[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by gopikb

It reached the 1 lakh milestone just about a couple of weeks ago.

Congrats.

Originally Posted by gopikb

Unfortunately my wife took the car for a early morning breakfast with her friends before we even wokeup and we ended up not recording the 100K milestone.

Just a friendly reminder of our priorities. Luckily I was alone in the car during the above milestone, else wife would have given me an earful for stopping just to click an odometer pic.

[gopikb]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Just a friendly reminder of our priorities. Luckily I was alone in the car during the above milestone, else wife would have given me an earful for stopping just to click an odometer pic.

Ha ha. You know the ladies too well. We did get an earful when myself and kids made noise that she took the car when we had planned so much for a milestone celebration. She was complaining that I dont show the same interest for her birthdays every year. Coming to think of it, she was absolutely right.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Luckily I was alone in the car during the above milestone, else wife would have given me an earful for stopping just to click an odometer pic.

One of the best Long Term Ownership Threads on Team BHP and it has no updates since many months? Not good!

Now many Ford owners would take motivation from threads of Fiat Owners to keep their Aspirations of owning Fords for long

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Honestly - there is nothing to update! Which may be a good thing considering the age.

We are still in hometown (Trivandrum, Kerala - A very small town in comparison to Bangalore, despite being the capital city) thanks to the extended WFH situation. The car has only covered 1400kms since the previous 2L kms update, even after being used almost daily these days. Wasn't used at all for almost two months after the previous update - since I was also affected by Covid and ended up in the hospital for a week and with almost no driving for two months. Anyways, done and dusted episode now.

The Taigun Story -

Meanwhile - we did plan a replacement. After the Volkswagen Taigun media drive, I pre-booked a Cherry Red GT DSG. Was it a "proper" replacement for the Punto?

Partly yes and no -

• Ideal replacement should have been a diesel automatic. VAG didn't have any, and the only real option on paper is Kia. (and we all know the crash test story!). 1.5 TSI is lovely though - but the running costs surely would have hurt!
• I have always wanted to stay away from the infamous DQ200 - but ended up liking the DSG more than the manual. What a lovely box!
• Size was perfect! Couldn't park something like an XUV 7OO at home.
• Ride & Handling - Now thats familiar territory! Only the Euros can deliver on this with perfection (Though the Koreans are catching up, fast!)

Hence booked the Taigun, despite the expected shock pricing, the obvious cost cutting despite the pricing and the missing features despite the pricing and cost cutting - hoping that it triumphs in safety and fun quotients.

Ended up cancelling after reports of all the Kushaq breakdowns. If there was ever a car to stay clear of the initial batches - this was it!

When I pre-booked the car, I was fully prepared for multiple user complaints on niggles - with infotainment, rattles, rubber and plastic fitment issues etc - even we observed and mentioned fitment and quality issues with the media car, and I still booked one. Breakdowns - that's where they lost me! With the DSG - I was prepared to have two breakdowns in the next 10 years - 1.5 lakh kms, hopefully one within warranty. But ridiculous to expect and prepare for a brand new car to breakdown within 1 month/2000 kms, when the replacee has never let me stranded for ~10 years/200000 kms. Thank god Skoda skipped 6 airbags on the top-variants, making me wait the additional two months for the VW!

Will take a decision by around Feb-March.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Gave the car for some professional detailing yesterday. Nothing fancy - just some good old wash, rubbing and polish + headlamp restoration + interior fabric wash and cleaning.

1 year and 3 months of parking out in the harsh Kerala sun/rain conditions had taken its toll on the exteriors. Thankfully, looks good again after some care.













At the detailing center -



















Some images captured today -









An additional layer of wax won't hurt. Will give it the Turtle Wax treatment over the next weekend.

PS: Just noticed the number plate hasn't been fixed properly. Will need to check that too.

[redcruiser]

I guess you were looking for an upgrade since over a year.
Did you figure out which car it will be or happy with punto

[nkrishnap]

A much deserved refresh for the car. Looks new, kudos to you for maintaining it that way.

Your car is a good example of cars with high mileage with regular maintenance.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by redcruiser

I guess you were looking for an upgrade since over a year.
Did you figure out which car it will be or happy with punto

Guess you missed the previous post.

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

A much deserved refresh for the car.

Thanks KP. Story isn't all good though - realised that I missed something when taking delivery of the car post detailing. Mistakes happen - but would have appreciated if they (Euroteq Car Care, Trivandrum) had honestly informed me about this.

Anyways, will get this corrected later.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

An additional layer of wax won't hurt. Will give it the Turtle Wax treatment over the next weekend.

Gave a couple of layers of turtle wax to add to the shine and for some added protection against the harsh Kerala weather for a few more months.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Service Experience #33 - Wiper Motor + Blades Replacement @ 2,02,750 kms.
Service Center - Deedi FCA MOPAR, Trivandrum.

Last week, on a day when red alert was declared in Trivandrum, and the rains continued non-stop for a couple of days - the wiper motor decided to give up on me in the midst of a heavy spell and at night.

Thankfully, late night and close to home - so did not create a big headache and we could safely get back home. I had applied TurtleWax ClearVue Rain Repellant on the windshield during the previous self-detailing session mentioned above, and that helped too.

Gave the car for service on the 17th at Deedi FCA, Trivandrum. Wiper Motor was found to be the culprit. Part was available, but was later found to be defective, but thankfully there was an incoming truckload the next day evening which had one more unit. Replaced promptly, along with the wipers blades and the car was returned to me on the 19th. I get questions on the parts availability of these cars (Punto & Linea) - and the wiper motor being a not-so-common spare is a good example that things haven't gone all that bad till date!







All the rain and the car being parked outside also took its toll on the ageing door panels - with water deposited inside the RR door frame. I removed the doorpads and checked, but couldn't find the source and also tried to remove any water blockers from underneath the channels on the doorframe, but to no luck. Turns out the weather beadings on the windows are gone and is letting too much water inside than the channels are designed to handle. There is also some rust inside the beadings which needs to be cleaned and the beading also need to be replaced with a fresh one.

Part was not available, ordered last week and while typing this post - just received a call that they have arrived as well. Not bad with the spares situation, not bad at all!

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Meanwhile - we did plan a replacement. After the Volkswagen Taigun media drive, I pre-booked a Cherry Red GT DSG. Was it a "proper" replacement for the Punto?

Your famous Punto was mentioned during my recent visit to Krithi car care (nkrishnap) and here I was reading about you thinking about the replacement. Unfortunately I am also on the same thoughts about replacement of Punto as you had. Have found a few interested buyers but the fear of what next after my 75hp is gone has started to haunt me. Going through the sites for a possible next car and unable to find one. Either the specs are too light for an affordable car or too costly beyond what my pockets cans afford. Will watch your thread closely for some pointers you may have when around Feb-March 22.

[abhi_tjet]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

[b]Service

Part was not available, ordered last week and while typing this post - just received a call that they have arrived as well. Not bad with the spares situation, not bad at all!

And here I am waiting for sunshade/sun-visor for Linea to be produced since last 3-4 month. Seems the in-cabin plastic parts are not a priority.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Will watch your thread closely for some pointers you may have when around Feb-March 22.

Doubt if you will get logical pointers from me. I'm quite impulsive in such purchases - using the heart to book and mind to cancel.

Originally Posted by abhi_tjet

And here I am waiting for sunshade/sun-visor for Linea to be produced since last 3-4 month. Seems the in-cabin plastic parts are not a priority.

I replaced the weather beadings on Saturday. Costed Rs 760/-

Surprisingly the part has a manufacturing date of 18th of November. Fresh! May be I just got plain lucky. Also, I believe sun-visors as classified as cosmetic shares though - and hence may not be sourced as often.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Happy 10th!

Our Punto completed 10 years of ownership earlier in March. Gave the car for a proper exterior and interior cleaning session, also in preparation for what was in store next.

The sale

This has been discussed for years, and as per my friends - was way overdue! But I've been hesitant to spend huge money over and above the resale of the Punto - to get much lesser incremental value in return. This was one car that surely knew how to punch above its class, in terms of the mechanicals.

However, there were reasons to consider an upgrade -
1. The age and mileage raising questions on the reliability of the car - as a primary highway machine.
2. Ageing interior design and feature-list.
3. Safety. 6 airbags would be welcome, even if we are only the two of us travelling in the car 95% of the time.
4. Simply the itch to move on - try something better before life runs out.

10 years & 2L km has been one milestone I had set to seriously consider the upgrade. Even though the upgrade decision is pending - I decided to let go of the Punto because this sale was probably the best scenario for the car (you know, considering the car is not just a lifeless mechanical machine).

Last weekend, the car was handed over to the new owner.

The new owner

And the new owner, thankfully, is someone who knows the car for the last 8 years and have made at least a dozen requests to sell the car to him whenever I move on. Initially planned as an upgrade from his Alto, he later moved on and bought the facelifted SCross Multijet for himself.

When Covid happened he moved back to his hometown of Coimbatore, and I moved temporarily to Kerala. The car discussion never came up, till last month.

During a call - I casually mentioned (since I didn't think he would be interested anymore, post the SCross purchase) about the 10-year mark and my serious decision to upgrade, he was quick to claim his rights to it. He needed a second car and the only delay for him to pick up the car was from HDFC to issue the NOC. Within a couple of days, after I managed to arrange the NOC, he drove down and picked up the car.

I hope the car brings the same cheer to his family as it did to mine.

NOC delays with HDFC bank

Once the sale was decided, the biggest headache was to get NOC from HDFC bank. I had not paid much thought into this process because it was supposed to be all-online and easy. However, once I tried to download it - a technical error hit and the loan number, appearing in the dropdown options itself, was shown as invalid! Approached the home branch, got redirected to loan branch, who took the request and didn't revert for a week. So finally sent an escalation to customer care and although they also initially repeated the 'unable to find your loan dialogue', it was sorted out in a couple of days and the physical copy was sent over.

Final FE details-

With all the city runs inside Trivandrum, FE has been rather average, but still way better what our Xcent petrol AT manages in similar running conditions -

Final service and maintenance charts

Some memorable pictures from this journey

-

Delivery Day - March 2012 -


At our marriage venue -


At Munnar, honeymoon drive -


The days before the sun film ban -


Old garage companion bought in 2012 as well -


First Team-BHP Bangalore meet -



Markonahalli Dam -



At Chikmagalur -


Team-BHP drive to Muzhappilangad beach -




1L km milestone -


1L km photoshoot -


Drive to Gandikota -


Favourite spot inside the office campus -


Photoshoot sessions around Bangalore -


1.7L km photoshoot -


With Mihir and KarthikK -


With KarthikK's Thar -


Escaping the Covid lockdowns -


Post a nice TurtleWax detailing session -


2L km milestone -


Final odo reading before handover -


Parting shot, literally -

[mayukh42]

An era to remember, for you, for Team BHP, and for me. Your car ownership thread was one of the major points for me to decide my first car, and was that such a great decision in hindsight!

Thank you for this thread, once again, and may the car munch even more miles with the new owner.

[StarrySky]

A white Punto 90HP. It was my first car, and my heart always skips a beat when I see one, especially one as well-maintained as yours.

Congrats on the long ownership, and all the best for the next purchase!