Turbo Taxis ?

[greenhorn]

Being the owner of an indica DLG turbo, it is usually my privilege to overtake laden and slow moving Indicabs , and their DLE/DLS bretheren on the highway doing taxi service. But recently, I'm being overtaken by DLS turbo taxis with a vengeance This week i had to narrowly dodge 3 of them in trivandrum city, all of them being driven at rather high speeds.

For the longest time i thought that taxiwallas were content driving the NA indicas, after all, they're the ones which are most VFM, higher FE and cheaper to maintain. Wonder why the sudden spate in taxi drivers going for turbos

at first i thought that they were just badging jobs , but they really are , since i noticed that they have the wheel covers that come with the turbo indicas.

Has the indian taxi driver evolved ?

on second thought , this thread seems more suited to http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/ . can a mod please do the necessary? thanks!

[1100D]

Good, time for the Indian version of "Taxi".

Even in Calcutta, I was surprised to find a few Amby 2000DSZ's being used as taxi's, which was welcome change from the 1500's. The driver said, "we have to spend an entire day in the cab, so a powerful engine just makes our life easier for a little bit additional expenditure in fuel costs", it was interesting very interesting and for that matter he was driving comfortably much smoother and faster than other cabs I have been in.

[anonymous]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

Being the owner of an indica DLG turbo, it is usually my privilege to overtake laden and slow moving Indicabs , and their DLE/DLS bretheren on the highway doing taxi service. But recently, I'm being overtaken by DLS turbo taxis with a vengeance This week i had to narrowly dodge 3 of them in trivandrum city, all of them being driven at rather high speeds.

at first i thought that they were just badging jobs , but they really are , since i noticed that they have the wheel covers that come with the turbo indicas.

Slow moving indicabs Most cabs are driven at high speed and rashly, so does it mean that you drive more faster and rashly than them?

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by anonymous

Slow moving indicabs Most cabs are driven at high speed and rashly, so does it mean that you drive more faster and rashly than them?

they are driven rashly, but they tend to be heavily loaded , and an NA is slower than a Turbo right, well, at least i overtake the slower ones :P

[SUV]

Relax ... Its just TATA's making way for the Indica Dicor by exhausting Stock of the Turbo's by offering them as Indicab's .....

BTW I am surprised to hear they were driving faster than you were (going by the description of your driving) ... cos from the Past 6 months +, all Indicab's are coming with a Speed Governor as Std Fitment. From what i have heard the Speed Governors are wired (meaning connected) to the ECU and any tampering causes the ECU to go into Limp Mode...

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by SUV

BTW I am surprised to hear they were driving faster than you were (going by the description of your driving) ...

city = dad/family = me on best behavior

[Cyrus43]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

city = dad/family = me on best behavior

hehe..this describes alot of us buddy...

on a more serious note, these indica taxi fellows tend to drive really badly sometimes..recently one of these turned turtle on the expressway and caught fire..everyone died..we saw the wreck..it was not a good sight believe me

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by anonymous

Slow moving indicabs Most cabs are driven at high speed and rashly, so does it mean that you drive more faster and rashly than them?

Hey!!! Fast != rash.

Rash means aware, but not bothered about consequences.

What does this have to do with mere speed?

[greenhorn]

now lets leave my driving aside , this thread isnt about that .

Why are they buying the DLS Turbo then? The DLG is much better VFM right?

Maybe they don't want to piss of the passengers by making them wind their windows down while they get power windows?

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

Wonder why the sudden spate in taxi drivers going for turbos

3 reasons:-

1. They drink less diesel.
2. Indica turbos consume less fuel per KM travelled.
3. Indica turbos give more KMs per liter diesel.

!!!!!

Most taxis in Kerala are owned by taxi operators; and drivers (More then 40%, my guesstimate) who own taxis either are gulf returned, or own second hand vehicles.

Taxi operators (the firms) want fast vehicles, because passengers (in Kerala, who happen to be more affluent) want to reach point B from A in the shortest possible time, costs be d@mn3d.

And the fact that turbos are better at FE helps.

[JayD]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

Why are they buying the DLS Turbo then? The DLG is much better VFM right?

Maybe they don't want to piss of the passengers by making them wind their windows down while they get power windows?

DLS is the cheaper one! It comes with just ac and power steering, Dlg has defogger etc which cabwallahs dont necessarily need.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

3 reasons:-

1. They drink less diesel.
2. Indica turbos consume less fuel per KM travelled.
3. Indica turbos give more KMs per liter diesel.

but i think the non intercooled (ie DLS) turbo has lower FE than the intercooled DLG ....

[snaronikar]

As SUV has said, Tatas might want to exhaust their current stocks for making way to Indica Dicor and other vehicles that are lined up for this year. They might be selling thse cars at a nominal increasein fares (if feel).

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

Why are they buying the DLS Turbo then? The DLG is much better VFM right?

DLG TURBO-BS IIIRs. 4,00,472/-
DLS TURBO-BS IIIRs. 3,86,625/-
DLX TURBO-ABS & Dual Airbags - BIII Rs. 4,79,251/-
DLX TURBO-BS IIIRs. 4,20,194/-

From Pricing

For the non-turbo version, prices are between 3.44 and 3.68. For 20 K more, they get a DLS turbo than the highest variant of the non-turbo variant.


Non turbo prices from Indica V2 Pricing

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

DLG TURBO-BS IIIRs. 4,00,472/-
DLS TURBO-BS IIIRs. 3,86,625/-
DLX TURBO-ABS & Dual Airbags - BIII Rs. 4,79,251/-
DLX TURBO-BS IIIRs. 4,20,194/-

From Pricing

For the non-turbo version, prices are between 3.44 and 3.68. For 20 K more, they get a DLS turbo than the highest variant of the non-turbo variant.


Non turbo prices from Indica V2 Pricing

18k adds a turbo. a further 16k adds an intercooler and 14 inch wheels, and i believe the intercooler also increases efficiency. if they were going after driving satisfaction/performance/efficiency , the DLG would be the obvious choice, and it is the recommended variant anyway, so was curious why they were getting DLS.

the tata trying to offload turbos for dicor theory makes sense though. Then the DLS turbo seems to be the cheapest route