[Aslamjaffer]

Hello BHPians…
Thought this day couldn’t be much better as I saw the approval mail from TBHP. Thanks to the moderator(s) for approving my membership request and getting me into this huge car enthusiastic crowd. TBHP site has been my one stop place for anything related to cars since a couple of years. May be before a year and a half I registered for a membership and was denied.

Sorry for the long intro but felt like scribing it down here

BIO
I am Aslam,30, an IT professional from Coimbatore. I am a native of Coimbatore but did my schools on Ooty (An awesome place for childhood and teenage), College in Coimbatore and worked about five years in Chennai. The love that I had for Coimbatore brought me back here and it’s been five years I have settled down here with my family (wife and a 6 year old brat). I think life is more beautiful living in Coimbatore or Ooty and nowhere else on earth. Apart from work I also own a Pharmacy with a multi-specialty clinic at present and will be doing more in future. Doing business is in my blood (I think so) and I love getting myself busy with business. Work is so far so good and I love the company that I am currently working for.

LOVE CARS
Not a great car enthusiast as most of you people here, but right from my teenage I have been interested towards cars which I still don’t know why. I was proud to spot and car with its make and model during school days and I still remember the Ford Escort and Daewoo Cielo which were then considered the luxurious ones. It all started from spotting the cars and identifying them for the make and model.

Though loved these machines, did not get a chance to learn driving them for some reason. Days went on just watching the cars revving on road and still enjoyed the feel. One fine day in 2010, decided to purchase a car as we were gifted with a baby boy and I wanted to make sure I bring him home in my own car. As I did not know driving and was in Chennai then, decided to go for a used car till I learn driving thoroughly and then a new one may be. A trusted friend of mine (an automobile showroom employee) spotted a Maruthi 800 in Coimbatore which he claimed to be in fantabulous conditions and said if I deny this he will be ready to own the car. Trusting him to the core, transferred the amount for the car on just seeing the pictures received through email (how funny and stupid that should be).

The car was bought by my friend and he took it to his showroom for some basic checkup and for some small jobs in the car. He had a dual tone horn fixed and arrested a few leaks that he spotted under the car and a complete service was done. Went to Coimbatore and one of my friend helped me bring the car to Chennai. The car was just nice and it was an icy blue one.

LEARN TO DRIVE
The friend who came to Chennai to drop the car took some extra effort by staying for another day for the sake of teaching me to drive. We went for a practice the next day for an hour (exactly an hour) and he was surprised by the steering control I had at such an initial stage and may be that came from the intensive playing of racing games in childhood (I hate any other games even now and my son and I still play Asphalt 8 on my IPAD every day). The training ended on me with that one hour as my friend had to leave the next day to Coimbatore. No clue of what to do as my driving classes were not complete and I had to learn driving before my son comes home.

With a gut feel that I can drive much better, took the car the next day and started driving in the streets and I hit the man roads in a weeks’ time. So it was all self-learning and started handling Chennai’s traffic with ease. Touch wood that there has been no incidents or accidents till now and I think I DRIVE SAFE. My car also played an equal role to get me on the roads. She is so sweet I tell you and I was more satisfied than owning a new car and never regretted till today for owning my M800. It’s been 6 years (my son’s age) owning her and she has stood beside me every time. Now for the past 2 years I am a full time car user and my bike (Apache RTR 160 Yellow – has its own story and will share sometime later) was idle from then.

Cars that I LOVE TO DRIVE next
Now that we have started doing some long trips the M800 feels a little less comfortable now a days. So planning for another used car of my choice and searching for one. It is my dream to own a LANCER or a CIVIC from a long time. It’s been a long since driving a small car and I think it’s time for big one now. I don’t know why I like the Lancer and the Civic but I just love them. Now that the Lancer is getting a little old, I am freezing on the Civic. I think my membership has been approved at the very right time as I have a lot of questions to be asked to people here and maybe I will post that on the right thread, which I don’t know where till now and I will find it out. Just to start with, I will be happy if someone can put some light on my decision here. I feel the car is powerful and premium, an angry and hot looking machine, a neat 1.8L engine, great interiors, spacious and comfortable inside and I guess a pullback is on the FE and ground clearance part. I need serious advice on this people as I see this forum to be the one trust point in owning my next car.

The M800 will still stay with my sister and I am not going to get this baby off my sight anytime. I have also got my bike back on track again as I know that driving the Civic full time will make a hole in my pocket but again I only drive an average of 12 kms per day city drive and may be a long drive once in 2 months. So please advise on the Civic considering my driving conditions and also let me know the place to post doubts on owning this car.

Thanks again for the opportunity, I think this intro has gone very lengthy than I expected and apologies for that.

Keep revvin’
Aslam

[GTO]

Welcome Aslam!

Originally Posted by Aslamjaffer

Doing business is in my blood (I think so) and I love getting myself busy with business. Work is so far so good and I love the company that I am currently working for.

As I did not know driving and was in Chennai then, decided to go for a used car till I learn driving thoroughly and then a new one may be.

Very smart! I always recommend learners to buy a cheap used car first. There will inevitably be mistakes in the early days and it's less painful with a beater.

For your next car, do buy the Civic only (not the outdated Lancer). They are exchanging hands at throwaway prices. My own car went for 2.5 lakhs only. Spacious, powerful, stylish and reliable - it's a fantastic car to own. Don't worry about the ground clearance. There are ways to improve that (related thread).

Just be sure to buy the newest, most well-maintained car you can in your budget. Honda is now offering warranties up to 7 years and it might be worth it to get a Civic & pick the warranty.

Refer to our used car buying article and adhere to every bit of advice in there.

Request: There are several language errors in your post. This negatively affects the forum experience for other readers. Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use a spell-checker. Thanks!

[Aslamjaffer]

Originally Posted by GTO

For your next car, do buy the Civic only (not the outdated Lancer). They are exchanging hands at throwaway prices. My own car went for 2.5 lakhs only. Spacious, powerful, stylish and reliable - it's a fantastic car to own. Don't worry about the ground clearance. There are ways to improve that (related thread).

Just be sure to buy the newest, most well-maintained car you can in your budget. Honda is now offering warranties up to 7 years and it might be worth it to get a Civic & pick the warranty.

Refer to our used car buying article and adhere to every bit of advice in there.

Thanks for the suggestion GTO. I have already finalized to go with the Civic and now in search for a good one. I will be coming up with more questions regards to the Civic very soon.

Originally Posted by GTO

Request: There are several language errors in your post. This negatively affects the forum experience for other readers. Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use a spell-checker. Thanks!

Going forward this will be taken care.

Thanks
Aslam