[Abhinav V]

My dad in 2007 bought Innova without a test drive.
We had an Omni before Innova and it was 2005, we were returning home from Mysore and we were overtaken by the strangest car I had ever seen. It was the first car I had seen with A/C vents on the roof just like in an aeroplane. My dad instantly fell in love with it and little did we know that in two years time it would become a household name and that we too would get one.
I only remember dad going to the showroom twice and third time he took all of us, we came back in a brand new Innova.

[Vians]

Originally Posted by Stribog

Very interesting, why did Airtel gift you a car? Story time please

Airtel ran a quiz contest during world cup cricket. I participated when I was an engineering student and was pleasantly surprised. They had their office in Nungambakkam , Chennai at that time and they were all surprised when I mentioned that I was asked to meet them. After a few phone calls, they asked me to come with a DD for road tax and 30% gift tax. Next day I took a DD and the car was delivered in 2 days. I was certainly lucky and Airtel was honest to give me the car. They did not even do any photoshoot or media coverage.

I found the news article. https://www.indiantelevision.com/mam...v/novmam29.htm

[GTO]

Come to think of it, because of the limited model choice, the concept of test-driving wasn't there in the 80s & 90s. You bought based on budget + looks + size. All the cars we bought then (800, 118 NE, 137D, Zen, Jeep) were bought without a test-drive. The Esteem was different. We had originally thought of a red Tata Sierra. But after a spin in my cousin's Esteem, we changed our choice. Trust me, the Esteem 1.3L was like the Octavia vRS of 1995.