[KomS_CarLog]

Year 2003 - A 1000Km night journey with friends, a young man (with a penchant for cars and driving) is behind the wheels of a rented SUV. Apparently this was
his first brush with an SUV and a night drive. All passengers dozed off. It was around 2am and the driver was concentrating hard to stay awake. The road was
straight and boring. The SUV was cruising at around 130-140Km/Hr. Suddenly, a long consistent "thud, thud, thud..." sound was heard.....

Greetings Team-BHPians! I am a 30 year young family man, delighted to join the Team-BHP forum. I have been reading the very informative Team-BHP posts since
long. I love the travelogues posted, the technical details discussed, & the images posted. I came across Team-BHP, the first time, via Google.

I am an IT professional. Love keeping a tab on technologies and trends. I practice Choi-Kwang-Do (Korean martial art) and am a purple belt (2-3 belts away
from the coveted Black belt). Alas, the black belt is now a distant dream since I relocated and hence had to part with my Master :( Love to read varied kinds
of text. Once upon a time, I avidly followed various car makes, technical details, etc. Not that I have now lost interest. Today, I just don't seem to have
the time, due to my professional life and wonderful personal life. These days, whenever I get the chance, I cherish my long drives - on straight boring
roads, lovely curvy hilly green ghats around Pune, mountain roads like going to Shimla, roads with beach views. In a nutshell, I love driving

Guys! Believe me, since I started reading your posts, I have all those memories coming to me again. And this is why I registered with Team-BHP. I have now
vowed to kindle my interests and indulge in car mania once again.

For this post, I delved into my digital images (from 2003) to remind myself of the lovely beauties, that I once drove. So here is the list.
1. My first SUV in USA, Dodge Durango. By the way, "thud, thud,..." noise was that of the wheel on the road side grading. I (the driver) had dozed off too!!
But luckily, nothing happened since the road was a straight boring one.
2. Chevrolet Impala
3. My first convertible, Mitsubishi Eclipse 2003 model
4. Toyota Camry 2004 model
5. Dodge Magnum
6. Mustang convertible - This was a test drive since I was heavily inclined to buy a Mustang! However, the car was not at all well maintained and hence I had
to drop the idea.
7. Toyota Camry 1996 model. This beauty I owned during my stint in USA.
8. My second convertible, Chrysler Sebring 2004 model. I drove this on a memorable trip with my wife, again in US - From Las Vegas to Los Angeles to San
Diego to Grand Canyon and finally to Las Vegas. Damn! I burnt around 3K US dollars on this trip. Till this day, my wife and me, cherish each day of the 10
day long trip.

Today, I own a Maruti Esteem VXI, 2004 model.

I believe I should make a stop here since this 'Introduction' is getting a little long.

By the way, did I mention that one of my new interests includes blogging? Well, now you know why the post is a tad long.

[Dippy]

Thats a nice intro Koms. Thats a quite a list of cars you've driven in the US. I would really like to know more about the Impala and the Eclipse. Since you are a blogger, I'm looking forward to some excellent posts from you. Take time to go through the Rules section to acquaint yourself with the forum protocol.

Welcome to Team BHP

[Cartman]

Welcome aboard Koms. Nice and detailed intro. And that is a nice list of cars you've driven.
Make sure you go through the rules to understand the forum better.

See you around!

Cartman.

[Rehaan]

Welcome aboard.

Originally Posted by KomS_CarLog

...The SUV was cruising at around 130-140Km/Hr. Suddenly, a long consistent "thud, thud, thud..." sound was heard.....

And then ??

Don't leave us hanging!

cya
R

[sachinj12]

Another Tanveer and Sam Kapasi in making!!

BTW, welcome aboard.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

And then ??

Don't leave us hanging!

He said

Originally Posted by KomS_CarLog

By the way, "thud, thud,..." noise was that of the wheel on the road side grading. I (the driver) had dozed off too!!
But luckily, nothing happened since the road was a straight boring one.

Welcome aboard, Koms.

[Samurai]

Welcome to Team-BHP KomS! I can really relate to the experience of losing martial arts teachers during relocation. Has happened to me multiple times. And it is hard to find the right one in the first place. I am too without teacher since few years now. Meanwhile, the guy to whom I taught basic bokken techniques 5 years back in Bangalore, is studying Iaido in Glasgow, UK.

If you hear thud-thud in Indian roads, it either the pothole or it is too late.

[KomS_CarLog]

Thank you Dippy, Cartman, Rehaan, sachinj12, McLaren Rulez, and Samurai for your welcome note. I am glad to know that you liked the introduction.

Dippy - Regarding Imapala and Eclipse, unfortunately, I do not remember the exact variants I drove. Hence, I cannot comment on the finer car details. However, I do have a few pics that I am posting here.

Impala - I liked it's good masculine looks. As it is true for all American cars, this car too had a lot of power and had an automatic transmission.



Eclipse - I was lucky to get a brand new Eclipse, newly inducted into the car rental firm's fleet. This too had an automatic transmission.



No point in talking about the highway drive since, I believe, America has laid down highways so that you can cruise smoothly, even at high speeds (80-90 miles per hour i.e. 138-144KM/hour; 90miles/hour is the maximum speed allowed on some US highways). This is one country that has roads and cars, made for each other.

Dippy, next time around, I shall make it a point to take note and comment on finer details of a car.

sachinj12 -

Originally Posted by sachinj12

Another Tanveer and Sam Kapasi in making!!

Kindly do throw some light on this.

Samurai - Now I know that you indeed are a Samurai Say, don't you feel like learning all forms of martial art! I sometimes, get carried away with the different art forms. My latest frenzy is Karv Maga. I have heard that Karv Maga is a really good swift combat art. I wonder when I would get a chance to learn this.

[Cartman]

Originally Posted by KomS_CarLog

sachinj12 -
Kindly do throw some light on this.

He meant you're a great story teller. Very nice writing skills. Gets the reader engrossed.

[KomS_CarLog]

Thank you for the compliment, Cartman and sachinj12.

[abishek2222]

Welcome.Your great storytelling skills are rather evident.it's not everyday something engrossing comes out of the Introduce yourself sectioon.I think your going to be a star here.All the Best!

[KomS_CarLog]

Thank you for abishek2222