VR Tech Times

Among all Bajaj-made Triumph 400s, the Tracker and Thruxton are the two motorcycles with the engine in its higher state of tune, which produces 40hp at 8,750rpm and 32Nm of peak torque at 7,500rpm. We were recently able to subject it to our instrumented performance tests, and here’s how it fared. 350cc Triumph Tracker 400: Acceleration The Tracker was tested in dry conditions Acceleration Time (seconds) 0-60kph 3.05s 0-80kph 4.86s 0-100kph 7.55s The engine’s power delivery is linear now compared to the previous 398cc mill, which had a rather strong low- and mid-range. The meat of the power comes in after 6,000rpm and pulls cleanly till the redline. The bike feels tractable enough to cruise at lower speeds in higher gears, making it fun and easy to ride in the city. A comfortable cruise with the engine in its sweet spot in 6th gear comes in around 90-100kph. 350cc Triumph Tracker 400: Roll-on acceleration The engine produces 40hp at 8,750rpm and 32Nm of peak torque at 7,500rpm Roll-o...

When most Indians picture a Yamaha RD350 , a bike that looks like a UJM (Universal Japanese Motorcycle) with an air-cooled, twin-cylinder motor comes to mind. This was the bike on sale in India in the ‘80s via the Escorts licensing agreement, and it cemented Yamaha’s reputation as a maker of seriously fast motorcycles. However, during the same era, in global markets, there was a completely different bike being sold bearing the RD350 nameplate, crucially with an LC suffix (informally) attached to it. This version was never officially sold in India and packed a more powerful liquid-cooled motor, a sportier chassis and very different styling. What you see here is that very bike and, as you’ll read, this is quite a different animal to the air-cooled RD.   Genesis At the end of the air-cooled RD’s lifecycle, Yamaha must have realised that while it was undoubtedly violently quick, it was also like wielding a double-edged sword – the rider could get hurt when putting its power down. Tam...

Our long-term Alcazar has done all sorts of jobs since it joined the fleet. City runs, airport pickups, the odd weekend getaway. But nothing quite like what it was asked to do recently. It had to play support car for our camera crew shooting a feature on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, and that meant a 2,700km round trip between Mumbai and Delhi with barely a day’s rest in between. I wasn’t driving the entire way myself, and the Alcazar was only handed over to me in Delhi by one of our drivers. His enthusiasm to ask me if we needed him to drive it back to Mumbai was a testament of how impressed he really was with the Alcazar. Folded third row frees up a lot of space for luggage. The brief was simple. The Alcazar had to carry three crew members and all their camera gear along with all our luggage. This is exactly the kind of job our Alcazar has proven good at before, and it didn’t disappoint this time either. With the third row folded flat, the boot swallowed almost everything. The capta...

The Keeway EZI Hypevolt-R is a premium step-through electric scooter that arrives in India as a CKD product, sold through Benelli and Keeway dealerships. It is the first product from EZI, Keeway's electric sub-brand, to reach our market. In our time with the scooter, we found it to be a genuinely capable product with some real strengths, but also a few areas that need attention. Reasons to buy the Keeway EZI Hypevolt-R Genuinely strong performance The Hypevolt-R's most pleasant surprise is how quick it is. With a 12kW motor and a 5.04kWh dual-battery pack, it manages the 0-80kph sprint in 7.49 seconds and 0-100kph in 13.05 seconds in Sport mode, which is genuinely impressive for an electric scooter. Three riding modes – Eco (45kph), Normal (81kph) and Sport (115kph) – give it useful versatility. Normal mode is the sweet spot for everyday use, offering enough punch for overtakes while preserving range. In our testing, riding mainly in Normal mode, we covered 125km on a charge. ...

The Mercedes-Benz GLC EV you see here is not merely an electric derivative of the GLC you and I are familiar with. It’s built on an all-electric platform, and it’s longer, wider, and built on a slightly larger wheelbase than the GLC. And it also does 0-100kph in just 4.3 seconds. The big news is that it’s coming to India by the end of the year. There’s lots to talk about, so let’s go one by one. Mercedes-Benz GLC EV Exterior Design and Engineering - 8/10 Large new grille reminiscent of older Mercs Let’s talk styling first, and what catches your attention up front is this large new grille. It’s very different from what we’ve seen of Mercs of late, but it actually has a link to Mercs of old. The upright grille is styled to look like the one on iconic models like the W112 S-Class, but there’s a lot of modernity built into it as well. There are 942 lighting elements in it! Talking of lighting, the three-pointed star on the nose glows and there’s a tri-star DRL pattern in the headlights to...