Extreme temperatures first affect your car’s mechanical components. Here’s how you can help your car keep its cool.

Summer is here and it isn't showing any signs of slowing down. The unrelenting heat may leave you feeling drained of all energy even before you start your day or till you get into your car and turn the air-con on. But remember, just as the heat affects your efficiency, it puts your vehicle through immense stress and strain. In slow-moving traffic, the temperature in and around the car could shoot up to 60 degrees centiFake Rolex Watchesgrade; an intolerable space for your vehicle to be in. In the long run, such intensity could only damage and speed up the aging process of your car.

You have ways which could offer you respite from the heat. Similarly, it is vital to help your car deal with the scorching temperature. Most of the steps can be handled at service centres or by authorised dealers. Given the volume of cars coming in to these centres, it is not necessary that the dealers give your car the attention it requires. We suggest you drive down to an independent garage and be involved in the processes that make your car summer-ready. Rolex Replica Watches

A few areas that require undivided attention are listed below

TYRES

Tyres are one of the most neglected parts of a car. Often, vehicle owners forget to check the tyre pressure regularly and in fact, some owners aren’t even aware of the recommended levels. This is particularly disastrous for summer, when poor inflation can push a car's tyres to destruction in a very short time.

Running on low on a hot day, for one, could destroy your sidewall, the softer rubber being more prone to damage. On poor roads, this could even result in the tyres bursting. This is due to the excessive flexing or 'pumping' of the side wall of a soft tyre; it heats up just like the outside of a cycle pump and this causes the rubber inside to get soft, stretchy and easy for the air to 'tear' through. So, during summer, make sure you increase pressure by 3-5psi and pay attention to your tyres.

What's also important to remember is that tyre pressure changes according to the outside temperature. It decreases by approximately 1psi for every 10-degree drop in temperature. As the tyre heats up over the course of the day, it affects the air inside the tyre which expands when heated during normal running. It is best to check the tyre pressure early in the morning when it is relatively cooler to get the correct reading and once every two weeks.

 Also, the tyre pressure needs to be adjusted according to road conditions and vehicle load. For example, a vehicle that is carrying a full complement of passengers and luggage will require a higher tyre pressure than one with just two occupants.

Do not forget to check the condition and air pressure of the spare tyre as well especially since it could turn out to be a life saver on a scorching summer day. Also, get the tyres properly aligned and balanced to avoid excessive tyre wear.

Air-conditioning

During the summer months, a car's AC is the feature that takes the most load. Now air-conditioning systems, as we all know, are service intensive. The compressor oil needs to be topped up regularly to help protect the unit, there are regular coolant leaks and dust and dirt can cause the system to overload and malfunction. Hence, get the AC unit checked by a qualified technician before the onset of summer.

One common complaint from car owners during summer is that the AC takes too long to cool down the cabin. Irrespective of how powerful the AC unit is, it ends up taking time due to the heat trapped in the car. If your car remains parked under direct sunlight during the day, the interior temperatures could exceed the outside temperature by around ten degrees or even more. So, once you enter the car, roll down the windows first to let the heat escape. Then, switch on the AC at the replica watches UK highest fan setting and wait for a couple of minutes. Roll up the windows once you feel that the car’s interior and the outside temperature have reached similar levels.

By following this technique, you can significantly reduce the amount of time taken by the AC to cool down the cabin. Also, before leaving the car in parking, you can keep the windows rolled down by around half an inch to prevent the heat build-up.

A good quality coolant is one of the most important fluids your car needs in summer. In fact, one of the most common causes of vehicles breaking down during summer is the engine overheating due to low coolant levels. So, before summer, check the coolant level and top it up if it’s low. If your car is more than three years old, get the radiator serviced before summer, and while you are at it, check for any leaks. Also make sure you use the correct coolant. Using a cheaper one may seem attractive, but it may prove to be penny wise here. 

Engine, transmission oil

Nothing destroys engine oil faster than heat. This is especially true if your car is using oil that is already semi-destroyed and old. So, check the engine oil level and get it topped up with the right oil. Alternatively, you could also drain the engine oil and use a more heat resistant grade which will retain its viscosity and reduce wear and tear under extreme operating conditions. Also get the fluid levels of the power steering, brake and transmission units checked, as these could be a weak link.

Hoses and belts

While a car is being driven, the engine bay reaches very high temperatures. It is important to replace parts once they reach a particular level of wear and tear, else they won’t be able to withstand the high operating temperatures. Parts like hoses and belts suffer under these circumstances as they are made from rubber compounds. And once something like a rubber hose gets hard, it's only a matter of time before it ruptures. So, a physical check is really effective in this case. Check all clamps and clips as well and remember, a loose clamp can be due to a regular pressure build up.

Battery

Excessive heat ends up reducing battery life by causing the fluid inside it to evaporate at a faster rate. It even speeds up the chemical reaction inside a battery, leading to overcharging. Get the battery checked to find out if it’s charging at the correct rate. Also, check for any corrosion on the battery terminals, ensure they are free of dirt and whether all cable connections are secure. Most new cars come equipped with zero-maintenance batteries. If your car is running a battery that needs to be topped off with distilled water, then check for fluid levels regularly, more so during summer.

Polish and protect

We normally associate a good coat of wax or polish as something that has only a cosmetic benefit. This is incorrect as a good polish will go a long way in protecting your car's paint from heating up excessively. This is because it forms a layer of protective wax on the paint that reflects a significant portion of the sun's heat. So, get your car polished before summer and if you can, try and select a polish that adds a layer of protection to your paint as well.

In certain parts of our country, temperatures can rise to as high as 45 degrees during the day. Extreme heat ends up taking a toll on vehicles. Apart from causing the plastic and rubber components to crack, it can also make the fluids work harder at keeping the engine cool. By checking the bits mentioned above and following our tips, you will be able to breeze through a hot summer.    

Courtesy : Autocar

With the Tiago, Tata has addressed all the four Ps of the classical marketing mix: product, price, promotion and place.

Gunning for a turnaround in its volumes, Tata Motors has launched the Tiago as it aims for the individual buyer and is keen on pushing the Indica and Indigo towards the commercial segment. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it is one of the most crucial launches for the home-grown carmaker. The much-anticipated launch comes at a time when the Tata Motors brand is struggling and hardly has any pull in the market. So how important is the launch of the Tiago for the carmaker?

“Tiago is certainly very important since it will help us to change the image to some extent because the image undoubtedly has to improve. There has to be a clear, specific and focused positioning of our brand in the mind of the customer and even suppliers,” Girish Wagh, senior vice-president (Programme Planning & Project Management) at Tata Motors told Autocar India.

Having lost the opportunity at growing its volumes with the Bolt, whose sales have declined 66 percent (772 units) in Feb 2016 over last year, Tata Motors has pulled out all the stops with the Tiago. The vehicle comes with a clean sheet design and also marks the debut of two new in-house developed engines – a 1.2-litre three-cylinder naturally aspirated Revotron petrol and a 1.05-litre three-cylinder Revotorq diesel.

Interestingly, a lot of inputs have been taken from luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) for the engineering process. “We have our own New Product Introduction (NPI) process which has taken lot of inputs from the JLR’s process. The latter is more mature as a lot of products have gone through that process,” Wagh said adding that a lot of issue-based inputs such as getting the right quality of sheet metal for instance, were also taken from the luxury carmaker. 

On the price front, the carmaker also had a few learnings from the Bolt – a model that misfired despite being a promising product, due to its high price. “We have had a lot of learnings from the Bolt and the Zest. On the pricing front, the learnings from the Bolt were to improve the way we price our products and you can clearly see that with the Tiago’s pricing. Having a number of variants and the optional safety packs is also among those learnings,” Wagh said. Launched at a staggeringly low introductory price of Rs 3.20 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) for the base petrol variant, the hatch not only undercuts its rivals such as Celerio and i10 across all variants but also knocks on the door of the Alto. The eye-catching price, however, is likely to crawl up in the near term.

With regards to promotion, Tata has gone big and global. The carmaker recently roped in ace football star Lionel Messi as its global brand ambassador. The association with Messi also points towards Tata’s global ambitions with the Tiago but for now the objective of using football over cricket is to position the car as more class than mass.

The last ‘p’, however, is the most crucial one. Surely, Tata Motors has a lot of ground to cover in terms of its presence, and towards that end, the company has recruited and trained over 1,000 additional sales personnel at its 597 dealerships. However, a lot more work needs to be done, along with a complete overhaul of the retail format as the customer experience lags behind that offered by competitors.

Courtesy :  Autocar

The Tata Tiago is all set to be launched on April 6, 2016. A midsize

 hatchback, it will lock horns with the current segment incumbent and 

1. The Tiago is all new, except for one part borrowed from the original Indica

The last time Tata Motors launched an all-new vehicle was way back in 2010, when the Aria hit the streets (the Bolt and the Zest were heavily reworked versions of the Vista). The Tiago, thus, marks the reinvention of Tata. Pretty much everything has been developed from the ground up. Except for the base floorpan, which is borrowed from the Indica.

2. The Tiago heralds a new design language for Tata

Tata’s new 'Impact' design language will make its debut with the Tiago. The design language, according to Tata’s head of design, Pratap Bose, is based on the impression formed on prospective customers within the first 20 seconds of viewing a car. 'Impact' design cars, Tata says, will feature best-in-class size, appealing cabin-to-body ratios, driver-centric layouts and cleverly designed in-cabin storage spaces.

3. The Tiago will be powered by new three-cylinder petrol and diesel engines

Tata Motors has developed new three-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, called Revotron and and Revotorq respectively, which will be introduced in the Tiago. The 1.2-litre Revotron petrol engine is a lightweight, all-aluminium, four-valve, DOHC setup with variable cam timing for the intake valves. The Revotorq is the three-cylinder 1.05-litre turbo-diesel with a cast iron block, aluminium head and four-valve, twin-cam setup. Both come with City and Eco drive modes. 

4. The Tiago witnessed a fiasco

The Tiago was originally christened 'Zica', short for 'Zippy Car'. Unfortunately for Tata, the outbreak of a cheap replica watches similarly named virus, Zika, led to an unappealing association. After much ‘strategic thinking’, the carmaker crowdsourced the name ‘Tiago’, which also happens to be the name of Tata’s ambassador, Lionel Messi’s first child.

5. The Tiago is big on in-car entertainment

In a bid to out-rival competitors, the Tiago features a segment-topping multimedia system. The infotainment system has been developed by Harman, and comes with an impressive four-speaker four-tweeter setup. You also get the Juke Car app, which allows each passenger to add songs from their device to a playlist on the phone that is paired with car’s audio player. The cooled glovebox features a dedicated recess for tablets – tech junkies rejoice!

Combined with its impressive claimed fuel efficiency of 23.5kpl, and an expected starting price tag of sub-Rs 4 lakh, this car just might put Tata Motors back in the game.

Courtesy : Autocar

We pit the NuvoSport against its main rivals, including the TUV300, to see how it compares on paper.

Mahindra has launched the NuvoSport with prices starting at Rs 7.35 lakh (ex-showroom, Thane). The compact SUV is essentially a major overhaul of the Quantoand gets a new chassis, a new front fascia along with a revised interior. Like its sibling the TUV300 and its predecessor, the NuvoSport is available with a flexible 5+2 seating arrangement with two jump seats in the boot.

Amongst its rivals in the segment sits its sibling the TUV300. Unlike the NuvoSport, the TUV300 is an all-new SUV from Mahindra. Featuring old-school styling with upright and straight-edged looks, the TUV300 was launched in the latter half of 2015.

The EcoSporthas been the best-selling compact SUV in the segment for some years now, and the Ford is replica watches UK the only model here to offer both a petrol and diesel engine. One of the best equipped cars in the segment, the EcoSport is the also the only model here to offer six airbags on its top variant.
The newest amongst the NuvoSport’s rivals, the MarutiVitaraBrezza is Maruti’s attempt to shake up the segment that has been dominated by the Ford EcoSport. The Brezzais an all-new SUV and offers traditional SUV looks along with a well laid-out cabin and comes quite generously equipped in its higher variants. The Brezza has also been dubbed as a ‘Create in India’ product with nearly all its design and engineering handled in-house by Maruti.

Dimensions

In terms of dimensions, the EcoSport is the longest of the lot at 3,999mm; a mere 1mm short of 4 metres while the TUV300 and the Brezza share identical figures of 3,995mm. The NuvoSport is the shortest vehicle here with a length of 3,985mm – 10mm shorter than the TUV300 and VitaraBrezza. But the new Mahindra is the widest amongst its rivals at 1850mm.The TUV300 comes in next at 1,835mm while the EcoSport is the narrowest at 1,765mm. The Brezza has a width of 1,790mm. The NuvoSport is also the tallest of the lot at 1,870mm. TUV300 is next in line at 1,839mm followed by the EcoSport at 1,708mm and the Brezza at 1,640mm.

In terms of wheelbase, the NuvoSport again leads the lot with a length of 2760mm. The TUV300 is again seconds at 2,680mm. The EcoSport, at 2,520mm, comes in next, with the VitaraBrezza trailing its rivals with a wheelbase of 2,500mm.

However, it is the EcoSport that sits highest off the ground at 200mm followed by the Brezza at 198mm and the TUV300 at 184mm. At 176mm, the NuvoSport sits closest to the ground.

Engines

The VitaraBrezza uses the smallest displacement diesel engine amongst its competitors. Powered by the 1.3-litre DDiS200 engine seen in the larger S-cross, the compact SUV develops 90hp of power and 200Nm of torque. The NuvoSport, EcoSport and TUV300, on the other hand, use 1.5-litre units. The NuvoSport’s unit leads with power output at 102hp followed closely by the EcoSport with an output of 100hp.The TUV300 manual and AMT's 83.5hp and 80hp,respectively,make it the least powerful in this comparison. In terms of torque, the NuvoSport again leads the way with 240Nm of pulling power. The TUV300 follows with 229.5Nm and last sits the EcoSport with 205Nm of pulling power. All cars here use a five-speed manual gearbox as standard with the TUV300 and NuvoSport getting the option of a five-speed AMT gearbox as well.

Furthermore, the EcoSport is the only model in this list to offer a choice of petrol engines in the form of a 111.5hp, 1.5-litre naturally aspirated engine and a smaller 124.7hp, 1.0-litre EcoBoost turbo-petrol motor paired to a choice of manual or automatic gearboxes.

As can be seen from the above comparison, the NuvoSport makes a strong case for itself in terms of its exterior dimensions and powerful diesel engine.

Courtesy : Autocar

Tesla’s electric car for the masses, the Model 3, was always destined for success, but not even co-founder and chairman Elon Musk could’ve anticipated the feverish rush it would create for customers

The Model 3 is the electric vehicle upon which everything the Silicon Valley company and its genius co-founder Elon Musk dreamt of for transportation is built. Its predecessors, the Roadster, the Model S, and Model X, were just means to an end - the end being building an affordable (relatively speaking) electric car that puts an end to all the concerns consumers has with EVs with the profit generated from its more expensive siblings that came before it.

Unveiled last week at a glitzy ceremony at Tesla Motor’s design studio in Hawthorne, California, the Model 3 shattered all records and expectations when the preorders started pouring in, both online and in dealerships across the world. Musk tweeted on Sunday that Tesla had received 276,000 orders worldwide for its $35,000 Model 3 by the end of Saturday, more than 18 months before the first deliveries will be made. If all those orders turned into actual purchases, Tesla would be in line for about $10bn in revenues from the Model 3.

This whooping figure could be even higher in reality considering the Model 3’s average selling price projected by Musk is well above the $35,000 base price. Analysts earlier had estimated the first Model 3s off the factory line in Fremont, California, could be loaded with extra equipment and sell for $50,000 to$60,000.

Tesla has undertaken a costly expansion of the Fremont plant, aiming to boost annual capacity to 500,000 by 2020, with production of the Model 3 ramping up slowly through 2019. Some analysts said the company could have trouble filling all the initial Model 3 orders, which are accompanied by a refundable $1,000 deposit, until 2020.

The Model 3 will also mark the EV maker’s entry into India. Musk has already confirmed that “Supercharging” stations will be set up across the country later next year, to go with the sales of the Model 3.

Indian customers can sill pre-book the Model 3 for the rupee-equivalent of $1,000 – which translates to roughly Rs 66,000 in today’s exchange rate. That is quite a price to put down for a car that could possibly cost more than twice it costs in its home market, but that hasn’t stopped early adopters like Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of mobile wallet company Paytm, venture capitalist Mahesh Murthy, Vishal Gondal of wearable and fitness technology company GOQii, and Sujayath Ali, CEO of online fashion platform Voonik from forking out the cash.

As for the car itself, the Tesla Model S will reportedly deliver at least 350 kilometres on a single charge, and the base version will sprint from 0-96 kmph in under 6 seconds. Inside, five adults will fit comfortably, and it features more cargo capacity than any petrol or diesel car of the same external dimensions. Other faster and more powerful variants are also in the pipeline.  

Courtesy : Zigwheels