Optra Magnum TCDi ... My new love ..!!

[beanstalk_230]

Hi friends,

It had been quite some time I wanted to start off a thread about my new car – Optra Magnum 2.0L Tdci LS. I had been really confused about which car to buy before I bumped in Team Bhp while surfing the net one day. I went through the site, read many threads and reviews about various cars and lots of other stuff and decided to register the very same day. It was the month of July and we decided to buy a new car as our 3yrs old dear indigo broke down as usual and we finally decided to sell it off when it had 91000 Kms on odo completed (though its still with us, serving us really well at 99600+ kms on odo, you expect a Tata to give hiccups very often, I do).

Then I happened to start of new threads of TBhp Forum quering about which to car to buy and stuff, and the cars which I was looking at were the Indigo Dicor Diesel, Fiesta Diesel and Verna Diesel mainly due to cheap running cost and a decent FE because I usually have a run of above 3000 kms per month and these were the only cars I could have looked at in my budget (FE being decent in all the three cars).

August came in, and I went in for a few test drives of all the three cars. Among the three choices I had, Verna diesel was what I was craving for, because of the superb power it has and I was nearly sure about buying it out, though I did felt that the car was highly unstable during periods of high acceleration and very shaky above speed of 110Kmph. [According to me the Verna is NOT AT ALL good for cornering, totally my opinion, Gurus can comment further on this].



It happened by chance that Gemini Mobiles (Authorized GM & Mercedes Benz Dealer in Lucknow) is just in front of the Ford dealers where I saw a pearl white Magnum (Don’t know the exact colour name) just winking at me .. . So I went upto them and asked for a TD of the car. They readily provided the TD car and within 5 mins everything changed. Can’t really describe the experience exactly but I knew somewhere in my heart, I had my new baby in my hands. Yeah I just fell in love with this car at the very moment. The sheer acceleration and the superb stability was amazing even at high speeds and that I think it has got that instinct from its petrol sibling but obviously the engine in this one is a beast compared to the petrol which is very fine to drive in the city but not as responsive. Describing the feeling at 3000 + RPM would actually mean that I am not doing justice to this superb car; just take the car above 3000 RPM (though the actual turbo kicks in at 2k RPM) and you will feel the rush in your whole mind and body. [Just had a similar feeling at the real world Space Shuttle Launch simulator at the Epcot Centre, Orlando, USA.. ]. Now this was all felt by the heart; now back to minds and senses.

As I mentioned before that FE and maintenance were a main cause of concern for me while buying a car (Obviously the engine and car came at highest priority). About the FE part I am really really satisfied with it, with the kind of performance it gives. Got 14.6 on a run of about 400 kms with (50% City + 50% Highway) and I hope it will get better after the first service (I really hope so, Fuel used – Only Reliance Diesel as of now). The dealer told me to expect 13 at the very least after the first service and its doing wonders before the service, “touchwood”. About the maintenance scenario I have the petrol optra and it has been 3years till now and the maintenance has been nearly nil except for the regular services (alternate services usually cost me around Rs. 2000 for one and Rs. 600 for the other), along with the GM 2years + 2years extended warranty on hand I really feel safe about my car. Due to the dark paint on both my cars I just have to take care about the scratches which one unfortunately cannot avoid in any city in India AFAIK.

After having said all this lets come back to point. I knew I had to buy this car and only this car, even if I had to sacrifice on the ICE part and now I am actually facing the same, but its fun to know the basics about the ICE and having to search a lot is a fun job at hand especially when you have TBhp at your side with the Gurus of the all Gurus of Automobiles here.



I really thank the whole TBHP for helping me out to this wonderful decision.



Finally got my car on the 7th of September , Intense Black colour. (Actually the colour was decided before hand and we had to get a black anyhow, btw not flattering my car, but with the OVRM’s switched on, specially during the night it looks really HOT)

Above is the summary about what I felt in a nutshell and I would follow it up with a feature wise summary sometime later.

P.S. I think I would be biased a bit on a few points related to my car but I’ll try to reduce it to a minimum.

Cheers

[madaboutCARS]

good choice,
let us know the OTR , freebies and your pics.

Black looks just great.

[n_aditya]

Congrats on the new car beanstalk. Nice to see the excitement and passion in your post.

Black looks really hot on the magnum and i like your avatar (looks a wee bit like an SLK ).

Do post a detailed review once the first service is complete.

have fun and drive safe.

[beanstalk_230]

Thanks @ Aditya and Maddy

About the prices : Exshowroom - 905000
On Road Price - 954000 [After 30k Special A level Corporate discount, (Manager told us not to disclose it to anyone ) being a GM vehicle owner and dad being friend of the owner of the dealership, though got it after nearly 25 days after the first discussion]

Freebies : Mats , Ganesh Idol, PU Leather Seat Covers (Yet to recieve), Car cover, Chevvy Teddy - I love my Chevvy, Tissues, Leather Folder for car's documents, Key ring, etc. and moreover the mini birthday party arranged by the dealership for my dad (Obviously it was his B'day) was the best freebie we could ever expect from a dealership, we were just floored by their humbleness and arrangements.

Now here are the pics : [Please bear with the quality of pics cause uploading a N2 pic would take ages and the later pics were taken in the night therefore not very clear]





















beautifulllll..

enjoy

Gaurav

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by beanstalk_230

Freebies : Mats , Ganesh Idol, PU Leather Seat Covers (Yet to recieve), Car cover, Chevvy Teddy - I love my Chevvy, Tissues, Leather Folder for car's documents, Key ring, etc.

Gaurav, congrats on a great buy, I am sure you will be more bowled over by its performance & stuff rather than the tiddly biddly things you got as freebies, like mats, idol, cover, tissues, leather folder, key ring etc all of which would probably cost you 500 bucks. But the birthday party for your dad was special, what did they do for that ?

[BUSA]

Congrats buddy your Magnum looks fab.

Any plans for Petes?

[Nimz]

Congrats beanstalk... that car pulls like a loco.. Enjoy the drive!!

Nimz

[Karandeep81]

congrats on the buy ... ur car looks awesome !!!

[kpzen]

Originally Posted by BUSA

Any plans for Petes?

Crazy BUSA still needs more torque

Is petes available for Magnum? The site doesn't doesn't have magnum in the list.

[dhaval]

Very good summary beanstalk and congrats for the new Chevy!!!

[prskumar]

Congrats! The Car looks Awesome! Enjoy your ride. All the best.

[BUSA]

Originally Posted by kpzen

Crazy BUSA still needs more torque

Is petes available for Magnum? The site doesn't doesn't have magnum in the list.

LOL, KP, yes the box is in the process of being launched, estimated figures 350NM, 150bhp

[GeekSrik]

gaurav, awesome car dude. and even better mileage! what did it come to at street price?? enjoy yourself thoroughly! and yea dont worry about scratches and all. people can scratch the car, but not the gem of an engine you see!

[kpzen]

Originally Posted by BUSA

LOL, KP, yes the box is in the process of being launched, estimated figures 350NM, 150bhp

If a tuning box for Safari can increase the torque from 300Nm to 360Nm then the torque of Magnum should cross 350 mark...Its fun assuming these kind of figures isn't it

[sajivr]

Originally Posted by BUSA

LOL, KP, yes the box is in the process of being launched, estimated figures 350NM, 150bhp

will pete's tungin box void the warranty. From my understanding, its a plug & play kind of setup and should be able to remove easily, right?