The most prolific segment (in terms of the number of models on offer) in the country now has seven wannabes, each with its own set of USPs and abbreviations. Yogendra Pratap along with Aspi Bhathena, Bertrand DeSouza and Sirish Chandran puts together the premium segment puzzle to show that there is a right car for everyone and in the process helps you decide which one is the D-job for you!
There is an increasing number of cars you can think of buying for a particular sum of money. More so if this amount happens to be at least Rs 13 lakh. Just over a year ago the D-segment shoot-out consisted of four cars and all four of them still form a part of this category and are considered for top honours in this, the premium category, albeit with a number of changes. First and foremost, the Mercedes-Benz C180 has been phased out. No surprise that, considering that the car not only didn't have enough power to do everything else it had any justice, but also got terribly left behind in the performance stakes. A classic case of a little too few horses for much too large a sum of money. The C180 will be replaced by a car sporting a compressor-charged engine with the customary Mercedes K being affixed to the end of its badging and translating into a larger number of horses as well. Considering that the C180 with a K still has some time to make its appearance, we included its sibling the C200 CDI in this shoot-out instead and that too with an automatic gearbox as that is the only way it is available these days.

In the earlier shoot-out, the Honda Accord had not particularly distinguished itself so we decided to try out a little variation, including the automatic instead of the manual shifter. The Sonata too has undergone a major change, though the only visible one, that of a horizontal grille in place of the earlier vertical one, is the most insignificant. What transforms the car though is the V6 engine under its hood as well as the new H-matic automatic gearbox. The Ford Mondeo too has moved up the ladder, with the Indian Car of the Year title under its belt, though the car by itself remains the same.

These four older warhorses are joined by Toyota's flagship and the best-selling car in America - the Camry, the German Czech-made, India-assembled, Skoda Octavia, which barely manages to break into the ranks and the feature-packed gizmo-loaded Opel Vectra.

The way of evaluating the cars was quite simple. As the cars came to us, we tanked up each one of them and handed them over to one person of the editorial team and in the first couple of days finished off with the on-location photography. After that the cars were performance tested and then tanked up again and taken for a 350-odd kilometre drive to Mahabaleshwar and back. But this time we had an interesting variation planned. Each of the seven drivers of the cars had already been handed a feedback sheet where they were asked to rate the cars on a scale of one to 10 on various parameters ranging from driveability, performance and gear selection, to driving position, dynamics, NVH characteristics, interiors, the climate control system as well as the fit and finish and the music system. For evaluation of the rear-seat comfort, we had three photographers as well as Ramnath from the design department accompany each of the drivers in the rear and then shift from car to car along with the drivers as they tried out each of the cars along the way. For this we had some designated driver change points on the way to Mahabaleshwar as well as on the way back. But this time we had a drive with a difference. For each of the team members to try out each of the cars immediately one-after-the-other we devised a circuit.

Along the route to Mahabaleshwar one follows the Pune-Bangalore NH4 till a turnoff about 50km before Satara. On the way the NH4 crosses a range of the western ghats at Khambatki. As a result of the four-laning of the Golden Quadrilateral the traffic going towards Bangalore uses the original stretch of road which goes over the ghats while the traffic going towards Pune uses a separate route which has a kilometre-long tunnel and then gently descends to the Pune side of the ghats with fast stretches plus wide sweeping curves to rejoin the old NH4. Thus, we had a circuit of about 15km with no oncoming traffic and with nearly three-quarters of it in the ghat section and nicely paved road with a good surface. On the way back the road goes downhill with sweeping curves. With the use of our GPS-based Racelogic VBOX II test equipment, we were not only able to minutely examine the performance of each car but also map the circuit to the minutest detail. I moved the VBOX II system with me from car to car to check out each one of them. The loop, as mapped by VBOX II has been shown in the diagram alongside with an indication of the altitudes as well as the places where the cars were getting to their maximum speeds on this section of the road. It wasn't a race and we weren't pushing the cars too hard as these were stretches of public roads, but the roads being one-way did give us an opportunity to try out the handling aspect as well as get very useful insight about a number of parameters. The Racelogic equipment tells us what the speed of each vehicle was through each and every corner as well as the number of 'g's the car was pulling and comparisons with the other cars. Since we did not want to encourage competition, the data was collected with the same person behind the wheel of each of the cars.

Sleek,smooth and super refined - The Honda Accord 2.3 VT-L AT	Value for money, affordable, elegant, and solid - The Skoda Octiva 2.0 MPi	Elegance, class, status and high-tech diesel power - The Mercedes-Benz C200 CDI	Intelligence personified - The Opel Vectra 2.2

Comfort and opulence backed by Japenese brilliance - The toyota Camry 2.4 VVT-i	Great looks and brillant road-holding - The Ford Mondeo 2.0Ghia	V6 power and flashy looks - The Hyundai Sonata 2.7 V6 H-matic