Team-BHP - My Hunt for the OHC VTEC! Now bought

two things before i start on a looooong post..
1) mods--hope i have posted it in the right forum
2) guys please forgive me for such a long post...

i have broken down this post into a few threads....

This is one long post, so kindly excuse…..

It all started a year ago when my Esteem Lxi, started giving gear box problems…inspite of repeated trips to Bimal. I finally gave up and disposed the car…that’s another story..full post on one of the thread…

I gave my car away in November’05…and from then my hunt started for the Old Honda City. In the start, I was in 2 minds whether I needed to go for a VTEC or a 1.5 and mod the 1.5.

Planned mods included a civic VTEC head, alloys, headers, freeflow and K&N’s..

So the hunt started…..i must have seen around 17 cars (12 OHC 1.5’s and 5 OHC VTEC’s).

The OHC 1.5 was working out to around 4.5 to 4.8 lakhs….

The OHC is the only car whose resale value is pretty or should I say damn good (read TOI Bangalore edition article around 10 days ago)

Well, after a lot of calculations the 1.5 would have been more expensive because the suspension and the brakes are different than that of the VTEC…so if I am increasing the power the brakes and suspension would not suffice…also the costing was the main concern.

Here’s a quick calculation-

OHC 1.5 - 450,000
VTEC Head - 20,000
Alloys and Tires - 25,000

A quick calculation on my calculator yields a total of 495,000.
Whereas, going price of a 2001 VTEC was 520,000.

This set me thinking, get a loan on the car and use that money for mods for the VTEC.
Also, these did not include brakes and suspension.

So zeroed in on the VTEC.

Here I need to thank WOLF and SHAN2NU for their patience and support. These guys tagged along to wherever I went and checked out cars and also there were times when WOLF had agreed upon a car and I was not happy with it…..

Thanks Guys!!!!

Out of the 5 VTEC’s I saw, one was a 2003 Black VTEC for which the owner wanted 675,000 non negotiable…
That was way above my budget. The only accessories were a 12 cd changer and leather upholstery..

I saw 2 heather mist VTEC’s both from circa 2001, one for 540,000 and the other 530,000 negotiable.
The last price they offered was 520,000 and 515,000 respectively.
I did not like the cars because both seemed to have been used very roughly, there were thousands of scratches around the keyhole, scratches on the body and all in all a high usage and rough usage car…

I saw a dark blue 2002 VTEC, nice car, quoted price was 570,000. I offered 535,000, but the dealer did not agree to it and I walked away, as that is the best way to strike a bargain as the dealer invariably would try to strike a deal.

The same day I visited around 7 dealers and all the 7 dealers showed me the same dark blue vtec..

I smelled something fishy…WOLF checked out with his contact in Whitefield Honda and found out that car was involved in a freak accident..a tree had fallen on the car and owner was killed…the car was repaired at Whitefield Honda and was put out for sale….

I visited almost all the car dealers in bangalore but nobody had a good VTEC, all the good VTEC’’s were not for sale…and all the sad cars were out for sale with fancy prices….

I almost felt that I will not get a good car and almost gave up the hunt…..

Now, most of my friends got to know that I was looking for a VTEC. My colleague (Sudhir) who hails from Hubli also a Team BHPian sent word out to his friend who deals with cars to look out for a VTEC. He started the hunt way back in December but could only give info about a 1.5, good condition but the asking price was 500,000 and slightly negotiable….

One day Sudhir’s friend calls up and says that there is one VTEC in Hubli, he has only heard about it and has not seen the car as yet….word was that the car was in good condition..he told me that he would check on the car, click a few snaps and send it to me, If I was interested, than we could start the talks…a week passes by, no news….

Let me tell you that there are only 3-4 VTECs in Hubli, all in great condition and nobody wants to sell….one of that VTEC belongs to our very own Shan2nu……

Now this got me all excited..there was hope…..still

Sudhir’s friend calls up, he is all agitated and excited…..he says he has seen the car, clicked some snaps and says he will upload it by the weekend…

He says in all his career he has not seen such a well maintained car…by saying this I am robbing of the excitement and sheer enthusiasm of the guy….words cannot express his tone of speech…

I asked him if had taken a test drive….he told me that the owner asked him just one question…are you going to buy the car and when he said it was for me he said that he would give the test drive to me…..

Now that is the mentality of the owner..

I told him to mail it to me pronto…it was a Thursday…he told me he would only by the weekend….

Well more waiting….

Waiting

Waiting

Waiting

Waiting

Waiting

Waiting

Waiting

More waiting…..

Finally the pictures arrive……I was flabbergasted……

It was a 2001 Pure White VTEC…..

I forwarded the pics to my wife…..the car had just come from the service station a few days earlier and there was some puja done the day prior to day of taking the photograph’s…..

My wife asked me whether, these snaps were taken when he bought the car…..hmmm I wondered, I called up that guy and he told me that he had indeed clicked those snaps 3-4 days earlier…I checked on the properties of the snap and it showed the date as the 25th of feb 2006..

It was instant love……..

Love at first sight….

Now I told this to Shan2nu….he told me he knows the white VTEC owner and the car too. The owner is a patient of his dad and the car is well know in hubli for its maintenance…

The owner is a 50+ guy very fastidious and very particular…

It seems he does not allow his son to drive the car as he drives very fast…….nice…..the kind of car I wanted….

The car is used only for traveling from hubli to pune and back…once back it is parked in the garage and a cover goes over it….

Hubli sightings of the white Vtec was like the sighting of a UFO……

Now I would like to take time and thank Shan2nu a million, zillion times…I know it still doesn’t suffice how grateful I am to him for all his help and support…..

Thanks Shan…………

Now the trip was planned and Shan2nu has gone ahead to prepare for my arrival…..

Me visiting hubli was the same day mclaren was supposed to come down to hubli to run-in his car before the track day……

Saturday night I am all excited and eager to reach hubli, I board a VRL Volvo at 11:30 pm…Shantanu calls me a 12:30 to check if I have boarded…. I reach hubli by around 5:45 am….Shan2nu starts calling me at 5:00 am to check where I have reached…..and he tells me where I need to get down…(seems Shan spent a sleepless night)

I reach hubli at 5:45 am and within minutes a Heather mist Vtec roars to the bus stop, it has its exhaust removed….methinks that is the only mod on the car…..

And that car was flying…

I get whisked away to his house where a nice hot bath is waiting in his beautiful house…

Let me take time to talk about his house…it is a humongous house….very old, renovated with good taste…

We chat up for sometime while the household starts stirring up on a lazy Sunday morning…

Shan2nu’s dad and mom wake up and we chat for sometime….while breakfast is got from a nearby hotel….this breakfast is enough to feed an army…..but we managed to demolish the wonderful idli’s and vada’s….

Shan I can still taste the sambhar…..

After coffee, we head out to see the car, the photos do not do justice to the way the car is maintained…

I agree and we sit down to strike the deal..the owner is adamant at 555,000…he has been wanting this price since 6 months and has shooed away buyers who wanted to bargain..

We are haggling for something like half an hour….

Now the big man Shan2nu requests him to negotiate to 541,000…..the owner says as Doctor’s son has come and asked him he will agree..and I made a token advance….

Deal struck…..

Now we head back home after a spin in hubli and Shan2nu showing his skill on the VTEC….

Piping hot meatball curry, Delicious biryani awaits us…..
I eat like I have not eaten for days……please excuse my manners Shan….

After dessert, it was time to take leave…reluctantly Shan2nu and his parents allow me to go…they want me to eat dinner and go by the next days bus….i had a prior appointment and had to be back by Sunday night, so I take leave…

I head to the railway station and get into the train…..the train is jam packed…..i travel most of the journey seated on the steps….the train is delayed……………

I finally reach banaglore at 12:00 am total journey time 8 hours…..wherein it should take 6 hours….i was regretting that I should have taken the offer by shan….

Well all said and done…the next day I start the loan process…I apply with Citibank who promise me to give me a loan amount of 85% on 520,000 on the valuation of the car…which comes to 430,000 the valuation process gets done and then the bank says that it will give me a loan for 390,000..i say ok…then they say it is for 380,000, I agree, the next day they call me and say they can fund only 375,000, I tell them to take a hike and apply in ICICI and get a loan approved for 400,000..

Deal done and now I am waiting for the transfer of documents and then I can go to hubli and drive back…..

That indeed is a long LOVE STORY lol: ..

Anyways , congrats adit .. That indeed is a RARE FIND .. Im sure now u will be grinning ear to ear ..

Do let me know when u would be going down to pick up the car , if its over the weekend i could join u to hubli too ..

White indeed sounds sweet .. Do hope to see u being a regular at the meets with ur WHITE BEAUTY !!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

sure, but are there any meets hapening???

Quote:

Originally Posted by jesal

i dont understand why car prices are up the wall down south ? 2001 vtec for 540000 seems way too high for a person from bombay. octi 2002 sells for 4.99 laks here. whats the reason exactly, great resale or something ? because as far as i remember cars are cheaper to REG there as well right ? congrats on the car though white vtecs RULE. waiting for the pics

thanks
yeah, i know the ohc vtec's are going for a steal in mumbai and so are the other cars...

but here the vtec prices are climbing....

i own a v-tec out here in mumbaii do not mind selling itit is black with real cool magwheels and tyres , both costing me 65k have got leather seats and philips bulbs...few scratches here and there ...never had any serious accident...till today its been banged thrice...once the right rear side..very very small dent...once in the front...big dent , fortunately nothing happened to the engine , but front bumper had to be replaced and lucky nothing happened to the fan also , and recently a rickshaw banged the side of the car , planning to repaint it again...in short nothing serious has ever happened and i do not prefer hiding anything from anybody before selling , it is a 2003 may model and 24,500 driven till now...let me know your offer and i will discuss with family