Car Review - Ford Ecosport Review!

I was waiting to review this vehicle. One of the biggest recent attractions of the Indian Automobile industry is the Ford Ecosport. Does the SUV live up to its expectations? Let us see in detail!

The launch by itself was breathtaking with 10 different variants with three options - 1 and 1.5Lt petrol and a diesel variant. The advertising was awesome as it always been with Ford and it drew lot of advance bookings. Close to 17,000 advance bookings have already been received!

Now getting straight into the review, let us first look at the pros and cons of the vehicle

Pros :

1) The looks! They are just as good as it gets with any other Ford car.

2) The interiors are just as fine although there are some issues to ponder over. The spacing is great, nice supportive seats, climate control, cool parking sensors etc all add to the interiors

3) It’s a 1.0-litre, three-cylinder, direct-injection, turbo-petrol making 123bhp. For the size of the vehicle this is just as fantastic as it gets! The rae to 100Kmph gets in 12.5 seconds which quite good

4) The IB5 gearbox is quite easy and smooth to use.

5) The soft steering and the fantastic suspensions makes it a wonderful vehicle to drive!

Cons:

1) The major problem is the vehicle is somewhere in between a normal vehicle and an SUV. It is neither as compact as a small car not it is as powerful as a full fledged SUV. So need to adjust to this new driving conditions.

2) The mileage is average for an SUV. Nothing too great about it. 11.8 for petrol and 13.3 for diesel


Overall Verdict : A very sturdy good vehicle from Ford which is sure to grab lot of SUV market share!

My Rating - 3.5/5

Image Source - http://www.autocarindia.com
Content Source : My review article in the forum ( username - ashwinr1) - http://www.automavericks.com/forum/threads/ford-ecosport-review.930/

The Indian Premier League – Changing the face of Indian Cricket

League based sport models are quite common across the sporting world. However, in a sport like cricket such a model was completely unforeseen before the year 2008. There were domestic regional games in most of the cricket playing countries. But there was no big league in the game which would attract players from across the globe similar to an English Premier League in soccer. Also the fact that unlike soccer, cricket was a lengthy game played all through the day or across multiple days did not help its cause.

The year was 2008 and corporate investments were pumped in from all parts of the world into various industries across India. And then in a parallel universe, a shortened version of cricket was invented and played.  These two irrelevant factors gave birth a new phenomenon The Indian Premier League (shortly described as IPL).

Top corporate offices across India bought franchisees and players from all over the globe were auctioned and teams were formed. The authority of the Board of Control for cricket in India (BCCI) over the world cricketing fraternity also helped its cause.

Ever since its inception in 2008, the IPL has grown steadfastly and has become a money spinning machine. The league is scheduled during the Indian summer for a little over two months. During this period, big stars refrain from releasing their new movies since they know that most of the viewing public would be engrossed in the cricketing carnival. The IPL has also consistently churned out talented young Indian cricketers helping the country to raise its game in the international arena. However, the IPL has had its share of controversies too. Match fixing and betting scandals in the latest edition have dented its public image.The last two years TRP ratings have been down as well. But IPL "the brand" is still very much on rise and with the quality of players who are going to be in action, atleast for the next 5 years the league will keep growing.

According to business standard, IPL's current brand value stands at $ 3.03 billion ( which is 4% higher than last year! ). So people who thought IPL is going to end have clearly made an emotional standpoint and not a business standpoint. Chennai Super Kings is highest valued brand of IPL at $45.42 Million followed by Kolkata Night Riders at $44.98 Million

Despite its ups and downs, there is no denying the fact that the IPL has once and for all changed Indian cricket for the better. Indian cricket team’s recent rise to the top of the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings is a classic testimony to that fact.

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Image Credit : www.iplt20.com

Greatest Athlete of the past century !!

To pick the greatest athlete of the past century can sometimes be an intriguing and daunting task to say the least. However, if I had to make a choice then it has to Michael Jordan, the all time great NBA star. Having put forth my opinion, let me now discuss in detail about the factors that influenced my opinion.

A great athlete is someone who is capable of performing physical acts of extreme difficulty and be involved in a sport which requires high level of skill, strength, speed and body conditioning. Besides being involved in the sport one has to excel in it and be on top of it for most of his/her career. And after starting to excel in the sport, one needs to keep the domination going year after year as long as one plays the sport. Despite playing at such high level with such high intensity, one also has to be injury free. And last but not the least, one has to be on the record books too.

Michael Jordan was involved in the sport of Basketball which is one among the most physically challenging sport in the world. Jordan was quick, strong, extremely focused and possessed immaculate clutch skills. He was able to dominate and kept repeating the magic moments all through his career. This domination earned him 5 MVP titles, 6 NBA championships and two Olympic gold medals.

In fact, with the range of physical attributes that Michael Jordan possessed he would have easily excelled in most other sports too. He truly was indeed the greatest athlete of the past century! 

Image Credit : www.motivationblog.org