[Stratos]

Well.. i think the following cars need totally new design than putting some chrome grille and crystal clear headlights and relaunching them..
1:Tata Safari
2:Ford Ikon
3:Maruti 800 (Ignis might replace it)
4:Tata Sumo
5:Maruti Esteem (Liana might replace it)
6:Mahindra Bolero (new Bolero expected by 2005..as told by my DAD).
7:Hindustan Contessa

Wat are u r views guyz

[v12]

ya all those cars need a major facelift than just a mere grille/light change.

Tata Safari - should be made a bit wider. the windshield is too sharply raked. Height shud be lowered.

Ford Ikon - well i guess its already undergoing a facelift in Brazil.


Maruti 800 - What facelift?? The M800 was replaced by the Zen and then Zen was replaced by the Alto. But in India , all of them are sold.

Tata Sumo - same mods as the Safari. give it the G look .

Maruti Esteem - facelift? what facelift??? REPLACE IT.

Mahindra Bolero - Now why does the Bolero need a facelift when the Scorpio is doin well in the market.

Hindustan Contessa - Now u wont even imagine how many times I have spoken of a modded Conti to Adi. Keep the same looks. Give it a black paint. Clear lens lights. Chrome grille. Chrome Alloys. Wide tyres. And a "super" powertrain to match all that show. Atleast a V6. And there we have our own Indian muscle car. What say? .

[Shan2nu]

I agree, all these cars need replacement/facelift.

The esteem on the other hand needs a re-incarnation.

Even the Alto is due for a mod.

Regards...
Shan2nu

[manticore]

First of all, amen to V12 for the one on conti. I still find the car really good lookin in a glossy black paint job......a small block v8 should fit the bill i guess. a desi version of the long hood, rear wheel drive, smokin v8? *

Moreover why are our car makers, Tata and Hyundai for example, so obsessed with the smiling grille thingy? I think it looks plain crappy. And chrome all over the damn car. Cars abroad, they lose chrome as the sportier they get. Here we add bits and pieces of chrome and start calling it a limited edition model I, II, III etc. crazy .......

and i hate the new honda city!! long live the old 1.5

[ported_head]

i just hope this time they don't leave any of the facelift jobs for Maruti cars to the indians. everytime i see the new zen..i wish i had a dump truck so that i could it pile on it atleast 4 tonnes of garbage.
and i thought i was the only one who thought of the Contessa as an all indian muscle car. amen to that.

[toyota]

May be we have a make a list of Cars to be scrapped ( No need of design Change ) that would be easy
The list may be long but to start with it should be Qualis and Santro ............

[Aditya]

You guys want to see a V6 / V8 in a Contessa? You know what? I think that could happen.... when we're all over 60 years old. Just in case you don't you know this, HM builds the Conti. It took them 50 years to alter the look of the Ambassador. Next, they' introduced the Lancer 1.8 just too late to trouble the competition. If they take so long to react to situations, I don't see HM surviving for too long. The only way HM will survive in the face of stiff competition is if a real auto enthusiast, who's ready to experiment and who's loaded with funds takes over from the current HM management.

Tata have still not sorted out the quality problems of the Safari and it doesn't look like they'll be doing that in the near future either. That vehicle is destined to be doomed just like the Contessa.

The Ford Ikon is great. A few cosmetic changes, bigger engines and most importantly brakes that work should do the trick.

New Bolero by 2005? Good. Let's just hope that it won't inherit the braking and handling problems of the Scorpio.

The rest of the lot should all be phased out or replaced.

[ajmat]

The conti when it was built abroad in the last century used to come with 1800 4cyl - 3300 6 cyl engines

[Aditya]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (ajmat @ Mar. 25 2004,10:13)]The conti when it was built abroad in the last century used to come with 1800 4cyl - 3300 6 cyl engines

That's right Ajit, but then, it was a Vauxhall Victor. Now it is a Hindustan Contessa. There's a difference in the level of thinking of Vauxhall and HM.
HM could offer a choice of engines like Vauxhall did, but they won't. Look at the Lancer - 120bhp Automatic, no optional manual. That's sacrilage!

[v12]

The Santro does not look very outdated. [now hyundai-haters dont pounce on me ]. It looks more balanced than the new Zen which looks like an old Starlet.

The Qualis, yes, it needs a replacement. Its high time. 4 years and just a grille change is just too little.

What abt the Corsa??? That too needs a replacement. Ditto for the Accent.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Aditya @ Mar. 25 2004,10:23)]

That's right Ajit, but then, it was a Vauxhall Victor. Now it is a Hindustan Contessa. There's a difference in the level of thinking of Vauxhall and HM.

Even with those engines, it was wheezy and boy did they rust. When I was in the UK as a kid, a family friend went through three in 9 months as the quality was the pits. HM is slightly better than Vauxhall thne

[GTO]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ] I still find the car really good lookin in a glossy black paint job......a small block v8 should fit the bill i guess. a desi version of the long hood, rear wheel drive, smokin v8?

Hey, we ought to start a new thread on MORE POWER for the Contessa. I too am a big fan of Indias only muscle car potential, and am all for the long hood short deck look. Imagine a gleaming black Conti without the front bumper (just a single chrome bar in the front), nice alloys with some fat rubber, two exhaust pipes coming out of either side of the rear end, black glasses, neat looking fogs AND a well - installed "small block" V8 - Talk about character.

There is this chap in Pune, Dilip Desai, who was the only person to give nightmares to the Gypsys on the Indian rallying scene. Overdrive had done a feature on him and his muscled Contessa. If any of you are really interested, I have that magazine in my collection, and you can have it for a read.

Dilip Desai had installed Porsche shock-absorbers at the front and rear, alongwith a host of suspension mods to get the big butt into toeing the right line. A souped up 1.8 liter engine churned out 130 horses!! And it still had the potential for a lot more. The rubber he was using on the Contessa was the famed Bridgestone 350's. No air-con, no stereo, no windows, no rear seat...just pure unadulterated driving pleasure.

Fantastic. I am already maxed out in rebuilding my Jeep and the last thing I need is another time-consuming car. Isnt there anyone who wants to build a hot-rod Contessa in here?

GTO

[GTO]

Now coming back to the list of cars that Stratos thinks need a design change:

1:Tata Safari - Oh boy, this car is well-past its sell by date. No amount of fuel injected petrol engines and awesome advertisements is going to move it off the showroom floors. The quality still sucks for a 9 lakh vehicle and I have never been a fan of its narrow width/tall stance look. I'd prefer the Sierra Turbo anyday.

2:Ford Ikon - Structurally the Ikon is still pretty much with the times. On the looks front the new meshed grille etc. has done its bit to make it look better but yes a redesign should be coming anytime soon.

3:Maruti 800 (Ignis might replace it) - Nope the Ignis aint going to replace it. No manufacturer in the world, the top 5 volume producers included, can make the 800 as cheap as Maruti is. Its still the no.1 seller and not without reason. The 800 is cheap (only 2599/- per month EMI's), basic and utilitarian buttttttttttt it is also fuel-efficient, reliable and has acceptable levels of ride and quality for the first-time car buyer.

4:Tata Sumo - Tata got a little caught up with pushing the Indica project, and did not devote as much time and resources to the Sumo as they would have liked to. That said, with the Scorpio + Qualis + Isuzu Panther (expected soon), they will be launching a new Sumo in the near future.

5:Maruti Esteem (Liana might replace it) - Okay, the current esteem is just too out-dated and I would not recommend a new Esteem to anyone. More so because the price difference between the Esteem Vxi and the Baleno Lxi is down to 30000 odd. Products are over-lapping and Maruti should bring in the brilliant Liana.

6:Mahindra Bolero (new Bolero expected by 2005..as told by my DAD). - Well, ideally the Scorpio should have replaced the Bolero.


However, one car that has surprisingly not come up on anyones list is the Baleno. Its a pretty decent car, excepting for the UGLY rear end. Redesign the rear end to make it look a little attractive, new headlights and better quality interiors - Maruti would have a tough time fulfilling orders. Buttttttttttttttttttttttt however ugly the Baleno is, I would still much rather drive it around than the new Honda City.

GTO

[toyota]

I think Contessa is already a "MADE ON ORDER VEHICLE !!!!!!!!!!!"
So then what about Ambassador , design change or Scrap !

[manticore]

the new zen looks really bad.....indian designers @ work.

the qualis looks so unbalanced, it seems it wud topple over just standing still.

HM's carrying out the same job they did for the last 50 years......changing the grilles. now they have totally ruined the amby......and they are doing the same thing with the lancer too. hope mitsu inc, japan doesnt have to close down 'coz of HM......hehe.