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Originally Posted by condor
Wishing you many more happy years and miles together ! |
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Originally Posted by Rahulkool Man this brings back so many memories, we bought our 83' M800 and 96' omni from the same dealer, sushila automobiles. |
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Originally Posted by fiestarry May this 800 cross 800,000 km and more. |
Thanks all for your kind wishes. I will try my best to maintain her in the same healthy state for years to come. As commented by my mother, this baby grows younger with age.
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Originally Posted by baby_antu The way you have kept it in stock condition is worth appreciating. I have always admired your ways to maintain the car. |
Thanks Anant. For me, it always has to be the top end of any vehicle, and any upgrade done, is always fully reversible in nature. I don't believe in fiddling with the car unnecessarily for cheap mods, loosing all reliability and
then running behind mechanics.
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Originally Posted by extreme_torque Lord that is a well maintained car! I was looking at the images thinking they were taken when she was bought and it struck me that it cannot be. Digital camera's werent common back in the day.
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Haha!! Well that was my intention to surprise someone, and lead them into the confusion about the date of the pics.
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Originally Posted by arnabchak Shashi,
Simply outstanding.
It felt that the M800 is actually a person and not a car at all.
Celebrating "his" birthday since the last 16 years.
And feels great to see him mature into an ageless beauty.
One of our initial cars was the M800 carb and it was such a pleasure to drive.
This coming after the Premier Padmini that was my father's first car.
Superb handling, extremely frugal, low cost of maintenance and reliable till eternity.
Infact, you could take the M800 to hell and back, absolutely unscratched and with complete faith that this little 3 pot engine will be the last thing to let yo down.
Equally commendable about the way you have maintained her.
Two thumbs way up for all your efforts Leo!! |
Completely agree about the reliability aspect. Recently during Chennai floods, my dad had to travel from Ranchi to Hyderabad by road. And when it came about the choice of the vehicle, he picked up his old steed aka the Golden Goose. And I am glad to report that it didn't disappoint.
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Originally Posted by Digvj A commendable upkeep and write up of the 'golden goose' that has been shared at length. I also own the 2001 EX & it will be completing 15 years with us in just 4 days from now on 30th March 2016. Its been pleasure driving and owning it and I still recall the time we bought it as our first car. |
Thanks for your kind comments and wishing you car Happy Birthday in advance. Would like to see her in pictures, if possible.
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Cars fascinated me from the childhood and at the time of buyout I was hell sure to buy the 5 Speed MPFI though it costed 'lil more' than the standard MPFI model(with four gears) or cheaper carburrated one.
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Superb decision. 5 Speed is a different animal altogether.
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Though I wanted the one with the 'AC' or DX model but theories like aircon is not 'successful' etc. made me settle for the EX. I still recall how one of our 'knowledgeable' neighbor even suggested that '5th' gear wouldn't be used in city driving at all and after the buyout I used to slot into top gear after 40kmph without any issues..! Gearshift is still as good as narrated here.
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You are right, there were such "knowledgeable" and to be precise-jealous neighbours in my case also. However, the AC on the 5 speed variant was successful, and it chills so badly, that on a recent trip, my ear and face became numb before I switched off the AC. And this is when the ambient temperature was close to 40 degrees, and the car was parked in sun for more than 4 hours. All it took was 15 minutes to attain the comfortable condition.
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Although it now needs a thorough maintenance and change of few parts & some essential preventive maintenance which I am planning for a while but unable to due to restriction of time but this write up surely will be my inspiration to do it very soon.
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Trust me, it is a one time expense and your 800 will be trouble-free for atleast 10 more years.
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Last December when every one in our family wanted to trade our car at Maruti as we were almost in the process of finalizing the new one...I did not let her go..even if the offer was reasonable and I do not regret it..! The car has now got its fitness done with registration renewed for next 5 years.
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I request you to retain her for as long as possible.
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Originally Posted by Amit_Kapoor4750 Hello Shashi,
Congrats for completing 16 years with this beautiful car and thanks for very well written long-term ownership review. Your dedication towards keeping this car fit and healthy is unmatchable. You have covered the maintenance log with the last piece of detail available, which inspire us to do the same for keeping track of all the ups and downs of our vehicles. I wish you will celebrate many more of these anniversaries in the future. |
Thanks Sir.
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Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM Dear Shashi - I congratulate you on your AUTO-PASSION! Way to go! Keep the car forever and enjoy! All the best.
Best regards,
Behram Dhabhar |
Thanks Sir. This car will be with me till my life. And I will keep troubling you with my queries in future, if any issue arises.
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Originally Posted by crdi Awesome maintenance. The picture of the engine bay alone speaks volumes about your passion and dedication, it will beat even professional detailing. Blessed to have good garage and skilled diagnostics consistently. Wish you and the goose happy motoring for many more miles. Hope the irrational rule makers don't kill such beautiful cars simply by citing their dates of birth. |
Thanks for your kind wishes Sir.
Even if the idiotic rule makers ban this car citing its age, I will keep it in my drawing room rather than selling it.
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Originally Posted by Teesh@BHP This sure did bring back a lot of memories from the times when we owned our '02 M800 STD. Thanks for an amazing write up. |
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Originally Posted by Rahul Rao Excellent work maintaining a car through in as good as new condition for so many years over such a long distance.
Rahul |
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Originally Posted by saket77 Great review Shashi. To other BHPians, years ago when I first saw this car I was literally shocked; in a pleasant way. From no nook or corner it looked like a 15 year old car.
The engine bay is always impeccably clean in a way it can shame new cars standing at dealers godawn. The car is always clean. The eye that you have for detail has shown in the way you have maintained her. That certainly takes a lot of your time, money and not to mention the skill but then it reflects everywhere.
May your passion continue and that gleaming machine keeps munching miles as ever! |
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Originally Posted by kaushik51094 Just Wow! The maintenance shows your love for the car. This should be the luckiest 800 to get such a caring owner. Cheers! |
Thanks.
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Originally Posted by Nissan1180 Your thread is an inspiration to those who wish to preserve their cars forever. Thank you for taking the time to write this wonderful review.
The engine bay is cleaner than that in a showroom car. Do you use water to clean it? I usually refrain from washing the bay to prevent wetting the ECU. |
I use a mixture of Vim kitchen liquid and diesel to cut down the greasy stains. For simple dust, normal spray of water is more than adequate. I do cover electrical and electronics with plastic before washing her. LUckily, in Maruti 800, ECU is located under the dashboard.
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The 5 speed version of the 800 had the underpinnings of the Alto if I can recall correctly. It had coil springs at the rear (there was an EX version which came with the coil springs but without an A/C).
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I would like to believe that it was from the ZEN. The rear suspension is identical, and parts like rear shock absorber have same part number for both the cars.
The EX variant was closer to the standard 800 than the DX. In simple terms, it was a STD variant+ Radial Tyres and rear coil spring. DX was EX+ AC and other features like vanity mirror, fabric seats, split seats etc.
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Originally Posted by Sz-14 Ah the maruti 800 brings up so many memories...
It was our first family car and my dad even had the older model before I was born.
I remember nearly crying as a kid when we had to let it go. Maintaining this car in such a shape is commendable and really shows your love towards it.
May the golden goose complete more such years! |
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Originally Posted by shibujp Great report and awesome maintenance. It looks great after 16 years. What blows me off is that engine bay. Fantastic!!
It also takes me down memory lane to my family's first car which was a M800 EX 5 speed which I inherited when I started working. Alloys, 165R12 Potenza G3s, freeflow exhaust and 1 lakhs kms later i sold it in 2008. It never ever failed to put a smile on my face till the day it was sold.
The closest Maruti ever came to a sport variant on one of their models.
Drive on,
Shibu |
Thanks gentlemen for your kind comments and wishes.
Regards,
Shashi