Quote:
Originally Posted by tsk1979 The real question is not whether car A is 0.5 seconds faster than car B.
The real question is that "Is half a second difference" in acc and roll on times of any consequence worthy of discussion?
Unless you are buying your car specifically for drag races(in which case non of these three are the right candidates), the questions to be asked are.
Is the car drivable, comfortable, ergonomic and reliable? What are the periodic maintenance costs? How good is the safety, whats the ride quality.
Instead of real questions, people get totally hung up on race car timings and handling.
Trust me, even in a boat like the Safari or MUV like Innova etc., you will reach the limit of your co passengers patience much before you reach the limit of the vehicle.
A better handling car will help if you are participating in a track challenge, but as I can safely say that none of us will buy a punto diesel for rallying or track events, such mundane things like 0-100 etc., are totally irrelevant.
So unless the punto had a 50BHP engine and took 30 seconds to touch 100, 1-2 seconds here there will not make a difference.
And I am pretty sure, given a car capable of 12 second 0-100 time, most of us will take 14-15 seconds for the said sprint.
So 0-100 in 14 or 16 seconds is totally irrelevant, and what is more relevant is stuff like :
I drive on highway at 90-100 continuously, will the engine boom give me headache?
I drive on hills often, will I keep burning clutch on uphill hairpins due to lack of low end torque?
Will the car lose alignment every time I hit one of the billion potholes in my neighbourhood?
So " Can a 50kgs lighter car actually be that much faster" does not matter. Even if its 1 second faster, most of you will not feel it and won't be able to meet the "expert timings"
So those who think Punto/Logan etc., are sluggish, are right in their own way. A budget diesel hatch is not for them. The verna or getz crdi is the right choice Or a 100bhp petrol car.
To succeed in the 5L marked you need a jack of all trades |
Brilliant Post!! From a typical Indian Customer's viewpoint & says it all (had to quote entire post-can't delete anything) !!
And still we keep on harping on 0-100 etc figures which are quoted different by different mags.
In fact, as an "average joe" (I hate this term used by many for typical Indian car Consumer, it sounds so demeaning), I asked a query based on some posts which got me confused. Quote:
Originally Posted by ashwinpak __________0-100____20-80
---------------------------
Linea D____15.04s___11.86s
Punto D___ 17.84s___12.57s
Linea P____15.14s___14.04s
Punto P___ 16.58s___14.11s
Figures were taken from Autocar mag. | Quote:
Originally Posted by hiren.mistry Bought this months issue of Auto Bild yesterday and they have compared the i20 petrol (1.2), Punto (1.4) and Swift 1.3.
As per them the i20 is the fastest of the trio with a 0-100 time of 12.9 secs, followed by the Punto at 13.4 and Swift at 13.8 secs.
I will post the exact times once I reach home. Also the Punto has better in-gear acceleration times. What beats me though is the difference between Autocar India and Auto Bild. Are Auto Bild's drivers so much better than ACI or there is something that I am not able to comprehend?
Food for thought guys. | Quote:
Originally Posted by ashwinpak Auto Bild numbers make better sense. I checked Autocar again, and see that they have never done a test on the Punto 1.4, but have done on the 1.2. Interestingly in the table (in the back pages), 1.2 figures are missing while 1.4 figures are there. Now, the 1.2 figures in the test says that 0-100 takes 18 secs. Compare that with the 16.58 of the 1.4. There is something amiss here. I think 13.4 is a more realistic figure.
Coming to Overdrive, the tester also states that he did the tests in rain. He says that the rain has affected the figures (dunno how), and says that they will update the figures once they repeat the test in better conditions. | Quote:
Originally Posted by hiren.mistry I agree Auto Bilds figures are a lot more believable. Here are the accurate times for i20, Punto and Swift petrols.
Hyundai i20 1.2 Petrol Fiat Grande Punto 1.4 Petrol Suzuki Swift 1.3 petrol
0-100 kmph 12.9 secs 13.4 secs 13.8 secs
30-80 kmph in 3rd gear 11.3 secs 9.6 secs 12.6 secs
40-100 kmph in 4th gear 19.6 sec 17.0 secs 23.1 secs
Top speed 155 kmph 157 kmph 165 kmph |
Hence, I asked below query: Quote:
Originally Posted by VahanPujari Your experience raises another question - how far do we believe Auto Mags figures ? |
And here is the reponse to my post : Quote:
Originally Posted by diabloo If Punto with 17.x figures for 0-100 can have exhilarating experience, imagine those that do these figues in 13.x  |
Now, to me, which post makes more sense - this post or some of the other above posts? That's the beauty of this forum & I think I now know which one(s) 
Last edited by VahanPujari : 4th August 2009 at 18:16.
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