[adit1329]

Very Observant of you... I'm impressed....
But to what avail..the sales of ACI still goes on, they keep dishing out the same false info and the general public gulp it down and make their decisions on this.
The same way that AAj Tak gave timings of the Embera and the Swift.

I thought that media is supposed to educate the public and is unbiased and true.

Well, I think I live in a different age all together....

[BUSA]

Guys i have dispatched a mail to editorial@autocarindia.com
Lets see what happens now.

[hell_on_wheels]

Guys u mean to say overdrive is the best mag 4 people of our interests now.... Ok i agree with you guys that its a mistake,but its not a blunder...

[BUSA]

hell on wheels its not a mistake but a blunder.
OD is good its improving, but i prefer TG anyday, but they cover less India and more British.

[islero]

OD was very good, but has gon down after 2002.

Autocar was very good until very recently. In fact, I thought they were good until I read this.

What the hell, who wats the mags, Ive got TBHP!! (and Topgear for the foreign articles)

[S Pathak]

Good observation Busa. Let's see how their editorial section replies. This is going to do major damage to their credibility. From now on, either we do not read the magazine at all or read it with a huge dose of salt.

[msprabhakar]

Originally Posted by S Pathak

...From now on, either we do not read the magazine at all or read it with a huge dose of salt...

Too much salt is bad for your health... so stick to first option!

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by msprabhakar

Too much salt is bad for your health... so stick to first option!

liked that! ...and very well put as well. haa haa haaa

[S Pathak]

Originally Posted by msprabhakar

Too much salt is bad for your health... so stick to first option!

Thanks for the advise . And wish you a Very Happy Birthday.

[BUSA]

Dear Reader,
This is with reference to your mail below;
After your keen observation on the Optra's number plate, we got back to the owner and he confirmed that it was a November 2004 model after checking his registration book. The facts behind this story are as follows;
The writer of the story asked the owner how old the car and he said "about two years old". The writer took this at face value and didn't bother to verify the age because it was not really relevant to the story. What is a fact is that the car was in terrible shape, in fact the writer said it looked like it was a five year old car and that the owner had completely neglected it. The fact that the owner did not even know how old the car was, is illustrative of his lack of interest in the car and perhaps the reason why it was so neglected.
Your accusation that the Optra is a showroom piece is unfair and completely innaccurate. In fact, we have with us unpublished digital images of the Optra which clearly shows the dire condition it was in.
We have observed the work Car Sallon has done on other cars before deciding to do a story on them. They recently worked on a 1987 BMW which we also photographed. However, the Optra's condition was worse and more of a challenge for Car Sallon to spruce up and hence this is the car we used in our story. Car Sallon is a small outfit run by a husband and wife team whose quality of work and comittment to their job impressed us. It is budding entrepreneurs like them we try and encourage.
I would encourage you to try Car Sallon out for yourselves and judge how good they are. We are confident you will be impressed. There was no intention whatsoever of trying to fool anyone as you stated and can assure you that the mistake of getting the age wrong was inadvertent but as mentioned earlier, it's not the main issue and really doesn't change the story.
Lastly, we appreciate you bringing these errors to our notice and we will do our best to ensure these gremlins don't creep up in our magazine in the future.

Best wishes,

Hormazd Sorabjee

Now what do i reply back to him

[BUSA]

Guys wasnot the NY edition launched in 2005??

[Ram]

Originally Posted by BUSA

Jan ACI
But today i happened to notice the cars number MH 43 A 3834. That seems to be a Vashi number and that too came around a year back. Wheras ACI says "The Guinea Pig: A sad looking two year old silver Optra. That means the car is a 2003 model. Heck that time even 1.6 engines werenot lauched. Correct me if i am wrong, and even if they were launched, the NY edition with the new grille only came by April 2005 after being around for sometime on the design edition model. What does this mean. This Optra isint a Two Year old piece. It just as new as a showroom one and the Car Sallon is trying to fool us and ACI says that super. What is your take on this
Cheers.

Good research, Busa!

The USA has had their Federal Trade Commission (FTC) since 1914.
Other countries have professional associations to detect and combat false advertising.

As we don't have a Better Business Bureau (BBB) nor any law on merchantable quality or on fraudulent advertising, it's up to the consumer to detect fraud. caveat emptor!

[BUSA]

Dear Busa,

I appreciate your frank feedback and support of our mag. You are right there have been errors creeping into the magazine and as you pointed out the Outlander price is another example (Rs. 15lakh is the estimagted price by the way). We have been having problems with sub-editors and general proofing which I hope we have resolved. Thanks to readers like yourself (and your eagle eyes!)
we have been kept on our toes and your comments and criticism helps us to improve.

I am sorry for not responding earlier to your mails but the last few months have been crazy in terms of travel. Anyway you now have my e-mail id and you can write to me anytime.

Do keep in touch.

Best wishes,

Hormazd

Just got another reply from ACI.

[v1p3r]

It's all heartwarming that they encourage smaller budding enterprises, but let them either report the facts straight, or not mention them at all.

BTW, did you actually sign off as Busa?!

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by BUSA

Just got another reply from ACI.

So what was the first reply about? Arent the two replies contradictory?

The age of a car sure has a lot to do with the condition they can bring it back to...its easy to make a car look dirty and used only to make it look like it was magically restored when the base was always shiny and clean.