to buy them, but the dealership network is better for Maruti, so lets stick with Maruti” . The biggest change was in the Mid Size cars. The likes of Astra, Escort, Lancer and the City wooed the buyers away from the esteem, and the market share was equally distributed amongst these makes. For example, my father himself chose the Astra over the esteem, mainly because of the fame of the ‘german’ marque. And yes, the super rich in India, could finally own a mercedes.

Now, take a look at the present market

Small Cars : Maruti 800, Alto, Zen, WagonR, Swift, Chevrolet Spark, Aveo-UVA, Hyundai Santro, i10, getz, Fiat Palio, Tata Indica,

Mid Size Cars : Maruti Swift dzire, SX4, Hyundai Accent, Verna, Ford Ikon, Fiesta, Fusion, Chevrolet Aveo, Optra, Honda City, Renault Logan, Tata Indigo, Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia,

SUVs : Tata Safari, Mahindra Scorpio, Ford Endeavor, Honda CRV, Chevrolet Captiva, Mahindra Bolero, Mitsubishi Pajero, Montero, Hyundai Tuscon, Nissan Xtrail

Premium Cars : Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Skoda Octavia, Skoda Laura, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Skoda Superb, Volkswagon Passat, mercedes C,E,S class, BMW 3,5,7 series, and the so on…

Also, some exotics like the Lamborghini Gallardo, Porsche 911, Bentleys, Rolls Royce are also available for the Indian customers.

As one can see, there is sea change in the perception with the global giants stepping into India. Also, as more indians travel overseas, they learn about the automobile sector, the quality of products sold, the reliability and the status of these cars.

Coming back to where the article started off, it has become immensely hard for a customer to choose a vehicle satisfying his/her requirements. Taking into account the common questions asked by people when it comes to buying a car, i have listed out a requirement list. It may vary from one customer to another, but then it can be taken as a general notion.

• Vehicle Engine and Power
• Fuel Efficiency
• Overall dimensions of the vehicle
• Diesel or Petrol Option
• Automatic or Manual Transmission
• Boot Size
• Long distance comfort
• Journey type (Home-office, weekend trips)
• Features List : AC, MP3 player, Seat adjustment, Power windows, rear view mirrors, Climate control, Steering adjustment, cabin storage facility etc
• Ownership Status

It is very easy for someone to buy an automobile magazine, flip back to the last few pages, look at the features list, and the vehicle specifications and then decide which car to buy. But, a word of caution here, numbers can be very deceptive, and in most cases, automobile magazines are paid by the companies to write good reviews. So, the articles can be very diplomatic.

Now, First consider the engine and performance of a vehicle. You may have two engines having the same capacity, i.e say 1400 cc producing similar power. So, how does one choose between the two. The simplest way to do this is to know the platform of the engine. For example, a volkswagon engine based skoda fabia is a better motor than a suzuki based swift motor. Companies like Volkswagon are known for their incredible reliability. And sub-brands like Skoda often use the same engines in their cars. One has to be very careful though. Sometimes big companies use this ploy to rub off certain sub-brands without the consciousness of the customer. For example, General Motors sells Chevrolet cars in India, but most of these are actually Korean cars (former Daewoo cars). It is this difference that a customer must identify or must be helped in identifying.

Another key point related to engines is the facts and figures. Companies usually advertise products based on the maximum power, engine capacity and maximum torque. These figures essentially mean nothing to the customer. Technically it is possible for an engine to develop very high power, but the the way the power is fed to the wheels can really make the difference. This change can be mainly attributed to the gearbox. A typical driver would drive the car at low rpm, and at much lower speeds. It is imperative that the engine must provide the sufficient power at low speeds as well.

Fuel consumption is one of the most important factors in the decision making process. Companies often quote figures for city driving conditions, and highway driving conditions. These are often measured in close circuit testing, and by simulating different driving conditions. Also important, is that these tests are carried out in very ideal conditions, with only the driver, minimal equipment, no luggage. So, add up passengers, baggage in the boot, the fuel efficiency typically comes down in real driving conditions. For example, if the company quotes a figure like 12 kilometers to the litre, you can safely assume that the vehicle will give you about 10 kilometers to the litre. A note of caution here….

Next up, would be the dimensions of the vehicle. A small car is usually classified as one which is less than 4000 mm in length, or less than 4 meters in length. The term hatchback is used. It essentially means that the vehicle doesn’t have a projecting boot at the back. A mid size car, is one which has a projected boot at the rear. Amongst the small cars, the ones like the santro, spark, alto, indica are the entry level models, and cars like the palio, i10, swift, getz, fabia, aveo-UVA are the premium small cars. Small cars usually have the inherent benefits like easy maneuverability which is vital in the city to enable easy parking, quick steering, and gliding thru tight spots. They are also very fuel efficient, and can be driven by almost anyone, be it a girl or a boy, tall or short persons. Small cars are good for people who just commute to work daily, go to some shopping malls during the weekend without much of highway driving. They are also good for people buying their first cars, as the costs are much lesser. And for those who want style and status, premium hatchbacks are the cars they should select. Mid size cars have more boot space, usually better road presence, better handling, and also bigger to accommodate more passengers. These cars are generally for customers who are looking at something bigger than a hatchback, and with more comfort. Again, there are both economical mid size cars, as well as premium mid size cars.

The other major requirements of a customer boil down to type of engine, diesel or petrol, and the type of transmission, manual or automatic. A petrol engine generally is more refined, much quieter, and more efficient than a diesel counterpart. The downside is obviously the running cost of petrol, which is more expensive than diesel. Diesel engines are usually not as powerful as the petrol counterparts, but do produce enormous torque. They are more costly to maintain though, albeit lower running costs. Diesel is usually for those who go on long drives regularly. For short drives the cost comparison to petrol engines is negligible. Again, a note of caution. Some diesel motors, like the ones of Skoda are very reliable, and maintenance costs are also much lesser than other diesel motors. The next important point of consideration is obviously the transmission. There aren’t many automatic transmissions available in the Indian market, especially for the low cost cars. Cars having an auto box costing below 10 lacs are, the Hyundai Santro, the Maruti WagonR, the Honda City. Not much of an option here. Automatics are a breeze to drive in cities, especially in peak hour traffic. The driver is more relaxed even in the deadly traffic snarls and lengthy traffic jams. The downside being slightly lower fuel efficiency. Personal experience shows that the automatic can be as efficient as the manual, and just by adapting the driving style, the change is observed. (More of the automatic transmission will be dealt with in upcoming posts)

Most of the other decisions revolve around the feature list. usually most of the car makers provide similar features. One must be a little careful in just ensuring that these fall under the standard options list without incurring additional costs. Magazines and car companies are usually very honest in this regard, as it is almost impossible to take the customer for a ride in these areas. The customer can focus on the ergonomics here as it plays an important role. For example, the AC knobs, the music player, must be easily accessible to the driver and the passenger. Also the positioning of the AC vents, the different switches provide a much better feel, and more convenience.

There are many more points to ponder before buying a vehicle, but then this is just a gist. It gives me great pleasure to inform all the readers that there will be further posts going into the details. Also, different cars will be dealt, and a proper review of each sector will be given.

Happy Reading !!

Cheers… !!

Hail kimi !!!

The Monaco grand prix was probably one of the most eventful F1 race in the year 2008. Qualifying was very tight, and at the very end, Kimi managed to qualify second behind his Ferrari team-mate Massa. It was an all ferrari front row, and things looked pretty good for the team and for Kimi. The other amazing drivers in qualifying were, Rosberg in the Williams, Kubica in the BMW, and Alonso in the under-performing Renault. The mclarens started from the second row.

The race began on a wet track, and almost immediately, Kimi was given a penalty. The reason being, Ferrari didn’t reveal the tyres they were planning to use for the race, within the stipulated time period. Well, you see, this is formula1!!

Almost immediately after leaving the pit-lane, kimi managed to hit a toyota on track … Dont know what he was trying to do… Well, a wet track, and a racing incident, it was justified.

Now, you dont often see a force india car running in fourth place in the race, sandwiched between two ferraris. Some delight for a billion indians supporting their team .. Adrian Sutil managed to stay out on a single pit stop strategy was in a strong fighting position.

Then, Rosberg decided to see if his car met safety standards that it should, and rammed straight into a barrier at high speeds. He had quite a roller-coaster ride. The young driver wanted a visit to the hospital so that his girl-friend could visit him, and take care …

The safety car came out, basically to show that Mercedes cars can be used as patrol cars and nothing more. A good marketing campaign by the German car maker.. After a few laps, it came back into the pits, as it ran out of fuel or the safety car driver saw an Audi or a BMW.

The racing began, and almost immediately Sutil was bumped out by Kimi Raikkonen. There are a few points to mention here. Monaco is a street circuit, something like the roads you have in your city, with lanes and stuff. It also has a tunnel which passes beneath a 5 star hotel. The harbour front is located at the end of the tunnel exit.

As the F1 cars sped thru the tunnel, it was Sutil who came out ahead of Kimi, and started to slow down for the corner, as any driver would do … Kimi suddenly swerves from one side of the track to the other many times, and finally bumps into Sutil’s Force India Car. These are some of the reasons, as to why Kimi smashed into the Force India Car !!

• Kimi thought that he could help Sutil and the Force India team, by providing a push from the back, so that the Force India car could overtake Massa and finish on the podium.
• Kimi was driving thru an invisible slalom course, and failed to notice the Force India car.
• He was given a bottle of the good stuff as he passed thru the tunnel, from the hotel bar, and was way too drunk to control the car.
• Kimi was just way too confused to decide which way to go, left or right … and finally ended up smashing the force india car from back.
• To explain the above point, he was in a mood to party, and was confused between mallya’s party yacht in the harbour, and the local casino to the right.
• He thought F1 cars had brake lights, and since there were none on the force india car, banged into him.
• He simply didn’t comply with traffic rules, which clearly mention that the distance between 2 cars must be atleast 100 metres when the cars are running at speeds greater than 250 kmph

This reminds me of typical bangalore traffic. Many a times, i’ve been hit from the back by aggressive drivers, auto-rickshaw drivers who just seem to be too optimistic of their vehicle’s brakes.

There are some ways in which the Force India team can avoid such a situation the next time …

Have “Kimi : Please keep your distance” written on the rear wing of the car.

Install Brake lights on the Force India Car

Provide Kimi with an on-board GPS

Provide Kimi with steering assistance, and other driver aids

Anyways, after a disastrous weekend, Kimi will surely look forward to Canada. Its a high speed circuit, and hopefully this time around, he avoids the Force India car !!

Cheers !!