If the last month was about getting to know the Aura, this month has totally been a blast with this peppy little sedan. You see, this is the first turbo-petrol-powered car I’ve driven for any meaningful amount of time. Heck, I think it’s my first turbocharged long-termer. And learning how to deal with keeping the revs slightly higher to minimise turbo lag was a bit new for me. Now that I have got to grips with it, I have been rather enjoying the spirited early-morning (if you call 4:30 am ‘morning’) drives to shoot locations. It is usually a quick blast to our favourite driving roads, with the Aura remaining rock-solid on the highways that lead there. The heavens have opened up in our neck of the woods, but that doesn’t seem to deter the Aura in any regard. High compliments must be paid then to the MRF tyres that seem to hold their own quite well.
The adverse effects of the rains are the emergence of potholes on our pitiful roads. In the past couple of weeks, I have noticed that the road conditions in my area, as well as at some shoot locations, have gone from bad to worse. While the Aura doesn’t have the comfiest of setups, it does iron out smaller road imperfections well. And for the gnarly ones? Paying a little extra caution never goes amiss. My only qualm now remains the clutch; it is light for the most part, but it could do with being a bit more progressive. The declutching takes place a bit too rapidly and crawling in traffic does work out my left quad muscle a bit more than I like. As it is, between football and the gym, I never miss leg day.
