All good things comes to end, if HH doesn’t do something desperately I’m sorry to say they will loose the crown to Bajaj Auto. Another sleeping giant Yamaha is ready to wake up. Suzuki seperated from TVS is enough capable of showing great engg in their stable. Unless HH is enough innovative and doesn’t maintain the lead, days ahead r really tough. They do any product refinement only forced by competetion.
Now lets come to Karizma, really good piece of engg but lacks in pickup(0-60) against p180, With 180cc displacement itself pulsar was offering almost same power with much better mileage and more than 10K bucks less on roads. With launch of DTSi-Fi sorry to say hardly any Karizma would be sold in 2007, 4 xtra HP, 0-60 in 3.5 seconds.mileage as good as p180 by FI, Karizma has really gone to backfoot. At one time I really dreamt to won this wonderful machine but now p220 is a very attractive cake. Though it has infamous bajaj gear box, still pros overtake cons. Bajaj has deliberately launched it at almost same cost as Karizma to wipe Karizma out and I’m afraid they’ve succeeded. Earlier Karizma would overtake p180 after 60-70kmph but now I’m afraid situation isn’t good at the high end too.
Power: DTSi-Fi - 4= Karizma
Pick-up: Karizma= p180 < DTSi-Fi
Mileage: Karizma(25-30) << p180(40-45)= DTSi-Fi
However Karizma has a well tune unstressed engine with good refinement and smooth gearings, p220 wins the race with additional attractive features like tubeless tyres. Karizma needs to be refined immediately with increased power, pick-up to sustain in 2007 on roads.