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We are kicking off 2022 with the 100th issue of evo India magazine. To celebrate we have 10 epic adventures with all sorts of cars and motorcycles — from hitting the track in Lamborghini’s most potent Huracan yet, to taking the Thar deep in to the Himalayas, riding the XPulse to meet C S Santosh and doing a holiday road trip in an EV — there’s an adventure in here for every single kind of car and bike enthusiast. We’ve also banged in the first, exclusive laps of the new CoASTT track with the i20 N Line, took the land-speed record shattering Octavia out for a spin, drive the Bentley Continental GT on the Targa Florio route, head to the desert in a fleet of Mahindras, and retrace the Himalayan Rally route to pay homage to Nazir Hoosein.
That’s not all, we’ve also got reviews of the Volkswagen Tiguan, Skoda Kodiaq, Audi Q7, Lexus ES 300h and BYD e6. On two wheels, we’ve ridden the epic Ducati Multistrada V4 S, delved deep in to the workings of adjustable suspension, checked out the new accessorised Bajaj Dominars and put Ceat’s claims of a puncture-resistant tyre to the test. Spoiler alert: they work!
All this and so much more in the January 2022 issue of evo India!
The fourth SUV that was promised to us at Auto Expo is here and with a petrol engine only! The 5-seater Tiguan gets the usual facelift updates with refreshed styling and more tech inside. But does it have what it takes to draw in someone looking for a solid 5-seater SUV?
The changes are far from drastic — it gets a mildly refreshed front end, a tweaked rear end but the big change is on the inside with the addition of a touchscreen and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. We take this opportunity to get behind the wheel and find out if you should be picking the hybrid Lexus over a German luxury sedan!
Much like the Tiguan, the Kodiaq gets a facelift and drops the TDI engine in favour of a TSI. But there’s a lot going on underneath the skin as well — there are dynamic dampers and that significantly changes the way the L&K drives. Does the Kodiaq make for a better proposition than the Toyota Fortuner? Find out in our review!
BYD’s first stab at a passenger vehicle — an all-electric car with an impressive claimed range of over 500km on a single charge. This MPV is all set to lock horns with the Toyota Innova in the commercial vehicle space, offering fleet operators and cab drivers an EV alternative. Is it worth the near Rs 30 lakh asking price? We find out.
After a brief hiatus the Audi Q7 is back! It gets a fresh face and an updated interior architecture. But more importantly, in line with the VW Group’s petrol-only strategy, it comes packing a V6 petrol engine and gets luxury and features worthy of a flagship. Audi is back on song and how!
With the Huracan line-up all set to make way for a hybrid platform, Lamborghini has given it a swan-song in the STO. Essentially a hardcore RWD track car to go head-to-head with the GT department cars from Porsche, the Huracan STO is Lambo’s most hardcore version of the baby supercar yet. We have a go in it at the Buddh International Circuit.
While adoption of EVs are increasing in our cities, the biggest apprehension around them is can you do a road trip in them. A legitimate concern, with the underdeveloped charging infrastructure in India. Hence, we put our investigative journalism caps on and drove the 500km from Pune to Goa to find out.
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From Mumbai to Coimbatore on this edition of the GID, we meet the movers and shakers in the Indian motorsport scene, discover what Mumbai Falcons is all about, talk about how young drivers and engineers are trained, and then we put in the very first laps of the CoASTT race track in Coimbatore!
The Octavia is an enthusiast’s car, but how far can you stretch that definition? Here’s one that has been tuned for outright speed. 10 years ago, evo took it to the Bonneville salt flats and clocked a 365kmph top speed on it. We get reacquainted with this monster at a high speed bowl in the UK
The Targa Florio is a legendary road race — the race may have been discontinued but the roads are still around. We drive through Italy, take the ferry to Sicily and then drive the Targa Florio in a Bentley Continental GT.
To celebrate Max Verstappen winning the F1 world championship with a Honda-powered car, we revisit Honda’s most iconic car (and engine!) in India — the Gen 1 City VTEC, and bring along the modern Honda City for company! In this world of forced induction, Honda still champions the naturally aspirated engine and it is a hugely refreshing experience driving it.
An epic adventure in Rajasthan — we take a fleet of Mahindras including XUV700s, Thars, Scorpios and Bolero Neos to explore Jawai and the the sands of Jaisalmer. From covering long distances on the highway, to off-roading in the dunes, and mingling with like-minded enthusiasts, the Royal Escape was a great way to bring in the new year.
We retrace the route taken by the iconic Himalayan Rally to pay homage to Nazir Hoosein, the man behind it all. Nazir was a legend, shaping the motorsport scene in India between the ’70s and 2010. He passed away last year, and this was a tribute to the man in the mountains that put India on the motorsport map.
Possibly the wildest ADV on sale in the country today — the Multi gets the V4 engine from the Panigale, coupled with a new chassis, electronic suspension, a suite of electronic aids and even radar-based rider aids and safety systems. We headed out on a ride from Pune to Mumbai — a familiar route, but made incredibly exciting courtesy of this motorcycle.
The Xpulse 4V brings incremental changes over the 2V, and to find out if they really make a difference to the riding experience, we took it on an adventure from Pune to the Big Rock Dirt Park on the outskirts of Bangalore. Once there, we took part in the trail attack — putting both the bike’s on-road and off-road ability to the test, and catching up with CS Santosh while we were at it!
The Apache RR310 now gets fully adjustable suspension — TVS is democratising the technology by bringing it in at an aggressive price point. But what does adjustable suspension do and how does it work? What do the terms preload, rebound and compression really mean? We break it down for you in this story.
Ceat claims that these tyres are resistant to punctures — a sealant under the surface quickly plugs in any holes and keeps air inside the tyres. We put this claim to the test by slapping the tyres on to a TVS Radeon and riding them over a bed of nails!
There’s no point having a Mahindra Thar in the evo India fleet if you aren’t heading out on adventures! Last month, we took our Thar to Keran, a village along the PoK in the northern reaches of Kashmir — it is incredibly inaccessible, but quite the spectacle at the same time. You can see people across the line of control and even read the number plates of cars passing by on that side, you are that close.
This month, we profile Horsepower cartel — a channel dedicated to the super car culture in Mumbai — making this exclusive culture a lot more accessible and relatable. It also has a cool collection of cars including an E93 M3, Nissan 300ZX, M5 and an Evo IV.
The BMW M2 Competition was always a brilliant car — offering thrills and involvement right from the get go. Here’s an example that has got a minor bump in performance courtesy of an air filter and exhaust, along with an expansive list of carbon fibre parts to make it lighter and more desirable. Oh, and it’s green. What’s not to love!
