[robimahanta]

It has been a while since I uploaded a car ownership thread. I got busy with the mundane stuff and myriad social media groups kept me engaged. Neither am I an engaging story teller nor am I an engineering geek. Most of my experiences are just gut feel and a personal opinion and I do not insist on others taking those
seriously. I am not attached to my cars and use them like just any other tool. I am not someone to give my car any names and I am definitely not a believer of “my car is the best car” philosophy. I neither believe in “one car do it all” nor I feel a high revving natural aspirated engine is the best thing after sliced bread (unless it is a 911 GT3).

I love to embrace new technology and not into heritage at all. I will take a 992 any day over a 996. Since last 25 years, I have been driving petrol cars (Zen, Alto Vxi, Ford Ikon 1.3 , Ford Fiesta 1.6) and since 2010 I have been a fan of turbo petrol cars. I will always stick to petrol and eventually move to full EV as the infrastructure improves. I will never buy a diesel car.

Some of my past ownership threads include the Laura 1.8 TSI and the Polo GT TSI.


https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...edit-sold.html (VW Polo GT 1.2L TSi: The baby TSi EDIT: Sold!)

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...-now-sold.html (Yet another Skoda Laura 1.8 TSI on Team-BHP. EDIT: Now sold!)


This thread is going to be about my current ownership experience.

I have a 2018 VW Polo GTI, 2021 BMW M340i and a 2022 Mahindra Thar P HT AT.

I am not going into extreme details about each car as that has been done in detail already in the forum. I am not going to go into nit-picking about
very minor details about some silly buttons, for instance. I will just mention the things I like and dislike about each car, the ownership experience and the modifications/accessories which I have carried out.

Having said that, this is merely going to be a personal opinion, the car choices and the
modifications I made may not seem very rational to everyone, but that is not my point. I
made those decisions to the best of my likings and my use cases, and I am happy about that.

Let's start in chronological order:


2018 VW Polo GTi (45000kms)



I had the VW Polo GT TSI (one of the early adopters in early 2013) and loved it. When VW launched the GTI in late 2016 I was honestly quite disappointed with the pricing. In December 2017, I got some info that the last few unsold cars were being sold at a huge discount. I bit the bullet and got one of the last GTI’s in India in early 2018 for 15.9 ex showroom. The GTI is not about value propositions or rational economics, it is pure driving joy. A car you buy with your heart and not your head (this is going to be repeated again).

Likes:

A perfect sleeper hatch. 192ps was considerably warm those days, now with JCW and A45s etc., it may not be so.

Hardly anyone recognises the car and most think of it as some modified Polo. I get a rare thumbs up at traffic signals but mostly it is a regular polo with two doors. I can park it anywhere and no one will even notice it. Subtlety is part of the hot hatch formula.



Being a CBU, the build quality is amazing and even after 45k kms in Bangalore roads, there are no rattles whatsoever. The seats are amazing and audio sound stage is pretty nice too.



The power and handling combination especially in narrow ghat roads is exhilarating. The turn is amazing due to the short wheel base. The way you can zip through traffic is something to be experienced. The moment you turn in, the rear is through as well. It is a bliss in the ghats down south (especially when you use the paddles) as well in Bangalore traffic.



Fuel economy for a warm hatch. I get around 13-15 kmpl on the highway.



All four wheel disc brakes work extremely well to cut speed. It is very reassuring.



GTI tartan seats are special with the bolstering and comfort.

Very happy with the VW service, I got a service package and it comes to around 10k per service.

Typical exclusivity in India of saying 99 cars and selling at least 150.

Dislikes/Nit-pickings:

The steering is vague and light just like any other VW. The sports mode is too aggressive and not suited for daily driving. The exhaust makes a snarl but is overall quite disappointing.

The damping is pretty stiff and you feel each and every undulation. Due to the short wheelbase and stiff damping, it is very skittish during high speed highway runs. A simple expansion joint will throw you off. It is a car meant for the city, narrow ghat sections and pristine tarmac. However, it is still much better than the Cooper S when it comes to comfort.

No Apple Carplay or any fancy gimmicks (no rear camera, auto lights or wipers, keyless entry, start stop etc). Front and rear parking sensors are there though.

Space is a constraint and is mostly a two person car. Again, it actually has more space at the back than a regular Polo due to the scooped out seats in the front. Just that ingress and egress is an issue and the small rear windows make it a tad claustrophobic.

The LED headlights are pathetic when it rains.

Constant worry regarding the 7 speed dry clutch (DQ200) reliability. It has the inherent DSG jerkiness in the first two gears.

Annoying Auto Start Stop just like most other VW cars.

Weird 125/70 R18 space saver sizing.

Modifications:

I didn’t want to tinker much with this car as it’s a VW under warranty.

I got the OEM GTI armrest and 3D max spider floor mats.



The stock tyres weren’t that great and were in an odd size (215/45 R16 Bridgestone Turanza). I replaced them with Michelin PS4 205/50 R16, it has made a whole lot of difference in the grip levels even though it is a tad smaller than stock.



My stock battery (Moll EFB) failed in two years and I got myself a Varta AGM battery (same as the UK spec GTI).

Sensairy internal TPMS system. I get the tyre pressure and temperature on my phone. The app has improved a lot over the years.


Some pictures:

Did a few rally's





With a VRS



The black roof wrap



Other random images over the years

[robimahanta]

2021 BMW 340i (12000kms)



I had a 2015 BMW 328i with Bilstein B6 dampers, M performance exhaust and an BMW Alcantara steering wheel. It was an awesome car and I was really sad to let it go. The 397 alloys in 18 inches were to die for and the overall pure RWD steering feel was very special. Having said that, there was always this itch to get a inline 6 BMW. I had almost confirmed a BMW M2C when the M340i was launched as a CKD at an attractive pricing. After some deliberation, I booked the last car of the first lot (the first delivery in Karnataka). I wanted Tanzanite Blue but only Sunset Orange was available at an introductory price of 62.9.

Karan has put up a detailed review of the car so I will go into much details apart from the likes, dislikes (nit pickings) and modifications/accessories.

Likes:

The brilliant B58 inline 6 mated to the perfect ZF8 speed. It is a match made in heaven. Ignore the rated specs, its feels way over 380hp and 500Nm (something which was proven in a dyno run). The way it pulls even in high triple digit speeds is no less than super cars from a few years back.



The damping is perfect even without adaptive dampers. I am used to stiff cars (had Bilstein B16’s in the Skoda Laura), so the M340i rides feels amazing. I got the car with 18 inch 790M wheels. Initially I was wary about the Xdrive (AWD) system ruining the driving experience but the RWD bias makes up for it to a great extent. It is a little hard to hold drifts than a RWD car but the sheer corner exit speeds and leech like grip levels make up for it. It has some inherent safety understeer and if you really want the tail to come out, you have to floor it and catch it as it snaps from understeer to oversteer in an instant.



Loaded with tech like HUD, parking assistance, gesture control, wireless charging and the works. Wireless CarPlay is seamless too. The HK speaker system is nice but a little over hyped.





It is all about the engine and the gear box combination. Revving to 7000rpm in a turbo petrol with a wide torque band is sheer joy. Silky smooth with spurts of overrun on the upshifts, BMW is a master of inline 6’s.

The variable ratio steering and the uprated M sport brakes.



The laser lights are awesome during highway drives at night.



BMW service and reliability. I have been very happy with BMW for more than 5 years.

It is the perfect middle child between the full blown M cars and the sticker jobs which BMW sells as M sport models.



A beautiful location with the 790M wheels



At the same spot with the 792M wheels



Amidst the fireflies



Dislikes / Nit pickings:

Honestly, I hardly have anything bad to say about the M340i. It is indeed a lovely car. But no car is perfect.

The adaptive dampers are missed at times.

Hardly any visual differentiation from the 330i M Sport (actually a good thing)

Parts and even basic consumables like brake pads take ages to source.

Weirdly inverted rev counter. No navigation in the HUD if you are using Google maps with Carplay.



Overly thick steering wheel with small plasticky paddle shifters. Just like most BMW’s now.

Horrible wireless charging for the phone. It heats up the phone and charges extremely slowly. It is a good riddance that they removed in the subsequent lots of the M340i.

Modifications / Accessories:

The M performance exhaust from BMW. The first lot cars in India were already loud and when you add the M performance exhaust, the cold start definitely annoys the neighbours. It has a nice raspy note and you don’t need the fake sound pumped in to the cabin to enjoy it.



Carbon fibre rear spoiler. Expensive but looks great. There is something about CFRP which is addictive.





50th M Anniversary BMW roundrels. Just a fancy gimmick.



3D Max Spider G20 mats over stock M performance velour floor mats.

DDpai 4k mini dashcam hardwired (Thanks to Bhpian SunnyBoi)

Extra set of 792M wheels with Pirelli P Zero RFT’s. I have both sets of 18 (790M with Michelin PS4 ZP) and 19 inch alloys with tyres.





Some pictures:

[robimahanta]

2022 Mahindra Thar P AT HT (8000kms)



I always wanted an SUV but not a diesel truck. It had to be petrol and have a relatively short wheel base. The requirements were that it should be cheap to maintain and must be capable on mud, snow, sand etc. Got tired waiting for the Jimny and the Thar P seemed like an ideal addition to the garage. I didn’t want to get it within the first year of launch as being a Mahindra I expected it to be a niggle and recall fest. Finally in January 2022, I got it for an ex showroom of 14.9.



I love doing functional mods (although I have had my share of crappy gimmicky mods) and the Thar seemed like an open canvas. I wanted my third car to be something which is completely different than the other two in its capabilities and the Thar fits the bill perfectly.

Likes:

Go anywhere capability. I have had my share of off roading across different terrain and cars. But the Thar P AT seems like the most easiest to drive, with the MLD, BLD and oodles of torque, every terrain seems like a walk in the park.



It is way improved over the previous generation in dynamics and interiors. Most of the drawbacks can easily be fixed to a great extent by modifications and accessories.



The 2 litre turbo petrol engine has enough grunt and is perfectly tuned with the smooth 6 speed AT. On rare occasions, you do miss paddle shifters but I guess that is asking too much from a Thar.

High safety rating, wired Carplay, ESP, HDC, TPMS, cruise control are stuff not expected in a car like the Thar.

Amazing visibility all around (except rear) and great road presence.

One of the best looking OEM alloys and rugged Ceat A/T tyres.



Noteworthy NVH till around 100kmph, post that it is like a hurricane inside the cabin.

Lovely hydraulic steering. However the turning radius of the Thar is little more than what is desirable.

AC that chills to the bone. I wish the blower speed was little less when set to 1.

Really loved the efficiency and speed of Mahindra after sales service.


Dislikes / Nit pickings:

The ride is always busy. The only time it is really stable is when it is stationary. With the stock dampers there is a lot of side to side movement and nose diving on hard braking. Inherent body on frame short wheel base woes.

The brakes take some time getting used to. The pedal feel is little off compared to most other cars.

Panel gaps and hard plastics galore.

Poor seat support for tall drivers.

Negligible boot space. The Thar is best just for two if heading out for overnight trips.

It is shaped like a brick (blatant Jeep Wrangler copy) with mileage of 8-10kmpl at best.

Extremely pathetic rear visibility.

Poor stock headlight performance.

The wiper speed at intermittent mode was too slow, but realised later that it can be adjusted between 1 – 60 seconds.


Modifications:

Warn VR EVO 8S winch on a winch plate within the stock bumper. A nice clean stealth install.





Covered the exposed part of the winch rope with Gorilla Tape to protect from the elements



Bug deflector, a cheap accessory but seems to do its job to a great extent. There will be a lot of naysayers but I personally find it useful.



AVO dampers which are easily adjustable for rebound. Lifetime free service for them as well. It has improved the ride quality by a large margin.



Complete aluminium underbody protection plates. There are minor rattle issues with it. Also I had to customise the openings on the plate to a bigger size for oil service. I have an differential guard as well.









Tough metal rock sliders mounted to chassis.



Limb Risers which are a boon in narrow rabbit hole trails. Protects the windscreen to a great extent.

Audio upgrade:
Pioneer GM DX874 Class D 4 channel amplifier (didn't want any installation on the floor)
Morel Virtus 602 components
Polk Audio DB1242 DVC Marine rated subwoofer in a sealed enclosure
OFC wiring with adequate quality damping of doors.







Overall quite happy with the sound stage.

Mad dog Alpha series auxiliary lights with blacked out covers.



OEM rear view camera which is just about ok.

Genuine leather wrap on the steering wheel.



Genuine leather front seats with thigh support extension along with wrapping of the plastics around the knee with leather and foam.

Armrest with leather wrap.





GFX floor mats sitting flush. I had to slightly alter the driver side mat due to my dead pedal.

Dead pedal.

Interior footwell lights.



70mai dual channel IRVM dashcam.

OEM grab rail on driver side.

Rain visors and rear window shades from Mahindra.

Osam Nightbreaker Laser stock rated bulbs for headlights and fog.

Auto window roll up module on locking the car

Anti-theft locking lugs (Farad)

Painted the exhaust end can in matte black with heat resistant spray as I didn’t like the stock look.



The stock silver exhaust look from another car



Debadged



Two useless gimmick accessories are the door hinge step and lights with dynamic indicators in the rear bumper.




Some pictures:


*Some pictures I shared have been shot by my good friends Dr.AD and Rahul.

Thanks for your time. That is all about my three car sub 1 Cr (ex-showroom) turbo petrol garage.

Hoping to keep you all updated about the cars.

Regards,

robimahanta

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Reviews section. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage tomorrow

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by robimahanta

I
This thread is going to be about my current ownership experience.

I have a 2018 VW Polo GTI, 2021 BMW M340i and a 2022 Mahindra Thar P HT AT.

Thank you for sharing this "dream thread", Robi. I have been looking forward to such a thread from you since long, and so glad that you wrote this. Thanks for taking time to write this and for showing us your garage, which by all means is "The Dream Garage" for most of us.

You are an expert in assessing a car perfectly in just a few words. The positives and negatives you mentioned for each car are precisely and objectively stated (without any verbose drama). Loved reading your description of each car!

As someone who has closely followed your cars (quite literally, on the road in our driving trips ) let me share with others that your cars are some of the best driven cars. Robi is an expert is using each car to its full potential, and I have seen him using all three cars perfectly well and fully exploiting their potentials in appropriate conditions. No car in his garage is a garage queen. He does full justice to all three cars.

I can not think of a better three car garage unless one is going into the territory of exotics and supercars. For a "practical daily usable garage", you garage has to be one of the best in India!

I have been fortunate enough to drive along with you on so many road trips and I have seen all three cars closely, got a chance to photoshoot them at some really nice locations, and also got a chance to ride in them. Thank you for those wonderful driving moments. Each of these three cars is quite photogenic, and I love photographing Robi's cars. There have been numerous road trips where I took more photos of Robi's cars than my own car.

I hope this thread so far is just the beginning of a really wonderful and memorable online journey that you will take us along with. Please keep this thread updated with your weekend drives and expeditions, and of course, further modifications with each of the cars. Most of us will be tuned to this thread as we can only experience such dream cars and the dream journeys through such threads. Thanks again for starting this thread!

[androdev]

These are undoubtedly the very best enthusiast cars ever sold in their respective categories and make an amazing garage! I am a huge fan of white Polo TSI+DSG and your photos are a treat. Thanks for sharing!

[zebo]

This is the perfect 1cr ex showroom garage for a true ‘PETROL’ head. Icing on the cake being the tasteful modifications performed on each of them and the fact that you enjoy them as they are meant to be. Hoping to follow this thread and your automobile journey through out! Best wishes!

[JoshMachine]

Amazing choice and sense of ownership for the different cars in your garage! Seems like you handpicked each of them for a specific purpose.

Always saw your cars in "The Great Southern Sojourn travelogues" (just made that up), alongwith that of Dr. AD and graaja.
Today, getting to know more of them, thanks for sharing.

Nice number matching plates for the Bimmer.

[robimahanta]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Thank you for sharing this "dream thread", Robi..

Thanks a lot AD. It is your motivation and support that made me put up this thread. Looking forward to many memorable drives with you and the gang.

Originally Posted by androdev

These are undoubtedly the very best enthusiast cars ever sold in their respective categories and make an amazing garage! I am a huge fan of white Polo TSI+DSG and your photos are a treat. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Androdev. I am fan of your 911 and it is a dream car for every petrolhead.

Originally Posted by zebo

This is the perfect 1cr ex showroom garage for a true ‘PETROL’ head. Icing on the cake being the tasteful modifications performed on each of them and the fact that you enjoy them as they are meant to be. Hoping to follow this thread and your automobile journey through out! Best wishes!

Thanks Zebo, hopefully I can continue to use the cars and do justice to them for a long time to come. Obviously the itch to upgrade will kick in at some point of time.

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Amazing choice and sense of ownership for the different cars in your garage! Seems like you handpicked each of them for a specific purpose...

Thanks JoshMachine. I had driven the original Josh Machine, 1.3 SOHC Ikon for quite a few years and had some great memories associated with it.


Another small not that significant update:

I got a duplicate key made for the Thar fuel lid for 100 bucks, especially useful in those quick fuel station trips (which are in plenty with the petrol Thar)

[Yogi..Reeturaj]

That's a pretty sorted garage to me Robi. Nice crisp writeup too. But knowing you I'm waiting to see whats coming next.

Side note: the Gti has always been a dream, will try it out sometime

[Dr.AD]

As I mentioned before, I always enjoy taking photos of robimahanta's cars. With kind permission from him, I am sharing a few of my favorite shots below.

Just two day ago, on a short morning drive, with the new alloys:



My favorite shot of the lot, the 19" 792M alloys, with the style and color perfectly matching with the rest of the bits on the car:



Another view from the morning drive:



Somewhere in the jungles on Tamil Nadu, shot last year:



Sunset Orange under sunrise rays somewhere on the coasts of Karnataka, shot earlier this year:



On a driving-in beach in Kerala, a couple of months ago:



Thar, where it belongs, in deep forests:



Another shot of the Thar as it emerges from a dark forest trail:



The wheels of Thar, as it stood atop a hilltop near Kadamae, Karnataka:



And finally a photo of his GTI, in the rally guise, after a TSD rally:

[jkrishnakj]

What a 3 car review Robi. Super clear, crisp and it gives people a hint of what goes inside your head. Its evident that you are super clear on exactly what you want from your car and each of those likes/dislikes allude to it.

Loved reading it. Loved seeing the pictures from DrAD too.

(Aside - I like the duplicate key 'jugaad' for the Thar fuel lid. Having owned the Thar, I recognize the pain in turning off the ignition to handover the key to the fuel pump attendant each time)

[ph03n!x]

Your 340i blows my mind off, but it's the GTi that tugs the heart! Was great catching up with you last weekend - looking forward to a catch up in B'lore soon and see if the heart wins over the head

[megazoid]

Nice garage. Ownership apart, it is the round robin usage that is great to see. My favourite of the lot is the 340i. Great car to drive spiritedly. 19 inch looks suitably hot on the car. Hopefully, you get a lot more opportunities to utilize these cars and have a good time and Hoping you can keep this thread updated which itself is going to be a task.

[SolidSnake]

What a garage! Excellent choice of cars sir.

Those 19 inch 792M alloys look gorgeous. Is the ride quality significantly worse compared to 18 inchers? Also, is the ground clearance fine for Bangalore roads?

Hope you retain all these till the EV era kicks in full fledged.