I am about to complete a year on Team-BHP in 2 days, and this is my 1000th post. I wanted to write my 1000th post on the first anniversary, but that means I have to refrain from posting for next two days, which is next to impossible unless I am travelling. So, here goes...
I have never been very technical when it comes to automobiles, my passion about automobiles is mostly about driving. When I say driving, it is not about stunts or dragging or racing. I simply like the feeling of driving a powerful vehicle. In the 2L+ Kms of driving I had done, I mostly focused on becoming a better driver. But I am not the kind who will peer under the hood, I leave it to the experts. The only things I knew was changing tyres and checking oil/air.
Until I came across Team-BHP I have always selected cars based on their stock specifications. I would go for the top most trim in a given model, research cars for years before signing on the dotted lines. For example, I researched the Chevy Malibu for over a year before leasing, 6 months later I started researching my next car which was two years away. I leased because of two reasons (1) I can get better cars for lesser monthly payments and (2) I can get a new car at the end of 3 year lease. Yes, I lose more money in the long run since I don't get to own anything, but when it came to cars, I never looked from monetary angle. If I can afford the monthly payment, that should do. Leasing means I can't mod. Therefore, I picked cars based on their stock specs, and not on their mod potential. This habit I carried back to India.
The first car we bought after getting back was Santro Xing AT. There was not much choice here since my wife returned 7 months ahead of me and she wanted an small auto-transmission car and she got her car. This car was bought after one day of research. When I finally returned to Bangalore, I had to suffer the switch from Acura 3.2TL to Santro Xing AT. At first there was the period of adjusting back to Bangalore traffic, so Santro helped. But once I settled in and started venturing out into Highways, I realised what I was missing. I was used to the power of 3.2L VTEC and Santro just didn't cut it on the highway. I wanted passing power, and all I had was moving power. So I started researching the next car, my car, the muscle car.
Many times during the search I would come across Team-BHP where I learnt the existence of a car called Fiat Petra. And I didn't even look at any Maruti offerings, I simply wasn't interested. I was still very confused about the various choices and therefore I decided to join the forum and pop the question. Three months later I bought the Baleno Lxi which wasn't in my initial shortlist, and boy did I just buy, I bought the base trim which I never do, and spent the difference on totally outdoing the top trim Vxi. In that 3 months I had learnt so much about cars and modifications than I had in my entire lifetime. And continue to do so. When my father-in-law heard I bought a Baleno he was disappointed. But when he saw it for the first time, he was stunned! See
here why...
Team-BHP has changed me. Now I am open to modding the car to my liking, and only after understanding the exact technical reasons, both are something I never tried before. And what's more exciting is that I have started giving technical advice to others on cars, me! While driving I am constantly checking out other cars and their mods. It is no different from how women constantly checkout other women regarding their dresses, jewellary, makeup, etc. And I have become part of a wonderful community which is not just virtual, but also real with regular TBHP drives and meetings. I have also made many new friends, found other common interests like travelling and photography.
What's more, my wife too reads TBHP forum regularly, though only as a lurker. Nearly every mod on my Baleno has been duplicated on her Santro. She plans most of our long drives, although she prefers not to drive the Baleno, she enjoys the long drives as much as I do. Finally my 5 year son is also a car nut now. He insisted on getting alloys on his toy car just because my car has it. Everytime we get out of the house, he tries to make a case to take the Baleno because it is faster. Everytime he spots a Baleno, he has to say
See Baleno!
This is what Team-BHP has done to me and my family.