[the VTEC guy]

The first family car was Premier Padmini. Was the cheapest one available at that time. :-)

[maverick030581]

Just mentioning the car I started driving with and not my family history
'93 Maruti 1000 metallic grey.
Had so much fun.Lotsa memories attached to that car.Eventually sold it for a pittance when we got our current ride(an Accent).Both my cars have been faithful,never let me down when I needed them the most

[Volt]

Premier 118 NE. It did give me some trouble, but when it worked, it was pure joy. I still maintain it had the smoothest gearbox ever in an Indian car and the rear wheel drive was great fun. I sure do miss it.

[sonirohit]

Bought my first CAR in 2003 a 97 "Cherry Red" Opel Astra. It sure was lot of fun to drive and a very comfortable rider as well. Then in 2005 my daily commute climbed up to about 70 Kms /day and fuel costs on an astra were astronomical - so moved to Santro.... Finally in 2008 when Petrol crossed 52 Rs/Litre - decided to move to a diesel - and have a DDiS now (which is fun to drive - I wished it was as comfortable as my Astra)...

[pgginish]

My first car was Maruti 800.

[Ksingh544]

A list of vehicles owned in our family , spanning across the last 2 decade (damn i feel a bit old hehe)

1. Ambassador (black)
2. Green Contessa (not the classic)
3. Beige Contessa Classic (one of the first 5 in india with Isuzu engine)
4. White Maruti 800
5. 2 White Ambassadors Novas
6. White Ambassador 1800 isuzu (at one point the car with the fastest straight line speed in india)
7. Diesel Ambassador (assembled by my father)
8. White Esteem -98 version
9. White Zen 2001 model
10. Tempo Trax Judo (my first vehicle)
11. Tata Indigo 2007
12. Mahindra Scorpio 2.6 crde lx (The replacement for my Judo)

[manujkansal]

Had a cool 2005 santro xing xp . sold it this year and Currently drive an even cooler hyundai verna sx.

[nvk]

My first set of wheels was a Black CBZ, sold it after a year and got a Maruti 800 from my dad's office. Soon after I moved to America and bought a 1999 Yamaha R6 (used) after a year and a half of living there. Later on during the same year I bought a 1996 Audi A4 which was with me for only a few months, I totaled it as I hit some ice and lost control. I dont have any pics of it with me. But soon after I bought a 2000 Audi A4 (silver) which is pictured below. I owned the A4 for about 3 years and bought a 2003 E46 BMW M3 in Dec 2007. I moved back to India Nov 2008 and had to sell the M3. I worte a brief history of the car in the introduction forum so I am being lazy and not writing the same here I hope you like the pics.

[Ravveendrra]

Wow! a thread for nostalgia freaks like me.

I started drving on a 1960's Ambassador when I was 13 (cant dream of it with today's traffic). It was a black car with 'ball bearinged steering' (as opposed to the earlier bushes) - I think it was a 1968 model.

The other family cars (at various times) were a Standard Herald, a Premier President (basically something in between a Fiat 1100 and a Padmini) and a Standard Gazel.

Of the lot, the Herald and the Premier were the most fun. Therefore my first car was a Padmini BE-A/c, 1989, never ran it without the A/c. and it returned me about 11 to 12 Kmpl in city with the avg. going upto 15 or 16 Kmpl on highways. It was a great car to own and run and costed next to nothing to maintain. I ran it till last year and sold it very reluctantly as parts are getting scarce.

My 'second cars' during the time were a Premier 118NE and an Opel Corsa.

The 118 was a great car - spacious and had fantastic road grip (I did fit Good Year radials on it) and a gear shift to die for. The downside was the poor build quality and tacky plastics. It did return a mileage of about 12 Kmpl in city going upto 18 on the highways.

I then went in for an Opel Corsa 1.6. Nice unpretentious car, solidly reliable. The dowdy image was deceptive, it was fast and had great highway manners. The mileage on this car was erratic while in the city, it returned between 9 and 13 Kmpl in the city. On the highways though it consistently returned about 16 Kmpl.

I have used several two wheelers. Started with a Lambretta 1969 model which I literally pulled apart and re-built. What a fantastic vehicle it was, very advanced design and technology for its age. It was the most comfortable steed (only the Bullet compared with it for comfort), I have covered large swathes of Maharashtra, Goa and Andhra Pradesh on it so I can vouch for it.

I also used a Chetak which was 'no go' after the Lamby. A quirky Jawa is next on list. It was fun when it decided to get up and go - but it could as quickly decide to take a siesta - leaving you cursing and with greasy hands!

The Ind-Suzuki - Supra was a fun bike to ride, esp in city and on short trips out of town.

I used to be dead against Diesels, but a test drive of the Skoda Laura made me change my mind and I now drive and love the Laura L&K (Manual).

I need a petrol car and I think that the Fiat Palio 1.6 will hit the right spot. So mebbe soon.

[raj_5004]

our cars in the order:

ones which we sold:

premier padmini
hindustan ambassador
118NE
opel astra
safari 3.0
safari TCIC (sold recently)

ones not sold:

opel astra club
mahindra scorpio Non-Crde
mahindra scorpio Crde
mahinda scorpio M2Di
mahindra scorpio 2.2 mHawk
toyota innova 2.5
tata safari 2.2

[Zensi]

My exp with cars in that order:
1) M 800 (White) 1994 - learnt to drive on my mom's car
2) NE 118 (N.Blue) 1994 - Sly drives in dad's car to get a feel of a 'bigger' car
3) Esteem (White) 1995 - my ride in college (thank you grandpa)
4) Zen (Purple) 1997 - my first car with my hard earned cash
5) Lancer (Black) 2004 - Dream car for the longest of times
6) Accord V6 (Black) 2007 - Current love affair (its like a hot, high maintenance girlfriend - drinks fuel, pleases with performance)

[sanjz]

Can remember my rides very well and still have fond memories of them started to drive when was around 12 or 13 still remember it was a Vespa 150 a rage in its time, people owing one always looked down upon others, incidentally that was my dads first scooter.Down the line some where in the early seventies dad picked up a new Premier President , our first car .I still have memories of it and all the long trips that we took on it driving it all the way from gujarat to hyderabad (AP). This was also the car that i learned my driving on.Moved on to the hostel for further studies ad thats where i picked up my dream machine the Yamaha Rajdoot RD 350 fondly called the" yamdoot" in our hostel for the number of crashes that other guys had.It was a gleaming red beauty ...... ow how much i miss her. My graduation from engineering college also saw the end of the RD350 as i sold it of.

The picked up LML 150 NV from the first lot. (what a degradation from an RD 350 to LML 150) no more "baap ka paisa to splurge " ! was to fool to sell of my RD. Disposed of the LML and then graduated to a Hero Honda Splender, which was also time to send the old war horse packing , and so in comes a swanky new 118 NE. Was never to happy with the NEs build quality and the samll little niggles that kept hitting it . Nevertheless was earning so picked up a better car for self, the Tata Sierra , with the NE giving service to dad

As the Sierra was from the first lot and like all new launches of Tata, the vehicle proved to be a very troublesome beast.Nonetheless still managed to clock 1,50,000 kms.

Sold this and replaced it with the newer beast from the Tata stable the Sierra Turbo. This was one fantastic car which never gave me any kind of trouble remianed in service for a good 2 lac kms . The safari came as a replacement for this car . The Safari LX, great car with no niggles slightly sluggish in lower ends but surely loved it .

Meanwhile dad was sick of his NE so replaced it with a Honda City 1.5 Exi , a beauty in maharaja gold worth its value in gold.still doing service with him and as immaculate as it was 8 years back, obviously has just 50 k on the odo.

Had flings with other cars as well , just a short mention of them they being the M800 TK a/c the Maruti Omni and ofcourse not to forget the Zen VX which is still giving excellent service , now since inherited by my wife after brother left for the US.

Current rides are the Getz 1.3 , Zen, VX OHC 1.5 , Safari Dicor, and a Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTSi.

[mustang89]

i have always felt that although you physically part away from your ride but its memories still lingers on..i can still feel the rush of the first car i drove...in order.
1. maruti800 (89 model)
2. maruti800 (97model)
3. marutizen (96 model)
4. hyundai accent(2004 model)
ones which i currently have
1. maruti swift( 07 model)
2. nhc (06 model)

[ajithbc]

I had learnt driving on a premier padmini President 1971 model which is of my same age which belonged to my mother's sister. And after some time we had a similar old padmini in our home. i still rmember the the powerful engine notes which kept fiat alive ont he roads. then it was sold and bought a padmini diesel converted from a Mitsubishi 3 cylinder tractor engine. Our car had a mitsubishi logo in it . That was the car in my college days which used to run cheaper than my Ind Suzuki Bike. Me and my girl friend (now wife) used to go on one day out of the town trips on that. I had a fully modified scrambler from SX Enduro looks exactly like CX250 which had monoshock and under seat exhaust.

After i moved to Bangalore and with my own money i bought myself a Tata Estate, the tripper car and rear area used to be flat, seats folded and diwan cushions on it. All my friends used to move in and around bangalore enjoying. And thee day i went back to my home town and took my then girlfriend and got married on that car. After abusing the car with enough and more drifting and 180 deg turns sold that and got a maruti 800 along with the 1962 G2 Bullet. then it was an Esteemand soon changed to a palio 1.2 Elx. I had to sell that off to give the down payment for my apartment and bought a old petrol UNO and a Pulsar 180. The first kid was born and I changed UNO to an Accent GLS and Aaron came home from hospital on that. Soon a Lancer SLXi came my way and i couldnt resist and in 7 months time, i got a Elantra CRDi at a very gud price.. Had to sell it due to some financial crisis and went back to a Palio D. mean while i aquired another bullet a BSA B31 and both the Huosung bikes- Aquila and Comet. And after the second kid- Roshan, shuffled everything and settled with a Bullet 500Lb , Suzuki GSX R600 and a skoda Octavia. It was a wonderful and not so wonderful journey of 9 years with 10+ cars and 15 bikes. dont have all the pics right now.. will be posting all the vehicles pics soon. few are posted below.

[VikramRao75]

Originally Posted by DirtyDan

I briefly owned a 1975 Ford Bronco in perfect shape. It had four wheel drive, a 5.0 litre v-8 motor and was better looking than Aishwarya Rai. Okay, I lied a little about that last part.

No you didnt, I thought of buying a 97 Eddie Bauer edition Bronco, I think they are one of the best looking SUV'S ever, and yes I will go on record saying that this Bronco does look better then A Rai !!

Cars in the Family

1. 1959 Ambassador with an OHV engine (now converted to a diesel) 1961 - present
2. 1976 Ambassador Mark 2 - 1976-1991
3. Standard 10 1986-1989
4. Maruti 800 1997 - Present

In the US

1. 1988 Isuzu space cab 4x4 2000-2002 (Student)
2. 1992 Ford Tempo 2002-2003(Student)
3. 2004 Mitsu Lancer 2004 - 2005 (work)
4. 1992 Taurus SHO 2004-2008 (moved to NYC, DIDNT NEED A NEW CAR)
5.1994 Taurus SHO 2008-Present