When one of your favorite car gets better!

Ok, so there are conflicts in my own mind to decide which my favorite car is! I adore the Mercedes SLS AMG, which along with the Range Rover Evoque, is my dream car. But they are not my favorite, there is an obvious difference. My favorite cars right now are, hand over heart, BMW 320d SportLine, Mercedes A180 Sport and the Maruti Suzuki Swift. I can call them all my favorites because I have driven them all. And I have a special place for the BMW 520d too!

The DRLs, yay!

Now the news is that the Japanese are making the existing awesome car even better. They introduced this new Swift DJE at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show. Now "DJE" stands for Dual Jet Engine, and that is awesome because that is Formula 1 technology we are talking about. This uses jet engine sort of stuff instead of a turbocharger (this technology is interesting, I will explain this tech in a post soon) which increases not only the fuel economy, but also makes the car powerful! And as a result of this, the car gives about 26 kmpl. Now when I drive my Swift, I get about 25-26 kmpl, but there is a difference. I have a Diesel, this is Petrol! So 26 kmpl in a petrol car, from a 1.2 liter K-series Suzuki engine, it is astonishing.

And I thought you can't make it better, bleh!

Now the engine is the actual party piece, and along with the Regenerative Braking Technology and Idling Start/Stop System, the car is as advanced as you can get, but there are a few other features that are added too!

If that badge comes in India, expect people to stare at it!

The car gets Paddle Shifters, Daytime Running LEDs, a Push button Start/Stop button (i20, Micra, Pulse already have it) and a feature that I want in my life, A color changing instrument console! The color of the unit changes as per the throttle inputs, so you know that when it is red, you are driving like a mad guy.

The changes between the normal one and the DJE!

Expecting that these features actually do come in India, expect the Engine option to follow the other cool features. We already expect these cosmetic changes along the Push button Start/Stop button to come to India next year, and the engine, well, maybe later! I know that my love with the Swift will surely break once I drive the Polo GT TSI, but until then, the New Swift, come fast please, I love you! :D

That instrument panel, please take my money right now!

That is not the car that might come to India, but please give us a 90HP Sport version, with those headlamps and grills, PLEASE?

Mercedes STARDRIVE Experience, Buddh International Circuit!

Have you ever thought of something that is more awesome than the most awesome thing you have ever done? Well I never did, but Mercedes (a company that makes just cars that are superb, but I find hard to like apart from the new A-class and the SLS AMG) made me experience that.

Now I have driven a lot of cars, manual, automatic, fast, slow, everything. But never did I experience all that in one day. It all started when I read this advertisement in HT CITY about the event, and my first step was to go online and register. I had my e-mail already registered, which was weird, but when I checked the mail, I saw a confirmation for the event. One point to Mercedes! :D

The paddock club, filled with enthusiastic people!

Now came the day, 9th November, time slot- 12-2pm. I left home at about 9:30, because I was just excited. I had a word with Mr. Roshun at Cartoq, who was equally enthusiastic about the event and even sent the Video Editor, Mr. Angad to cover the event. All awesome things happening, and my friend, Rehan (the Nokia 808 PureView genius) was there to shoot the still too!

When we reached the Mecca of speed in India, The Buddh International Circuit, we could easily see that the event is no small deal here. We entered, registered, and we could hear tires squealing like a young chick on a roller-coaster. What that was, scariest driving s*** on earth. Anyhow, a series of events were involved.

THE BRIEFING-

The Paddock Club, just $5500 for the race weekend

When we went inside the PADDOCK CLUB (intentionally capitalized, it's a bloody $5500 ticket for the F1 weekend) and were offered juices and mojitos and stuff, but the thing that caught my eye was the beautiful girls handing people gadgets that made you look like Cyclops out of X-Men, literally. The "goggles" were for viewing a 8 minute video demonstrating the automotive brilliance of Mercedes. After the video, and stuffing ourselves with what can be described as the best food I have tasted in a long time, our next session awaited.

THE SLALOM-

Not a point where you braked!

A slalom is basically a zig-zag between obstacles. But a slalom in a Mercedes C250 CDI Avantagarde is a different thing all together. It was a contest, clock in a time worthy for a top 10 in a two hour slot, and the prize was awesome. Anyway, we just had to do it, the prize was tempting. So seeing the others do it made me nothing other than nervous. Then I spotted a guy is a racing suit who was going to be driving around too for the event. I went to him, and asked for tips because he turned out to be a Rally driver with experience more than my age. He told me not to use the brake for except on place in the slalom course, and my time could be competitive.

If you crossed the cones, you were simply disqualified

The dropped cones pointed in the direction of the track!

 Making strategies, and standing in cues, hearing tortured tires (because some people think it's cool because it is not their car, it's Douchie) and hearing times like 23 seconds, my nervousness kicked in. My turn, no people in my car but the instructor, I started my reference lap, and stopped in the middle, the seat was too far. My lap started, braking once, and the lap over. I came out, 21 seconds! YES YES YES! Did a small Vettel-like gesture 'coz I just knew the prize was mine. But first, the next event.

Getting to the start after a sighting lap of the course

THE SUV EXPERIENCE-

The car was like a see-saw, and the power went to the wheel with maximum traction

With the maximum traction to the front right and rear left, off went the GL!

 You get in a 90 lac Mercedes GL, last thing that comes to your mind is taking it off-road, right? Not if you are an Indian, but yes if you are me. Off-roading is awesome. Another Rally champion showed us the various off-road features like EDR, 45 degree hill ascent and descent, 30 degree inclination stability due to the low ground clearance, etc. The experience was good, and the car lived up to its promises.

The 45 degree hill descent

The 30 degree slant-stability, the car didn't move an inch

PRE-SAFE SESSION-

Remember the tire squeal? I am going to let the video speak up. Coming soon!

THE PRIZE, E250 CDI ON THE CIRCUIT!

At the end of the 3 lap session, you park where the champions once did, not long ago

Didn't get it? Really? Of course you did. 5 people a time, with another Rally Champion in the lead car (Mercedes C250) instructing us where to turn, the apexes, how wide to turn, how fast to go, where to brake and everything, and telling me (car 3) "good job car 3" three times, once when I passed the place where I spun during the track day, it was just so overwhelming. And the car, I secretly turned on the "S" mode and turned off "ECO", and it was like driving something with fire on its bottom. You pressed the accelerator, and the car went fast (one time, I was warned to maintain the 2 car-length difference from the car ahead). The only let down? The gear box, it changed a bit too late considering the Sport mode, but overall, the handling, the steering and the comfort, awesome.

The second car in the pic, I was in it! :D

To summarize then, amazing day and all thanks to a company that is now one of my favorites, MERCEDES-BENZ!