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Friday, December 17, 2010

malayalam cinema in 80s

The 1980s were known as the golden age of malayalam cinema . During that decade there were numerous films which were great commercial success as well as was well directed and realistic (film is fantasy but see the 80s films to know what i mean ). Mohanlal and Mammootty became superstars today because of their classy perfomances in this era . But equally there were a number of actresses who gave great perfomances in films of that era .
Shobana in " kanamarayathu " showing the innocence as well as rebelliousness that teenage stands for , Suhaasini who gives love to the unloved rahman in koodevide , Karthika in the young doctor who falls in love with her patient in thaalavattom ,
Urvashi in thalayanamanthram to cite a few .

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

test drive maruti K10

Last week i was in kerala on vacation . I was waiting for a test drive of the newly released maruti alto with Kseries engine called Alto K10.
The demo car arrived at my home in trivandrum and the new alto was beautiful /handsome . I dont know what to say about a car as it doesnt have gender . With the new grille the car looks nice unlike the old alto which has plain looks .
The rear also looks nice .

The interiors are not stunning . seats are a little improved with a headrest . The drivers comfort can be best said as "fair "only . Tall drivers will find it a little uncomfortable .
Rear legroom is just ok and the ride quality is average .

Perfomance : Here i cant help but compare it with my ex-girlfriend ( maruti zen 2002 model) . this new alto was supposed to be a rocket like the old zen but here it disappointed me . I floored the accelerator expecting for squealing tyres but nothing happened other than a slow acceleration . It didnt feel like the claimed 0-100 kmph of 13.3 seconds but felt like an average perfomer. It was more peppier than the old alto but that was it ....period . The zen of yesteryears was a true rocket in the pocket .

Gearbox was another disappointment . The shifts were at best ok only nowhere near the good old zen where gear changing was a breeze . Brakes were good however .

Around corners (i did one tight cornering ) it performed well . I had read in some car magazines that there was lot of understeer but i felt it was fairly neutral in handling and powersteering was good too .

With a price of around 3.5 lakhs on the road it is fairly value for money but has tough competition from many cars at slightly higher prices .

My overall rating ( im biased i like drivers cars )
perfomance 6 out of 10 only
handling 7 out of 10
looks 7 out of 10
interiors 6 out of 10
value for money 6 out of 10
Overall verdict -----Ok nothing spectacular . My ex-girlfriend was spectacular ---the zen 2002 model ......and its not going to be ex at least for now ....its still with me ......