The Continuing Quest for Excellence
Last month I was in Munich, Germany, for the first drive of the new BMW X3. Whenever I drive a new car or sport activity vehicle (SAV) by BMW, I think it is going to be impossible to improve upon the outgoing model and yet every time they unerringly come up with a new car that makes its predecessor feel dated. The new X3 comes with a variety of powertrains, including an in-line four-cylinder petrol, petrol hybrid, four-cylinder diesel, and a six-cylinder diesel.
Driving in Germany is easy and safe if you follow the traffic rules. Needless to say, it can be very dangerous if one drives the way most people tend to drive in India. The quality of the roads there is something that needs to be experienced to believe. Even when one drives over patchwork, one can see the difference in the colour of the tarmac but one does not feel it inside the car. There is a lot of talk about new roads, expressways, and infrastructure in general. The fact remains, however, that even our newly laid roads do not have half as good a surface. I do not think they will meet and pass German road quality certification.
The trend of engine downsizing is having an adverse effect, especially on the full-size sport utility vehicles (SUV). A four-cylinder 2,000-cc petrol engine just does not possess the grunt to haul a two tonne-plus SUV and in trying to do so, it has to work extremely hard. In the process it guzzles petrol rather than being efficient and green. The big SUVs need a diesel motor or a big petrol or a petrol hybrid powertrain. A survey conducted by Mackenzie in the United States reveals that 46 per cent of electric vehicle (EV) owners want to revert to petrol and diesel cars. If people have begun rejecting EVs in the USA and the sales of electric cars have plummeted in Europe, the future of EV certainly looks bleak.
EDITOR – ASPI BHATHENA
