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The Hindu : y>Grand Vitara gets a powerful engine

Maruti Suzuki’s handsome SUV, the Grand Vitara, has finally got the firepower it deserves. Since its launch, the Grand Vitara’s weak two-litre, 120bhp motor affected the popularity ofthe car. The buzzy motor lacked refinement and tractability — something that Honda’s CR-V excelled in.

The Vitara has been pleading for a better engine, and now Maruti has fitted in a 2.4-litre that churns out a cracking 163.5bhp! There’s also a healthier 22.5kgm of torque to play around with. Apparently, the transmission has also been tweaked. So, we can’t wait to get our hands on the Vitara for a full test drive. The Grand Vitara’s foor-wheel drive system remains intact with the option to lock the differentials. The wheels have been upgraded to 17 inches. The grille at the front also sports some tweaks. On the inside you have a new multi-information display that amongst other things shows the driving range and the real-time fuel consumption.

The Grand Vitara retains its superb price tag even after the arrival of the new powerful engine.

The 4-speed automatic is on offer for Rs. 17.97 lakh and the 5-speed manual version for 16.67 lakh. (All prices ex-showroom Delhi).

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The Hindu : y>

Photo: AFPRemember the time The Dangerous tour

Since his death of a cardiac arrest on June 25, the world does not seem to have had enough with the king of pop, Michael Jackson. While TV channels are airing his smooth dance moves, radio is in a permanent loop with his chartbusting songs. Fox History & Entertainment joins the bandwagon with a tribute to Jackson.

The channel will showcase one of his most remarkable live concerts, Dangerous Tour, 1992 – Live In Bucharest, where he performed some of his biggest hits including “Thriller”, “Beat It”, “Billie Jean”, “Smooth Criminal”, and “Heal The World”.

The show will be telecast on Fox History and Entertainment on July 17 at 10.30 p.m.

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The Hindu :

Sportscar performance, diesel economy, four seats and a large boot, you won’t feel the need to complain about Audi A4 3.0TDI

From the exterior, only the 3.0-litre badge on the bootlid helps you tell the difference between this car and the regular A4 — even the wheels and tyres are the same size as on the A4 2.0 TDi. The badge symbolises the 2967cc V6 diesel, breathing through 24 valves, making 240bhp and a huge 51kgm of torque at 1500rpm. Audi’s famed Quattro all-wheel-drive system with a 40:60 front/rear split is standard makes sure all those horses are headed in the intended direction.

The torque on hand makes the car react like a racehorse out of the gates every time you stomp on the throttle pedal. It’s what makes it growl past the 100kph mark in just 6.7 seconds. It’s so quick, that it pretty much makes a light appetizer of the A4 3.2 petrol, eats the Porsche Boxster for lunch and makes dessert of the BMW 530d.

Our quest to find the fastest car meant we had to go through our road test archives. We found three — two are powered by big 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8s and one a supercharged 3.0-litre motor — all of which run on petrol.

This one is diesel, which means diesel running costs. It’s the result of taking the 240bhp 3.0-litre motor from the Q5 and slipping it into a car that is 175kg lighter. This means that the car can deliver a mighty knockout punch if needed to. Because it makes its torque so early in the rev band and has a six-speed auto instead of the Q5’s DSG, there’s almost no lag between you pressing the throttle and the car lunging ahead.

Acceleration is effortless. It will potter around town all day, and all it takes is a simple dab of the throttle to send the speedo…More

The Hindu : y>At Olive Beach

Glassy golf Knick-knacks

Olive Beach presents “Radio Cairo” on July 16. It is an evening of hypnotic music that promises to bring back the magic of the popular Flea by Nite, say the organisers. You can listen to music by DJ Iggy, and also treat yourself to an eclectic array of contemporary clothing and accessories, jewellery, home décor and gift items from the elegant to the absurd.

Some of the stalls at Radio Cairo will have Amanda Bachalli’s range of clothes, an NGO The Ants apparel and black pottery, and The Glasshopper’s stained glass work. In handmade jewellery you can pick from Ssara Idiculla’s brand Ssara Designs among others. Besides all this you can also treat yourself to some Mediterranean delicacies.

Radio Cairo is on July 16 between 8 p.m. and 11.30 p.m. at Olive Beach, Wood Street. For details call 41128400.

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The Hindu :

Uma Money invests her skills to help job searchers make winning CVs

Photo: Murali Kumar K.Professional guidance Uma takes into account the personality traits of the candidate

It is her second name that catches your attention. Ask her and Uma Money says: “There were many Subramaniams in our family. So my father changed his name to ‘Money’ . I have retained my maiden nameto be distinct.”

Uma runs her own company — Career Catalyst — where she and her team write out resumes for people.

Why resumes?“When I worked as a HR person for multinational companies, my job was to read CVs. And most of them did not present the candidates and their talents well. So, I decided to startmy company to help such people,” she replies.

How can someone who cannot write their own CV be capable of bigger things? “ It is just thatpeople do not give it so much importance. Resume is a brand statement of oneself. It helps you evoke calls from your dream companies. One has to be effective in presenting one’s capacity in that little document. People aretalented but don’t know how to put it across,” explains Uma, who started her company in ‘97.

She and her team have receiveda certification in résumé writing from a professionally acclaimed Résumé Writing Body “Professional Association of Résumé Writers (PARW)” based in the U.S.

“We had to take a test to get the assessment.Today, we also make resumes for those in the U.S., Asia Pacific, Europe and Middle East,” she adds.

Then she goes on to explainher job. “We take into account one’s nature of work,the number of promotions or his achievements. Most important isto understand the personality traits. Then we work togetherusing the client’slanguage structure and vocabulary.”

She charges between Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 3,500 for writing CVs.“In a week we do five CVs and also have some work sourced to us from China, Malaysia…More

The Hindu : y>Wherever in the world you go, you are sure to find an Indian, talking the language of the land and savouring his new home, writes Marianne de Nazareth

Indians as a race seem to be able to adapt to whichever country they choose to migrate to. If you fly to any part of the world, no matter how remote, there is a good chance of meeting an Indian who has not only settled in the country but can also speak the language of his adopted country fluently. Indians very often are welcomed by the countries they choose to set down roots in, because as a race we have a reputation of being hard working and dependable.

Danny Rodrigues, an Indian by descent born in Nairobi, left to study in Denmark in his twenties. Today, thirty years later, if it wasn’t for his dark hair and eyes, Danny could easily pass off for a Dane as he thinks and lives like one. “I came to Aarhus in the Sixties to study Physical Education (PE) and while teaching it, met Marie Anne who was one of my students and there hangs a tale,” he says with a grin.When in Rome…

Colleen Reuss left her native Vadodra in Gujarat, when she was a young woman, to set up home with Hubert, her husband of over 35 years, in Bavaria, Germany. Colleen today falters when she has to speak English, as German has become her first language. “We decided very early in the marriage that since we were living in Germany, the children would grow up as Germans. That however did not mean I cut off my Indian traditions. We travelled to India frequently for the children to meet my side of the family and strangely the children and Hubert prefer spicy Indian food rather than heavy German cuisine.”

Now living in California, Joy Chase says, “I remember…More

The Hindu : y>Car and bike questions? We have the answers

I have a Rs. 6-lakh to Rs. 6.5-lakh budget to buy a hatchback for weekend usage. I will drive around 50-60km. My priorities are it should be fun to drive, low on maintenance, and offer good fuel economy. I have the Hyundai i20 Asta and Fiat Grande Punto Emotion Pack in mind. Which one do you recommend and why?

Jinesh Gandhi

The Grande Punto diesel in Emotion Pack trim offers fuel economy (diesel) that meets your priorities of low-running costs. It is also more fun to drive than the i20 because the ride and handling are excellent, especially on bad roads. The Grande Punto is not as refined or well-finished as the i20 but it’s a solid, well-built car that will suit you.I drive a Mitsubishi Lancer but find it too large for Bangalore roads. I am sure I can do with a smaller car. I travel about 40km on weekdays and use the car for intra-city weekend drives to shopping malls with my wife, a four-year-old, and newborn twins. I need a premium-looking car that goes with my image of a senior manager. The running and maintenance costs should be less than Lancer. I have a budget of Rs. 8.5 lakh and intend to use the car for 4-5 years before upgrading. I would like to choose among Linea, Fusion 1.6+/TDCi+, Santro GLS, i10 1.2 Astra Sunroof A/T, Ritz ZXi, Fabia 1.4 TD1 Classic/1.4 Mpi Elegance, and, of course, the Honda Jazz.

Shilpu Kataria

Given the fact that you want a car that gives you status and image, nothing comes close to the Fiat Linea. It looks stunning, has a ‘big-car’ feel and is superior to your other hatchback options, in terms of space, comfort, ride and handling. Yes, Fiat’s service support is not as good as Maruti’s or Hyundai’s, but we believe it’s slowly…More

The Hindu : y>

An exhibition of jewellery is on at Leela Galleria. Chandana Shailendren from Hydrabad exhibits a range of couture jewellery under the trade name Originals. An array of precious stones combine with accenting tones on silver and gold, abounding in chic contemporary technique, weaving hues of sophistication in a combination of colours in casual and formal jewellery.

The jewellery will be on display till July 20 from 11.30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

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The Hindu : C.K. MEENA

Society Runners are in the news all the time. Why isn’t there an association for walkers?

Photo: K. GopinathanLeafy lane All avenues for pedestrians vanish under the wheels of development

The central government owes me Rs. 8000 plus change. I plan to send it a bill under the heading “Wilful obstruction to personal perambulation”. Or, to skip the official jargon, “Blocking my walking.”

The Department of Defence is the guilty party. Why I have had to incur such a large expense on its account is something I shall reveal at an easy pace. The pace at which one takes a pleasant evening stroll on beautifully paved roads that wind through a serene terrain covered with large trees amid which one can discern dully homogeneous government quarters, the sum total of which is designed to put the creative mind into a trance-like state that stokes the imagination. Wishful thinking? No, such an Eden does exist, east of where I live. It more than compensates for the lack of parks in the vicinity. I used to walk there but not anymore. Walkers are banned. Security reasons are cited but vehicles both public and private continue to have free access. The unfairness of it has been making me as mad as a caged tiger with an infected tooth.

Many of you perhaps share my fondness for walking. It has been a lifelong pleasure of mine, before it began to be called an activity, before it became part of the general fitness routine. Many of you perhaps frequent your neighbourhood park to do as many brisk laps as time permits, or to gently stretch your legs and relax on granite benches. I don’t do parks. I don’t do pathways. Most of my walking has been on thoroughfares. I like that word; it invites you to add “bustling” to it.

I’ll give you an example of the kind of…More

The Hindu : y>Mahindra Scorpio Hybrid now comes with the Start/Stop system that improves fuel efficiency, writes Hormazd Sorabjee

Photos:Ashley BaxterInnovative touch The Start/Stop system or micro hybrid, which costs a fraction, makes much more sense in the Indian context

Mahindra’s Start/Stop system developed jointly by Mahindra and Bosch is so good, it won Autocar’s Innovation of the Year award for 2009. After first testing this system — dubbed by Mahindra as the Micro Hybrid inthe Bolero — last year, we found no discernible improvement in fuel economy.

However, we knew this clever yet uncomplicated system had the potential to deliver significant fuel savings with a little bit of fine-tuning, and this time around, it’s been fitted to Mahindra’s flagship Scorpio.

The Start/Stop system functions through a very simple process. When the car is stationary and idling (in neutral with no foot on the clutch), the engine waits for a few seconds before switching off automatically. Press the clutch and before you can select first gear, the engine fires up and you are ready to go.

The logic isclear cut — switch off the engine and you burn no fuel — ask anycab driver!

The hardware is pretty compact and sits deep inside the engine bay. All it consists of is a beefed-up starter motor to cope with the stress of frequent starting, an uprated alternator and a stronger battery to handle the extra electrical load. The crankshaft sensor sends information to the ECU, which in turn decides when to start or stop the engine.

What’s crucial here is the interval between selecting neutral when stationary and the engine shutting down. In the Bolero we previously tested, Mahindra had set an agonising 10-second delay which proved too long even during rush-hour traffic as cars constantly inched forward; so remaining completely stationary for more than 10 seconds is not that frequent. Okay, clogged intersections and major junctions can keep you waitingfor…More