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Old 19th October 2009, 15:43   #1
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This Diwali, bring Sachin home

Yes, you read the title right, but we are not talking about the batting maestro, but the limited edition S10.
Yes its yet another Fiat thread from me

it all started with my friend’s craze to own a palio. He had travelled in my cars and really wanted to buy one for himself. So the search for the same started about a month back or so. Initially he was not sure whether he wanted a 1.2 or a 1.6 or whether he was ok with the ELX variants or the sport variant. I explained to my friend (Prasad) the pros and cons of a 1.2 and 1.6 and he finally settled down for a 1.6 He was ok to sacrifice the mileage for the sheer power of the 1.6.

This formally started our search for the palio 1.6. No website, no contact was left unturned in out relentless searchs. After searching relentlessly for some time, he started to get frustrated. That’s when, TBHP came into the picture. TBHP as usual never lets anyone of us down. There was an S10 for sale at Mumbai by fellow bhpian NitinS10.
Prasad calls up this person and starts to get all the details. Since NitinS10 had just posted 1 picture of the car, we requested for a few more.
Prasad and I now started to outweigh the pros and the cons of buying the car from Mumbai and getting it to Bangalore.

The cost as we calculated, Cost of car + cost of reaching Mumbai + cost of returning to Bangalore + cost of road tax and registration at Bangalore + cost of music system etc etc.
With the cost moving skyward everyday, we thought let’s drop this plan and search for something in Bangalore itself.

But as bad luck would have it, we could not get any good 1.6 in Bangalore. This one month wait is nothing at all. Let’s wait and see.

After what seemed like many many and many more discussions between us over innumerable cups of coffee we finally decided that let’s just go see this car and come.
He was like, worst case scenario, if the car is not good; we do some bit of sight-seeing around Mumbai and return, more or less like a holiday. It seemed like a fair suggestion. Alternatively, we gathered more and more information about the car from the owner.

Any part of decision making process cannot be considered finished without the discussion on the financing. Since the car was still with the “For Sale” tag on TBHP, the seller suggested we pay an advance and block the car. So my friend went ahead and paid an part amount and booked the car. Also, the car’s insurance was expired and since we would be driving the car all the way from Mumbai to Bangalore, we did not want to take any chances and got the new insurance done as well. This did seem like a little bit risky as we were getting all this done and we had not even seen the car in flesh. Somehow we had the feeling that owner seemed like a nice man and not the type who would take us on a ride.

So far, so good, All things going pretty smoothly.

Now, the travel plan starts. We initially planned to leave Bangalore on 16th via the Volvo service to Mumbai which leaves at about 3 in the afternoon, but later decided against it and booked the flight on 17th morning at 6AM.
Since the flight was at 6AM, I suggested Prasad to stay over at my place itself. So we had a quick dinner and start to check if we have picked up everything. Ran through a checklist many times just to make sure nothing is missed.
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Old 19th October 2009, 15:53   #2
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17th- Oct – 2009 - The realllly looooooooooooong day

Since the flight was at 6AM, we thought we have to be there atleast by 5ish. And to do that we needed to leave home by 3ish. And for that we needed to wake up at around 2:3o ish.
The extra lead time is attributed because we wanted to take travel in the bike to Majestic (the main bus stand) and take the Vayu Vajra from there, but then my younger brother offered to drop us midway. So we changed our plan and he dropped us till Hebbal. In hardly 10 minutes we spotted a bus to the airport. We flagged it down and soon we were on the way to BIA. The bus charge from hebbal to BIA is Rs 100.

Since we were hungry, we thought we should grab a quick bite at kaati zone.
Followed this with a checkin, security check; soon we were on the flight to Mumbai. We did take off a few minutes late; tried my best to catch some sleep, but the seats on the GoIndigo were anything but good. Anyways soon we were in Mumbai. The time was 7:40AM; right on time even though the take off was a few minutes late.
It was really nice of NitinS10 to pick us up from the airport itself in the palio. This was our first glimpse of the car. He drove us to his place; he did get close to the 3 figure mark and the car did it quite easily.

We actually stopped near his house to check the car and also do a small test drive.
Though neither of us were technically savvy, we checked the car.
The tyres were almost new; suspension was done up and replaced a couple of thousand kms back; the under chassis not damaged.. Apart from a few scratches here and there and a small dent on the front left fender , the car overall seemed to be in a pretty decent shape.
The car though seemed to show its age in terms of being rough handled by the other previous owners, but it still had a lot of grunt.

So we get to NitinS10’s home; were offered nice breakfast (Poha) by his wife; finished all the paper work and planned on our return journey. This was when it occurred to us that we definitely need an ICE for the long journey. NitinS10 had a few contacts and what a pleasant surprise it was that we landed up at fellow Senior-BHPian Ramie2400’s shop.

We discussed our options and also informed Ramie that our main concern was time as we really wanted to get to at least halfway i.e. Belgavi by the end of the day and do the remaining journey the next day. Soon enough the guys at Ramie’s shop started their work. The audio set up is – Pioneer 5150 HU, Ultimate Components and TNT Earthquake series for the rear. Ramie also showed us the setup on his car and it’s just amazing.

By the time everything was finished it was close to 1:50. We bid goodbye to NitinS10 and Ramie and were on our way. Now were faced with the colossal task of getting out of Mumbai and getting onto the highway. Though we had taken copies of the map via google maps, NitinS10 did draw a few directions so that we don’t get lost. In spite of all this we still stop at multiple places just to be sure we were on the right route.
In one such stop the Palio-S10 started to complain that she’s thirsty. We filled her with 19 litres of fuel. We thought we better not keep her heavy and fill wherever necessary. Soon enough we were on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. To be frank, it’s just amazing. The guys who did it have done a great job.
The car did its best in complimenting the roads by keeping the speed nothing less than 110-120. We even managed to touch 160 at certain stretches. The car was urging and ready to do better but we thought it was not wise. Soon we were off the expressway and enroute to Satara.
Since we had not had lunch, we thought we might grab a typical Maharashtrian delicacy, Pav Bhaji. Just as we got off the expressway, there was a food joint. We savoured ourselves with the food and were back on our way.

Pic 1 - NitinS10 with Prasad
Pic 2 - NitinS10, Ramie2400, Myself
Pic 3 - Entering one of the tunnels on the Bombay-Pune Expressway
Pic 4 - Inside one of the tunnels
Pic 5 - Prasad at the dhaba just after the expressway
Attached Thumbnails
This Diwali, bring Sachin home-img_2138.jpg  

This Diwali, bring Sachin home-img_2150.jpg  

This Diwali, bring Sachin home-img_2155.jpg  

This Diwali, bring Sachin home-img_2156.jpg  

This Diwali, bring Sachin home-img_2181.jpg  


Last edited by gods-envy : 19th October 2009 at 15:56.
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Old 19th October 2009, 16:04   #3
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Soon, Satara was history and we were enroute to Kolhapur.
I think we filled her again but this time for 31 litres.
I am not sure how time passed as by the time it was 9:00 PM, we were already at Belgavi.
We had covered a distance of 449kms in 7 hours. We decide to take a dinner break and barged into Prasad’s relative’s house. Since Saturday was deepawali, we were given King-like treatment. We gorged the food and soon enough our trousers dint need the belt anymore. Since it was 10PM already we were advised to stay back at Belgavi, but we decided against it. Soon we were back on the highway. This was the time when the tummy started to send a signal to the brain to search for a comfortable bed. We ignored the tummy’s advise and thought a cup-a-tea would solve the tummy’s problem. However the tummy sent a separate message to the NHAI about our decision and we were faced with a small hitch. The dual carriageway came down to just a single road and that too a bad one with broken stretches here and there. We could have carried on forward but since I was the only one driving, I dint think it was quite the risk. We decided its better to give a break, hit the sacks and start at dawn.

We entered Hubli and were on the hunt for a roof over our head and a bed below for our bottoms. We just checked into the first available lodge and retired for the night. The time was 11PM. Kms run 550 kms.

A few more random pics -
Attached Thumbnails
This Diwali, bring Sachin home-img_2192.jpg  

This Diwali, bring Sachin home-img_2210.jpg  

This Diwali, bring Sachin home-img_2213.jpg  

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Old 19th October 2009, 16:12   #4
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18th Oct 2009 – journey continues..

The alarm went off at 4:30AM and I set it to 5:30 and dozed off again. I dint hear it go again. I just managed to wake up at 7:00 AM with quite a bad headache quite similar to the hangovers.

We dragged ourselves to the hotel downstairs and grabbed a hot and piping coffee. The coffee made us feel a lot better. Soon we were ready to leave by around 8AM.

We get onto the highway and at the toll ask one of people there on the time needed to get to Bangalore. He said “saar, in a bus it will take 5 hours but in a car it will take 4 hours”. This really rose our spirits high. We were like, we can reach home by lunch, which would be great but out happiness was shortlived. The road between Hubli and Chitradurga is only 207 kms but it took us close 4 hours to get there.
We grabbed a quick brunch at Chitradurga at about 12 noon and were back on our way. Similar to how we had asked at Hubli, we asked how long to get to Bangalore?
“Sir, the roads are much better from here and you should reach Bangalore in 2 hours”. The time now was 12:30

This brought us to a discussion between Prasad and me –
Me – Maga, Are you sure we can cover this remaining 200+ kms in 2h, considering that we took 4h to do the previous 200?
Prasad – I think people take it that we have come here in a flight and not a car and that there should be a helipad some where nearby
Me – No, I think their answers are based on the car. If we had come in any other car, maybe they would have told 3h or 4h something.
Prasad – True, True.
We both had a nice laugh.


We were back on the road. This part of the road, true to the words of the man at the hotel was undoubtedly quite good. I started to continue pushing the car into 3 figures, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140 etc and the car was responding quite well.

So we thought let’s run the car in the 80-100 km/h range and see if the fuel efficiency improves to a great extent? Did it improve the mileage? I shall tell you soon.

We did a couple more stops for fuel and soon we were on the outskirts of Bangalore at about 2:30. We ran into a few traffic jams and got onto the NICE road.

We were home by 3:00 and I hit the sack by 3:30 to grab a 2h sleep before wake up, get the car cleaned and take the car back to Prasad’s house for the pooja.

Summary
Car – Amazingly good; though 55k old and starts to show its age, it still has a lot of punch; noticed some minor issues like Power window light not working, roof light not working, power windows switch loose contact, wheel alignment needs to be done etc etc. But apart from all these, the car is in quite a good shape.

Road – I am lost for words on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Its just great. Overall the roads have been widened and are currently in a good shape. The only stretch is between Hubli and Chitradurga, which I think will take sometime to get ready.

Mileage Figures –
Total petrol – 79.4 Litres
Total kms covered – 1005
So,an average mileage of 12.65 kmpl.
In the economy run that I did, I think I managed to get just a marginally bit more mileage. Though I could not calculate it, I think it must have been about 14 or something. And not to forget, I still have a ¼ of a tank of petrol still in the car.

Speed Figures -
Total kms covered – 1005
Total time – 15 hours (this includes all the breaks)
So, an average speed of 67kmph for the whole journey.
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Old 19th October 2009, 16:51   #5
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Hello there! Nice little travelogue, it was well narrated and good photos. Hope that you would be able to post some pictures of the ICE!
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Old 19th October 2009, 18:39   #6
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This reminds me of Ravendra's story to pick up the GTX!
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...-2nd-hand.html

Congrats to your friend for acquiring the S10.
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Old 19th October 2009, 19:12   #7
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Enjoyed reading it. Nice one.

Have seen Mumbai resale values are much at lower end in comparison to Bangalore. Do you need to pay the tax at Bangalore & reclaim the already paid one at Mumbai?
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Old 19th October 2009, 19:36   #8
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nice one dude, and congrats to your friend for the s10.
what is the process of reregistration?
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Old 19th October 2009, 20:26   #9
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Nice travelogue and a great decision.
OT: Prasad, r u from HCL-EAI.
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Old 19th October 2009, 20:28   #10
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@gods-envy: Very well written travelogue and congrats to your friend on the acquisition. The S10 does look quite spectacular. 55K on the odo is nothing for a Palio and a bit of decarbon will be get it back to its crispy power.

A bit OT: Its useless trying to do economy runs on FIATs as there is hardly much difference in KMPL figures. You should drive them, the way they want to be drive
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Old 20th October 2009, 12:55   #11
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Thank you all, Guys!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Majic View Post
Hello there! Nice little travelogue, it was well narrated and good photos. Hope that you would be able to post some pictures of the ICE!
Coming up soon!!


Quote:
Originally Posted by pulsar56 View Post
This reminds me of Ravendra's story to pick up the GTX!
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...-2nd-hand.html

Congrats to your friend for acquiring the S10.
Yes Pulsar56, it's in more or less the same lines. Infact I had read his travelogue sometime back; never thought I would do it once

Quote:
Originally Posted by Surprise View Post
Enjoyed reading it. Nice one.

Have seen Mumbai resale values are much at lower end in comparison to Bangalore. Do you need to pay the tax at Bangalore & reclaim the already paid one at Mumbai?

Quote:
Originally Posted by anekho View Post
nice one dude, and congrats to your friend for the s10.
what is the process of reregistration?
Yes, We would have to pay the Road tax for Karnataka. Not sure if we are eligible for reclaim. Let me get in touch with the previous owner and check.
Once the road tax has been paid, its up to us whether to get a new KA number or not.

Quote:
Originally Posted by arin_12 View Post
Nice travelogue and a great decision.
OT: Prasad, r u from HCL-EAI.
Yes, Prasad is from HCL-EAI.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MileCruncher View Post
@gods-envy: Very well written travelogue and congrats to your friend on the acquisition. The S10 does look quite spectacular. 55K on the odo is nothing for a Palio and a bit of decarbon will be get it back to its crispy power.

A bit OT: Its useless trying to do economy runs on FIATs as there is hardly much difference in KMPL figures. You should drive them, the way they want to be drive
Totally agree with you, MC

Last edited by gods-envy : 20th October 2009 at 12:56.
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Old 20th October 2009, 13:56   #12
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Nice travelogue.

But you never mentioned anything about sachin

Did he come home safely? for Diwali.
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Old 20th October 2009, 14:36   #13
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An interesting purchase experience cum travelogue!

S10 looks great, decal & alloys add to the beauty, Congrats!
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Old 20th October 2009, 16:28   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WDM007 View Post
Nice travelogue.

But you never mentioned anything about sachin

Did he come home safely? for Diwali.
Welcome to Team BHp WDM, i think what godsevy meant by the title was S denoting the name of Sachin and 10- for Tendulkar, that would make it S-10.
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Old 20th October 2009, 16:31   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Majic View Post
Welcome to Team BHp WDM, i think what godsevy meant by the title was S denoting the name of Sachin and 10- for Tendulkar, that would make it S-10.
Thanks for the welcome

I think your explaination is right, me too thinking it must be the name of that car, may be pet name
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