[GTO]

2nd-gen Toyota MR2, when I was a student in Boston. The price difference from the used Accord I bought eventually wasn't too much. I chickened out because I was on a strict / tight student budget and was worried about the potentially higher upkeep & insurance costs.

Then, the 1st-gen Octavia vRS in 2004. I loved my '03 City Vtec and miss it dearly, but the Octavia vRS would have been performance at a different level. That fast turbo-petrol, the solid tank-like build, the tight suspension, beautiful hydraulic steering, they just don't build cars like that anymore. A true icon.

No complaints though. Thanks to Team-BHP, I drive some truly wonderful cars every year & have automotive memories to last a lifetime. Life is good.

[enginesoul]

I always wanted to buy TATA Safari Strome, just for the way it looked. Unfortunately stretched Harrier will be launched as Safari , though I might buy Harrier Diesel AT but will never get that satisfaction of owning Safari.

[condor]

Two cars that I can definitely mention:

Sept 2000: I moved to California from namma Bengaluru, and I was looking out for a car. Shortlisted Honda, and the Accord V6. I briefly looked at the 2001 Civic Type-R hatchback. An old friend was guiding me with the usage, etc, but I went ahead with the Accord V6.




image source

I was alone, and I just did not need the sedan. My friend did tell me the advantages of a hatchback, 3 doors, and the stuff. I should have listened to him, and taken this. Probably missed this one also because I did not discuss this model with him, nor did I follow-up up to take a TD.


******

2.
Back home in 2005, I got myself a Sumo Victa GX Turbo. The 4x4 version was available on order. Even after booking the 4x2 version, I did briefly think about the 4x4. I should have. I just should have

[shamanth]

In 2009 when i was changing my car, i did test drive Honda City AT and Hyundai Verna Diesel AT. Went ahead and purchased Honda City, I did feel maybe i should have gone with Hyundai Verna Diesel AT when i was seeing Petrol price of Rs 80, while Diesel was around Rs 40 for quiet sometime. But Honda city is still going strong without a single niggle.

[narayans80]

S-Cross 1.6 - This is the only realistic car I could have brought in this list, had I not gone the used car route in 2017. I still ended being an S-Cross owner albeit with the 1.3

Tata Hexa - The original car I really wanted to buy, but was way out of budget.

Jetta TDI - One of the target used cars I was looking for in 2017. But were either out of budget or high mileage or out of state vehicles.

Originally Posted by Researcher

But, who knew that it won't survive the facelift?

It did survive, but for a very small duration. The local Nexa I brought my 1.3 had 1.6 in stock till about July-August 2017. I know one member owns the facelift grill S-Cross with 1.6

[Bibendum90949]

Two cars in my list - Omni and Gypsy. Both are icons in their own respect. I wanted to buy a new Omni and by then Maruti stopped it's production. I did a last ditch effort with few dealers for old stocks but to no avail, it was poor planning from my end. Later I bought a pre owned Omni couple of years back though. Just cross posting my love affair with Omni from another thread.

For me, Omni can always do what a Nano can. This is one vehicle I always want to drive even in it's barebone form. Steering is indeed the icing on the cake, with such direct feel and feedback. Another thing is it's ability to squeeze through the tiniest of spaces. Parking is always a breeze. Driving/steering position is what I like the most in an Omni, a truck/bus like driving posture which is a different feel altogether compared to other conventional cars. With a good set of rubbers, it can be pushed a bit around corners too but one should know where to draw the line. Still the thrills it provide is of a different kind. I long cherished a dream of criss crossing the whole country in an Omni, never borne fruit though.

Hoping to have a pre owned Gypsy soon and that'll be a big strike off from my bucket list.

[Durango Dude]

MS Swift! I test drove it once and fell in love I had an Accent then and wanted to upgrade from it: wife put her foot down, rest is history, went in for Elantra GLS. Again a rainy morning before Covid happened one of my son's friends had bought a new gen manual Swift and again drove for 5-6 kms again the same pang. It's one car that I've wanted to own, but haven't. It's affordable, sexy. compact, fuel efficient, a cinch to drive, etc. If I buy one I'd get a manual Swift. It's one car that I don't need but want!

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by StarrySky

None, really!

Whenever I have had to choose a car, I have been able to choose the car that best suited my requirements at the time, including budget. So I haven't really had any regrets about not being able to get a particular car.

Of course, there are many great cars that I would love to buy, but which I don't have the budget for. I'll NOT regret NOT buying them!

This is exactly my story ! Each car satisfied the requirements at the time of purchase, whether it was driven by the head or the heart. Hence, I'm quite satisfied with my garage.

Yes, of course there are other cars I that have pulled at the heart strings, but not to the extent of regret.
- City VTEC in that beautiful shade of blue
- Yellow first gen Octy vRS
- Black Grand Vitara
- Blue Cedia Sports

Now that I list them, it strikes me that nothing special comes to mind through most the last decade.

[reppy]

Originally Posted by GTO

2nd-gen Toyota MR2, when I was a student in Boston.

Quite the opposite when I was in Boston! Was planning to buy a used Honda Civic, graduated my thought up to a Toyota Celica, and finally ended up with a 1993 Honda Prelude. The best memories and moments of my life started from there! Kitted it with a top of the line Pioneer + Infinity crossovers and an Alpine Type E sub, playing Mundeyan Toh Bach Ke Rahin on Newbury Street with the sunroof n windows open n making the crowd dance outside Roxy when the clubs would close at 2am..your mention of Boston brings back awesome memories!

AFTER returning here, really regretted not converting a few deals on a CRV and Volvo S60, and the most recent being a GLA at a mouth watering 20.5 ex showroom in 2019 (December deals!)

[naru80]

Bought my first car 13 years back. Wanted the Swift. They were selling like hot cakes at that time. Went to the nearby showroom with friends. It was old and unwelcoming, the salesman was completely indifferent, they didn't have a TD car and made no effort at making a sale. Went to the Hyundai showroom next door, they had just launched the i10. The showroom was new, bright and nice. The salesman was cheerful and attentive, the TD car was almost brand new and felt more premium than the swift, and I closed the deal there and then.

I still have the car, it's given me no problems but for a long time I used to look at Swifts on the road wistfully.

Bought my second car 6 years back. We had shifted to near an expressway with no public transport to speak of and needed a second car urgently. I had just taken a big loan for my house and didn't want to spend too much. Went to the same Maruti showroom, almost finalised the Swift (which was still tugging at the heart). But, but, but... there was that Hyundai showroom too next door. And they had just launched the i20. And now this was selling like hot cakes (six months waiting). A base diesel model happened to be available since someone had just cancelled. Booked it on the spot.

I didn't regret passing up the Swift a second time (by then everyone and their aunt seemed to own one and an update was rumored to be coming soon). But I regretted not buying a higher variant of the i20.

[headbanger]

Regret to date not buying Zxi trim instead of Vxi for Ritz. At just 50k more I would have got 2 airbags, inbuilt ICE, alloys and rear wipers plus defogger.

I would have been driving a contemporary Maruti car even today by their standards since Maruti only offer these features at a maximum to their top trims.

[lamborghini]

The two biggest regrets would be picking the Ford Fiesta 1.4TDCi instead of the 1.6 Petrol, and the Laura over the E90 320d (the latter was over budget as stock of corporate edition had finished).
Both the Fiesta and Laura were brilliant companions though!

[neelkumar]

1. Honda Civic 8th gen. it is such a beautiful car. haven't found a similar till now.
   
2. Ford Endeavour 3.2 4×4.

[Rangy62]

One of the cars I really missed out was the Dolphin by Sipani automobiles. Not many know of it now but it was really a zippy car before the advent of the Maruti 800. It was a 2 door 800cc engine and a fiberglass body.

[SportsMedicine]

What a thread. Following is the list i regret not buying. In fact i regret so much that even if they begin to sell these now, i would replace my entire garage.

1) Tata Nano GenX XTA Petrol


2) Ford Endeavour 3.2L 4x4 AT


3) Toyota Qualis


4) Skoda Octavia vRS 2004