First Look – Mahindra Bolero

2011-09-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

Mahindra Bolero With its rugged looks, dependable mechanicals and ‘easy-to-mend’ machinery, the Bolero has captured the fancy of all customers hunting for an entry level SUV.

The Bolero is especially loved by people in the rural areas because of its ability to accommodate 7 people and ‘go anywhere’ attitude. It has been the best selling entry level SUV since the past 5 years. M&M has managed to ship 83,112 units of the Bolero SUV (not including the Bolero pickups) in 2010 with a market share of 30 percent.

All new front fascia looks up-to-date

But the Bolero is 11 years old now and many people complained that the Bolero is outdated. So what to do was the dilemma faced by M&M. Of course, if you are on the top of the segment, you don’t drastically change the recipe as that’s too much of risk. So M&M decided to give Bolero a comprehensive facelift before the festive season. It’s NOT just a little botox here and there, it’s a Full Monty!

The new Bumper adds to the aggressiveness

Let’s start with the exteriors:

New grill and new headlamps gel very well with the design

The new Bolero gets a whole new front fascia that is substantially different from the outgoing model. The Bolero gets new headlamps, a new grill and a new front bumper. The crystal clear hawk eye headlamps give the Bolero a very aggressive stance. The two toothed front bumper further enhances the overall stance of the car.

New 'Hawk Eye' head lamps

Coming to the side profile, the Bolero gets new decals to differentiate itself from the old model. Having said that, nothing much has changed from the side.

All new decals seperate it from the old Bolero

The rear of the Bolero gets new spare-wheel cover and much needed rear wiper with washer. The rear also hasn’t been changed much from the previous model.

A new spare wheel cover

I must say that Mahindra’s design team has done a brilliant job of making the Bolero look more stylish and rugged. The new look really compliments the overall design and doesn’t look out of place as it did in the spyshots that were leaked.

New rear wiper with washer

The interiors have received a massive uplift. The new Bolero gets a beige dashboard with wooden finish. The light beige interiors makes the inside of the Bolero look and feel very roomy unlike the old one which was a bit claustrophobic.

All new interiors

The dashboard is very simple and has a rock hard feel to it. Along with the dashboard, you also get a new steering wheel, new centre console, a new gear knob cover and (surprise-surprise) new digital instrument cluster.

Light beige dash makes the cabin very feel very roomy

The overall simplistic appearance of the dashboard goes very well with the rugged nature of the car. The color scheme, the leather wrapped steering wheel and digital console makes the Bolero look very up market and are definitely a welcome change.

Leather wrapped steering wheel with some silver garnish

The seats in the all rows seems to have been beefed up and they feel more comfortable than the previous model. The dual tone interior is very pleasing to the eye.

Thick cushion seats with an armrest

No changes have been made to the platform so don’t expect more leg space or more head room.

Side facing rear seats

The Scorpio has donated some of its technology to the Bolero. The new Bolero gets Micro Hybrid technology (start-stop system for people who haven’t studied Marketing), Voice messaging system that provide warnings when you haven’t put your seatbelts on if the handbrake is on when you are moving, Engine Immobilizer and Driver information system that tells you important things such as fuel economy etc.

New m2DIcr engine with 63 bhp and 195 NM @ 1400-2,200RPM

The Bolero is now powered by a 2.5-litre common-rail diesel engine that pokes 63 ponies and makes 195Nm of peak torque. As the engine is tuned for fuel economy, the numbers have jumped from 13 kmpl to a whopping 15.96mpl!

Rear washer bottle

The new Bolero is available in BS3 as well as BS4 variants. The new Bolero comes with six colors including Fiery Black, Mist Silver, Java Brown, Diamond White, Rocky Beige and Toreador Red.

Handbrake, window buttons and cup holders

Few things that are lacking on the Bolero are Four-wheel drive, ABS and airbags which M&M has confirmed will be launched soon.

Handle bar to hold on to

Overall it’s a decent effort by Mahindra to pump up some life in Bolero brand. With its new features and technology Mahindra has managed to add more value to an existing value proposition. However, I still think that most of the sales will continue to come from small cities and rural areas. The metro cities will always prefer the Scorpio over the Bolero as it is a more aspirational brand and a much better looking SUV.

Faux wood inserts brings to mind Force Motors' One

What do you think of the new Bolero?

New Mahindra Bolero Image Gallery

: Leather wrapped steering wheel with some silver garnish

: All new decals seperate it from the old Bolero

: thick cushion seats with a armrest

: New rear wiper with washer

: Mahindra Bolero rear washer bottle

: Side facing rear seats

: A new spare wheel cover

: All new interiors

: New ‘Hawk Eye’ head lamps

: handle bar to hold on to

: Front gets an aggressive stance

: New grill and new headlamps gel very well with the design

: m2DIcr engine with 63 bhp and 195 NM @ 1400-2200RPM

: Light beige dash makes the cabin very feel very roomy

: handbrake, window buttons and cup holders

: Aftermarket Pioneer system

: All new front fascia looks up-to-date

Supercharged Two Stroke Engine

2011-09-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

I am sure that most of you have already made so many thoughts in your mind by just reading the title; A Supercharged Two Stroke engine. It is one step ahead of two stroke engine. Let’s first discuss some common advantages and disadvantages of two stroke engine. Most of us know how the two stroke engine works. It uses only two strokes to produce power from air fuel mixture. We cannot distinguish between the suction, compression, power and exhaust strokes.

Two stroke engine uses ports instead of inlet and exhaust valves: Inlet port, Transfer port and Exhaust port. Opening of these ports are controlled by piston movement only. No separate mechanisms are provided to operate these ports.
At high speed of two stroke engine, these ports overlap with each other and increase the loss of fresh charge from the cylinder. Let’s have some pros and cons of two stroke engine over four stroke.

Advantages

Two stroke engine is very light in weight because of fewer parts
More mechanical power output because of better turbulence in cylinder
Easier to manufacture and assemble
Less unbalance forces due to few reciprocating parts

Disadvantages

Loss of fresh charge from the cylinder at the time of scavenging, resulting in poor fuel efficiency
More emissions because of incomplete combustion at high speed
Very noisy

Despite of many more drawbacks from the two stroke engines, they are very popular for getting more mechanical power. One of my students thought to bring out some modifications for the two stroke engine to have improved fuel efficiency with more power at the same time. The only solution we got in our minds was supercharger. Some big machine like marine engines uses superchargers in two stroke engines.

Supercharger works like a turbine to throw the air in to the cylinder. This provides more air in to the cylinder than the engine naturally does. Excess air helps to ignite more fuel particles which generally left the engine without having combustion. This helps the engine to improve the power output at same RPM. But still we also have to improve the fuel efficiency.
Carburettor supplies the fuel air mixture to the cylinder without measuring the amount needed. Engine has to burn the supplied amount of air fuel mixture and if fails, it throws this charge in to the exhaust port without any combustion. That’s why, for getting better fuel consumption, we are planning to incorporate fuel injection rather than carburettor.

No doubt, we will have to work more to have correct injection timing, otherwise it will again leads to more fuel consumption. Finally let me explain you hoe these all components going to work for our triumph. We are going to shut down the transfer port which is originally used to transfer the fresh air fuel mixture. At this place, we are planning to generate air vent for crank case ventilation.
The supercharger will be run by engine itself and will provide excess amount of air to the cylinder. This air will try to scavenge all exhaust gases from the cylinder to the exhaust port. Write now, this scavenging is done by fresh air fuel mixture coming from the transfer port, which also helps the fresh charge to escape from the cylinder. In our set up, only the air will be going to escape the cylinder.

After the proper scavenging and at the right time, we will inject the fuel in the inlet port of the engine. After the injection, air and fuel will get mix because of turbulence and will get combust with the help of spark plug. As we are going to supply sufficient air for the fuel for combustion, the efficiency will also improve and so as the emissions.

Autobuzz

First Look – Mahindra Bolero

New Mahindra Bolero Image Gallery

Supercharged Two Stroke Engine

Advantages

Disadvantages