[1100D]

Originally Posted by ajmat

And another point, The W210 was already available overseas. Typical w124 owners would be totally aware as they would be traelling abroad a lot. Ironically, at that time, they had no idea that the w124 was still the better car

That is so pretty true. Infact at that time, the Moon-eyed Merc (as the W210 was lovingly called) was quite a craze, even if Merc hadn't yet launched it here (There was probably a 1+ year gap between the launch of E220 in India and the international launch of 210). W210 also had more cabin space to appeal to back seat enthusiasts.

However, remember seeing, probably a top gear episode, cant recall if it was presented by Clarkson, who clearly inferred from Mercedes' statement that the W210 was around 30% cheaper to make than the W124, that maybe the older car will hold up better in typical sarcastic fashion. Turned out so true. Today, we see more W124's than W210 although the later sold more.

[chiranjitp]

For someone who was born in the mid 90s, I have been lucky to drive a few cars from the 90s itself.

Maruti Omni 1999

The Omni was our first car, bought in October 99. She is still in our garage & will never be sold.

What you'll like:

• High Reliability with low cost of maintenance & can take a lot of abuse.
• Can seat eight people.
• With 8 people on board the cost per km per person becomes very low.
• Spacious interior for 4/5 people.
• Brilliant all round visibility, light clutch & relatively smooth gearbox.
• Fuel efficient & reliable M800 derived engine.
• Compact dimension is a boon in city.
• VFM pricing.

What you won't:

• Safety, probably the unsafest thing on four wheels.
• Very basic in construction & lacks any creature comfort.
• Poor performance which amplifies with 8 people on board.
• Scary brakes, our model had all drum brakes without brake booster. The newer models now have front disc brakes & brake booster.
• Scary handling & bouncy ride quality (the 90s model had more leaves on the leaf spring suspension w.r.t the mpfi ones)
• The fronts seat can get really hot in summers. (engine is below the front seats)
• The same engine in the M800 feels a bit more refined.










Maruti 800 STD 1998

This particular car belonged to a good friend of mine. This Maruti 800 was stolen in 2015 from their residence.

What you'll like:

• High Reliability with low cost of maintenance, abuse friendly too.
• Compact dimension, brilliant all round visibility & light clutch.
• VFM pricing, was the only car (along with the Omni) that many middle class families in the 90s could afford.
• The tiny 800cc engine had decent grunt specially in city conditions.
• The steering was well weighted, full of feel & had a perfect center back action.
• High fuel efficiency.
• Could sit 4 people in decent comfort.
• The 97 facelift among other things brought a new dashboard, which looked contemporary & had lots of storage spaces.

What you won't:

• Though equipped with disc brakes the lack of brake booster meant the brakes were poor specially while braking from high speed.
• Safety concern (was designed in the 80s).
• The shifting quality of the 4 speed gearbox was very bad (even the omni gearbox feels a bit better to use)
• Cramped rear seats specially if the front seats were occupied by someone tall.
• In those days the M800 STD model used to come with a rear leaf spring suspension & hence ride quality specially at the rear was very poor.
• Slightly more vibrations at idle w.r.t mpfi models.





Maruti ZEN MH410 1998

I was on the lookout for a cheap used car for my college duties in 2015. I bought her in December 2015 but was sold within 1 months due to some problems. This particular car was the pre-facelift model, before LX, VX variants were introduced.


What you'll like:

• High Reliability with low cost of maintenance.
• Compact dimension, good all round visibility, smooth shifting gearbox & light clutch.
• Was a status symbol in the 90s (along with the esteem)
• The G10B carb engine had a very strong mid range & top end performance.
• The combination of a powerful (by 90s standard) engine & an extra gear meant it could cruise on the highway at around 80kmph.
• The front seats were bigger & more comfortable than the M800 ones, also had a good travel range (more than even the likes of alto).
• Was equipped with brake booster & hence had good brakes compared to most cars from that era.
• The steering was well weighted, full of feel & had a perfect center back action.

What you won't:

• Was on the pricier side, 3.50-4.00 lakh was expensive by 90s standard.
• There is no/negligible space on the inside, even the likes of M800, Omni are better w.r.t storage space.
• Safety concern.
• Poor AC.
• Cramped rear space, was only marginally bigger than the M800 on the inside.
• The G10B carb engine had a very poor low end torque (unlike the mpfi engine which had a good low end torque)

[da_lowrider]

Originally Posted by dean5545

I'll add my bit too!
TATA SUMO
Attachment 1449573
What you will like:
-Spacious Cabin
-Can easily seat 10 pax
-Value for money at 4.5 lakhs on road Mumbai
-Looks are far better than the Mahindra Armada

What you won't
-Outrageous Handling
-Unending niggles
-Long waiting period( we booked our car in the lottery system in 1995 and got delivery in 1996)

Oh, just saw this thread. Here's a little more

What you will like:
-More refined than the Armada
-Give it to your wife or daughter (there isn't a rickshaw driver or over-smart boy racer born yet who will cut across them just for kicks)
-Truck like steering position is a boon on long drives.
-Relatively sorted out ergonomics, no offset steering wheel here (remember, the competition in 1994 was the Armada & the commander)
-Fairly reliable, regular maintenance should keep it going without complaints
-In case of a break down, flag down the next truck driver, extremely repair friendly and forgiving mechanics, you will - in most cases - be able to limp your way to a garage.

What you won't:
-No power steering, if you're someone who frequents the gym, please cease upper body work-outs and practice 3 point turns in your new Sumo instead
-Extremely top heavy! Do not attempt any high speed maneuvers!
-Extremely short first & 2nd gear! Finding first is, anyways, going to be a struggle after a couple of months - you will slot into reverse, kindly engage 2nd gear to start rolling
-Front bench doesn't recline
-Seat belts don't retract
-Extremely basic, advisable to get the head rests from the Estate installed
-Want air conditioning? Please get it retrofitted at the dealer or at your FNG, remember to upgrade the radiator to the one from the estate or the Sierra.

[amrutmhatre90]

Originally Posted by da_lowrider

Oh, just saw this thread. Here's a little more

Originally Posted by dean5545

I'll add my bit too!

I would like to add some points
What you will like:
-Sheer presence of this car, nothing came close and refined when this was launched.
-View of the Road and sitting position.
-Ground Clearance was a boon add to the shorter wheelbase, I have taken this machine to places where in only 4x4 would go but this did not break a sweat.
-Though it did not have power steering in the base model, while moving it was easily maneuverable with one hand. Thanks to he RWD layout and modern tech of Tata.
-4 Variants to choose from Base, DX which had AC and PS, DX turbo which had additions of DX with a Turbo Charged engine producing 90 bhp-186 nm, then last variant was 4x4.
-Came with metallic colors with dark options, favorite amongst them was maroon.
-Had the best performance amongst the competition.
- Storage, heck I remember placing travel bags below the front seats.

What you won't:
- Handling at high speeds was like boat.
- Needed to plan overtakes on 2 lane roads, 3rd or 4th Gear was best for it.
- Cars manufactured between 93-94-95 has issues of getting rolled over on high speed turns, this was rectified by changing tire size, suppliers and suspension tuning.
- Too high ground clearance caused Ingress issues despite having a side step, I always had a small stool for elderly people in my car.
- Too weak horn, 75% of users upgraded to powerful horns.

We had this car for more than 15 years, in which it covered 60,000kms only. I learnt driving on this mammoth only. It is the best thing to learn driving after 800.

Some of the pics after 15 years of use:




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