7th June 2009, 17:38
| #76 | ||
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Here are some pics taken recently. De badged the rear and removed the mud flaps. Also removed the black sticker on the grill, to get it painted.   Last edited by nikhilv12 : 7th June 2009 at 17:43. | ||
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7th June 2009, 18:25
| #77 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: New Delhi
Posts: 1,852
Thanked: 2,138 Times
| What a beauty  Though Laura isnt much of a looker the shine and gloss your car carries can put new even showroom cars to shame. Its difficult to maintain black but the rewards of keeping her clean are worth over the hadwork done. have you gone in for any Teflon or car detailing thing? The shine is awesome even better than when the car was brought home in those initial images  Do tell us the secrets too. Hows the car performing, any other upgrade planned after alloys? |
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7th June 2009, 18:58
| #78 | |||
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All i do is, wash the car only with bare hands and water and wipe it dry with chamois leather. I wash the car with shampoo and wax the car once in three weeks. I use 3m liquid wax. another thing which makes a big difference is keeping the plastic trims, wheels and tyres clean. I use 3m tyre dresser for the tyres and the plastic trims. For the wheels, i use normal car shampoo. Quote:
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7th June 2009, 19:00
| #79 |
| Newbie  Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Rajkot
Posts: 7
Thanked: 0 Times
| Awesome work with keeping your car clean dude. I'd repeat this every time I post a reply  Good choice with the wheels, you're gonna buy them from India itself? Guess the Continental tires cost a bomb too innit!!! I'm planning to get the alloys upgrade at the end of this year, have to save up first. I've removed the LAURA badge too, but not the mud flaps. Black grill is on my mind too, but guess I'll get it done later. And yeah, you didn't get the registration number of your choice? Keep us updated as soon as you get your interior upgrade. Take it easy guys. |
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7th June 2009, 19:22
| #80 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: New Delhi
Posts: 1,852
Thanked: 2,138 Times
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3m liquid wax. I will have to find it out now in my city at all costs. Seems its a very good product as many members here use it. Surprisingly, i still have to get a good tyre dresser for my Linea which can hold shine for longer. Is 3m successful here? Do you clean that grille too with some polish? Its shining to full glory. I wash the car with amway car wash and then once a month wax it with Formula 1 wax but seems Indian is full of fake products like these and i would have to get 3m. For alloys i use shampoo like you to clean brake dust. Once again " You car looks a beauty, am drooling ", hope i had got black colour for my Linea but then am not so good at cleaning cars. You dont find handling better, i thought it was good for Laura as its already good for the Octavia. So you are lowering the car to increase stability and handling- good keep us updated too. Last edited by coolboy007 : 7th June 2009 at 19:26. | |
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7th June 2009, 21:46
| #81 | ||||
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No, there were three more people behind the same number, waited for 3 months, finally left it and settled for 1827. Quote:
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8th June 2009, 21:32
| #82 |
| Newbie Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Rajkot
Posts: 7
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8th June 2009, 22:35
| #83 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: New Delhi
Posts: 1,852
Thanked: 2,138 Times
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http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...k-me-away.html I am happy with the car, its provided me much more than anything else and way above my expectations. The car excels in handling, braking and everything else. I just love the car. Let me complete my first service and see how my 1st experience with the tata-fiat A.S.S goes.  The 1.4 petrol i own is good according to me and was happy when i took her to the himachal hills. Even on the highway i was comfortable crusing at 130-140. This car is not for a performance freak neither am i any. If you want a big performance car wait for 1.6MJD as that will blow minds away, am happy with my 1.4. | |
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18th August 2009, 19:07
| #84 |
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6th September 2010, 22:33
| #85 |
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22nd November 2010, 23:02
| #86 |
| BHPian | Ok guys, I reached the 50,000 km mark recently, and I have to tell you, I enjoyed every single km driving this car. What an amazing car! I have driven it in every kind of condition imaginable, be it small, cramped gallis, or on wide highways, With only me in the car, or with upto 6 people and their luggage, stuffed in the humongous boot, on broken city roads with crawling traffic which barely moves or on the empty super smooth highways, at 200kmph! I have literally done it all with this LOVELY car. And yet, I fall in love with it, every time I take it out. In short, I have been in one long term relationship with my laura, since jan 2009.   Ill divide the review, into two parts, first one, covering the first 25,000kms till dec 2009 and the second one covering the next 25,000 kms till dec 2010. I have never been charged for the regular service because, i have the 3yr/50,000km maintenance plan. Out of the several trips I have made, I am going to write about some of them in a little more detail, as I think its worth mentioning, and highlights some good and some bad points about the car. First 25,000 kms I got my dream car on 31st dec 2008, new year,s eve! Took the car to the temple, did the pooja, parents saw the car, and off I went, to kovalam. The first drive in my dream car, on the new years eve. Nothing could be better. The car was silky smooth, reached kovalam in no time. More then the new year party, I was interested in taking the car for a drive, so after just one beer, I stopped coz we had made plans to go to varkala that night. But even before it was 12, I was summoned at home and had to leave. I was sad about the fact that I couldn’t drive the car, and not about missing the party! Since that day, I have always been finding reasons to take the car for long drives. And I havent missed any single opportunity to drive this car out of town. Till may 2009, the car was doing the job of a utility vehicle, carrying all the parts and tools from the scrapyard and hardware shops to my home, for my final year project. I used to to make atleast one trip every day to the hardware market or the scrapyard. And in this process, I had to take the car through very small tiny gallis, in the Chalai market ( people from trivandrum would understand the situation). And for a car of this size, it was very easily maneuverable through these roads. It might not be as easy as an 800 to drive in such situations, but I never found it very hard.  From may to august I made a few small trips to Cochin, Pthnamthita, and Varkala. And in august 2009, made plans to go to Goa, with 5 other friends. The plan was to go to Goa, via Coimbatore and Bangalore, with 2 days stay at Bangalore. We started from Trivandrum at 4 in the morning with 6 people out of which 3 of them, including me, are pretty heavy and all the luggage which was stuffed in the huge boot. Over all the whole car was very tightly packed. We reached Bangalore at 7 in the evening after 14 hours of driving with one lunch stop at Salem, and absolutely no sign of fatigue neither on me, or the passengers or even the car. So much so, that we ended up partying at fuga that night! The next day we found out that the road to Goa was messed up and since we were too comfortable in Bangalore, we conveniently decided to stay back in Bangalore and party for a few more days. During our stay in Bangalore, we went to Mysore one night, and ended up touching 200kmph, with 5 people inside the car, on the nice roads! It was one hell of an experience. The car was rock steady even at these speeds. It was really amazing to see how well this car performed. It was way beyond my expectations. On the way back from Bangalore, by the time we reached Coimbatore, it was 8pm, so we decided to set our camp there for the night. I had earlier studied in Coimbatore for a year, and had a lot of memories to be revived. So I took off after dinner, with one of my friends from Trivandrum and a couple of my old friends from Coimbatore, who had joined us for the dinner. The places I wanted to see were, the Ukadam bridge, PSG college, RS Puram, Race Course, chettipalayam wind mills, and the beautiful anaiketti hills, all in one night! We covered all the places in the city pretty fast, and headed straight to the chettipalayam wind mills. In all the excitement, I took the car off road, to the base of one of the wind mills, in the middle of nowhere. God , was it beautiful! The giant wind mills, in the moon light looked like some UFOs. And while I was driving off road, didn’t have any issues with the GC, what so ever, with 4 people in the car. Cherished the chilled winds and the beautiful windmills, shining in the moonlight, with one cigarete, and headed to the annaiketti hills from there. I had always wanted to drive to annaiketti hills, in my own car when I was in Coimbatore. I was doing it now and totally loving it. The sun was rising from the hills, in front of the beautifully curved roads. It was one hell of a sight! And by the time we reached our spot, the sun had come up and it was time for us to head back to the city, and then back to Trivandrum. After that, I was driving the car mostly in the city, with occasional trips to Cochin till December. And by then, my car had covered 25,000kms and it was time to change the stock tyres ( Dunlop SP Sport). The tyres had amazing grip, but wore out pretty fast. Thought they were not bald yet, the tread left on them was very shallow. Now, I wanted to get some 17” wheels for my car very badly but at the same time, didn’t want to compromise on safety by putting any 112PCD wheels, with a different center bore and since the only available options were way too expensive for me, I decided to “upsize” my tyres. There were Two options 225/60r15 or 225/50r15 both in BF Goodrich G Force sport. The dealer said that 225/60r15 might touch the inner part of the wheel well, hence the second option. And as the dealer said, they did touch and I had to go for 225/50r15. They looked good never the less! Work done on the car in frist 25,000 kms: Serviced and wheel alignment done every 10,000 kms, at Marikar Skoda Trivandrum. Cost: free Small denting and painting work done at Marikar Skoda Trivandrum Cost:7,000 Rs Interior cleaning and exterior polishing done at Marikar Skoda Trivandrum. Cost: 4,000 Rs Front and rear brake pads changed at 25,000 kms. Cost: 7,000 Rs Got good qualty art leather stiched for the car at 20,000 kms. Cost: 6,000 Rs All four tyres changed at 25,000 kms from New Bharat Tyres. Cost: 26,000 Rs So, By the end of the first year of ownership, I had covered 25,000 kms, and spent 50,000 Rs on the maintenance. And this is how my car looked at the end of first year. The chrome grill was covered with black vinyl in this picture.  25,000 Kms- 50,000 kms In dec I went to Malaysia and got some goodies for my car. A Top Cat Cat back Exhaust, A BMC Enclosed Filter with cold air intake and some small bits like some lights etc. And ya, I got back from Malaysia , just in time for the new year, And I did make it to varkala in time for the final countdown this time. The starting of this year, was a bit CRAZY I would say. To start off, I got the exhaust and the BMC filter installed, painted my wheels and the chrome grill black and got some dark tints. The car looked and sounded EVIL! Yes. With the exhaust you can hear the waste gate and through the air intake the dump valve ( i think ). I installed the air intake in the front bumper near the fog lamp.  Driving such an evil car, I used to grow horns once in a while.  Till may 2010, i made numerous Cochin trips. At least thrice a month. And almost all the trips were made in a single day. I used to go in the morning and come back in the evening. There have been days when I used to start early, by 3am and I used to reach Cochin before 6am. These drives were simply effortless. No tiredness whatsoever. Its too relaxing to drive on empty roads, Just cruising at 80-100 in 5th. Its just too good. But sometimes though, while coming back, I used to get caught up in some bad traffic. Once, it took me close to 7 hours to reach Trivandrum from Cochin. Such drives used to get so irritating that it gave me a headache. So, for long drives in traffic, driving this car can be pretty bad and very taxing. On one of my last trips though, things went a little bad. On my way back at around 7pm near Kollam, and old lady just ran from the right side, across the highway right in front of me! I steered the car towards left and ended up jumping a huge ditch and in the meanwhile my side view mirror managed to hit the old lady. Out of shock, I just stopped the car right there and got out to see how the lady was? I saw the lady, she fell down next to road and was getting up. When I asked her if she was fine, she said yes I am fine,and its ok if you leave. But I insisted on taking her to the hospital. By this time a lot of crowd had gathered over there. We took her to the hospital, got some xrays and the doctor said that she was fine. It was a big relief. Now, it was time to see if there was any damage on the car. Checked the under body, with the help of a torch, and didn’t find any sign of damage. Next day, in Trivandrum also, I go it checked at a workshop and it was all fine. So at the end of the day, my laura managed to save the old lady, herself and me! Except for a trip to calicut, for the rest of the year, the car has been mostly running in the city, I guess I haven't been able to find any excuses. But I drive it around a lot. Some times upto 100 kms a day! The car ran almost 17,000 kms from jan to june. And was not used after that till august, as I was not in town. In august, after I came back, got some small denting and painting work done here and there, painted the alloys back to silver, got the grill changed to chrome one, got the tail lamps changed as one tail lamp had a crack on it, and got some good servicing done and removed the BMC Filter. Now the car is absolutely stock. Except for the exhaust, which will also be removed soon. And finally, at 47,000 kms it was time for new tyres. I think the lower profile tyres, made some impact on the suspensions, and so, decided to go back to the stock tyre size of 205/60r15 and this time, thanks to all the reviews in team-bhp, went for the apollo accelere. Pretty good tyres I must say. Good on comfort and tyre noise. Work done on the car in second 25,000 kms: Serviced and wheels aligned every 10,000 kms at Marikar Skoda Trivandrum. Cost: free Small denting and painting work done at Marikar Skoda Trivandrum. Cost: 5,000 Rs Rear tail lamps changed at Marikar Skoda Trivandrum. Cost: 7,000 Rs New 205/60 r15 apollo acelere tyres and wheel balancing done at 47,000kms cost: 20,000 Rs So to sum it up, the car has no run 50,000 kms and i have spent roughly 82,000 Rs on the maintenance of the car. this excludes the insurance premium. The car is due for the 50,000 km service now, and i might have to get the suspension bushes and the brake pads changed. Fuel economy: City: 12-15 kmpl Highway: 16-22kmpl And the car has never given me any problems whatsoever! no problems at all. There was an issue with the ac cooling, but that also went away by filling up the compressor gas. The car still feels better that a lot of brand new cars. i was driving a new Chevrolet cruze, which had barely done 10,000kms in Delhi from june to august, and that car felt life less compared to the laura! By saying this, i do not mean any offense to anybody. its just my personal view. This so, is one Gem of a car. it has every thing, i ever wanted from a car. Comfort, Handling, Power, Looks, Good music system, Decent space, very good fuel economy, and frankly speaking, i dont think the maintenance was very expensive till now. The only downside i feel this car has is driving it in slow moving traffic for long hours can be hectic. Will put up more pics, as soon as i get my camera. And finally, i would also like to add that i do respect traffic rules and other road users, and have done the speeds i mentioned, only on empty stretches. |
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23rd November 2010, 21:30
| #87 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Trivandrum, KL
Posts: 4,921
Thanked: 7,156 Times
| An epic review there Nik! Trust me on this yesterday I was at office overnight and I hardly worked as I was all into reading this complete thread in one go. Was hell interesting as the whole scenario pretty well unfolded in front of my eyes and felt awesome the way you could pen it down without dropping out a single gesture. Lol, I still remember we meeting every other day at CCD and one day you'll tell, "It has to be the Jetta dude!" and the next day, "Bah, think Laura fairs better!". At the end of the day, you made NO mistake in opting this one beast of a ride.I wish you a very happy mile-crunching ahead with the behemoth until and unless it is being replaced by something even more interesting. God bless!A BBS'd Laura from Chennai. But the design looks very non-BBS to me. Last edited by Scorcher : 23rd November 2010 at 21:32. |
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24th November 2010, 10:23
| #88 | ||||
| Team-BHP Support   | Awesome review, Nikhil! It's obvious you are enjoying the car......what with driving 50,000 kms in less than 2 years! Quote:
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25th November 2010, 20:33
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| BHPian | Thank you Scorcher and GTO. Reliability has not been an issue with this car. Might be because it is an ambient version with no hi fi gizmos which seem to give up pretty soon in Indian conditions. And since the car is running well, i never had to rely on the after sales service other than the regular oil change and stuff. Quote:
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26th November 2010, 11:11
| #90 |
| BANNED Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 4,287
Thanked: 2,812 Times
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