Two- Letter Monsters

Semantics aside, here's what two-letter words can do to cars.

- Paranjay Dutt

The Oxford dictionary’s offi-cial page list about a hundred ‘Two-Letter Words’, which goes on to signify the value of these length-restrained, self-supporting entities in the English language. And it’s true, that when called upon in the automotive market, they can very well change a car’s character, without the use of unnecessary lettering on the bodywork. More so in a segment which needs a fair bit of character more than anything else: midsize hatchbacks. With two of the finest examples on the market — the Maruti Suzuki Baleno RS and the Volkswagen Polo GT TSI — we see if they’ve been transformed, following the addition of a two-letter word, and change of heart — both figuratively and literally, that is.

Let’s start with the newest of the two, the Maruti Suzuki Baleno RS. Apart from the slightly different ‘RS’ (sorry!), it also has a new engine. It might be small but it matters where it has to matter the most; and that’s in the way it delivers power (101 bhp and 15.29 kgm). It’s called Boosterjet, which sounds quite cool, to start with. To keep up with said coolness, there’s the slightly stiffened suspension, and disc brakes on all four wheels.

That’s not an awful lot, if you want the onlooker to stop in their tracks, with their pupils dilated and knees weakened. But the target audience is not that; it’s instead the bunch of people who take pride in driving their cars and not necessarily in just ogling at them, or making the world do so, for that matter. Apologies for generalising, this bunch also won’t deny talking endlessly about their cars, and as a result, they prove to be a hot target for carmakers for all the ‘word of mouth’ publicity.