[nvk]

Hi All,

My name is Nikhil and I live in Delhi. I was so happy to run into this website as I just moved back from America and was regularly on car forums; and of course needless to say I am crazy about cars. I already stopped by Autopsyche's facility in Gurgaon and met Arush. My office is like 5 mins away from the workshop, so why not!

Currently, I drive either a Esteem or my dad's Mondeo. But I am hoping to buy a car in the near future. I haven't really decided which one as I am researching the market right now.

A little background on my vehicles, my first set of wheels was a Black CBZ (2001) when I used to go to college in Manipal, I sold the CBZ a year later and got a Maruti 800 (2002). Soon after that I transferred to University of Minnesota where I was mainly using public tranportation. About a year later I bought my first set of wheels there which was a 1999 Yamaha R6 (04/2004), I miss that bike till date, I had so much fun with it. Later on during the same year I bought a 1996 Audi A4 V6 Manual Transmission (10/2004) which was with me only for a few months as I totaled the car when I lost control due to some ice on the road

Luckily, I got a nice cheque from the insurace company for an amount greater than what I had paid for the car. I was really interested in modding my A4 but soon realised that I had bought a mod un-freindly car. So the accident was a blessing in disguise I guess. With the new cheque in hand I decided to do it right the next time around and bought myself a 2000 Audi A4 1.8t Quattro 5MT. That car was a absolute blast to drive and I did some decent mods to it. First mod was a new chip in the car which increased the bhp from 150 to about 200. The car already had an aftermarket exhaust on it. Next up was suspension, I got coilovers installed which was the best thing ever followed by sway bars (front and rear). This was followed by a short-shifter and a engine snub mount. Oh I almost forgot, the first mod was a set of 18" wheels and new tyres :-)

I drove the A4 for about 3 years, during this time i had finished college and started working. I waited till i had cleared most of my debt and got a good salary. Once I was in a decent financial position, I had decided to got for my dream car... BMW E46 M3!!!
In december 2007 i bought myself a used 2003 BMW M3 w/SMG :-)
I had the A4 as well for a few months as I was not able to find a good home for it. But eventually found the right buyer with the right price for it. And let me tell you it was really difficult to part with that car. I had so many memories with it and I had done so many road trips in it.

Unfortuantely, I always knew that my stint with the M3 will be short-lived as I was suppose to move back to Delhi, but that didnt stop me from experiencing it. I participated in 3 driving events with the M3, auto-cross, track day at laguna seca and car control clinic. In my opinion the best "mod" that i did for the car were these event, i learnt so much about driving and car control!

Anyways, this had turned out to be a really long post! I hope to meet people from here soon and be an active member in the community. This is a great forum!

- Nikhil cheers:

[KarriS]

Hi Nikhil,

Seems that the US of A has been a great experience for you experimenting with lots of Variants starting from 2 Wheelers to Audi's & BMW's. I believe you have tasted the cream. Do let us know what are you going to zero in to purchase in India well with the kind of driving experiences you had.

[nvk]

Hi KarriS,

I will definitely post up pics of my new car once I get it