[supremeBaleno]

I landed in Belgrade (Serbia) a week ago and till I set foot here, I had no idea about the car scene here. I did search the TBHP archives for "Serbia", but the only thread that really was about this place was Gvozden's thread about his M800 that he drives in Belgrade.

Yes, our own Maruti-800 is available here, complete with the "Maruti Suzuki" badge at the rear. Ofcourse, the M800s I saw here come with rear wipers and demisters. It was nice to come many thousand miles away from home and see the car that put India on wheels.

Anyway, coming back to topic, from day 1 here, it hit me that this place is a dream-come-true for car lovers. It is crawling with cars of all types, makes, vintage, brand etc. You see a spanking new S-class parked alongside a battered Yugo / Lada that looks decades old.

Almost all of the cars that we have in India are found here - Santro (Atos), Spark (very common here), Logan (many taxis), Swift (badged just Suzuki), Optra, Aveo, U-VA, Ikon (hatch), Lancer, etc etc. I even saw a couple of Mahindra SUVs (looked snazzy) but before I could bring out my camera they were gone. Hopefully will get another chance.

In a week, I have taken some 500 snaps and about 450 of them must be of cars. There are so many of them that warrant a snap, but so little time. But I still try to capture as many as possible. My colleagues think I am crazy.

Like in India, parking is a big issue here. Many streets have been made 1-way with cars parked on both sides. Pavements are automatic parking places for cars. On my way back from work today, I even saw a snazzy Peugeot parked on a traffic island. Beat that.

1) The first car I snapped here - an Ikon hatch.


2) Good old M800 - pretty common here. Wonder if it comes with power-steering here.


3) If you thought the Swift was butt-ugly, you should see the Megane.


4) A black Megane


5) The Daewoo Matiz co-exists here with its newer version Spark.


6) An Aprillia bike


7) A funky bike - not sure what make though.


8) A Peugeot 308cccar - I liked the lines of this car enough to snap different views.


9) The side view


10) From the front.


More snaps coming. Stay tuned...

[Gansan]

What about the Alto? Not available there?

[supremeBaleno]

Not sure why, but I haven't seen an Alto here. I even saw an old Zen (original, not Estilo) and even an Esteem (badged Swift), but no Alto. Strange.

[Spitfire]

Beautiful pictures. Nice to see the M800 there with better looking rear bumpers and also much better fitting body panels.

[benbsb29]

Biju, looks like you've been away for a long time!

Nice pics, and thanks for the same. Am really curious to see more about the place, cars etc.

[Saurabh M]

Interesting thread. Keep it coming.

[supremeBaleno]

Yeah, Benny, been busy at work for a long time - so only rare visits to tbhp. BTW, congrats on becoming a D.

1) A nice looking Fiat.


2) The Logan might have flopped in India, but here there are many of them.


3) A Lada 4x4.


4) The Benz A-class


5) Our own Swift.


6) The Fabia - though it comes in various versions, some different from what we have back home. Skoda is pretty popular here - lots of Octavias to be seen - Laura is also badged Octavia here.



7) Another Lada sedan


8) A Yamaha bike


9) The Fiat Stilo JTD - same thing as our Stile ?


10) An Alfa Romeo - looked menacing. I think I have a better pic of this one somewhere.

[srishiva]

Nice to see some of the same cars that we have here. Is the Peugeout a hard top convertible?

[NFS2024]

A Swift with probably better fitting panels? and also the wipers on the cars have different swipe action than what we have here, any reason why?

[gods-envy]

so the Ford Ikon, is no longer a "Made For India car" as quoted by folks at Ford
The Fiat Stilo is not the Palio Stile, its different; its bigger and more powerful. This car is succeded by the Bravo
I would have liked to see the pictured Fabia in India, looks decent.

Edit - the 800 has a rear de-fogger as well. Its a must-have accessory considering the climate extremes there.

[yzfrj]

Good one Biju, keep the pics coming.
How is the life, food and "night-life" ?

How is the traffic there, just like "our" Chennai or more sane ?
BTW, do they drive fast like you ?

[pulsar56]

The black Peugeot looks cool.
Nice captures supremebaleno.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by NFS2024

A Swift with probably better fitting panels? and also the wipers on the cars have different swipe action than what we have here, any reason why?

LHD (Left Hand Drive)

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by yzfrj

How is the life, food and "night-life" ?

This country is down economically due to so many wars and is just picking up. But life is not bad here. Food is OK for non-vegetarians. Can be tough for veggies.

Night-life is supposed to be the best. Infact there are people who come over to Belgrade from neighbouring countries just for the night-life.

And what is worth mentioning here is that this place has "more beauty per square metre" than any other place I have seen, when it comes to women. 99% of the women you see on the streets have great facial features, awesome figure and a great dressing sense.

If someone came here to pick models, he would be seriously confused. Almost every women is model-material. I could go on, but then this thread is supposed to be about the cars in Serbia.

Originally Posted by yzfrj

How is the traffic there, just like "our" Chennai or more sane ? BTW, do they drive fast like you ?

There are trams, buses, and cars on the road. Bikes are rare. While most of them drive better than us, there still are some who drive like us. And they drive real fast on small city roads. Scary at times.

More pics coming. Just that at the hotel, the net is damn slow to upload snaps and at work, well you have to work.

[Rudra Sen]

Interesting thread with lot more to follow, I hope. Waiting.

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Nice to see the M800 there with better looking rear bumpers and also much better fitting body panels.

How exactly did you figure out that better fitting body panels part? Just by looking at one picture?

Off topic it is for sure but you have a choice of replying to my question through PM.