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Old 10th April 2007, 07:59   #121
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Quote:
Originally Posted by v1p3r View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by moralfibre
I think the car in pictures has 16" rims because normally for 14" rims you have a 4 bolt mount whereas 16 inchers have a 5 bolt mount.
Contessa 13 inchers have a 5 bolt pattern while Corolla and Elantra 15 inchers have a 4 bolt pattern. So I don't think you can justify it on those lines.
When a driving hub transmits torque to the road wheel, the wheel's bolts are subjected to shear stresses.

The more bolts, the designer spreads the shearing stress across, the lower stress per bolt.

That is probably why small cars like this 1948-1990 Citroën deux chevaux need only three bolts,



2.8 litre and larger cars should have five bolts,
the Jabalpur Jonga (Datsun G60 Patrol) has six bolts
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...tml#post228003

and the Volvo B7R has ten bolts.



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Old 10th April 2007, 08:21   #122
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Quote:
Originally Posted by moralfibre View Post
I think the car in pictures has 16" rims because normally for 14" rims you have a 4 bolt mount whereas 16 inchers have a 5 bolt mount. The car posted by RT looks like a production model (seeing a part of the registration), I feel Maruti will indeed bring it with 16" rims. Possibly I think they will reduce the width to 185 or 195.
a 14' necessarily neednt be a 4 hole nor a 16" have 5 holes. Its not based on that.
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Old 10th April 2007, 08:46   #123
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Thanks Viper, Ram and Max for clearing my misconception.

Last edited by moralfibre : 10th April 2007 at 08:48.
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Old 11th April 2007, 02:05   #124
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Spoke to MUL dealership and he said that the car will have two airbags, ABS, Climate control, 1.6L 102bhp engine. No Diesel at all and pricing of 8L OTR.
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Old 11th April 2007, 02:35   #125
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Originally Posted by BUSA View Post
Spoke to MUL dealership and he said that the car will have two airbags, ABS, Climate control, 1.6L 102bhp engine. No Diesel at all and pricing of 8L OTR.
Thats a lot considering the old Baleno started at 5.83 lakhs. I hope they dont launch it as the Baleno and reatain the international SX4 name.

Competitors will include

Ford Fiesta 1.6 Petrol @ 7.18
Chevrolet Aveo 1.6 Petrol @ 6.67
Chevrolet Optra 1.6 Petrol @ 7.93
Mitsubishi Lancer 1.5 Petrol @ 6.99
Honda City 1.5 Petrol @ 6.77
Hyundai Verna 1.6 Petrol @ 6.26
Hyundai Elantra 1.8 Petrol@ 7.26
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Old 11th April 2007, 02:43   #126
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Expect it to go the old Baleno way. By 2010 or so we should see massive price cuts and it will be just above the Ford Fiesta Flair 1.4.
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Old 11th April 2007, 02:49   #127
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Originally Posted by v1p3r View Post
Expect it to go the old Baleno way. By 2010 or so we should see massive price cuts and it will be just above the Ford Fiesta Flair 1.4.
If it is launched as a Baleno that is exactly what will happen. The only way they can get away with the 8 lakh price tag is by naming it SX4.
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Old 11th April 2007, 03:50   #128
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why can't MUL do what Ford did with the Ikon ?? They relegate the Baleno a segment (in price level) I mean. Or maybe also detune it to 1.4 but still maintain it as an offering ??? And prolly do away with the Esteem, while they are at it. And the new SX4 can be their top end model like the Fiesta is for Ford.
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Old 11th April 2007, 10:39   #129
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BUSA
Spoke to MUL dealership and he said that the car will have two airbags, ABS, Climate control, 1.6L 102bhp engine. No Diesel at all and pricing of 8L OTR.
Agree with the specs part, but seriously doubt the no-diesel and pricing part. The way diesel cars in general have been gaining ground and specifically MULs interest in diesel (Swift-D), I am sure it will have a diesel variant up its sleeve for the Baleno also. And, no way is MUL going to shoot itself in the foot again with wrong pricing. They will get it right this time around. IMO, the car will have variants priced from between 6.5-7lakhs to just below 8lakhs.

Quote:
Originally Posted by khanak
Thats a lot considering the old Baleno started at 5.83 lakhs. I hope they dont launch it as the Baleno and reatain the international SX4 name.
I personally feel that it won't really matter whether it is named Baleno or SX4. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet...The Baleno might have been a flop when it was introduced, but it was not due to the car as such (ofcourse, if you ignore the sweet rear). The villain was a combo of pricing vis-a-vis the competition, perceived snob value etc. And today, courtesy the huge discounts, the car is all over the place, from no-one-has-one to everyone-has-one.

Quote:
Originally Posted by khanak
Competitors will include
Ford Fiesta 1.6 Petrol @ 7.18
Chevrolet Aveo 1.6 Petrol @ 6.67
Chevrolet Optra 1.6 Petrol @ 7.93
Mitsubishi Lancer 1.5 Petrol @ 6.99
Honda City 1.5 Petrol @ 6.77
Hyundai Verna 1.6 Petrol @ 6.26
Hyundai Elantra 1.8 Petrol@ 7.26
Yeah, if anyone thinks that MUL will ignore these figures and price their offering much higher, I think that is underestimating MUL.

Quote:
Originally Posted by v1p3r
Expect it to go the old Baleno way. By 2010 or so we should see massive price cuts and it will be just above the Ford Fiesta Flair 1.4.
Maybe if they launch as per prices given to BUSA. Then I would not mind waiting for 2010 to come around. But thats not the way it is going to happen IMO.

Quote:
Originally Posted by khanak
If it is launched as a Baleno that is exactly what will happen. The only way they can get away with the 8 lakh price tag is by naming it SX4.
Even with SX4, they cannot get away with a price tag that is not competitive enough.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hell_rider
why can't MUL do what Ford did with the Ikon ?? They relegate the Baleno a segment (in price level) I mean. Or maybe also detune it to 1.4 but still maintain it as an offering ??? And prolly do away with the Esteem, while they are at it. And the new SX4 can be their top end model like the Fiesta is for Ford.
Good idea. But dropping prices further to Esteem level would be a hit for them. Also it would become cheaper than Swift, which is not a good thing. Also, Esteem has a steady clientele, and MUL would think twice before dropping it.
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Old 11th April 2007, 11:54   #130
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@ SB - I so hope we have a diesel but my dealer told me there is not diesel on the cars. Maybe a 1.3L will be too less for the NMB.
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Old 11th April 2007, 12:23   #131
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Hey BUSA, did they mention anything about an automatic version at all?

IMO, they'll probably start off by inroducing petrol variants, and later on after gauging market response they may come up with the diesel - like they did with Swift.
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Old 11th April 2007, 12:31   #132
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BUSA
@ SB - I so hope we have a diesel but my dealer told me there is not diesel on the cars. Maybe a 1.3L will be too less for the NMB.
Or maybe MUL will start with the petrol variants and bring in the diesel a little later. Who knows ? Till MUL actually reveals the cards, all we can do is speculate.
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Old 11th April 2007, 12:32   #133
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Originally Posted by supremeBaleno View Post
Or maybe MUL will start with the petrol variants and bring in the diesel a little later. Who knows ? Till MUL actually reveals the cards, all we can do is speculate.
Yes I agree this is what they are going to do. I won't be surprised if the gap turns out to be an year or so.
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Old 11th April 2007, 12:42   #134
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Originally Posted by supremeBaleno View Post
Good idea. But dropping prices further to Esteem level would be a hit for them. Also it would become cheaper than Swift, which is not a good thing. Also, Esteem has a steady clientele, and MUL would think twice before dropping it.
Okay then maybe, they just drop the high-end Vxi version. Maintain just the Lxi version, and price it at a flat 6L OTR, but strip of some goodies to keep it profitable for them.

But still continue to offer the Baleno, especially since the Baleno is only now starting to be perceived as a good enthusiast car that lends itself very well to performance mods.

Or better still offer a stripped down version of the Baleno with absolutely no goodies, and let the customers fully customise it as per their choice.

Or is that asking for too much ??

Its just that it seems criminal that MUL will continue to w.r.t. the Esteem, but stop offering the Baleno which is a much superior vehicle when compared to the Esteem and a great vehicle even on its own merit without resorting to any comparison with the Esteem or any other vehicle for that matter.

Thing is we are slowly seeing the end of all cars with character and true affordable real-life, real conditions performance. The OHC VTEC is no more, the Ikon 1.6 is no more, the Palio 1.6 is supposedly detuned, the Petra will no more be offered.

With every manufacturer looking from a bean-counter perspective and focussing only on cost-effectiveness, mileage and sales, it seems there will be no affordable performance cars left for the average Joe to indulge.

Even though I drive a diesel hatch (Indica), it still excites to see a dolled up Baleno or a OHC VTEC zoom along. And it would be nice knowing that I always have the option to go for one of those when I choose to because they are affordable.
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Old 11th April 2007, 12:50   #135
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Ideally, the NMB or the SX4 should be priced as under

LXi - 6.00L Ex-Showroom
VXI - 6.50L Ex-Showroom
ZXI - 7.00L Ex-Showroom

Anything lesser is fine, anything more is dangerous for maruti.
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