[normally_crazy]

Well this is the story of a very staunch petrol head (myself), who by a host of factors and chance is now driving a diesel engined car. Sounds amazing? Well it is ……and just how did this change take place? Read on….

A simple need of finding a bigger and better car for myself was the first step of my journey to buy another car. This time I was clear in my mind that the car had to be a used one and not a new one because of the prices that drop dramatically when you drive out of the showroom with a new car. So the search began.

The 1st stop was very naturally the Skoda 1.8 Vrs. Yeah I know looking for a 2nd hand car and I went staright for the VRS but couldn’t help it! And to top that I missed a used 1.8 Vrs just by a whisker. Then decided to stretch the budget and take the rider 1.8 but then decided if I got a car it would be the full monty, so the 1.8 was out!

After that I was desolate for a while and then after a few days, talking to RJK we hit upon a idea that said why not a used Mondeo? The very thought got me salivating, the Mondeo is a car that I had lusted for since I set my eyes on it and now I could own one. Jesal gave me the same idea too and the search began in earnest again. Only this time I was looking for the Mondeo.

Every Friday I used to wait for the Times to arrive at my doorstep, so that I could go through the classifieds in Times Drive. We found a couple of Mondeo’s, some in good condition and reasonable price, the others in not so good condition and totally unreasonable price. Ultimately decided on a particular Mondeo and went for a test drive with the token amount tucked away in my wallet. My to be better half and RJK, accompanied me on this sojourn, where I was finally going to realize my dream of owning a car that I lusted for, but all that came to naught when RJK and I test drove the car, it scraped even the minutest of speed breakers at slow speeds. Though I had heard about this problem, I wasn’t ready that the problem would be this severe. All 3 of us deicided that I could not drive a car that begged to be driven fast, which would have to be driven slowly and in fear of scraping the bottom every time I spotted a speed breaker.
Crash. Bang. Boom. I heard the sounds of my dream getting shattered.

Drove back in stunned & sullen silence, dropped RJK at his place and then parked the car in Powai where my better half was trying to console me on my loss and then she said why don’t you look at the petrol octavia 2.0? I wasn’t interested as it was a sluggish car, so she firmly suggested take a look at the 1.9 Tdi. I took out the Times Drive out of the glove box (used to carry it around every where) and called up a couple of numbers, spoke to a couple of guys. One of them sounded genuine and had the Octy in the shade that I liked (silver), so picked up RJK again and was off to have a look at the TDI not knowing that I was driving towards a car that would change my view towards the diesel engines.

Reached the place and for the first time lay my eyes upon MH-04 BK 5024. It was a Skoda Octavia Ambeinte. The car looked absolutely new except for a very minute scratch on the C pillar on the right side. The exteriors were clean because the car was parked in a basement with the car cover on it when it was parked.Took a test drive, found it nice and tight and smooth after 32000 kms, no rattles or noises, well maintained interior and importantly awesome exterior The car did not feel diesel at all in city traffic conditions, was as peppy as my Ikon in stop and go conditions and I was zapped. Well I asked the asking price and decided to take a couple of days to finalize. Driving back, by the time I reached RJK’s place, the 3 of us knew that MH04 BK 5024 would be driving into my life soon.

The deal was finalized in 10 days, payments completed and delivery taken.

These are my views of the car for a 15 day period that I have had her for.

Exterior – It’s typically German. It’s a damn solidly built car that gives you a feeling of invincibility when you are inside. Though the car is a common sight on our roads now, I still find the car very handsome to look at. Its like a dependable work horse. Simply put it’s the Rahul Dravid solid and dependable and not Sehwag Flashy !

Interiors – top quality stuff inside. The dash feels rich and luxurious. The seats are nice and supportive. The rear seats which everyone says has a lack of leg room infact has a problem with a lack of headroom. I don’t think the rear seat leg space is as bad as it is made out to be. For really tall people it is a tight fit but nothing no one can really complain about. The A/c switch is located just ahead of the gear lever, IMO not very comfortable to operate. The stalks have that quality feel and the in built computer in the instrument cluster is fun too.

The Engine - The engine was a complete surprise packet for me atleast. I had this phobia that I could never drive or own a diesel (even though ported always insisted otherwise), I was cured of the phobia as soon I drove the car. I was taken by surprise completely!! Absolutely no lag and when the turbo kicks in at 1900 RPM with that addictive whistle the car really flies!

Ride and Handling – the ride quality is really good and you don’t feel the bumps on the surface. The car comes with 195/65 R15 tyres and is shod with Michellin Pilot Primacy tyres. They are due for a change and I need to decide in the next 36 hours whether to go for 15 inches or 16 inches. The handling is predictable and safe though I have only pushed upto 130 kmph as I am not too sure about the tyres.

Minor Changes – I got the tints changed to pimping black ones and got the music system of the Ikon installed here. Changed the rear tray to MDF and placed the speakers there, changed the front speakers to pioneer 1610, removed the non working tweeters and stuffed in the ones from the ikon and got the Sub mounted on a MDF box and kept in the boot. The sound rocks for my personal listening pleasure. Have to tweak around a bit and see what happens.

The car came with small niggles like the ashtray not closing flush and the left side mirror lock missing. Things that have been taken care of but the left side rear view mirror is not convex and that’s causing me lot of trouble using it. It’s a plain flat mirror, probably the original got flicked and was replaced by a cheap after market one and I can only see what is reflected in my line of vision. Have to get it changed. Can anyone help me out here as the Service centre’s are asking for 3500 bucks only for the mirror!

Got the car serviced at Nummer Eins workshop in chembur within 2 days of taking delivery and am sorry to say the service personal there are no good at all …don’t know a thing and the reception and billing is much worse. After the service though the car felt smoother to drive.The total cost of servicing came to 9216 /- including all filters changed and the engine oil change and a couple of stuff to be taken care plus labour.

The car is giving me a consistent FE of 18 kmpl (city + highway) as I just filled up my second tankfull and calculated the FE. On the trip to Pune at speeds of 130 kmph it was 20 kmpl and at 80 kmph the FE went upto 22 kmpl. The car was rock solid at these speeds.

So that is the story of how I ended up with a fantastic diesel car that burst quite a few myths of mine about diesels.

In this journey of mine I was helped by quite a few friends and BHPians and I would like to thank them all.

RJK, for being there with me whether during test drives or finalizing the deal.

Jesal, for constantly egging me on and giving me new phone numbers where used cars were available.

Ported Head for insisting on a 1.9 Tdi and explaining the pros of the Tdi.

Salil also used to call me when he found something interesting in times drive and now in the search for the alloys too, he is turning out to be a big help.

Power Freak for searching times drive religiously and keeping me informed if there something available that I might like whenever he went in search for baleno for himself.

And of course my better half who despite being a Honda fan herself has to take dissapointment for the 2nd time as I got a Skoda. First time I had promised her the OHC but got a Ikon. But she is already impressed with the Skody as are my family members.

Will keep you updated with a report after owning the car for some time. Till then….

So will I suggest this to car anyone with a budget of 12 lacs? Yes most definitely but then again you have the Rider 1.8 in that range ! why does Skoda have to price the 1.8 Rider and the Tdi similar ? Makes taking a decision so damn difficult.

Ps- I still dream about the Mondeo though..

Some pics of the new baby.

At the Lonavala farm house


Different angle shot at lonavala


Front 3/4 view


Rear View


Closer look at the dark tints


Yeah i know i need to get the new number plates asap.

and more better pics will follow after the baby has had a change in footwear.

cheers

[Harrie]

Congrats dude! I just love that car. Its one car that made me wonder is this really a diesel for the first time!
Get a smashing alloys to go with it.

BTW how much did it cost you?

[revtech]

hey dude
congrats man.infact the other day my dad told me the same thing he drove a friends tdi and said that he knew it was disiel but once he started driving it he didnt believe it. he said it wasnt at all sluggish and was very responsive. he was really impressed by the feel of it.
waiting for some more pics with new rubber.


Rev

[RJK]

Ah! So finally the report on the forum! People, you have to see the car to believe it. Its bloody spotless! The first time we saw the car, it was 8:30 in the evening & I told NC that we better have a look at it in day time thinking that there could be some scratches & dents which wouldn't be visible in the night. Again next day we saw the car & were flabbergasted ! Except for the one small scratch that's mentioned, the car is totally clean. The paint quality is still very very good & everything looks & feels tight about the car. And after knowing about the mileage figures of the car, I've started calling it moped. The car rides over our hopeless roads so beautifully, its actually fascinating. The only thing thats missing in the car as of now is the alloys which I hope should be done by the weekend

[Mpower]

Great Choice! When I first drove the Tdi, my jaw dropped. The torque is just amazing. You're gonna have trouble getting back into a petrol. Yeah, I'm curious about the deal too....coz I've heard they hold their value really well.

[Beemer]

Congrats NC , what i can say is that you ve chosen IMO the best vehicle , money can buy in that price range ...... Enjoy .....

[nitrous]

an ownership report like no other. hats off, man.

[X-Machine]

Lovely ownership report NC.I too like that car for its torquey engine.Moreover,its fun to drive,unlike other diesels.
Also the car looks damn neat,all thanks to those dark black tints.All you need is good set of alloys,preferably 16s.It'll look more smashing then.Enjoy your new car.
And before i forget,congratulations.

X

[islero]

Yeah, get the VRS alloys on and it'll be real corker!!!

[drifter]

Hey nc, great report there buddy....i know you simply love to play with that onboard computer...welcome to the world of new age diesels.
But no matter how good they get...i'd still want a petrol for the weekends.

Drifter

[GTO]

Hey NC,

Congrats Man - Smart move letting someone else taking the depreciation hit. The car really looks spotless, and going by the immaculate manner in which you had maintained your Ikon...I am sure this car is not going to age anytime soon.

Think about it - 4 petrolheads from Bombay (me, Rtech, drifter and you) now use a diesel as their daily driver.

GTO

[Stratos]

Originally Posted by GTO

Think about it - 4 petrolheads from Bombay (me, Rtech, drifter and you) now use a diesel as their daily driver.

Hey...hope you remember my Indigo is also diesel

Excellent review NC. Fell in love with the car and year back when drove it in heavy traffic and after that on a deserted highway. Fantastic build, good performance, superb fuel efficiency..wat else!!!

[Dippy]

As usual awesome report NC, didnt I always tell you to look at the 1.9TDi when you hell bent on the RS. No doubt the TDi is extremely desirable and the mind boggling FE figures you give me every time we meet makes me wanna have one too. Hopefully my day will come too.

Great music system and now all it needs is those pimpin alloys

Dippy

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by GTO

Hey NC,


Think about it - 4 petrolheads from Bombay (me, Rtech, drifter and you) now use a diesel as their daily driver.

GTO

No one has gone - electric - thank god !!!

Actually diesels are fun, once you understand the use of the torque. It is not for traffic light drags but swift in gear overtaking where it wins. Unfortunately, Top Gear gave diesel a bad name

[Shan2nu]

Unfortunately, Top Gear gave diesel a bad name

Wrong!! It might have been so in the early days but now they love it. They raced a Skoda Fabia Diesel against a Petrol Mini Cooper and the Fabia beat the crap out of it. Even on the straights, the Skoda pulled away like nobody's business.

In another episode, Jeremy challenged everyone saying that he could cover 800miles or so on one tankful of gas, in a Audi A8 Diesel (which has a V8 engine). Even Audi said it couldn't be done but, Jeremy proved them wrong. He averaged around 40mpg.

Shan2nu