Tata Nano (the 1-lakh car)

Seldom do we see cars that rewrite the history books even before they are seen running around on the roads. And hardly ever do we see cars that vow to put the nation on four wheels. The Tata Nano is one such car – a car that has been in the news for quite a few years, for reasons good and evil. Nano is a car which has breathed into life due to one man. Give credit to Mr. Ratan Tata for his determination to build a low cost family car that has come true, finally! Took long it did, but the Nano came in a beautiful form. Touted as world’s cheapest car by a far cry, Nano has been the talk of the town around the globe. Head honchos of big organizations have been pouring in by numbers to have a look at this engineering masterpiece.

The engine is what has been the buzz word around the car. It is an all-aluminum two cylinder engine displacing 624cc with two valves per cylinder driven by a single overhead camshaft. The bore and stroke are nearly similar giving it a ‘square’ form. Making the Nano move will be the power of 33 horses which will peak out at 5500rpm while 48Nm of turning force will be supplied at a meager 2500rpm which should help the drivability of the car. The Nano will transmit its small amount of power via a 4-speed cable operated gearbox with the fourth being an overdriven ratio. Tata is working on developing an automatic gearbox as well but that will not be available when the car gets launched later this year. In addition to the 624cc petrol engine, the Indian auto giant might also bring out a common-rail diesel engine (700cc) which might be of the same architecture as the one seen on Tata Ace.

As it was famous, Tata’s One Lakh Car will not exactly be that. Not a one lakh rupee car it will be. The base version, when it will come to a parking halt will see you shed close to 1.2lakh while the one which will sit in between with some necessary creature comforts will be priced in the vicinity of 1.5lakh. The top end might retail for close to 2.0lakh, we speculate.

You want more information about nanocar logon

Quick Specs:
Price: 1.2lakh onwards
Engine: 624cc, in-line, twin-cylinder
Power: 34PS@5500rpm
Torque: 48Nm@2500rpm
Gearbox: 4-speed manual; Cable operated
Top Speed: 95-100kmph (Speculated)
Fuel Efficiency: 20kmpl (claimed)
Length: 3100mm
Width: 1500mm
Height: 1600mm
Wheelbase: 2230mm
Ground Clearance: 180mm
Fuel Tank Capacity: 15lt.
Kerb Weight: ~ 600kg.

Apple iPhone

Some great events bring on better gadgets and electronics, and the CES 2007 and Macworld have not disappointed us for sure. The Macworld this year presented Apple Inc., with a chance to showcase their new upcoming products and so they did. One of them is the Apple iPhone. Yes, the iPhone. The iPhone is in early stages yet and has even to obtain FCC approval, but the guys at Apple thought it would be reasonable to give it a big launch at the MacWorld.

The Apple iPhone is ofcourse a phone plus a widescreen iPod to put it in generic terms. It comes with a 3.5 inch widescreen display which provides a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. The screen uses Multitouch technology which is great and the iPhone has 4GB / 8GB of storage space. The iPhone can be operational with Quad-band GSM networks.

The iPhone supports Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, EDGE and Bluetooth v2.0 There is also a neat 2 Megapixel camera on this phone which is a nice to have. The device weighs close to 130 grams which is close to the other PDAs measuring 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches. The battery of the Apple iPhone lasts for a reported 16 hours of audio playback and 5 hours talk time.