[joslicx]

Originally Posted by kreddy

".....the boot space is surprisingly good and A-Star promises to swallow a fairly large amount of luggage, more than either the Zen Estilo or i10."

This is from November 2008 Overdrive magazine intial report of A-Star from Paris Motor Show.

Can we trust these auto journalists?

Probably the car they saw at Paris was a 2 seater

Otherwise boot is even smaller than Alto! Although I must say that since rear doors have provision for speakers so one can remove the real parcel tray and then one can even fit in one or two large cases (something not possible in Alto as generally we have speakers sitting on the rear parcel tray in Alto).

But no way is the boot bigger than i10 in any case.

[vivekji05]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

Well they are not head rests but as you rightly said head restraints, they are not there for resting the head while driving

May be that is the purpose but it does strain your neck muscles on long drives. Having nothing to lean my head to was a problem after 6 hours of driving.

Originally Posted by joslicx

Probably the car they saw at Paris was a 2 seater

Otherwise boot is even smaller than Alto! Although I must say that since rear doors have provision for speakers so one can remove the real parcel tray and then one can even fit in one or two large cases (something not possible in Alto as generally we have speakers sitting on the rear parcel tray in Alto).

But no way is the boot bigger than i10 in any case.

Exactly. The boot was small. The height of the bumper and large tail lights make loading it even more difficult

[drpullockaran]

From the Overdrive review we now know whose palms are greased.

[enter]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Oh Brilliant, now why dont you compare the Insurance figures of the lowest model i10 with A8* instead of what you have done above!
It fair to compare the A* with the i10 1.1 not 1.2 which is clearly a class above.

Absolutely... so you agree that we can only compare i10 1.1 (ERA) with A* and hence should not claim the following

1. i10 has more power.
2. i10 has better front leg room
3. i10 is much more refined.
4. i10 has FE comparable to A*
5. A* has less insurance cost than i10

On the other hand.

1. A* is 35 K cheaper than i10 (including discounts, ex-delhi)
2. A* has less boot space and comparable back leg room.
3. A* has better looks( according to me)
4. A* might have better second hand sales. (according to me)

Now you decide..

[Gangsta]

Originally Posted by carboy

Are the emergency brakes also on the ABS system?

Emergency brakes are not some kinda brakes. Brake hard as you can = Emergency brakes. ABS car wont ever skid, But this car can skid.

[Ashpillai]

I must admit that this is has been by far a very comprehensive analysis of a new car. But I have felt the overall vibes leaning towards dissapointment and negative........

I however am of the view that A* might actually be a very well thought out product.

1. You see, majority of the reviews of any car on an enthusiast site will tend to take the car apart and put a microscope on every part. This scrutiny will tend to be skeptical (if not biased) from the very begining if the car is another addition to a segment that is not aimed for the enthusiast or the innovator (which majority of you are...the fact that you are here is an indication).

2. The market however does not behave like an enthusiast....... Just imagine what percentage of the auto market will have the parameters of choice and the perceptions of what can be considered "good" as those of my friends at Team - BHP??? I personally remember, I used to consider Indica a really bad car and so did most of the enthusiasts I knew, but the market success of the car belied us. there are so many examples of auto products that do well in the market despite being pronounced bad by experts.

3. Please consider the following set of questions.....

How does an average Indian buy a car? What are the considerations that go into the decision making? What weight is assigned to which parameter? Where will the average middle class buyer look for info? Which source of info does he assign most credibility to? Who in his or her family will influence the decision and by what extent? Where is the buyer located? How old? Male or Female? Ist or IInd car? Education? Driving patterns?.......................... There can be a hundred others....

What I am trying to say (maybe needlessly) is that whenever a new car is launched, it is assumed that the organizational think tank has considered these...... Moreover a new product is never merely a combination of features and price points (there is something called conjoint analysis for that).... A new product like A* is an integral marketing package of which the features price, the message (whatever they will say in the ads), distribution (where all is it being made available), Brand.......

In short, A* is very definitely "a car" and yes, it is perfectly valid to debate the desirability of its features......... But A* is a "Consumer Solution" too...... and in India, the success of a consumer product will be decided by the market!!

Imagine, Kinetic was launched for Guys!!!!

[rjvora_2000]

Originally Posted by Gangsta

Emergency brakes are not some kinda brakes. Brake hard as you can = Emergency brakes. ABS car wont ever skid, But this car can skid.

Spot on. this is true.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by Gangsta

ABS car wont ever skid, But this car can skid.

I dont know if it is completely true that ABS car wont skid!
I drove a Ford Taurus in US that had ABS. While taking a turn at 35 or 40 mph it did skid when I had to brake hard to avoid a collision! And I had an accident coz of that as I hit another car!!!

[Gangsta]

Originally Posted by joslicx

I dont know if it is completely true that ABS car wont skid!
I drove a Ford Taurus in US that had ABS. While taking a turn at 35 or 40 mph it did skid when I had to brake hard to avoid a collision! And I had an accident coz of that as I hit another car!!!

Thats really strange. I had very hard braking in my Accent and Elantra many times on the highway. few times 150+ kmph hard braking on elantra. Accent 120+ kmph many times. Both the cars never skids and infact 3-4 times, i did steer the car hard while braking and in full control.

Car may skids because u were taking the turn, all wheel ABS in ford taurus? EBD or BAS for proper distribution of the braking force? Dynamics were different while taking the turn, i.e the direction of the momentum. At a turn it happens with me once, a stupid swift guy stopped his car while taking the turn and i had to brake hard but thankfully nothing skidding happens. I steered the car while braking and saved.

Anyways, Sorry for the offtopic guys.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by Gangsta

Emergency brakes are not some kinda brakes. Brake hard as you can = Emergency brakes. ABS car wont ever skid, But this car can skid.

"Emergency brakes" is actually a term used to refer to the hand brakes
of the car.

Check
Emergency brake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[isodope]

Originally Posted by finneyp

People in cities do shopping as well, so they will need decent boot space as well!
Unless, you want only couples or singles to buy this car, then they can dump all the bags in the rear seat.

I agree - but we don't shop everyday, do we? On the other hand, this parking business...

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by isodope

I agree - but we don't shop everyday, do we? On the other hand, this parking business...

I think requirements of junta from cities like Delhi would be quite different from smaller cities like say Agra! In Delhi people have multiple cars (both husband and wife working and using cars to commute) etc which is different from smaller cities. There people dont usually drive to work but use cars for shopping or for tours etc. Thats why some people here are more interested in bashing smaller boot of A*

[i10]

Originally Posted by kreddy

".....the boot space is surprisingly good and A-Star promises to swallow a fairly large amount of luggage, more than either the Zen Estilo or i10."

This is from November 2008 Overdrive magazine intial report of A-Star from Paris Motor Show.

Can we trust these auto journalists?

Unless I am mistaken, the car shown in the Motor Show and the one that has finally been launched are actually quite different. The engine has been retained, but most of the looks, barring the headlights have been done away with.

[Gangsta]

Originally Posted by carboy

"Emergency brakes" is actually a term used to refer to the hand brakes
of the car.

Check
Emergency brake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thank you for telling me, then when a person do a very hard braking under emergency situation, what it is called?

"Hard braking under emergency situations"? i think we CAN use the keyphrase "emergency brakes" instead of writing "Hard braking under emergency situations" again and again and i think i used KEYPHRASE instead of TECHNICAL TERM , as in my previous post i had mentioned already about the KEYPHRASE used by me.

Originally Posted by i10

Unless I am mistaken, the car shown in the Motor Show and the one that has finally been launched are actually quite different. The engine has been retained, but most of the looks, barring the headlights have been done away with.

That was a concept car dude.

[greenhorn]

@ gangsta, why not just 'emergency braking' . they need not be the same as emergency brakes !