[souravc]

At last Poitive , you stopped your flirting with the Optra and took the plunge ! Congratulations mate, wish you many miles of super ownership . I was afraid that you may settle for the Manza when you were so passionate for the Optra, happy that you went for your passion.
Now GM should do the most sensible thing that they can do , make you the brand ambassador and sales head for Optra I am sure that they will sell many more Optras with your knowledge about the car and your passion!

[carfreak77]

Heartiest Congratulations Poitive!! So you finally bought the Optra! Great choice!
I enjoyed reading your ownership review! BTW please tell us what color Optra you have bought? And yes, an ownership review demands pictures. So, looking forward to some good pictures soon.

Wish you many happy miles with your new possession!

[Torquedo]

Pardon me for the delayed wishes, Poitive !!

Many a Congratulations for owning the Beast !!

It was a privilege for me to do rounds of conversations over the call and having a couple of TD's together.

Wishing you many a Happy Miles with the Beast.

I'm sure you would be thinking hard on christening her

Wish you a hassle free ownership.

Happy Motoring !!

[keyur]

So finally the cat is out of the bag!
Congrats Poitive - wish you many exhilarating miles with the beast!

Do let me know how you feel about the lights and the center horn button!

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Forum. Thanks for sharing!

[vnabhi]

Congrats for your Magnum---now you can go around shooting all around you

By the way, did you get a vin number check done? I am asking becuase in Hyd, all Chevy Sedans (Optra and Cruze) available in showrooms are Feb 2011 manufactured models.

[Highflyer]

@Poitive I wish you a long , happy and a safe drive. Waiting for the photographs.
Fitted any accessories? Threads that you created must have motivated quite a few to go for Magnum.

[Poitive]

Sorry for not replying before, guys. This thread was moved to the assembly line, right after Keyur's post.
There has been some confusion about this thread moving from one section to another. Will add stuff about my car and the experience with it till now in the next few days.

Originally Posted by vb-san

Congratulations Poitive! Finally it happened!

Even I thought you will end up with a Manza
Good that you decided on a couple of segments above.

Pictures are mandatory for ownership threads. So cut down on the text, and let the pictures talk

Thanks vb!
Oh yes, finally!! The 'near purchases' were driving me nuts.

Now, each time I see a Manza on the road, I feel happy that I am in the Magnum.

Pictures may take a few days. I'll keep on yapping in the meantime though. LOL.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Congratulations dude! What color did you opt for? optra looks the best to me in grey. I am sure you will absolutely love this car for some years. that must have been 1 hell of a TD.

Thanks Mohit.
Ah yes, that sure was one hell of a TD. I went in without any expectations, which is why I may have been so impressed the first time. But the second time too felt good.

You may get a sense of why I tried pushing you to a TD as much.

Originally Posted by souravc

At last Poitive , you stopped your flirting with the Optra and took the plunge ! Congratulations mate, wish you many miles of super ownership . I was afraid that you may settle for the Manza when you were so passionate for the Optra, happy that you went for your passion.
Now GM should do the most sensible thing that they can do , make you the brand ambassador and sales head for Optra I am sure that they will sell many more Optras with your knowledge about the car and your passion!

Hey Saurav! Thanks mate. Flirted a lot, I'd say. At some points, I too was afraid that one may end up with the Manza. Used to wonder that I may just go in for Manza and then keep regretting it. Now, even if this one gives trouble, one would take care of it more happily, knowing that one went in for it with passion.

Originally Posted by carfreak77

Heartiest Congratulations Poitive!! So you finally bought the Optra! Great choice!
I enjoyed reading your ownership review! BTW please tell us what color Optra you have bought? And yes, an ownership review demands pictures. So, looking forward to some good pictures soon.

Wish you many happy miles with your new possession!

Thanks carfreak mate. How is the NFF?

Oh yes! Finally!!!
This is only really a background to the real review

Pictures may take some time, but I'll try for some good ones.

Originally Posted by Torquedo

Pardon me for the delayed wishes, Poitive !!

Many a Congratulations for owning the Beast !!

It was a privilege for me to do rounds of conversations over the call and having a couple of TD's together.

Wishing you many a Happy Miles with the Beast.

I'm sure you would be thinking hard on christening her

Wish you a hassle free ownership.

Happy Motoring !!

Hey Torquedo!

Thanks for the formal congratulations. Come on man! You weren't late at all. You just seem to have very high standards.

It has been a pleasure to converse and share thoughts and ideas with you. The TDs too were good fun. Only recently was going next to the Fuel pump and flyover where we ripped the Cruze and was thinking of the TD experience.

About naming - hmmmmmm - How does VVS Magnum sound?
(Very Very Special Magnum, and reminiscent of this undervalued cricketing great we have in our team VVS Laxman - post#2)

I wasn't particularly keen on a name, but this one just (almost?) happened.

Hope you didn't miss a mention of you in post #3

Originally Posted by keyur

So finally the cat is out of the bag!

Interesting way to put it!
(Let me say no more)

Congrats Poitive - wish you many exhilarating miles with the beast!

Do let me know how you feel about the lights and the center horn button!

Thanks Keyur. This one really is exhilarating. And yes, is a beast too.

Lights - Need attention. Will go though this thread you had made on this.
Horn button - My ICD (large hands ) has almost gotten used to it now.

[Poitive]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Forum. Thanks for sharing!

A pleasure to share, GTO.

Especially with one's who were a part of the decisions process and many fruitful discussions on the Choosing and Driven threads.

I had tried to contact you about this thread being moved to the main part of the forum, when I had moved and merged many previous posts to create space for a long post towards the end, which was meant to talk about the new Magnum we bought.

It was still Work-in-progress when the thread was moved. Besides the above, tidying up, confirming some information etc was yet to be done.

Will add my experiences with this new beast, in subsequent posts, and maybe, if you feel right, a link to those can be added in the first (or other) post later.

Title of the thread : Also please change the title of thread to start with "Finally!" as it originally was. It was to make an easy reference to this thread as and when needed (as the 'Finally!' thread) - quite like the "Driven!" thread, the way you had rechristened that thread. Was also with the theme of the purchase, which took so long and the posts in the beginning. Some replies too have been in the same spirit, as you'd notice.

Given the limitation on the number of characters, possible titles could be:
1) Finally! -"Driven!" & "Chosen a Spacious Diesel Sedan"- The VVS Magnum (Optra)
2) Finally! -"Driven!" & "Chosen a Spacious Sedan"- The VVS Magnum (Chevy Optra)
3) Finally!-"Driven!" & "Chosen a Spacious Diesel..."- VVS Magnum (Chevrolet Optra)
4) Finally! "Driven!" & "Chosen a Spacious Sedan"- VVS Magnum (Chevrolet Optra)

I like (1) and (2).
Thanks.

PS: I didn't add this info in the previous post, as it may have missed due attention in that long post.

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Congrats for your Magnum---now you can go around shooting all around you

By the way, did you get a vin number check done? I am asking becuase in Hyd, all Chevy Sedans (Optra and Cruze) available in showrooms are Feb 2011 manufactured models.

Thanks vnabhi!
Oh yes, this one does shoot, even in the running in period. LOL.

The VIN number system on the Optra seems to have changed. Torquedo has done a lot of research on this and shared it on the forum. We had a few talks about it and he concluded (rightly IMHO) that the

VIN is to be decoded as follows:

7th character : Month of Manufacture
(not the 9th character, as it probably used to be)

10th character: Year of Manufacture

Quoting from Wildon's thread:

Month Codes:

A = JAN
B = FEB
C = MAR
D = APR
E = MAY
F = JUN
G = JUL
H = AUG
J = SEP
K = OCT
L = NOV
M = DEC

Year Codes:

A = 2010
B = 2011
C = 2012
D = 2013
E = 2014
F = 2015
G = 2016
H = 2017
J = 2018
K = 2019

P.S. The letters "I", "O" and "Q" are never used in a VIN.

I presume the letters not used are due to the possible confusion they may cause in reading eg I and 1 could easily be misread.

All cars being in Feb was discussed in the Choosing a Spacious Diesel Sedan under 12L thread. (was it me?) and Torq managed to decode it.

Thanks for the concern mate. I appreciate it.

I also checked when the car was invoiced by GM to the dealer. It reached surprisingly quickly, to my pleasant surprise.

Originally Posted by Highflyer

@Poitive I wish you a long , happy and a safe drive. Waiting for the photographs.
Fitted any accessories? Threads that you created must have motivated quite a few to go for Magnum.

Thanks Highflyer mate. I still remember how you brought up the Optra, reading my needs, even before my post about it's TD got approved and public.

I hope the thread(s) motivate people to make the effort needed to get a proper Test Drive of this vehicle and not simply write it off. It seems to be too good a vehicle, especially at the price it is being offered at.

Hope you join the club soon too. You anyway would 'fly' with it

[arvi86]

Ah, and here it comes finally! Congrats for taking the plunge and plonking in you money on the Chevrolet Optra VVS Magnum. For the price at which it retails, it is a steal. Its a pity not many people realize the value and substance in the Optra. You did and you will reap the benefits. Wishing you many many happy miles in the car!

And, bring on the photos soon!

[charthom]

Poitive,

Finally,yes finally and finally... what else to write-it is ridiculously obvious. Congratulations!!

As usual your review is

1.Intelligent
2.Fiercely passionate
3.Extremely logical
4.Impossibly detailed-a bit more actually- too lengthy quotations from other posts have been a bit of a botheration- especially the way you structured the article.
5.With pin point accuracy
6.Thoroughly unbiased and honest
7.Totally palatable and well written
8.Disarmingly simple

Your decision and final review has taken some time-hungry and frustrated, we had almost begun banging the table with our plates. But here it came,steamy and appetising.

Great car-so happy that you bought it. Great person-so happy that you got what your tastes are in synchronisation with.

Please add snaps- we want to see "that" Optra- just to look a Optras,the better place will be the neighbourhood Chevrolet show room or just sit at my balcony-even my friend has one!!

Enjoy the drive,Mate. And continue posting those gems of thoughts.

[Torquedo]

Pardon me for hijacking your thread Poitive, but I saw a SD Grey probably LT model on NH 24 at around 10 AM today with a T BHP sticker on the rear bumper (RHS), anyone there who is active and matches the above mentioned details????

The car was delivered by Metro as it had C T and 41XX on the registration plate.

We can probably meet someday as my office is closeby and discuss the Optra at length.

Looking forward to a response.

Happy Motoring !!

[amit1234singla]

Congratulations Poitive, a little late though. Just saw this thread today only. Optra Magnum D is indeed a special car. Back in Sep/Oct'10 my FIL was looking for a Diesel sedan and booked Vento TDI before launch. After launch and TD, he cancelled his Vento booking and picked up Optra. In no time now his car is over 30k km's (his monthly running is about 3.5k km's due to business). Needless to say, he is very very happy with the purchase. His car is mostly driver driven but he feels very comfortable driving her himself as well for short distances (he is 65). No issues whatsoever in 30k km's, even for spares that too with dealers in Punjab. I think, Delhi/ NCR should be even better.

As you also mentioned, I also think this car is underrated than what it actually is as a product, more so due to Chevy's marketing strategy.

Wish you many many happy miles with her. Take care of running in properly, don't fall for the power at hand (I am sure you won't)

[NoRules]

Yo mate,

I am so very happy for you. It has been a parallel journey, yours n mine in search of a good spacious diesel car and if I am not wrong, we both got the delivery around the same time. Wish you many many miles of happiness. Drive the beast safely. While it is a strong performer like VVS, it can get aggressive like Sehwag too

Will look forward to read more of your experiences with the car.

Originally Posted by vnabhi

By the way, did you get a vin number check done? I am asking becuase in Hyd, all Chevy Sedans (Optra and Cruze) available in showrooms are Feb 2011 manufactured models.

vnabhi,

Check now. I took delivery of May 2011 manufactured Magnum just last week and during my interaction with KUN and Orange i found they mostly had April and later models, verified by me with the VINs of cars available in stock.

[nileshch]

Congratulations, Poitive!! Finally you went for the best performer in the class. And awesome descriptions you've done. You have a lot of patience! And hats off to your extended research on all the cars. Your threads have been very comprehensive and beats any C segment shootout ever written!