© 2006-2017 Kasturi & Sons Ltd. -Rishad Saam -rishadm@gmail.com -

Audi Q7 40 TFSI out on September 1This September, Audi will add a petrol variant to its Q7 line-up. Badged the Q7 40 TFSI, this version of the Q7 is poweredby a 252hp 2.0-litre petrol engine that is paired to an eight-speed gearbox; all-wheel drive will be standard.The Q7 40 TFSI is expected with the same kit as its dieselcounterpart, including Audi’s ‘Parking System Plus’ with360-degree surround-view camera, automatic LEDheadlamps, air suspension, Audi’s virtual cockpit, a 12.3-inchtouchscreen display and a panoramic sunroof.The seven-seater SUV will rival large, premium luxury SUVslike the Jeep Grand Cherokee petrol, Mercedes-Benz GLS400, BMW X5 35i and the Land Rover Discovery 3.0 L Petrol.

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LAUNCHPAD

Just the day before I was supposedto pick my car up at the Avis Renta Car centre in Miraflores — a sub-urb of Lima — the system errorshowed my booking as cancelled.

Long story short: instead of anautomatic and reasonably power-ful Toyota RAV4, I was now be-hind the wheel of a three- or four-year-old 1.6-litre Nissan Versa formy 22-day road trip around Peru.The girls at the Budget Rent a Carcounter, two blocks from Avis,where I had run in desperation soas to avoid my meticulously-planned road trip fading away intooblivion like the Inca culture, hadgently steered me towards themanual version of the car. Theroute I was planning to drive wentto altitudes above 10,000 feet attimes. The basic automatic gear-box and the clutch found on autoversions in the class of the car Icould afford at the last minute,might baulk and burn respectively.

Hence, after nearly five years ofroad adventures around the globe,where I have been pampered byintuitive modern cars (read: autolights, auto wipers, adaptive cruisecontrol, in-built apps, Bluetoothsync, advanced rapid change autogearboxes and a plethora ofcreature comforts), here I wasstanding in a dusty parking lot inLima, looking at a car that lookedlike a flashback to the 20th cen-tury.

The next day…I started my journey down theCarrera Panamericana Sur/Route1S and began to realise the idio-syncrasies of this Nissan Versa.The steering wheel was a little mis-aligned, and if I wanted to keepthe car in a straight line, the steer-

ing wheel needed to be in a 2 o’c-lock position, instead of deadcentre at 12. But my main concernwas the clutch, and thankfully,that showed no sign of fade or slip-page. By law, Peru requires that allcars run with headlights on, but atthe first gas station I topped up in,when I tried to crank the engine tolife with the lights still on, the bat-tery sort of groaned in protest. SoI switched off the headlights, star-ted the car, and forgot to switchthem on again.

Ten clicks later, the PeruvianHighway Patrol pulled me over.They didn’t speak English and Ionly spoke Swedish Spanish, as inAbba’s ‘Hasta Manana’, but I man-aged to convey my road trip planby pointing to my map. They werevery impressed that I was doingthis all alone and hence one ofthem reached into the car,switched on my lights, waggled anindex finger at me and waved mealong. The Carrera Panamericanaall the way from Lima to Nazca isan easy-peasy drive. Sparsely traf-ficked and with a speed limit of90kph (forgiveable to 110), here Icould stick the Nissan into its rudi-mentary cruise control mode, surfFM channels and enjoy the bossanova.

The way aheadIt was on the roads beyond that —approximately 2,200km — thattook me on a circuit, from Nazcato Arequipa to Puno to Cusco to

Abancay and back to Nazca, thatthe fun started at the wheel. FromNazca, the road hit the coastalmountains and then snaked in-land towards the creased andcrumpled topography of SouthernPeru. Since my car was a manual,cruise control couldn’t changegears for me, so once the rpmslipped below the power band, thetorque would wither away anddie. What I thought would be afrustration actually turned out tobe quite invigorating. On thosetwisty mountain roads skirting thedeep blue Southern Pacific, mymain ‘competition’ were slowtrucks snaking their way up in-clines and braking their way downdeclines. With modern cars, all Iwould have needed to do wasmash the accelerator and the carwould find the right gear and thesweet spot and overtake with aburst of power.

This car needed a sort of bur-eaucratic procedure. If I was in ahigh gear and low revs, first Ineeded to shift down to get therevs up and the engine into thepower band. The gearbox wasn’texactly precise, so sometimes thefifth would slide into the 4th in-stead of the 2nd as I had intended.Now, with some grunt being gen-erated in the crankcase, I wouldease out and pull alongside thetruck that, thanks to my slowspeed and its long length, feltmore train than truck. Theanaconda of fear would start toslide in my stomach, whenhalfway past the truck, anothertruck — or worse still, a fast-mov-ing car — would come around thecorner, blazing its lights in right-eous indignation to find my littleNissan blocking its way.

Then, my move of desperationwould be to kill the air condition-

ing that would win me a littlemore power so that I could over-take and get back into my lane.

My learning process for this wasthe drive to Arequipa. Ahead ofme lay mountainous 8-hour drivesto Cusco and then over the mightyAndes to Abancay and back toNazca.

I found…The more I tackled these roadswith this car, never mind its whim-sical wheezing and intermittentbaulking, the more I started torealise that I was actually startingto enjoy using my dormant drivingskills. My ears could tell from thesound of the engine when it wasmaking most power and thathelped me plan my overtakingmoves with greater efficiency. Ittook me back to the time of Fiatsand carburettors from my teens,when the joy was just in using skilland precise gear changing tosqueeze out the maximum speedfrom a car.

Added to that, every road that Idrove in Peru was baby-bottomsmooth, well marked and ergo-nomically designed. I think I musthave come across just about 5kmof bad stretches in 3000km. Theviews were just breathtaking, be-cause in June, with no rain andclear, blue skies, it is a great timeto be on the road in Peru.

By the time I did the drive fromCusco to Abancay and Nazca, overthe mighty Andes, this little carand I were on song. Its quirks andqueers were second-nature to menow. On cheeky overtakingmoves, my feet played the pedalslike the fingers of a piano virtuososkimming the ivories of a Steinway& Sons, keeping the engine in thatrev range so that all the horses inthe crankcase were at full gallop.

Back to basicsHow Peru’s stunning vistas, smooth roads and well-behaved tra�c brought back the joy of driving a manual

:: Rishad Saam Mehta

CMYK

BG-BG

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Bengaluru ● Wednesday ● August 30, 20170

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Triumph Street Scrambler at ₹8.10 lakhThe latest addition to Triumph’s India line-up comes in theform of the Street Scrambler. This retro-style motorcycle isthe more off-road-friendly version of the Street Twin and ispriced at ₹8.10 lakh (ex-showroom, India). It sports a bigger,19-inch front wheel and runs on spoked rims, and dual-purpose Metzeler Tourance tyres.Triumph has also replaced the Street Twin’s low, dual side-slung exhausts with a high, bent-pipe that sits just below theseat. The Scrambler also gets a split-seat set-up; the pillionseat is removable. The new Street Scrambler is powered bythe same 54hp 900cc, parallel-twin engine as the StreetTwin. However, the motor has been tuned to make a peaktorque of 80Nm at lower RPMs. This member of theBonneville range takes on the Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled.

Bajaj CT100 Electric Start variant inshowrooms nowBajaj Auto’s entry-level commuter motorcycle, the CT100, isnow available with electric start. This new CT100 ES Alloy hasbeen launched at an introductory price of ₹38,806 (ex-showroom, India). The CT100 ES Alloy is powered by a 7.7hp,102cc, single-cylinder engine that is mated to a four-speedgearbox. Besides the electric-start feature, the CT100 alsogets a new fuel gauge, flexible side indicators and an extra-long seat. The manufacturer claims a fuel economy of 90kpland a top speed of 90kph. CT100 Alloy (₹36,521) andCT100B (₹32,028) in kick-start versions will continue to sellalongside the new variant.

I bought my first car, aparrot-green Maruti 800,in 1994, when I was amarketing manager forEnergizer batteries inDelhi. I loved the free-dom and driving aroundthe city. I became amuch better driver,mainly on account of thenumerous trips I took inthe car. Driving in Delhiin the 1990s was muchmore comfortable; thetraffic was not thisbad and the roadswere nicer.

One of my fond-est memoriesabout the car wasmeeting my futurewife, going out tothe cinema and eat-ing food from jointslike Rajinder Da

Dhaba. We used to go forlong drives to nearbytourist spots in the car. Ienjoyed driving it even inthe hottest Delhi sum-mers, because it was oneof the few air-conditionedmodels of the time. I wasvery proud of the

vehicle, since it wasthe first major

purchase Ihad

How I met your motherAuthor Christopher C Doyle on the romance of long drives

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MY FIRST WHEELS

made with my ownmoney. I took good careof it and it didn’t give memuch trouble.

Times have changednow: I write books along-side my regular job and Itrust my driver to takeme places. I own twocars and am very fond ofmy Suzuki SUV, though Idon’t drive it much. I amnot a huge fan of drivingin traffic. Driving it is notthe same as the old

Maruti, and I stillmiss it. It remainsa reminder of a

simpler timewhen life wasnot very complic-

ated andmaterialistic.

As told to NikhilVarma

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Driving in the1990s was muchmore comfortable;the tra�c was notthis bad and theroads were nicer

Suzuki has given its litre-class superbike an update

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Yash and Atharv arecooking for the world

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R&B singer-songwriter Amrit Dasuto pen a song for Akshay

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All for a drink

Peru’s beverage ofchoice is pisco, abrandy made fromgrapes. It’s alsoadored inneighbouring Chileand is usuallyconsumed as part ofa cocktail.

Tales of ancient cultures and superb scenery On a roadtrip in Peru