Team-BHP - The RACE lies WiThIn ....my pre-worshipped ANHC. Update: Now SOLD.

You can call this a long term ownership report, or a car story, or anything else that you want. For me this is an experience in life. An experience that has taught me many things about an automobile and owning one. Or for that matter FIVE to be precise. There are one set of people who own one car or one job for ten years. And then there are others (like me) who own one car and one job every three years :)

I finished off my loan on the swift in January this year. Felt a bit relieved that my loan was over. Recessionary trends only had made life more difficult. To the extent that finishing this loan was like a bear getting off my back. Whilst on my recent trip to Jaladhama, after seeing great highways I was greeted by an unpleasant situation. I had 20kms to go, and there was NO road ahead. Just a horribly potholed, rough gravelled unevenness staring at me. After having been so used to my Michelins I went over that distance. Had a few friends who were talking a lot of things under the sun. But I could not hear a thing. I had stopped enjoying even music in my car. All I could hear whether the doors were shut or open were only rattles.

Many on this forum might immediately have said "You can solve the rattles easily". Three service centers and umpteen packing jobs later, I don't think I saw any light at the end of the tunnel. Just 13,000 kms discussing rattles and I faced my first real accident in 10 years (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...tml#post804321) . 25,000 kms and two years later half my car went kaput (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post1355280). Half my life too went kaput after seeing this sordid sight. But I remained composed and brought it back to shape. What these two accidents did not fire in my mind, the trip to Jaladhama did. I was driving a driver's car, with a great engine. Period. The body parts are a testimony to bad design, no matter who says what, and perhaps mine being the first batch of swift's they were meant for guinea pigs like me.

I discussed with my wife about why not we upgrade to a sedan and she concurred as long as I spent no more than a lac more than what my swift would fetch me. As is the usual trend, I checked up craigslist.org for genuine sellers. Its then I came across a Corolla that had done 1,18,000 kms and was still being sold for 3-4 lacs. A few honda city's of 2005 as well for 4.5 to 5 odd lacs. As I spent time browsing on these, I chanced upon Toyota U Trust (Welcome to Toyota U Trust) and saw a maroon Corolla. It had done about 40000kms and was being sold at 6.3 lacs and was a 2006 model. I decided lets check on it later, and after a week it was no more available. Cursing myself of having lost a probable good opportunity, I called them up to see if any more such toyotas were available. Its then they told me that there was a honda city VTEC of 2007-8 timeframe which was being sold at about 7-lac ish.

I did not waste any time to go check it out.

MODS: This thread is my next LTR. Please do not close/move or delete it :)

When I went to the use car showroom, I was made to wait for almost an hour on a weekday morning. Then the 'customer's' vtec was brought to the showroom. I took a test drive for ~ 2km on all types of road, highway, bumps, potholes, ditches, what not. The VTEC showed no signs of surging forward like the swift, so was a bit disappointed. It felt feather lite like I'd be blown away with the wind or so. I drove it carefully for this test, and could hear a squeak on the steering which was pronounced. The cover on the steering with a "H" written on it was loose and when I held it tight with my hands no more sounds in the car. Somehow the lack of initial torque was not there - i know this is a petrol !! - so got used to it. Decided asking price was too high. This is when the dealer dropped an irresistible offer for me. He showed me a spanking new maroon altis corolla, done just 8500 kms on the odo, and asked me whether I want a test drive. Why not? and the next moment I knew I was in the car on the same dirt track. Its a perfect route for testing the car.

Oh Boy I have never ever felt so good than this time, sitting in a D-Segment car. the peppy 1.8 engine always delivered power on demand, the cocooning within the car was just perfect, car felt like a rock such was its stability or must I say boulder? The climate control was way too powerful and the gearshift was like a mini mango. absolutely awesome creation. After the drive, the VTEC was straightaway out for good. Asked him the price for the corolla altis (this was straight from TKM) and he said 10.7 lacs. I asked him some details about financing and emi, and told him I would return a call sooner than later without giving room for this too to vanish from my radar.

What followed was nothing short of sleepless nights. The EMI for the corolla was 15000 per month for a loan of 6.7 lacs. This is the right point to divulge some more information.

I was offered 4.1 lac for my swift. Next question - wrong question - Mileage? The answer I got was invited by me - "Sir if you are looking at mileage for an altis, please look elsewhere and for another car other than this". Perfect. My mistake. Knowing it would not return anything more than 8-10kmpl it was a dumb question.

It was time for some serious number crunching and some unruly questions from the home minister.

@extreme and others, just hang on a wee bit. I ll break it shortly.

Firstly I was away on an offsite meeting the whole day. So couldn't click any snaps :(

So the story continues. Wifey asked me tough questions like whether I'd be able to afford an EMI of 15+k + 5+k of fuel expenditure on the corolla altis. I did all my math and gave her estimates of all my savings and showed her that I can. She was not convinced. But she actually asked me to go ahead with the car if I could digest the EMI menace for the next 5 years. That night went sleepless yet again. Common sense told me that though the City was good at 10.54 L OTR and the old corolla at 10.7 OTR, both were beyond my reach.

This is when I did the math to see how much EMI I would be comfortable with. About 10k for both EMI and fuel was more like it. Since no car could match that figure, and the EMI threatening to spoil my party this is what I did.

Shortlisted few cars that I was serious enough to consider. Linea, Fiesta and Vento on this side of 10 lac. Fiesta was having free insurance at 8.5 final price, and Linea with free insurance was 9 L final price. Called TATA, asked them for a drive of the Linea. They did not have that so instead I was given the drive for Punto diesel, and Manza petrol. The punto diesel was nowhere close to swift in terms of outright pulling power. And the car they gave me had niggling issues like broken levers and stuff like that. The Manza petrol is an amazing car mating FIATs engine with a TATA product. For the price, it was a cool buy. But if I ever went to TATA, it would be for a FIAT car. That much was pretty much decided. My wife appreciated the Linea for its looks, and the Honda too for its modern looks if I may put it so. Coming back to the point, I was not in any mood to do a decision.

Couple of days later, I called TATA again and asked them for a linea petrol test drive. Again no car available. They sent the punto 1.4 instead. What an amazing vehicle that naughty little petrol was. Oh boy. Though it had limitations on what speeds it could do in what gears, the overall pulling power was awesome. I was almost sold, but decided to wait for linea as well. Then finally a couple more days later the linea was waiting to be test driven. Frankly I did not expect the car to be powered well at all. But I was seriously pleasantly surprised. The drive left me feeling that this was the car to go for. The FIRE petrol engine is a joy on your legs. The underpoweredness is not felt too much in the midrange. The space and features will leave other cars far behind in this category which brought me to the only thing left - Service.

This is also when lots of Vento discussions were being vented out on this forum. I have a problem. If I think of a car, I also think of my daily life in that car and in this perspective, the Vento was seen driven around by a geek and it felt good :D (on an imaginary plane that is). I saw the POLO, loved it for its looks, but no TD was offered making it difficult to decide. It was very well built but slightly pricey too. The Vento never looked like its coming anytime now. Besides with VW sharing parts with Skoda, my mind was inclined to keep away from it.

I also took a test drive of the fiesta 1.6 SXI from Metro Ford. I will NEVER forget that day in my entire life. Hands down no other car on this side of 10 lacs can give you that exhilarating experience until now. Until atleast the Linea 1.6 debuts. Thanks FORD for making such a wonderful car !! But I had only one issue with that car. Its newer cousin was due this year end and if I blew up 8.5 lacs on this one, it would depreciate very badly by another five years. My heart was for this car, but practically I was a bit distanced from it.

My mind was torn apart between Linea, Fiesta and the old Corolla over and over again to the extent my work was getting affected along with sleep and food. Never believed a car buying would cause so much chaos. My wifey did not like the dated looks of the fiesta. Also tried showing her jagan's (@jaganm) car. In the end she agreed to it. Now it was a tight race between the Fiesta and Linea. The Linea was always there waiting to be delivered and the Fiesta I had to work on it if I needed it. Ford never bothered to call me again.

This is when a sudden thought about an old Corolla struck my mind yet again. It was a capable car with a 1.8 engine having the capability to go upto 1+ lac kms without problems, and the 2004-5 models were available close to 6 lacs. Powerful car, lesser loan, lesser emi, manageable fuel costs. Sounded perfect. What with GTOs posts on lateral upgrades drilling my mind, I thought why not.

Went back to Toyota Used car division yet again. Saw a 2005 Corolla. Done 56000 kms. Drove it on the same dirt track. Pleased. Made a 10000 bucks booking deposit to take it home. On the condition I verified its service records and other details.

What happened after that is the climax or anti-climax as you may want to call it. I am dead tired today and since tomorrow is a Saturday I can type again in the morning. One more day friends. And the reality will unfold.