Jaguar XJ, the stunningly beautiful and revolutionary new product from the Jaguar stable, will now scorch Indian roads as Jaguar Land Rover has begun deliveries of the stunner in India. Sleek, sporting and sophisticated, the all-new Jaguar XJ brings a daring new spirit to automotive luxury. It offers a seductive mix of striking design, breathtaking performance and engineering.

A coupé profile cloaks a cabin that offers comparable levels of space to saloons with a more conventional style. There is generous accommodation for five occupants. The exquisitely designed interior has a strong sporting character throughout. The spacious cabin is rich in the tactile delight of soft-glove leather, warm veneers and cool chrome. The panoramic glass roof dramatically enhances the sense of light and space inside.

The all-new XJ delivers a driving experience that is just as memorable as the car's appearance. Benefiting from technologies like continuously variable damping (Adaptive

Sport comes to us in boxes — the perimeters of our TV screens or the boundary lines of fields and courts. As much as I enjoy what goes on inside those boxes, I've always had the urge to bust out of them. I've always had the feeling that the most compelling and significant story was the one occurring beyond the game — before it, after it, above it or under it, deep in the furnace of the psyche. Conventional journalism couldn't always carry me up to those rafters or down to those boiler rooms, so I had to break out of a few of my own little boxes as well.

That quote is from Gary Smith, one of my favorite sports writers of all time [a previous post, with some great samples of his writing, here]. And that is what I keep looking for in the sports books I read — stories that are anchored in the sport in question, but ones that still manage to 'bust out of' those boxes, to look above, before, beyond; to probe the 'furnace of the psyche'.

If there is one commonality between the books listed

We've all oohed and aahed over the iconic three-pointed star. But how many of us have been lucky enough to get behind the wheel of one? Guys, and gals of course, your dream to own a Merc could soon materialise, thanks to a completely new, front-wheel-drive architecture or MFA (Mercedes Front wheel Architecture).

The move to MFA will radically cut production costs and enable the company to bring vehicles that are cheaper than the A-class models. Dr Bharat Balasubramanian, VP, Group & Advanced Engineering, Daimler AG, confirmed that the "MFA will usher in a new era of affordable Mercs." He also confirmed that models spun of the MFA platform "would be more suitable for India".

According to Autocar, from now on, all small Mercs will be based on the flexible MFA platform that can support a wide range of wheelbases and configurations. The MFA has also been designed to support a fuel-cell power train and clearly green technology can easily be incorporated. The MFA will spawn a

[Joga Bonito, the beautiful game, showcases not merely great soccer but also some fine, at times compelling, writing. This post brings together a random collection of the best on the web -- and for many of these links, I am indebted to Twitter friends Supriya Nair, Gobbeldyspook, Bedathur, Kripesh, Siva KG, Nipen Mody, RK, Ant Sims, Ashish Chandorkar, Subhac, Sunny, Chigateri, Shom Biswas and others. If you are not following these people, do -- good sources for stories, information, insight et al].

#1. An often rehashed story, especially when the World Cup rolls around, is of how India almost — almost — made it to the World Cup once, only to be stymied because, poor us, we played barefoot and the organizers mandated boots on feet. A related story is of how we almost — almost — made it to the World Cup, but were, woe is us, stymied by our own poverty, and didn't play in the global arena because we couldn't afford the fares and related expenses.

In a story titled Barefoot in

The iconic Vespa, which made waves on almost every Indian road for many years, is set for yet another comeback, with unmistakable appeal and practicality combined with comfort and modern design. After its first entry into Indian soil 50 years back, Vespa surely has had a lot of fame on its side before 'Hamara Bajaj' spoiled its party.

The board of Piaggio & Co has announced its plan to invest nearly €30 million over two years to set up a 1.5-lakh capacity plant that will produce a model specially developed for India, the world's second-largest market for motorcycles and scooters. Most probably, the model will be from the LX125 model range and the cute little wasp (Vespa means wasp in Italian) will be making its presence felt in the domestic circuit in its new avatar by 2012.

See more Vespa LX125 pictures on Flickr

Got queries? Let's discuss on Twitter

Auto spies never cease to amaze me; this time with the spy shots of the 2010 Suzuki Swift prototype. Slated to break cover at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, the refurbished version of Suzuki's best-selling model is expected to be Swift by name and swift by nature. In spite of the heavy camouflage, it's very clear that the new Swift will retain its curvy looks. The stylishly revamped head and tail lamps are clearly evident in the spy shots.

These spy shots have been doing the rounds since mid 2009. Now, a Hungarian website has released more revealing shots of the new Swift [see the gallery below]. A curvier rear, a pronounced slot for the license plate and the 'waterfall' tail-lights and more rounded rear-view mirrors are easily recognisable.

David Beckham is now a comic-book star

After Yahoo! signing in soccer star David Beckham as brand ambassador, the British ace player will now be been immortalised in print with Bluewater Productions presenting him in a new comic book titled 'Fame: David Beckham'.

India ranks 3rd in FIFA search on web

Although India does not have it's Football team in the FIFA 2010, India ranks third in the top 10 list of countries searching for FIFA world cup online. Web users in Karnataka topped the charts for online soccer frenzy, with Maharashtra at second place and Tamil Nadu coming in third.

Men to shell out on World Cup apologies

British men are gearing up to spend a small fortune in presents to mollify their wives and girlfriends for all the time they intend to spend watching this summer's soccer World Cup. Results of surveying Britons, showed men are prepared to spend 20 pounds a time or slightly more saying sorry for being glued or heading down to the pub to watch matches with their

In the earlier post we discussed how to clear up your car buying confusion. Most of us have agreed that buying a used car is often the best and most financially efficient choice. However, out of the excitement of getting a car, many used car buyers don't look close enough at the pre-owned vehicle or they look at the wrong things. I don't want your story included in the list of used car tragedies, so here are ten commandments on examining a pre-owned car.

1. Carefully examine the body, look for fresh paint jobs or different colors of paint on the body panels. Open the bonnet and look at the paintwork so that you can make out if the car has been repainted or not.
2. Under the bonnet, look for oil leaks and use the dipstick to check the amount of oil. If the level is low, the car hasn't been looked after properly. Examine the surroundings of the oil filler cap, if you find a white substance it is an indication of a damaged head gasket, replacing which is going to be darn expensive.