The Rio drive

After 10 days of dusting sand off your clothes and shoes, choking the tube of sunscreen to death, grieving over the lost I-pod, wrist watch and other knick-knacks, helplessly peeling the fresh weed of pimples off your face, when you're asked to drive a tiny looking SUV whose tyres read 'Kenda', you wonder if that's what they call the glory of being an auto journo!
But 100metres behind the same Kenda, and I feel I was so wrong.
Yes, this was my second visit to Mumbai and taking the Mumbai-Pune expressway (which as per me is a driver's dream) we were going to Chinchwad. After the GPS lady made us cross the same Mc-Donald's at least thrice, we decided to shun the services of that bimbo (well she did sound like a blonde) and asked for our way to the Premier plant. The minute we reached the plant I thought of that air-hostess in the flight which brought me to the city and how she said, " The closest emergency exit can even be behind you" because while we went circles around the same place, we forgot to take a look on the left where the board read, rather shouted PREMIER LIMITED (previously known as Premier Automobiles Ltd.)
I think they don't have a lot of visitors to the plant, because everyone right from the happy-looking guard on the main gate, to the lady at the reception knew that a girl with a funny name (well that's what the world thinks, not me) would be coming to meet Mr Atul. And if your name in white and red blocks tucked on to a big black notice board, standing tall next to the stair-case and giving you a smoldering welcome doesn't make you shrink in embarrassment then your poster is the next thing on my wall (that means, you share your space with MJ, Oprah, Dylan and Clapton).
Well, to put it short, I felt like Mario in the video game, looking for a mushroom or maybe a sunflower to get my super-powers back.
Mr Atul Akolkar's room was scented with the ah-so-holy music by Rolling Stones (which he later told us that even he doesn't know what plays on his I-pod and made me miss mine even more). A humble room with some sketches (which looked like a spark-plug to me) on the white-board and hundreds of stories about Premier's splendid past. It was difficult to keep ourselves awake when Maruti hijacked the Indian auto industry with it's plant production of over 2 lakh units and poor Premier and Hindustan Motors struggled hard to keep their existence. After pedigree dogs, mine and his own daughter's name, his car and his love for art got mixed with the dal and rice we had for lunch and happily settled down our growling tummies, it was time to meet the young lad.
One step out of the cafeteria and we see a red Rio glistening in the 32 degrees of Pune and flaunting its freshly padicured alloys to us. My first reaction, it looks like a mini Tata Safari from the side and a petite Yeti from the headlamps. I love the way Rio looks. Compact, zippy, comfortably high and cute.
We didn't get a cosmic neighborhood to grow our friendship with the mini SUV, but 25 circles in the Premier plant were enough for me to say that I love the Rio and would like to see it standing in my porch.
1.5 liter turbodiesel engine for as little as Rs 5.25- 6 lakh (ex-showroom Pune), now who wouldn't spare a second thought for this little bully. Traces of Premier's venerated associations shimmer quite clearly when you learn that Rio's engine has been developed with Peugeot's TUD5 technology and it gurgles out 64bhp power and 152 Nm torque. Woho, that was a loud WOW!
You sit in the car, look at the plastic and upholstery, make a face but then you remember that this tiny wookazoogabomber (the Calvin in me came up with this name and Hobbes even gave a thumbs up to it!) gives you a chance to buy a Rio for your wife or daughter and another car for your self and not to miss the punch it gives you when you take it out for a drive, your attention is diverted from the plastic to the road.
You have a humble dash to look at while you drive. For your love for music (and Mr Atul will quite agree), Rio is loaded with a CD player and FM/AM, but you need to make an effort, pull your car to a side and adjust the antenna for clear reception. 32 degrees was quite hot, so you have an A/C which is quite effective to cool the undersized cabin. You even have electrically controlled side mirrors, which quite surprised me. The storage compartments aren't really very fancy, but then COMPROMISE is the word my friend.
Move to the passengers seat and you won't be disappointed with the legroom (well that's if you're not an NBA player and get the shoes of your size easily). Magazine holders to take care of your Feminas and Top Gears. Boot-space matches to its image of being a mini- SUV. To make space for that extra suitcase, just fold down the rear seats and there you have a tiny football ground in the back of your car!
The features that Rio offers in its meager pricing is what makes me fall in love with it. Premier Rio comes in three variants, Ex, Dx and Lx. You normally don't expect the base model to have anything more than a decent dash with a music system, don't keep your hopes too high for an A/c, a glove box and some cubby holes and that's it. But along with this, if you get power steering, electrically operated side-view mirrors, rear window demister, tinted glass window, rear fog lamps, cigarette lighter, door ajar warning lamp, a tiny digital clock, tachometer, reverse gear indication on cluster, front electric windows… the list seems endless!! But seriously, what do you say… I say, they are making me feel like a queen with a broken crown, but still a Queen. If you talk of the top-end variant you feel like you won a lottery with ABS and EBD, key-less entry (just another fancy name for central locking), air conditioning (which was quite effective in 32 degrees of Pune), heater, CD player with AM/FM, 15" alloys, rear wiper and washer, again a deal too tempting to miss.
The only thing you may not like about the car is the quality of plastic and upholstery. Is that a twitched nose I see! But don't forget my friend, buying a Rio leaves you with enough of money to ten of those little black dresses apart from a cute little red car for the evening prom. Now say this with me, "I don't mind"… :)
Another thing that needs to be changed are Kenda Clevar tyres. The best possible alternative can be Michelin, Apollo or Bridgestones.
Rio drives like cutting your 16th birthday cake. 1.5 liter turbo diesel engine, developed using Peugeot's TUD5 technology, which makes it an outdated globally but still "would-do" kind of a technology for India. 64.8 ps power and 152 Nm torque, the figures correctly don't live up the expectation from a 1.5 ltr turbo diesel engine. What impressed me the most throughout the drive was the response of the car while cornering. The car was stable and therefore, I felt safe in my cocoon. Ask Mr Atul and he promises the top speed of 130 km/h as he struggles to push through the flock of cars into his blue Chevy Aveo LT(Yeah, his daughter likes blue cars). Quite responsive engine but I wonder if it will be sufficient to give you that extra power while overtaking. Front disc and Mc Pherson strut and coil spring in front make the drive comfortable and safe. Complying to BS III, Rio thinks about mother nature too.
The car is comfortably high and would be liked by all female drivers who always wanted a high car. The paint quality of the car is top notch and large headlamps and tail lamps make it look really pretty. Black side claddings and black coloured B-pillars lend that macho bit to the looks.
If you can imagine how it feels to see a hospital right next to a restaurant and that feeling that you might need the former after coming out of the latter, something similar happened while I was still driving the Rio. Harsh braking and guess what rolls out from the driver's seat… A fire extinguisher! And my reaction to that, err.. hope we won't need this…
But all in all, driving Rio was quite an experience. Later in the evening when we went to Mr Atul's cabin and I excitedly told him how much I liked the car, that little wookazoogabomber (read Rio, for reference scroll up) looked up and smiled.
And you know what mom, very soon Dad won't be the only one in the family with a high car. We're getting ours very soon.

PREMIER RIO
SPECIFICATIONS:
Engine: 1489 cc
Power: 64.8ps@4000rpm
Torque: 152Nm@2250rpm
Fuel type: Diesel
Dimentions: 3900 x 1555 x 1670 mm
Wheelbase: 2420 mm
Ground Clearance: 195 mm
Kerb Weight: 1145 kg
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Suspension: McPherson strut & coilspring (Front)
5 rods system (Rear)
Brakes: Disc (Front)
Drum (Rear)
Tyre size: 205/70R15
Price: Rs 5.25-6 lakh (ex-showroom Pune)

Before the Expo began...

We, or should I say I was waiting for the Expo for quite an extended time. Reason, well many to write. Harleys, R8 spyder, friends I’d be meeting after a long time and this spirit to attest my endurance and work 14-15 hours every day for about a week. Well, very little did I know that all my excitement was being laughed at by everyone I shared it with as they had their “been there, done that” grin, which I thought was just another expression looking at this silly girl jumping. Anyways, yeah I was excited.Bought a nice pair of formal shoes. Why, someone (whom if I meet again wouldn’t see the next sunrise) told me to be in the best of my formals for the expo as there would be people from the ‘Industry’. Now what good did the shoes do to me, left me with dozens of shoe-bites! Not just the shoes, the same someone also asked me to wear my formals, remember, look good and always wear a nice smile (wonder why do we listen to our friends when we’ve already done that and faced repentance!).I think I have already done a lot of crying about the whole thing and must have left you with an impression that the 7 days of the expo were nothing but remorse, but they weren’t that bad too.The day started a little early with 4 press conferences to attend, the first of which started at 11 a.m. Reached The Lalit, Barakhamba Road by 10.45 a.m. just to find that the organizers were following the Indian Standard Time and would start the show a little late. (Yeah right, they did that when I reached at a conference in time in the history of me attending conferences!). It was Bosch speaking about how good India as a market for automotive components has been for them. And at this time, when they are facing losses in the global market, the pace with which low cost car manufacturers are multiplying here, no wonder they are earning well enough to keep a nicely packed surprise gift in all of our press kits. :)Meeting a couple of friends I was expecting to meet, no food and rushed to this second conference scheduled for the day. Well no food because I never wanted my tummy to be in trouble as I could see three more conferences coming.The second one was Chevy Beat’s launch and while the whole show happened as per “their” plan, we were supposed to act as if we knew nothing about the car. (Errr.. remember I drove and reviewed the car some days ago on the sands of Jaipur..!! Well yeah, I just drank some Wine on the sands of Jaipur and drove on smooth roads, but the point is, that YES we knew everything about it apart from the pricing before the Beat’s launch). Apart from the 2010 version of “Saara zamaana.. hasino ka deewana…” (and why this popular Amitabh Bachchan number, because the dancers wore dresses with LED piping, something similar to what AB wore in the movie), was the fact that Ankush said almost the same words he said the day we had the beat drive, from the same presentation and Karl gave the same expressions. To Karl, I was so tempted to say, “I know what you did that evening” and why, cough cough, all those at the Beat drive know what I am talking about. JSurprise factor of the day, the pricing of the car. After Cruze, Chevy shakes the market again with an incredible pricing. Rs 3.5- 4.5 lakh and such a cute looking bug, I almost forgot the criticism I made on the car for a minute. :)Short on time, I couldn’t enjoy the festivities everyone else was a part of, beacsue I had to rush to another conference and hopefully the last one for the day. Did I say I had four conferences to attend, well yes, but some burden was taken off my shoulders fearing that I might bring tornado in the city looking at the way I was spinning around that day.The last obligation to meet was this meeting with GKN Driveline discussing their interest in two-wheelers and how good their drive shafts were doing in the country. The gentleman there (I am very bad with names and I think I really am growing old and should stop using dyes) was more than happy to be interviewed and was even ready to frame questions for himself, without looking at my tongue salivating at every sandwich that was raised and kept in a mouth and chewed with utmost pleasure..!!Anyhow, the day ended without any food (yeah right, that someone even told me to keep work first and couldn’t hear my tummy growling), a lot of notes from the conferences, coffee spills on sweater (I know how to hold my coffee mug right, others didn’t..!!) and a soiled formal trouser (yeah, I was more bothered about it as it was my partner in the battlefield for 6 more days).The day ended with sheetsful of planning and division of work, yeah the expo was finally there. Oh by the way, I met the same ‘someone’ (well, let’s call him “Winsey” to save us all of any further confusions as he wouldn’t stop giving me his gyan and I wouldn’t stop using it, even after facing the heat) and told him of what all happened in the course of the day, all thanks to his advice that I accidentally followed. And you don’t really want to know his retort,“Oh, I thought you wouldn’t take me seriously. You generally don’t..”
Yeah, right..!! :)

I found my Diary.. :)

This is how I learnt how to drive..!!!Think of all your good Lords, keep your hand at your heart and do all what your girlfriend would ask you to do when she asks you “if she’s looking fat in that dress” and expects you to tell the truth..!!! well, all this exercise coz what I am about to tell you is something very hard for anybody to believe.The first time I ever touched the steering of a 4-wheel was when I was 10 and my first date was my Dad’s (1960 something make) Mahindra Jeep- soft top (we kept it open most of the times), henna green, size of a match-box to be a Jeep, the windshield went down and an all wheel drive (then, it was such an obvious thing- “Daddy… Obviously, the car would not do a wheelie and move on just two wheels, would it!”).Let me give you more details of my Veronica (an Archie fan me would call it just that, and my parents never understood why). That lazy yawn it took when you engage a gear, pull up the latch from the side to hold the bonnet tight, engine vibrations enough to give your generations a nice full-body massage, the sound which demanded empty roads and my pooch (a big and ferocious one though) with his tongue hanging just over the spare wheel shining black and bright (:P) on my babe’s butt…The back seats were just the size fit enough for a Dara Singh to sit straight , and just trying to add a little more comfort to the passengers (that's me and my brother and the dog, who always thought... God knows why... that the car was his father's property), we added the couch kinda seat, which was basically a seat thingy resting on a tool box.Veronica's heart was not the regular Mahindra engine, but a Toyota turbo which let my Dad attend to his ahhh.. so important calls even while driving (errr.. I know that's violation of traffic rules, but the point I wish to come across here is less engine noise! duhh... )Now as to how were my first hand experiences with Veronica. A 10-year old and you know how to put the first and second gear in this hulkantic piece of machinery was a reason good enough for me to give a ruffle lays party to my itsy bitsy friends.That good girl would just take all the little mischief we did on it. Hitting it from the start in the second gear, making circles and 8s out on the dusty grounds (thanks Dad, the 8s really taught me better handling :D), painting atrocious flowers and smileys on her greeny self and I toh even did paint the side-bars myself (don’t worry, they were black and I DID paint them in the same colour and no girly pink).I could even change her flat tyre by the time our romance was 2 years old and she would just lay with her fractured leg in front of me and look at me struggling hard and jumping up and down the jack to open the nuts. The tyre was heavy phewwww….I would crawl under and fix the jack under the axle just so perfectly and roll, roll, roll my baby went up.A little pitter patter was so the time to take her out. Ice-creams, long drives, the dog and me and my brother holding the big iron rod (the one to support the roof, if you wish to put it) was a sight no Hollywood flick can match to show a happy family holiday.By 15, I was a smart young lass to take her out all by myself and get little repairs done. She was growing old, but never lost her charm. Repairs and servicing became frequent, engine wouldn’t crank in winters, body began to rust and I knew it was time for her to retire.The dog died and she held me. We went together to bury the poor soul. She did really know how I felt and even responded.The family went places with her and me, I had my quiet moments with my love. That silhouette she bore standing next to the river in Nangal or the tough look as she hopped on the sand dunes in Bikaner make me really miss her.What happened to her… Like a nice dream, Christmas eve’s angel, winter’s snow-flake she just went away. Nobody had time to attend to the ailing her in her old age, so they got rid of her.Veronica, if they haven’t crushed you to a sheet or made drums out of our sexy body and you’re listening, standing miles away, old and alone……I MISS U… and, I LOVE YOU..!!!