Finally upgraded from M800...To Safari 2.2 This thread has been a month in coming, that's for sure. I have been planning to write this but have been putting it off due to work pressures. Apologies in advance for what is going to be a real longish post.
Well, there was this time in September '07 when I kind of realised that my 4.5 yrs old warhorse, my faithful M800 was being abused too much and needed a break. I had done around 20,000kms in 12 months in it and had this reckoning when I was almost hit by a truck around Hosur while returning from Pondicherry. And I felt unsafe.
Talking of perspectives, one does rarely lift his head far beyond where he is presently. As was my case too. So as a next step, I looked a bit above the M800 bracket and ruled out the Santros/Altos and reached the Palio Stile 1.6 / Swift DDiS segment. The Getz was ruled out since my parents already had one in Bombay. My wife ruled out the Swift saying she felt too claustrophobic in it. So we head out to Concorde Motors to check out the Stile, start talking discounts et al. Then we turn and notice the Safari. Well, that was a thought that had not entered our minds, at all, ever. And it actually didnt last for long.
Then followed what I am calling my personal 'Eureka' moment. One September morning, I notice a very small article on the launch of the new 2.2 in the ToI motoring supplement. So the following weekend I take my wife and we check out the safari. She is impressed. However, I am not entirely convinced because of previous experiences, although very dated, with Tata Motors. The thing is, we had a Sierra and this was before the Turbo version was launched. We loved it but I cannot complain enough about the problems we had with it. I believe there wasnt a month without me or my dad spending a day at the United Motors workshop at Deonar sorting some glitch or the other with it. But love it we did. We even did a Bombay-Chennai round trip in it in the 80s. You think we would have enjoyed that more in any other vehicle? Not a chance.
But the 2.2 bug had bitten me. Cursory search on google threw up Steeroid's thread and I discovered TBHP. That thread was confidence boosting. Then the first ownership reports began to pour in. ADC, Dadu, Harjeev, djbobo etc. etc. I was hooked. I broached the topic officially. My family was dead against it.
OK, I says. Having raised my head that far, I was now ready to consider other options for their sake. So with the mental filter open, in poured other options like the fiesta, verna, fusion and the cedia. Out went the Stile/Swift. For some reason didnt consider the City or Civic at all. You think this helped? Fat chance. I only realised my mind was made up and kept that to myself.
Studied them all. Weighed the options. Considered my usage. Decided I actually had reached a stage in life where I also needed storage space. I needed safety from other maniacs on the highways (A thought that was reinforced after driving on TN roads. Please dont mistake me but TN highway manners scare me for some reason; think white politico SUVs). And I preferably needed diesel. These reasons and criteria are self-fulfilling you think?
After all this, my final decision was split between the cedia and the safari. At the final call I voted for the Safari to my dad's disappointment.
The next choice was on the version. In any case I didnt see any use of a 4x4 for me (euphemism for beyond my budget?). I was really keen on the LX but finally settled for the EX purely for the rear O/H AC.
Colour was also decided in advance before the purchase. This was handled by my wife who got the sales guy to take us to the stockyard on Hosur road to show all the colours physically. Mountain Green it was going to be.
Financing was very surprisingly a breeze with SBI. Very few documents required. I received the flexibility for partial repayments with no restrictions on minimum amount or frequency of partial repayments. SBI said they charge only in the case of complete foreclosure of the loan midway. And with partial repayments I was offered the flexbility to either reduce the EMI or to reduce the tenure of the loan. I expect to repay the loan within the next 2-3 years, so I took a 7 year loan so that I also have a lower EMI burden till then. While they did take 7 working days to process the loan, I was very impressed with their attitude and the flexibilities their package offered. Especially for a lower interest rate than private banks. FYI, my loan was arranged with the Indiranagar branch of SBI. Anybody interested can contact Mr. Chandrashekar. Very efficient bloke that guy.
So, to end the long story, I finally took delivery of my truck on the night of Friday, 4th July, after work. Drove back from Dairy Circle at a snails pace; and was I afraid of getting a nick or knocking somebody down...
And i thought to myself that night, amongst other things, THANK YOU TBHP.
cheers:
On 5th we went and got ourselves some alloys. On 6th we left bangalore
and returned just shy of a week later with the odo at 2100 kms. Thats another story. For the next post in this thread. |