[TorqueIndia]

Hey Guys,

My self Bichu, hails from Kottayam, Kerala.
Very much excited to join this ultimate pool of petrol-heads, literally lost my count of attempts made for the forum registration.This successful attempt was made after a long break, thank you mods !

Warning : it’s long scripted !

I started following TeamBHP soon after I got the internet access, that was around 2008-09 period, while googling on Dial up internet networks for ownership reviews beyond the first drive impressions available in the print media.That’s a cool decade long fan following, not bad at all.

I was an auto enthusiast by birth and like most of them in our family Dad, brother and cousins. Later spent my childhood with toy cars and cricket like other boy kids. First car that crushed my heart was a brand new ash colored Tata Sierra when I was in kindergarten, as I had a dream ride in it for a marriage function with the bride.
Soon after that by coincidence my dad gifted me a beautifully crafted green Tata Sierra scale model which was a dream come true moment for me as a kid.

After growing up a little bit during my 5th standard I started making scale models using cardboards, water colors, scraped toys etc with all kind of ideas I got from my observations on the road and kind of informations I got fascinated by reading auto reviews and news in the newspapers. Yup I still remember reading review of Mahindra Bolero during the launch time by senior Malayalam auto journalist Mr.Baiju N.Nair in the ‘Mathrubhumi Dhanakaryam’ supplement, going by the launch timeline I was in 2nd or 3rd standard that time and I used to collect all the car pics from all the sources I could and used to make some kind of catalogues.

Few years later my cousin bought a 1998 model white Tata Sierra 2.0 NA ! Yup that car enjoyed such a premium image that time and it was again a dream come true moment for me. We had incredible memories with that car. Meanwhile dad bought his first vehicle - a used mahindra Jeep 550mdi 2.5 NA that was a surprise for me and my brother and we thoroughly enjoyed it, pretty soon we upgraded to another used Tata Sumo EX+ 2.0 NA which served us well for another 2 years and lot of beautiful memories, later it was traded for a Maruti Suzuki Omni in an incredible deal at almost nil depreciation even after 2 years.Meanwhile cousin traded his Sierra after 2.5 Lakh KM for a Mitsubishi Lancer 1.5 NA petrol.

Yup Omni, very important car since I learned driving in that vehicle and I got the driving license during that period soon after turning 18. Sumo’s comfort had spoiled us and safety quotient forced us to another exchange, this time to damn rare Esteem Diesel 1.5 NA with Peugeot TUD5 engine, that was a comfortable car with enough grunt and very fuel efficient. But after 1 year we got stranded by the car at multiple circumstances due to its inherent reliability issues with the cooling system, okay it’s time for another upgrade. This time to the sensational Maruti Swift Multijet Turbo Diesel CRDi-2008. That was a solid upgrade in all terms except the boot space.The car served us for good 4 years and we did close to 1.5 lakh KM on it, but we had to go for an engine rebuild on the car due to broken camshafts which was related to fuel pump as told by Maruti and related damages to cylinder head ,cover and pistons, that was an expensive repair.We used the car for another 25K KM post the repair.

By that time I had completed my Degree in Mechanical Engineering and brother did his post graduation in Hospital administration and he had migrated to UAE, Cousin upgraded to a Fiat Linea Multijet 90.

Later I had attended a PG diploma program run by Mercedes Benz and Kerala Government known as ADAM (Mercedes-Benz: Advanced Diploma in Automotive Mechatronics @ Kerala). That was an incredible program as an auto enthusiast and came to know a lot about Mercedes and it’s technologies, we were the first batch at the Trivandrum facility in Govt.Engineering College, BartonHill.

We got access to lot of Mercedes technologies, a Mercedes E220 compressor , OM642 V6 CRDi diesels, M272 V6 petrol engines and 7G automatic transmission were available exclusively for us to play around with well-trained,informed and supportive faculties.

We had to open and assemble the transmission and engines following Mercedes procedures and learn about them, newer technologies and presentations lot of tech talks , that was awesome. We also had a plant visit to Mercedes India facility in Pune during mid 2014, few days before the GLA launch, also had a visit to the Volkswagen plant in Chakan too at the same time.

During the same time I got a job in Mitsubishi Motors,Kuwait after sales department and I had to leave Mercedes program in the halfway, which gave me another set of experience both professionally and personally. Struggled a lot since it never met my expectations or dreams but I had to stick to it since I had to support my family.

My dad picked up a brand new Maruti WagonR Lxi(O) during the time that too soon after the launch of optional variants with ABS & Airbags.Meanwhile brother purchased a Mitsubishi Lancer GT 2.0 in UAE, which has now clocked close to 100K Km on ODO.

During my career with the spare parts sales department of Mitsubishi distributor in Kuwait, I had a good exposure with multiple brands thoroughly with access to their technical information and parts catalogues like Fuso, Hyundai, Kia, Jeep & Dodge primarily and a little bit of Chevrolet, Nissan & Toyota since our parent company had multiple brands and rental divisions under them.

They also launched Honda’s ACURA brand in Kuwait, seventh market globally, which was not very well accepted there.

Also witnessed the launch of made in India Bharat-Benz trucks under FUSO brand in the middle east.

Later quitted the auto industry due to poor satisfaction and many uncertainties after 3.5 years. Switched and relaunched the career with a facelift as a Mechanical Engineer in structural steel industry, now it’s been 2.5 years in the new position and it’s far satisfying than the auto after sales .

Got married 8 months before and now we are looking for an upgrade to our garage or add another car, but we were struggling for the last few months for settling on something in the 10-17 Lakhs range, but now the purchase is on hold due to the pandemic and lack of updated 7 seaters .

I can never hide my love for vehicles, now I’m into EVs which I’m practicing personally through social media, test drives and interactions with my friends in the industry and now finally with the much worshipped- TeamBHP, once again big thanks to the moderators!

[GTO]

Wow, if your intro is so detailed, I'm looking forward to your review threads and travelogues . Welcome to our automotive family, Bichu!

Originally Posted by TorqueIndia

this time to damn rare Esteem Diesel 1.5 NA with Peugeot TUD5 engine, that was a comfortable car with enough grunt and very fuel efficient. But after 1 year we got stranded by the car at multiple circumstances due to its inherent reliability issues with the cooling system

Oh man! I had almost forgotten there was such a car. And the Zen diesel. Maruti's ultimate jugaad.

Later I had attended a PG diploma program run by Mercedes Benz and Kerala Government known as ADAM (Mercedes-Benz: Advanced Diploma in Automotive Mechatronics @ Kerala).

Amazing. Lucky you. Must have been quite something to learn from the best.

Got married 8 months before and now we are looking for an upgrade to our garage or add another car, but we were struggling for the last few months for settling on something in the 10-17 Lakhs range, but now the purchase is on hold due to the pandemic and lack of updated 7 seaters .

If it must be a 7-seater, check out the Marazzo. Solid car, good road manners. If not, the Creta & Seltos are the pick in the 15-lakh price band.

[TorqueIndia]

Originally Posted by GTO

Wow, if your intro is so detailed, I'm looking forward to your review threads and travelogues . Welcome to our automotive family, Bichu!

Thank you GTO for the welcome message and the TeamBHP !

Oh man! I had almost forgotten there was such a car. And the Zen diesel. Maruti's ultimate jugaad.

Ya true the engine was damn heavy for those chassis.

Amazing. Lucky you. Must have been quite something to learn from the best.

Ya, highly recommendable for enthusiasts. Yes, it’s one of the reason for the strong foothold of Mercedes in after sales. It’s now available at multiple locations pan India .

If it must be a 7-seater, check out the Marazzo. Solid car, good road manners. If not, the Creta & Seltos are the pick in the 15-lakh price band.

We did a lot of test drives and we liked Marazzo very much as a package , only gripe is the weak engine for a heavy car. I wish they launch BS6 version with optional 2.0L diesel from Thar/XUV500.
Was blown away by Hexa AT ,but temporarily it isn’t available right now .Rented out a Crysta 2.8 AT and was super impressed as an investment.
We are interested now in entry variants of Creta & Seltos Diesel, felt VFM and loaded.
Also wish TataMotors to launch a loaded base variants like Seltos/Creta/XUV for Harrier at 16Lakhs on-road.