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Old 26th July 2010, 18:42   #271
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This weekend went to car accessories shop, there i met our family doctor, he was fixing new music system to newly acquired Alto.
When he saw my Palio 1.9D,

Dr: "which car do you own?"
I : "Fiat"
Dr: "is it a tata car?"
I : "No Dr. Have you heard of FIAT?????... It's FIAT"
Dr: he looked puzzled, and again said "ohhh Ford, they make nice cars"
I : (Damn!!!!! leave it...i will kill you for this)

God Help me, dont know why i came across such people frequently????
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Old 26th July 2010, 20:16   #272
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I think every responsible, 'enlightened' enthusiast driver hears such jibes and ignorant comments frequently. I recently came to know that I had a reputation as a snobbish person, because I wore my helmet even before it was enforced, and because I religiously buckle myself in before every trip, on any car. A neighbour asked me if I doubted his driving skills because I buckled up when he was driving. I told him that I doubted the skills of the drivers around him.

What's pitiful is that till recently, even the news dailies were siding with the populist idea that helmets should not be enforced, with headlines like "Helmet potti yathrakkaran marichu" ("Rider dies from shattered helmet") - it fails to mention that the helmet shown in the pics is a very low quality one, with a fake ISI mark, and that the bike was speeding. They were also blaming the cops for lidless riders getting into accidents while attempting to evade police checking.

I also remember being advised by an older neighbour to clean tyres with diesel for a deep shine. When I replied that diesel was corrosive and would probably weaken the tyre over time, he retorted that service stations wouldn't use it if it was bad for the tyres. I wanted to tell him that the service stations didn't really care about his tyre life, but restrained myself because I didn't want to be flippant to an older man, what with my snobbish helmet/seatbelt wearing bad rep.

I have to say that sales guys are more eager to learn the techie bits of the cars they're pushing, if only to impress the less informed customer. The experienced ones have developed an uncanny ability to recognize a sucker, and will exploit it.

My mum liked the looks of the Vista in the ads better than the Indigo that Dad, sis and I were leaning towards. I explained that the Indigo had a 'dicky', to which she replied, why do you need a dicky, we don't go anywhere with luggage. We tried explaining sedans and hatches, but she wouldn't listen. The next day, I took her to the dealership to see the cars in flesh (or metal?) and the first thing she said was, "The Vista front is better, but I like how the Indigo's back bulges out a little before sloping down, Vista's goes straight down after the glass". I was like
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Old 26th July 2010, 20:17   #273
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A friend of mine bought his first car , a maruti 800. He went to a petrol pump, opened his bonnet and asked the guy to fill petrol!!!
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Old 26th July 2010, 20:20   #274
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Me: Why didn't you go for the top variant ??

Friend: It was 45,000 extra and just provided ABS and Airbags additional, which I won't be using much. Hence not value for money.
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Old 26th July 2010, 20:23   #275
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 0-100 View Post
Me: Why didn't you go for the top variant ??

Friend: It was 45,000 extra and just provided ABS and Airbags additional, which I won't be using much. Hence not value for money.
My reply would have been: 'Maybe you should put more emphasis in value for life than value for money - lolz'
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Old 26th July 2010, 20:43   #276
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Was going back home with one of my friends yesterday night. I was using the hi-beam and the low beam intermittently. Every time a vehicle comes in the opposite direction i switch to low beam. And i used to alternate between both in case i wanted to overtake.

My friend got annoyed and said : "The bulb will get 'fused' if you do like that. Go on in the same beam wheather high or low. And you will damage the switch gear"
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Old 26th July 2010, 21:38   #277
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Similar incident as the one above.

I was driving home from my classes and my friend was the pillion passenger. The conversation as follows :

Friend : Prateek, don't you know how to drive a bike at night?
Me : Err, what made you say so?
Friend : Man, you switch so much between High Beam and Low Beam while driving !
Me : Yeah, it is commonly used as a sign while overtaking the vehicle in front of you.
Friend : Then why has the bike company given a horn for your bike?
Me :

Last edited by prateekm : 26th July 2010 at 21:41.
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Old 26th July 2010, 22:16   #278
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This thread definitely brightened up my day

There's so much jargon that's thrown towards us on a regular basis, i don't recall much, but i remember all i went through before i bought my i20 Asta:

1. Friend (who knew i had shortlisted the Linea 2 years back): Dude, why didn't you go in for the Linea? You're almost 6 feet tall, right? You'd have fit better in a bigger car

2. Beta, believe me, buy Japanese - go for Hyundai

3. Maruti, Honda ya Fiat, sab china se hi to ideas churaate hai (all ideas are stolen from the Chinese)

4. Uncle: Son, is your car digital?
Me: (confused) yeah, its got a lot of tech inside, i'll show you
Uncle: Good you bought a digital car, changing gears in bombay traffic would be horrid, right?
[he meant automatic, i couldn't help but chuckle a bit]

5. Driving with my friend, he said, "Why'd you go in for the asta, magna would've just been fine. I mean what's the point of stupid extras like electric ORVMs?" Just then he clipped his left ORVM while overtaking a bus. Point made

6. You spent 8000 bucks on sunfilms? i get them at traffic signals for 50 rupees!
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Old 27th July 2010, 13:23   #279
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vroom barabar! View Post
A friend of mine bought his first car , a maruti 800. He went to a petrol pump, opened his bonnet and asked the guy to fill petrol!!!
Quote of the day

Quote:
Originally Posted by prateekm View Post
Similar incident as the one above.

I was driving home from my classes and my friend was the pillion passenger. The conversation as follows :

Friend : Prateek, don't you know how to drive a bike at night?
Me : Err, what made you say so?
Friend : Man, you switch so much between High Beam and Low Beam while driving !
Me : Yeah, it is commonly used as a sign while overtaking the vehicle in front of you.
Friend : Then why has the bike company given a horn for your bike?
Me :
You should have told him the horn is used while overtaking stupid people like him who do not understand switching of high and low beams. :P

Quote:
Originally Posted by Musicmaker23 View Post
5. Driving with my friend, he said, "Why'd you go in for the asta, magna would've just been fine. I mean what's the point of stupid extras like electric ORVMs?" Just then he clipped his left ORVM while overtaking a bus. Point made
Poor fellow. Sometimes we learn the hard way.

Last edited by gou : 27th July 2010 at 13:30.
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Old 27th July 2010, 13:50   #280
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Quote:
Originally Posted by S5157 View Post
" Swift dezire is a very comfortable car. You keep one glass of water on dashboard it wont spill even a drop"
I have heard that for mercedes cars dont know how true it is. Onwers could comment.
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Old 27th July 2010, 14:17   #281
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mpower View Post
Was checking out a car at autoshow. 2 teenagers are also there and one says, "Woooow, speedometer goes upto 180 man" This car must be super powerful.
Ha ha... My cousin's two sons were really excited to have a short ride in my Palio,

One of them said - "Uncle I really like this car". I asked why and he goes: "The speedometer shows up-to 220! In my dad's Santro, it is only 180."
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Old 27th July 2010, 14:23   #282
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Quote:
Originally Posted by somu_john View Post
I have heard that for mercedes cars dont know how true it is. Onwers could comment.
the classic saying about the Bugatti engine is that even if you place a coin vertically on the engine motor that is on, i.e. it is revving, if won't fall.

Engineering marvels produced more than 5 decades ago.
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Old 27th July 2010, 14:28   #283
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I heard the most idiotic comment this morning. I was welding my maruti 800 at a local mechanic shop and suddenly a decently dressed guy came near my car and was looking at it. He then asked a question to the mechanic. Is it an Electric start model?( like electric and kick start in bikes!). I was all .
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Old 27th July 2010, 14:41   #284
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 0-100 View Post
Me: Why didn't you go for the top variant ??

Friend: It was 45,000 extra and just provided ABS and Airbags additional, which I won't be using much. Hence not value for money.
Jokes apart, I have come across few qualified(!) Mechanical(!) Engineers in Chennai have the same opinion about ABS and Airbags. No utility value for them as much as Mileage!
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Old 27th July 2010, 14:49   #285
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Scorpio TATA Safari

Once I went to office with my friend's Scorpio and unknowingly parked it exactly where our big boss parks his Honda City.

After an hour, the big boss came and was irritated to see a Scorpio parked in his parking space. He ordered the security to find the owner and to tell him to move the car.

The securities came in frantically searching for the owner and it was at this point of time I noticed all this - there was someone who is pointing fingers at me and telling the security that it was indeed me.

The security person comes to me with the car number written on a piece of paper and asks : "Sir, is this Scorpio TATA Safari yours?

He thinks that all such vehicles in general can be called TATA Safari

Last edited by clevermax : 27th July 2010 at 14:55.
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