First Drive News

Ford has reintroduced the EcoSport with a facelift after making us wait for a very long time. Since debuting at the LA Auto Show last year, the new EcoSport has been the talk of the town since we exclusively unveiled it on carandbike.com. Now, the new EcoSport gets three drivetrains, and we have driven all three. Here's what we think of Ford's new EcoSport.

the new generation Audi A8 is also the first production automobile, in the world, to have been developed for conditionally automated driving. From 2018, Audi will gradually be taking piloted driving functions, such as parking pilot, garage pilot and traffic jam pilot, into production, which gives us hope, to see all this tech, in the likes of the A4, A6, A7 and even the Q range of products. But, more on the tech, in a while; let's first take a look at what the new A8 is all about.

The new 2017 Volkswagen eGolf is based on the MQB platform that was originally always meant for internal combustion engines. Volkswagen though has found space underneath the floor to fit the battery pack. The battery pack is made of 24 cells in total, with each cell weighing about 12 kilograms each. The whole pack though, which also contains the battery cell controller, the battery junction box, the management system, housing and insulation weighs a total of 350 kg and consists of 2500 individual parts! Incidentally, the battery cells, which were originally sourced from Panasonic, are now sourced from Samsung. The whole battery pack makes 35.8 kWh of power.

From the original RS5, to the facelift RS5, to the S5 Sportback in its first generation avatar, Audi's 5 line has always appealed to the performance oriented Audi driver who is also looking for a car that can be driven around daily. And if there is just one line that would explain how we feel about this new Audi S5 Sportback, it would be the exact same too - a 'daily driven' performance car! So let's tell you what's new in this second-generation 4-door coupe that also tends to pack quite the punch!

The Skoda Kodiaq is the automaker's first ever full size SUV to India and we got an opportunity to spend some time behind the wheel. Is it capable of taking on the mighty Toyota Fortuner and Ford Endeavour? Here's is how it felt.

The Mercedes-AMG GT R might not be a super limited sports car/supercar like the SLS AMG Black Series that it spiritually succeeds but that is actually a good thing. Priced at Rs 2.23 Crore (ex-showroom) without personalisation, the AMG GT R can actually be enjoyed by a lot more people than just a select few. The AMG GT R is actually great value for money when you compare it to some of the other cars in the range that just seem a little too common. That said, with the average age of an AMG customer in India pegged at 37, we expect the AMG GT R customer to be a mix of young and young at heart individuals who just want a roaring loud (and loud to look at) V8 powered car! So, would I buy one? Well, if I had the money, I most certainly would but maybe in a different and more sinister colour!

The Hyundai Verna, originally launched over a decade ago went through three generations in Indiawas long overdue for an update. With competition selling nearly 10 times the number of units Hyundai sold every month, the Korean automaker needed a much needed shot in the arm in this segment.Now in it's fifth generation globally and fourth in India, the new sedan has now officially been launchedat a competitive price of 7.99 lakh to 12.61 Lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi)to take on the likes of the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, Honda City, Volkswagen Vento and the Skoda Rapid. We got behind the wheel of the new Verna at Hyundai's in-house test track at the Chennai research and development centre to get a first hand feel of the new car. Read on to know more!

The sub 4-metre subcompact SUV segment is one of the most popular and most aspirational automotive segments in the country. Maruti Suzuki consistently sells over 10,000 units of the Vitara Brezza every month and the Ecosport single handedly helped recover Ford India's lull a few years ago. Mahindra has four SUVs in this segment too - the TUV 300, the Bolero Power+, the KUV 100 and the NuvoSport. So it was only obvious that sooner or later, any automaker who wants to be a real volume player in the Indian market needs to have a model present in this segment. Tata Motors first showcased a concept sompact SUV called the Nexon at the 2014 Indian Auto Expo. While most of us expected the production SUV to be watered down or 'paani-kum-chai' version of the concept, the Indian automaker has surprised us by launching the Nexon subcompact SUV that is very close to the concept's original look and design. And the last time that happened was when Jaguar launched the F-Pace! So read on to know more about the brand new 2017 Tata Nexon!