[amoghchaphalkar]

Saw this today morning

[rohanjf]

I had seen these cars a couple of weeks ago on Hosur road. They were probably being taken to some shopping mall from Navnit Motors. I particularly liked the M3's matte finish paint.

[autobahner]

Originally Posted by narry

hi
well something new a German 20 year old car audi 100 towing my 1 month old Chinese suv hover because the clutch died in just 5000 km
This old audi 100 has run 500,000 km without any mechanical changes not even clutch is changed ever and now is used as a tow car by this chinese small town mechanic
narry

Respect is the only word that comes in my mind to describe what i see. Me feels proud to be an Audi owner, can't wait for her (our 500k mark together), how about a detailed ownership review on your Audi 100 mate, is it a Quattro? sure would love to hear the story.

Sorry for the edit , i misread. Now understand that this belongs to the mechanic and not you. Wish he was on Team BHP to get his take on the half million miler.

[autobahner]

Originally Posted by kadanaJ

Tata is on a learning curve when it comes to technology and building a niggle free, good quality car.

The Germans are on a learning curve to better understand other markets. It seems they don't understand the Indian environment or consumer.
Neither can their cars survive in the tougher Indian climate the way Toyota or Maruti can, nor do they understand how value oriented the Indian consumer is.

So, yes, the Germans are indeed on a learning curve. To learn to emulate Toyota and Honda's level of reliability that is.

Good one this, i distinctly recollect a tv interview of some blokes from Volkswagen India driving around in the then about to be launched VW Polo mentioning that they have made critical alterations to make the car "Built for India", the main one being fitting a BIGGER HORN. So much for the leaning curve then eh! It would have been nicer if the stated that the electronics have been adapted for tropical variations or the suspension was made more robust, fitting a bigger horn is hardly state of the art technology adaption for a market with the potential to be one of the largest a few years down.

[MADMAX111]

reproduced here from an article on reliability of German cars in US.

"A German car is lot like a trophy wife (or GF) - an awesome creature with an attraction unlike any other. But once you move in together, you find there are some less pretty stuff that she never advertised. She can just shut down on the side of the road, and remind you there's nothing you can do about it. And you'll hate her for a few days as she unloads your wallet. But once she comes back all dressed up and cute again, purring like normal, you fall in love all over again, pledging your undying love to the end. And guess what, some of us think it is worth it."

Food for thought!!

• 

[Axe77]

Mumbai query: if anyone has the contact details for flatbed tow truck services in Mumbai can you please urgently post the details here.

thanks

[Maverick5490]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Mumbai query: if anyone has the contact details for flatbed tow truck services in Mumbai can you please urgently post the details here.

thanks

You can contact Aftab on: 098214 65331. The have proper flat bed trucks.

[smsrini]

Experienced flat bed towing recently when my safari broke down 100kms from hyderabad on NH 7.

Thanks to Vodafone, the 1800 number of Tata Onroad assistance could not get connected.

found "Jai Chintamani Crane Services" from justdial. Excellent service and very prompt response. Despite being called at midnight, they drove down 100kms to Jadcherla, with a flatbed to tow the vehicle back to Hyderabad.

Contact: Mr Ramu Yadav +(91)-9052499885, 9052499886.

Could'nt stop myself from steering while sitting in the car ontop of the flat bed!

The Tata Onroad assistance directs the call to the nearest TASS, who in turn send a recovery van. In my case, the TASS at Jadcherla, said they can send a recovery van only the next day morning!

[ssh1979]

I never imagined in the wildest of my dreams that I would make an entry into this thread. In the end it was nothing major. So go ahead, add AMERICAN to the thread title, butttttt the flatbed came from a VW/Audi facility

Background:
On one of my weekend escapades last weekend, I was going to a place that had no decent SH leave alone an NH. I was approximately 450kms away from my base location in a village of sorts. The nearest city was Trichy which was 35 kms behind me when this happened.

I drove very slowly on an offroad section of the SH (you get it right?). The constituents of the horrendously dusty track were mostly reddish, loose sand and gravel. I crossed a railway track when this screeching noise starts emanating from Rocky's left front wheel. The noise was so loud that I asked wifey, who was in the passenger seat, to roll down the windows and check if the side stepping had come off and was being dragged on the road! The answer was no. I drove for a further 50 feet very slowly and the noises continued only to be compunded by another noise which sounded like several things in the engine bay had come loose and were rattling. I pulled the vehicle over and did some basic checks like checking the wheel caps, wheel bolts. I went under the vehicle to check for any loose hanging things. Nothing. Everything was rock solid. Puzzled, I again moved the vehicle very slowly for about 10 feet and the noises were still there. Suspecting a bearing damage and briefly cursing Ford, I placed a call to the Trichy dealership and told them the issue. It was 1400 in the afternoon on a Saturday and thankfully my calls were routed to the right people. They suspected bearing damage too, and said they will send a towing van across. I then explained the auto transmission, RWD stuff and asked for a flatbed which they didn't have. After a few enquiries by myself and them, they got hold of a flatbed from you know where. The Trichy Ford dealership (Rockcity Ford) and service centre share space with VW and Audi. There was a flatbed there which was privately operated and leased to VW/Audi Trichy and they offered to send one at a cost of 3000 bucks. Since I was stuck in (almost) the middle of nowhere with wife, Mom and kid on the road with me, I agreed instantly. I packed off my folks in a taxi on the onward journey and waited for the flatbed. It came. I myself drove it up the ramp. The operator secured the Endy using belts on all four wheels and we drove off back to Trichy. The thought of a truck resting on top of another wasn't very pleasant to say the least, so I kept looking backward every few seconds to make sure the Endy was where it was orginally put and finally reached the service centre.

The engineer (a very experienced guy by name Mr. Shanmuganathan) came over, had a look and his first question was if I drove over gravel. I said yes. He removed the wheel in question, asked for it to be cleaned while he (quickly and adeptly) removed the brake assembly and pulled out the culprits which happebed to be three small gravel bits lodged between the disc and carrier plates. He did some quick cleaning, put the wheel back, took me on a road test, locked the wheels to make sure the ABS was fine and gave me delivery of the vehicle. I asked him to check the other wheels as well, but they were closing time on Saturday and he said if I need it to be done, I'd have to leave the vehicle with them till Monday. Since I couldn't afford this and neither were there any noises in any of the other wheels, I sighed thinking it's a bad luck for me probably and nothing else, I drove off on my onward journey. The mechanic said this doesn't happen 99.99% of the times and I was just plain unlucky and he cursed the roads too.

Now for the pics:

I never imagined I'd find myself in such a viewpoint:


The wheels being secured:


A truck on another? This must have been quite a sight, for everyone on the road gave such amused looks while I was sulking inside.


The culprits:


Phew! Ready to leave.

[BusyBee]

If I have a serious problem with my car, I would prefer to have it recovered on a flatbed truck to having it towed to the workshop.

Yes. The rates are higher but he possibility of 'recovery related damage' to the vehicle is substantially lower with the flatbed. The main issue is that the 'Premium' brands do not do road side assistance even for simple jobs as they like to have everything in their workshop. This leads to the royal ride on a flatbed - with the attendant 'Free publicity' of how unreliable these cars are.

True, if their electronics decide to shut shop, road side assistance will be difficult. But as a friend who had a BMW recovered on a flat bed as the tyre blew on a bad stretch of road said - "Dont dream of a simple tyre change these days". His car does not have a spare wheel. Progress they say is to introduce an exciting complication in our realitively simple life.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by ssh1979

I never imagined in the wildest of my dreams that I would make an entry into this thread. In the end it was nothing major. So go ahead, add AMERICAN to the thread title, butttttt the flatbed came from a VW/Audi facility

Sorry to hear you had to go through this experience. It is frustrating how a simple problem can become such a huge inconvenience. BTW, did you try to drive the Endy in reverse for few meters? Reversing few meters usually dislodges these stones - it worked for me on two occasions.

Here is my contribution to this thread:
Details here:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2598064



That is me sitting in the truck - a Kodak moment. It was raining, very weak cell phone signal, ~20KM away from civilization. The car's AT failed and it wouldn't budge. Eventually a BMW mechanic came around 9PM to put the car on the truck but I couldn't be there to witness the action. Car broke down at ~6AM and the flat-bed truck with the car started at 10PM - that is how long it took to start the recovery. This happened on 26-Nov and the car is still in the workshop - mostly waiting for new AT parts.

[Abes]

Originally Posted by ssh1979

I never imagined in the wildest of my dreams that I would make an entry into this thread. In the end it was nothing major. So go ahead, add AMERICAN to the thread title, butttttt the flatbed came from a VW/Audi facility

I drove very slowly on an offroad section of the SH (you get it right?). The constituents of the horrendously dusty track were mostly reddish, loose sand and gravel. I crossed a railway track when this screeching noise starts emanating from Rocky's left front wheel.

Originally Posted by androdev

Sorry to hear you had to go through this experience. It is frustrating how a simple problem can become such a huge inconvenience. BTW, did you try to drive the Endy in reverse for few meters? Reversing few meters usually dislodges these stones - it worked for me on two occasions.

OT, but to clarify that this could happen to anyone!

This happened to me once in the humble maruti 800, a very long time ago. Flatbed recovery vehicles were not in fashion then.

When I heard that screeching sound, parked the car, & called a nearby road side mechanic! he diagnosed the problem correctly when I told him of the symptoms. Removed the front wheels & cleaned the brakes! The stone had already fallen off, as I had moved the car forward & back, to diagnose the problem myself.

[mkaysaw]

A Saturday (21st Jan) afternoon coffee meeting in Delhi and the Mechatronic Failed.
- The car had covered 38,304 Kms.
- Mother of all Coincidences:
a)The car was on the last day of warranty (Date of Purchase 21st Jan 2010)
b)I had just reported the car for suspension squeaks and a vibration from taking off on second gear on Thursday and they(Skoda Dealership in NCR) said there was nothing they could do (till thrusday)...

The rest of the details to be provided on a new thread soon!

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by mkaysaw

A Saturday (21st Jan) afternoon coffee meeting in Delhi and the Mechatronic Failed.
- The car had covered 38,304 Kms.
- Mother of all Coincidences:
a)The car was on the last day of warranty (Date of Purchase 21st Jan 2010)
b)I had just reported the car for suspension squeaks and a vibration from taking off on second gear on Thursday and they(Skoda Dealership in NCR) said there was nothing they could do (till thrusday)...

The rest of the details to be provided on a new thread soon!

The meachtronic unit failed on the last day of the warranty? Man! That is worst luck. THe warranty would expire on 20th Jan if you bought the car on 21st I presume. Ask the dealership to backdate your complaint to 20th Jan if possible. I am guessing your's is a TSI. The 7 speed DSG in the Superb TSI is a known devil. Do push for the warranty and escalate to whoever you need to in Skoda. You can quote many instances of the mechatronic failures on the TSI from the forum. There are chances Skoda will honour the warranty , since it is such a borderline case. You may want to post this on another thread to get noticed.

Edit : Here are a couple of threads on the DSG Mechtronic woes

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...rongly-10.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...tronics-5.html

[jkdas]

Originally Posted by k_nitin_r

^ (About the Bolero towed by a Genio)
Aren't new vehicles delivered on trailers that carry multiple vehicles? (Or is there a familiar saying, "In India, anything is possible)

I once called up a Maruti Authorized Service Station to send a tow truck for a damaged radiator and compressor and they sent a crane-truck instead of a flat bed. The bumper-airdam was damaged in the accident anyway so I didn't mind.

I have seen Thar's etc driven between cities for delivery in convoy.