Your vehicle is more than a way to get around — it’s part of your everyday routine. It reflects how you care for your belongings. Most people stay on top of oil changes, but many forget that keeping the outside and inside of a car in great shape is just as important. Just like changing the oil keeps your engine happy, detailing helps your car look sharp and hold its value.

It’s Not Just About the Shine

Detailing goes way beyond a quick rinse at the car wash. It’s a hands-on process that brings your vehicle back to life — inside and out. We’re talking about restoring shine to the paint, deep-cleaning those often-missed spots in the cabin, treating leather surfaces, and clearing out stubborn grime.

Letting dirt, sun exposure, and road gunk pile up takes a toll on your car’s finish. Eventually, that neglect shows. Faded paint, rough patches, and stained upholstery start to appear. The longer it’s left alone, the worse it gets — just like skipping maintenance under the hood.

The Inside Needs Love Too

Take a second to think about what your car’s interior goes through. Coffee spills, dog hair, fast food bags, mud from the kids’ cleats — it adds up fast. Over time, it’s not just cluttered; it becomes a breeding ground for odors and germs.

That’s where professional interior detailing really makes a difference. It digs deep — under seats, into vents, between creases — pulling out all the stuff that builds up without you realizing. What’s left behind is a cabin that smells clean, feels fresh, and makes your drive a whole lot more enjoyable.

It Pays to Preserve

Whether you’re driving your car until the wheels fall off or planning to trade it in eventually, condition matters. A clean, well-maintained vehicle holds its value much better. Regular detailing prevents damage like paint oxidation, clear coat breakdown, and interior deterioration — all of which are red flags to buyers and dealers.

Build It Into Your Routine

Just as you wouldn’t skip an oil change every few thousand miles, detailing should also be part of your regular schedule. A full detail two to four times a year — with some light upkeep in between — can do wonders for keeping your ride in peak shape. You’ll spend less time worrying about major cosmetic issues down the road, and more time enjoying the drive.

Why Should You Care?

Your car works hard — through traffic, changing weather, and everything life throws at it. Giving it a little extra attention through regular detailing helps it stay sharp and last longer. Just like engine care keeps things running, detailing keeps everything else — from paint to upholstery — protected and looking great.

Next time you’re getting your oil changed, think about giving your car the full treatment. Because real vehicle care isn’t just under the hood — it’s bumper to bumper.

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Tata Motors has inaugurated its first EV-only showroom in Delhi-NCR. It will be open to the public in the new year.

Tata’s first showroom dedicated to its EV lineup has been set up at Sector 14, Sohna Road, Gurgaon. It will be inaugurated on January 7, 2024. The carmaker plans to have 2-3 outlets in cities with higher EV adoption in the next 12-18 months. These include Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai.

Tata’s EV-only showrooms are said to be constructed with the environment in mind. The company has used recycled materials and unfired clay bricks in the construction. There are LED lights with sensors, and the design allows natural light to come through.

Tata Motors plans to organise yoga sessions and other events at these facilities. The company will partner with vendors looking to sell environment-friendly products. Customers will also be able to drop off recyclable waste.

Tata currently offers a wide range of electric vehicles, including the Tiago.ev, Tigor.ev and the Nexon.ev. The carmaker also plans to launch electric versions of the Punch and Harrier. The Curvv EV is also expected to be launched in the near future.

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According to reports, Hyundai’s N Vision 74 concept sports car, unveiled last year, is headed for a limited production run in 2026.

The hydrogen-battery-electric hybrid sports car will arrive at showrooms sometime in 2026. However, of the 100 examples being built, only 70 units will be offered to customers, with the remaining 30 will be reserved by Hyundai for racing.

Hyundai claims the concept version produces 671 BHP, can achieve 400 miles of range, thanks to an onboard hydrogen fuel cell range extender and accelerates from 0 – 60 mph (0-98 km/h) in under 4 seconds. Reports suggest that the production-spec version of the N Vision 74 could be even more powerful. While the full details are yet to be announced, reports indicate the electric sports car to have as much as 800 BHP and is targeting a 0-60 mph time of under 3 seconds. Range though will be slightly lower at around 250 – 300 miles.

There are no details regarding the prices for the N Vision 74, apart from the fact that they won’t come cheap.

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The equipment included a Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance (depending on the year) with a cartridge with a wire coming out of it and a pair of cables. One of them attached to the engine control unit, and the other routed to the brake system.

With everything attached, the handheld gaming system became a fully functional diagnostic tool. The video above shows the engine speed, throttle position, and temperature functions. The system could also read and clear fault codes. Technicians could activate actuators to make sure that things like the ignition, injectors, and pumps were working electronically and mechanically.

Beyond diagnosing problems, the tool also could update the scooters’ ECU. For example, the shop manual for this cart shows switching between Standard and Racing tunes for a 50cc engine.

Orbital developed these carts and offered an online update tool for improving them. Thus, it was possible to download new versions and load them from a cable connecting the Game Boy and a PC.

Though it might sound strange, using a Game Boy Color or Advance as a platform for a diagnostic tool seems like a fantastic idea. The only thing unique about this setup was the cart. So, a technician could use any handheld available. They were inexpensive and readily available, so finding one was easy.

These days, enthusiasts are willing to pay a premium for Oribital’s scooter diagnostic carts. Game Boy fans want them to complete collections, while Aprilia, Peugeot, and Suzuki scooter owners hunt for them to work on their bikes. They aren’t interchangeable between models, meaning these owners have to find the right one for their model, driving prices up.

Someone on a Game Boy forum asked $3,000 for a complete in-case Peugeot version. A 2007 post on an Aprilia forum showed someone paying 400 euros for one. Some folks even made their own cables for the device. The video below shows off the Aprilia and Suzuki versions of the cart.

So in addition to playing your favorite Pokémon games, just know Game Boys have also been used to keep scooters on the road. Fascinating. 

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This time last year, Mumtalakat had a nearly 60 percent stake in the company and expanded its control earlier in 2023. The fund and other investors have been a vital source of cash for McLaren in recent years, helping to keep the operation running as the company faced numerous production hurdles.

Gallery: 2023 McLaren Artura: First Drive

In late 2022, the automaker had to sell some of its historic vehicles to fund the development upgrades for the delayed Artura supercar. Mumtalakat allegedly paid 100 million pounds ($126.6 million at today’s exchange rate) for an undisclosed number of historic vehicles, but the sale supposedly included a Formula One championship car.

McLaren has also suffered from pandemic-induced supply chain issues, selling its headquarters and F1 factory in April 2021. It earned $240 million in the deal while remaining the tenant for the next 20 years.

An October report from The Telegraph revealed that the company had received about 600 million pounds ($760 million) from its various investors since July 2022. Some 370 million pounds ($469 million) arrived between March and September of this year after the company ended 2022 with 349 million pounds ($421 million) in losses.

The company is undergoing restructuring to simplify its business. It named Michael Leiters its new CEO in July 2022, who admitted a few months after his appointment that its past products were “non-mature.” A single owner like Mumtalakat could help bring stability and focus to the company.

McLaren Racing oversees the company’s Formula One endeavors and has its own group of private investors. Motor1 has reached out to McLaren for a comment but did not immediately receive a reply. The company declined to comment to Sky News.

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This NSX is particularly special because it’s one of just 49 examples in Imola Orange. Plus, only eight of those cars have this one’s black leather interior. The Acura is going up for sale on Bring a Trailer soon and should sell for a good price, given the rare color combo. But Kosilla’s detailing skills could push bidding that much higher by making the car truly shine in photos. 

This NSX already looks great, but it’s not perfect. Kosilla advises focusing on the spots most people don’t think to clean, which he refers to as the car’s armpits. These areas include the wheel wells, door jambs, brake calipers, and inside the wheels.

When it comes to washing the body, Kosilla recommends using one bucket with multiple towels inside. As each one gets dirty, put it aside and use another one. This prevents wiping the body with a grimy cloth and getting that crud on the paint.

Inside, Kosilla recommends not making the cabin look too shiny, and avoid products that leave smells, as they can turn off buyers. You want the interior to have a neutral scent so that folks can imagine themselves driving the car.

There’s also a recommended method for cleaning the windshield and other glass panels. Kosilla sprays cleaner on a section, gives it a quick wipe and then a deeper rub with a towel. Next, he uses a squeegee to remove any excess material. Finally, he swabs the glass one more time.

Kosilla has many other tips, but they’re primarily for selling a collectible car like this NSX. For example, most vehicles don’t need dry ice detailing for the undercarriage. If you’re selling your beater on Facebook Marketplace, we suspect it’s not worth the trouble. But if you’re selling your low-mileage classic Mustang, you might want to take more of Kosilla’s tips, as a potential buyer will likely be more stringent when it comes to cleanliness. 

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Scottish adventurers, Chris & Julie Ramsey have announced the completion of their “pole-to-pole” EV expedition in 9 months, covering 17,000 miles (27,358.8 km). This is said to be the world’s first drive from the 1823 Magnetic North Pole to the South Pole. The Ramseys reportedly reached their destination on December 15, but could share the news only after re-establishing a satellite connection later.

The expedition was covered using a Nissan Ariya e-4ORCE electric vehicle, modified by Arctic Trucks – an Icelandic specialist. The modifications included larger 39-inch tyres with matching wheel arches, ice-friendly gear and some other body reinforcement work. The powertrain & suspension were stock, with just a lifted height.

The modifications meant the EV’s range was reduced from its original 272 miles to just 150-200 miles. Charging the EV was either via a 5 kW wind turbine or a prototype solar hybrid charging solution, depending on the weather. However, there was also a petrol generator in case the first two options failed. The petrol generator though was a mandatory equipment while the car traversed the arctic regions.

In between the poles, the Ramseys drove through the Americas, which was easier in the northern part due to the readily available EV chargers, but difficult in the south. Hence, the expedition partnered with Enel X Way – an EV charging solutions provider, to install chargers along their route in South & Central America. Enel X Way even promised to keep these chargers available to the public afterwards.

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BHPian himalidaa recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I bought the Jimny 4 days before the official discounts came in. Luckily I had already received a 2L deal so I’m not mad.

A few keen observations after driving my Jimny (Zeta MT) for 700kms.

Overall it’s a fun vehicle with a lot of character and the new price just makes it seem like a really value-for-money product. The final price I paid for the base variant was 12.87L. Bought it from Magic Nexa, Sec-9 Dwarka. The dealership experience was many times better than what I had experienced with Toyota and Honda.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

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By Nic Cackett / Wednesday, 20 December 2023 / Loading comments

It’s almost a year to the day exactly that we last drove the Audi SQ8 e-tron, a car you wouldn’t say is custom-built to appeal to the average PHer on the basis that it is a large, expensive SUV powered exclusively by a battery. In fact, at 2,650kg without yours truly sitting in it and tested here in its slightly less practical Sportback format, you might conclude that this is the equivalent of being given a marmite sandwich in place of Christmas lunch. A sandwich that cost you £100,795. 

Nevertheless, we’ve neglected to drive the car since it rocked up in the UK in the intervening months, and on the basis that it outputs 503hp (in optimum conditions, needless to say) and some of you might be considering taking the family-friendly, performance EV plunge in the new year, we’ve rolled up our sleeves for a second go. Additionally, John H was in two minds about the conventional SUV derivative he drove in Lanzarote (of all places) last year. So we thought we’d clear that up, too. 

Firstly, and perhaps most obviously, you’ll want to avoid the Sportback version as a matter of course. As ever, the only reason to buy one is if you prefer the styling, and honestly that seems like a long shot for anyone with eyesight good enough to qualify for a driving licence. Even if you are strangely partial to the hacked-off rear end and fastback-style boot lid that results, its silhouette makes the rest of the SQ8 look like a weirdly high-sided, blobby saloon. And that makes passersby hate it. Or this passerby did, at any rate. 

Mercifully though, our test car did come with conventional door mirrors (which the LHD models John drove did not) so that was automatically a brownie point in its favour; ditto the interior generally, which doesn’t overtly attempt to wow you like some of its rivals – and is probably all the better for it. You’ll still find yourself prodding a lot of screens for basic functions, but never in a fury. The driving position is fundamentally fine and the seats good. It’s put together with the usual precision. It feels upmarket. 

Admittedly, that familiar four-ringed feeling is slightly undone by the distinctive electrical whine first identified in the Canary Islands. Readily apparent on getaways and when coming to a full stop, it is one of those noises that you don’t notice so much once you’re used to it – but when you’re not, or you’ve opted to grumpily tune into it, there’s really no mistaking it. And that’s a shame because the one sound most of us would prefer not to hear coming from our six-figure SUV is one that recalls a milk float. (It isn’t that bad, yet nor is it good. Which is to say virtually silent. Which is what it should be.) 

Were it silent, you might be inclined to start appreciating the SQ8 – albeit for mostly foreseeable reasons. It is, like practically everything that sips from the plug, a doddle to drive and quite often a pleasure. Especially in town where even agile, high-powered SUVs can seem like a chore. Not the SQ8 though, which exits junctions and merges into traffic like an oversized i3. It rides competently and quietly. And if you’re in a genuine do-or-die rush, it will carve up slow-moving traffic like a motorbike courier. Obviously, a Lamborghini Urus will do this too – but you feel less guilty about it in the (mostly) mute Audi. 

It transfers this turn of pace onto the open road without much fuss. There is decent progression to the accelerator pedal (i.e. it’s not all or nothing) and, as before, you can modulate the regen using the paddles. When you actually need to apply the brakes directly, the response is intuitive enough (still not a given in EVs) although the extent to which you notice the fastidious recuperation of energy depends on how hard you’re trying. Typically – and for better or worse – this will not be much. Firstly, with up to 718lb ft of torque on call and traction to spare, not much effort is required. Secondly, because the chassis is more shower than goer. 

Truthfully, many of the criticisms could be cut and pasted from the big book of old Audi chestnuts. The steering is sternly weighted yet muddy off-centre and ultimately aloof. The adaptive air suspension (best left in Auto) is robust, credible and never less than rigorous in countering lean, but the S-specific underlying firmness too often denies it the chance to flow on British roads. So while there is frequently no technical reason to slow down, you tend to do so anyway having failed to adequately locate the fun. Remind you of anything? 

In fairness to the SQ8, John had a better time of this in Lanzarote, and had we driven the Sportback on roads that mirrored its development setting(i.e. smooth, fast EU-mimicking asphalt) it would likely have played to its strengths. The car cruises admirably well and overtakes slower-moving traffic with the usual dismissive ease. You’ll need to select S mode via the gear selector to access the no-holds-barred ‘Boost’ element of the power readout (and mash the bulkhead with your foot, too) but the resulting shove leaves you in little doubt that 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds is achievable. 

Repeating it too often is the inadvisable bit. The SQ8, it must be said, is not overburdened with range. Audi is likely aware of this comparative deficiency: the meat of the model’s recent facelift was focused on increasing battery capacity (to 106kWh) and improving aerodynamics (out of which the Sportback does best). But a WLTP rating of 276 miles in Black Edition format is nothing to write home about – not when real-world testing suggests it translates to around 215 miles at 93 per cent. A serviceable amount, given the way most people currently use EVs. But no reason to seek it out. 

Ultimately, that conclusion suffices for the car around the battery, too. The Sportback’s marmite-ish styling aside, the SQ8 does most things capably well. Perhaps it whines when it shouldn’t and doesn’t complement its driver when it should, yet otherwise it gets on with being a very fast electric SUV just fine – and is infinitely better looking than the iX xDrive50 M Sport that BMW will sell you for roughly the same money. Then again, Audi’s arch-rival took the precaution of installing an imaginative, super-plush interior in its offering and extracting 100 additional miles of range from it. The SQ8’s standout incentives, in contrast, seem few and far between. 

Specification | 2023 Audi SQ8 Sportback e-tron Black Edition

Engine: One front electric motor, dual rear motors
Transmission: single-speed auto, four-wheel drive
Power (hp): 503
Torque (lb ft): 718
0-62mph: 4.5 seconds
Top speed: 130mph
Weight: 2,650kg
Energy consumption: 2.3 miles/ kWh (WLTP)
Range: 276 miles
Price: £100,080 (as tested: £100,795) 

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Kia India is set to open bookings for the Sonet facelift on December 20, from midnight onwards. Customers can place their orders on the official website, via the smartphone app or at an authorized dealership by paying a token amount of Rs 25,000.

Kia India also reintroduced the ‘K-Code’ priority booking initiative to skip the waiting queue. Customers can avail of the K-Code from any existing Kia customer, which can be used for booking through the Kia India website and the ‘MyKia’ app and is valid only for December 20, 2023, starting from 12 AM to 11:59 PM.

The 2024 Kia Sonet gets several cosmetic updates and new features. It is equipped with a 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system, a new air-conditioning module, a voice-controlled window function, ventilated front seats, rear door sunshades, an air purifier and Level 1 ADAS.

Mechanically, the updated Sonet is identical to the outgoing version. It carries forward the existing 1.2-litre petrol mated with a 5-speed manual, 1.0-litre turbo-petrol, which comes with either a 6-speed iMT or 7-speed DCT and a 1.5-litre diesel engine that is offered with a 6-speed manual, 6-speed iMT and 6-speed automatic.

Deliveries of the Sonet facelift will commence in January 2024, except for the Diesel iMT variants, which are scheduled for February 2024.

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