[frown]

Hi Bhpians,

I decided to buy a car four months ago. I had dilemma whether to buy a new car of go for a pre owned car. Given the fact that i had never driven a car before it was an easy decision of going in for pre owned car. I did not want to spend heavily on pre owned car as the resale value would be less and of course honestly didnt have enough funds to buy any other car than MARUTI ESTEEM VX 1998 MODEL.

I got this car from one of my friend for 1.35 laks and i feel it was a reasonable price . After trying my hands on this car and improving my driving skills i have decided to go for complete revamp. I need all the suggestion in the world from all you bhpians to make this a success as i am a novice and a newbie when comes to cars.

I have identified some issues with this car which requires attention :

1. suspension is just simply out of order both front and rear.

2. Power window doesnt work.

3. AC doesnt work.

4. Tyres completely worn out.

5. Color of the car is pathetic [golden beige]. looks like a car gifted in dowri

6. Extremely hard clutch.

7. No power in the car. As soon as i have 5 fellas in the car it wont just pick up at all.

Since i have absolutely no knowledge about cars. I certainly do not know whom should i go to , to get these tasks done as i dont want to get cheated. I certainly do not want to start the war as to who the best tuner or person would be for this kind of task but certainly a suggestion would be helpfull.

There were couple of names under tuners on team bhp home page but i do not know which one to chose amongst all those.

I do not have all the money in the world to spend on this car but i can certainly spend upto 60-70 grands in one shot and rest over a period of 2-3 months . I first want to improve the looks of the car and then go for major engine revamp.

Again another question thats been bothering me is, is it worth spending so much on this car ?

Any suggestion/help would be deeply appreciated. I have posted some snaps for you guys to get an idea of condition of the car. I will post more if required.

[frankmehta]

thats why taking a test drive is absolutely mandatory for all cars. considering all these problems existed, the price is exhorbitant. i suggest you wash your hands off this one at a small loss because the amount of money you will spend on it will fetch you a much better vehicle in stock condition.

so my take on this: SELL OFF THE CAR!

[aka_iitd]

I think spending 70K may not be sufficient as almost all the things are not in order. You may endup more once the car goes over hauling
Better to sell off if you get good buyer or live it for some more time if you can before selling off the same.
I think FE may not be good with the description you gave.

[frown]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

thats why taking a test drive is absolutely mandatory for all cars. considering all these problems existed, the price is exhorbitant. i suggest you wash your hands off this one at a small loss because the amount of money you will spend on it will fetch you a much better vehicle in stock condition.

so my take on this: SELL OFF THE CAR!

frank , aka iitd, thank you so much for your input however what i was thinking is if i go for another car it wouldnt cost me less than 2.3 laks and then whatever extra i will end up spending on it forget about that and in 2.3 with the current car i have i will end up having brand new kinda car. what say ? makes sense ? I am pretty sure if i sell this car i wont get more than 1 lak for sure.

[hell boy]

1. suspension is just simply out of order both front and rear.

2. Power window doesnt work.

3. AC doesnt work.

4. Tyres completely worn out.

5. Color of the car is pathetic [golden beige]. looks like a car gifted in dowri

6. Extremely hard clutch.

7. No power in the car. As soon as i have 5 fellas in the car it wont just pick up at all.
I totaly agree with the above comments you have got a very expensive car a 1998 vx model for 1.35l was ok if it was in good conditon but with all the above problems the car is very expensive.

[nitrous]

Here is the order in which you prioritize work on the car. With the first 60-70k.

1.Suspension: 10-12k
2.Clutch job+engine service/tuneup: 5k-20k
3.AC(could be anything): 2k-20k
4.Tyres(175/70/13):12-15k
5.Miscellaneous expenses:balance

Come to the colour of the car at the very end. Try to live with it till then.

[frown]

nitrous,thank you for your input. I will definitely keep this in mind however would you have any idea whom should i go to in bangalore to get all this work done ?

[esteem_lover]

Power windows are a bane in an old esteem. I have somehow managed to keep them working sometimes with a little help. My advice would be to get only the front ones to work & fix handles for the rears. From the hard clutch, i presume the car has done more than 80k Kms. The engine should be fine unless it has not been maintained well. Get the clutch done at a M.A.S.S & see the difference.

[frown]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

Power windows are a bane in an old esteem. I have somehow managed to keep them working sometimes with a little help. My advice would be to get only the front ones to work & fix handles for the rears. From the hard clutch, i presume the car has done more than 80k Kms. The engine should be fine unless it has not been maintained well. Get the clutch done at a M.A.S.S & see the difference.

esteem lover, power window works but the issue is intermittent. Sometimes it is too slow in rolling up up and it needs helping hand. Engine even though it does not have enough power it is really smooth and it has not given me any problem untill now since i have bought this car which is4-5 months now. I got the clutch cable changed at M.A.S.S and it worked for a day but then it got back to usual self the next day. Car has done 64,000 kms but you can never trust these guys . They might have rolled back the meter so i really cant comment on that. I really liked the alloy wheels you have used for your car. May i ask how much did it cost you ?

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by frown

Hi Bhpians,

MARUTI ESTEEM VX 1998 MODEL.

I got this car from one of my friend for 1.35 laks and i feel it was a reasonable price . After trying my hands on this car and improving my driving skills i have decided to go for complete revamp. I need all the suggestion in the world from all you bhpians to make this a success as i am a novice and a newbie when comes to cars.

I have identified some issues with this car which requires attention :

1. suspension is just simply out of order both front and rear.

2. Power window doesnt work.

3. AC doesnt work.

4. Tyres completely worn out.

5. Color of the car is pathetic [golden beige]. looks like a car gifted in dowri

6. Extremely hard clutch.

7. No power in the car. As soon as i have 5 fellas in the car it wont just pick up at all.

1.How much has the car covered?
2.Run your finger on the inside of the exhaust pipe - do you feel a thick coat of black soot?(be careful that you do not injure yourself by touching a corroded/rusty part) .If the soot layer is thick or almost semi greasy,your engine has started packing up

Prima facie the paint looks oK - can't vouch for it though unless I see it physically.
This is a carbureted model - will become obsolete sooner or later.
Your Power steering is hydraulic - can give you problems in future - and when that happens,you'll go crazy sorting it out.

My opinion: The car is 10 years old and these monocoque bodyshells begin to give problems after this age .You could get approx 1-1.1 lac for this now ;please give it away and get yourself an MPFI Esteem(2001 or later).You could get a good one for Rs.2.0-2.1 lac or so. An even better option is the Wagon-R VXi 2002 model which is superb value for the same money.It is better to drive,easier to manouver,has Electronic Power steering and loads of comfort/boot space.

And next time do take some knowledgeable person(like me) along to inspect your car.There a lot of finer points which I can tell you to check.

[esteem_lover]

You have to live with that PW. Changing the channels might help a little. The motor costs somewhere around 6-8k for one. You will see a huge difference once the clutch is done up. I got a sweet deal on my alloys. I paid 10k for 5 wheels.

[frown]

Originally Posted by vigsom

1.How much has the car covered?
2.Run your finger on the inside of the exhaust pipe - do you feel a thick coat of black soot?(be careful that you do not injure yourself by touching a corroded/rusty part) .If the soot layer is thick or almost semi greasy,your engine has started packing up

Prima facie the paint looks oK - can't vouch for it though unless I see it physically.
This is a carbureted model - will become obsolete sooner or later.
Your Power steering is hydraulic - can give you problems in future - and when that happens,you'll go crazy sorting it out.

My opinion: The car is 10 years old and these monocoque bodyshells begin to give problems after this age .You could get approx 1-1.1 lac for this now ;please give it away and get yourself an MPFI Esteem(2001 or later).You could get a good one for Rs.2.0-2.1 lac or so. An even better option is the Wagon-R VXi 2002 model which is superb value for the same money.It is better to drive,easier to manouver,has Electronic Power steering and loads of comfort/boot space.

And next time do take some knowledgeable person(like me) along to inspect your car.There a lot of finer points which I can tell you to check.

thank you so much for your reply vigsom. I really appreciate it. I have got the engine verified and inspected by M.A.S.S and they say its fine nothing much to be done on that front.

And well as i said i had absolutely no knowledge about car prior to this and since i was buying it from one of my friend i trusted him. I guess that was my downfall.

If i had known about team-bhp then i would have definitely invited you along with me and its not my fault you are in surat :P i cant fly you down from there to bangalore to inspect the car anyways .

[rr_zen]

The colour of the car may not entice you but from the pics I see that the paint still looks good. My suggestion would be to spend whatever money you have now on rectifying the mechanical glitches and then put the paint job on the back burner.

[frown]

i have managed to speak to karthik from race dynamics bangalore and he has agreed to have a look at my car. Will decide next course of action once i meet him and will update you guys on that . Untill then please keep suggesting and thanks a ton for all your suggestions.

[SRK]

Your car looks good enough from outside. Leave it as it is.

What I think you should do is take the car to a service station and ask them to give you a report regarding the problems in the car.

Once you get that,ask them to prioritize the things that needs to be fixed.

After your mechanical stuff is done then you could get the car overcoated instead of fully re-painting it.