[Mpower]

Welcome Aroon. Tell us about the car scene in Cyprus.
If you cannot stand being overtaken, then the Safari (0-100 in 18s) is not for you. The new Fiesta 1.6 petrol should be pretty quick (if you can fit in it). BTW, is the Fiesta sold there.

[Steeroid]

Welcome, Amdocs boy. Good to see more Telco software chaps around...

Nice intro, and enjoy the forum!

Originally Posted by Aroongupta

1. Accelaration and speed - I can't stand anybody overtaking me...whatever, wherever, whenever!
2. Snob value and style - I need a eye catcher!
3. No irritants - No clinking sounds, no hitting the speedbreaker, no external noise,
4. Music - 8/10 (I will talk about this factor below)
5. Trouble free - No Garage visits needed.
6. Ability to handle one 1000+ KMs single drive every month

Chevy Optra, between the two.

Reasons:

1. Acceleration - if you cant stand being overtaken at traffic light GPs, you dont stand a chance with the Safari. However, if you're a good driver most cars wont keep up with the Safari on our highways.

2. Trouble free - No Garage visits needed.

If you buy a Tata be prepared to visit the garage occassionally. Dont know about the Optra.


However, if you plan to do a 1000 km drive every month - the Safari is THE vehicle for it. I would've said Innova, but then you want snob value and looks......

Hell, even I'm confused now! Buy a Tata Safari petrol.

[Aroongupta]

One thing for sure...I need to check out this Fiesta baby too. If I decide to go for it, would love to write a detailed review.

And MPower - The car scene in Cyprus is very exciting and very boring!

Why exiting - Cyprus is a small island swimming in the Mediterranean sea. Nothing is manufactured here...forget about cars. Everything is imported. The whole economy runs on tourism...the beaches are exotic and the nightlife...HOTTTTTTTTT!!! And since there are a lot of tourists, you can see the best machines...swanky enough to get any enthusiast flat! There's virtually no car model in the world that is not to be seen here. Even our best - Maruti 800 and Omni can be found. 95% of taxis are Mercs. So buy anything here but a Merc. Its the most undervalued car here probably (no offence meant...its just sheer numbers and that glowing 'taxi' sign on the car). The rest 5 % are BMWs. So you can imagine. The place boasts of such a wonderful summer, that you can see a lot of convertibles. Sleek, fancy and deadly!!!

There are a lot of 'racing car' garages. They zap and convert the most modest 'girlies' to real 'eye popper babes'. The most common alterations are:-

1. Alloys for sure
2. Racing car seats
3. modified ground kissing bumpers all round giving the car a real racing car look
4. and most importantly a device attached to the silencer (sorry don't know what they call it). The car does 40 and sounds like doing 400. Bhrooom....Bhrooooooom...........Bhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rooooooooooommm...
Very exiting.

But I would say the car scene is nothing like the bike scene here. Every baby from the Harley Davidson model camp can be scene flying....the cruisers...the racing ones....ooofff! The singing of bikes keep you awake all night. Its fantastic.

Why boring - Having said all that, for us Indians here (around 600 families) the car scene is boring. Very boring. All of us drive Honda Accords, Mitsubhishi Lancers, Toyota Corrolla, Toyota Carina, Mazda Familias and the same range. All cars are automatic. Yucks! They never let us meet that 'freind' in the garage and have a 'hot' word with him. People hit and in the worst of accidents come out smiling. No 'gaalis' no 'haathapai'. (I just puked). These cars form the masses and and hence...! Also the speed limit is 100 on highways. 100 means 100-120! And its boring.... its BORing....its BORING and ITS BORINGGGGGGG. There's no scope for fine artistic manouvering as we all are masters of in India. Because everybody follows rules. DULL!!! I can't think about it any more...my BP is rising.

I AM DYING TO DRIVE IN INDIA. THAT'S WHERE THE FUN IS! 1 More week and.....YAAHHHOOOOOO!!!

[Samurai]

Very interesting intro, you also managed squeeze in a "What Car?" query without waiting for 50 posts...

You say your hard stop is 9L, then why look at DICOR at all? You don't want to be beaten by anybody, which is very tough staying within that budget. Also Optra 1.6 would be beaten by cheaper Balenos and Petra/Palios in most situations. I don't think you can achieve snob appeal, looks, racy performance, no garage visits in one car within 9L.

We are yet to get an expert T-BHP review on Fiasta, got to wait for that one.

Originally Posted by Aroongupta

Yucks! They never let us meet that 'freind' in the garage and have a 'hot' word with him.

Who is they?

Originally Posted by Aroongupta

These cars form the masses and and hence...! Also the speed limit is 100 on highways. 100 means 100-120! And its boring.... its BORing....its BORING and ITS BORINGGGGGGG. There's no scope for fine artistic manouvering as we all are masters of in India. Because everybody follows rules. DULL!!! I can't think about it any more...my BP is rising.

I AM DYING TO DRIVE IN INDIA. THAT'S WHERE THE FUN IS! 1 More week and.....YAAHHHOOOOOO!!!

The pasture is always greener on the other side...

[Aroongupta]

By 'they' - I meant the cars in Cyprus....troublefree as they are

[Aroongupta]

It seems I have no choice but to eat my own words...atleast for the time being...

In my first post I mentioned that Baleno was an outright reject as it has no snob appeal. Mclaren18xx suggested me otherwise. Since then I have come across a few mentions about this car as one of the fastest in its class. Frankly speaking I never studied the car seriously enough. Is it a machine really worth attention? Comes at a pretty neat price too. Please advise. Pros and Cons? Can it win against an Optra 1.6 as an overall package?

[khaadu75]

Hi Aroon .. I dunno how i missed ur intro post as we have one thing in common and that is Cyprus. Dude, I was there for about 4 urs , actually did my college in Nicosia . And trust me was it heaven or was it heaven specially during summers. Agia Napa and Protaras .. u know what I mean ... I'm most probably going there with friends this summer again as I'm dying to get back and chill. Wonder which city u in ?? As for as the car scene there, one thing that I wud luv to get back are the buggies that hit the streets n summers , with the Beetle engine and sexyily painted body kits.

I was lucky to work at a car wash and the owner was a rallyist and he used to let me drive his Evo .. that time it was the initial Evo series , dunno which exactly. Also got to drove his Maseratti .. he was a very chilled out guy. I agree about the night life part .. It rocks , India sucks when compare dto that though its improved here since then. We used to rent cars and go on to the Dirt tracks around Troodos , and I was the college rally champ with a lil fan following .. Gud ole days !!!

Well I hope u enjoy ur stay here coz it truly is the coolest place for a car lover in India, and I have been here for quiet some time now. As for the car ... Go for the Baleno .. its HOT !!

cheers

[Aroongupta]

Hey Khadu,

Kalimera man! Sorry could not reply you yesterday.

WoW. I never expected I will meet a lover of the Aphrodite on this channel. I was not even sure many would know where Cyprus exactly is. Last year when I was to come here and in the interview, after I accepted the job, the guy asked me - "so you know where it exactly is?" - I went blank! I babbled, gobbled and utterred - "Yeah...its...somewhere...yes somewhere 'near' the medit... sea". And this guy laughed. You know why!

Anyhow, I am working with Amdocs here in Limassol. This saturday I am flying back to join Amdocs in pune. Before coming to Cyprus last year, back in India I was with IBM Global services. Obviously like 50 % of India, I am also into Software.

That's a briefy about me. Do tell me stories about you. What's your name and what do you do and all.


And brother, I can very well understand you are for sure missing this exotic land. With the onset of winters, Agia napa and Protaras are now relaxing and simmering inside themselves for the next summer. Troodos however is exited and any day now will have its first taste of snow. Its amazing that in a distance of 40-50 KMs, on a same day, you can enjoy the leisurely sea & sand as well as some sking. I wonder if it happens elsewhere.

same goes for the car scene. The beuties are all in and waiting to get that yearly touch of makeover. pas these 3-4 months and they will be out roaring and showing off!

And let me know if there's something i can get for you from Cyprus.

Daaksi!

[speedsatya]

why dont you have a look at the corolla

[Aroongupta]

Budget issues bro. Can't go beyond 9 L. That's a hard stop.

[khaadu75]

Kalimera Aroon , Nor did I think I wud bump into some one from Cyprus . I too had to open the map and look where Cyprus was when I went. The funniest thing was that I was so excited about going abroad and I imagined all kinds of things as far as cars went , I was travelling with another friend and we were aboout to touchdown the first set of 4 wheels that I saw out of th eiwndow of the plane was a white Maruti Van and my friend took off laughing saying that my dad had reached there before us. i have a van here as well.

Another thing u can vouch for is the anti Merc sentiment ... its not anti but after seeing and using them as cabs for so many yrs u lose any charm and I tell my friends that I will never buy one and they can't seem 2 understand why but u do .... I know its winter time and the happening beach towns must have shut down and turned into ghost towns by now. But its crazy there when its in full steam, we were 21 yr old bachelors so I'm sure u can understand what a time we had. .. As to what wud I like from there, I can't think of what I wud like .

Did you travel up to Baths of Aphrodites ?? Nice drive, but u must be hating leaving that place.... atleast I did hate it when I finished there. Anyways I'm based in Himachal but travel to delhi pretty often , I own the Palio GTX here and its one hell of a car. Though it wont be mine for much longer as dad is taking it from me for himself.

Anyways , u get back and stay n tuch.

cheers

[msprabhakar]

Hey Arun, You're here too? This forum'll be a torture chamber, man... best of luck!

If you're looking for a simple advice on which car to buy, turn back and run away immediately! I too walked into this chamber for advice with childlike innocence several months back... This is a forum of enthusiasts and you'll soon find members offering 'advice' and opinions with 500 bhp of passion!!

Stay in this forum a little longer, and you'll know everything you'll ever need to know about the Indian car scene! Rest assured... whichever car you buy eventually, it'll be your most informed choice, no doubt!

Enjoy your captivity here... you'll never want to be released!

[Gaurav Verma]

Hi,
i am new to this forum. Trying to explore it more. But it is really impressive. I want to look out for experts on car valuation. Can any one help?

[khaadu75]

Hey, Well said ... This probably is the most perfect statement made by anyone on team-bhp !! U got me rolling in laughter but Arun , just remember this is very true .

cheers

Originally Posted by msprabhakar

Hey Arun, You're here too? This forum'll be a torture chamber, man... best of luck!

If you're looking for a simple advice on which car to buy, turn back and run away immediately! I too walked into this chamber for advice with childlike innocence several months back... This is a forum of enthusiasts and you'll soon find members offering 'advice' and opinions with 500 bhp of passion!!

Stay in this forum a little longer, and you'll know everything you'll ever need to know about the Indian car scene! Rest assured... whichever car you buy eventually, it'll be your most informed choice, no doubt!

Enjoy your captivity here... you'll never want to be released!

[Aroongupta]

Hi MSP,

Good to find you here too. I already noticed that yesterday but could not post a message to you.

Hope its a long way to go for all of us.

And that 'torture chamber' thing is perfect. I earlier posted a message asking a good audio option for around 30 K for my car. Boy! The responses left me comletely awstruck. People were ready to suggest specs for a 100K budget too. And I did not understand anything. What I knew (and I thot I was an audio expert :-( )was 2 front speakers, 2 ovals at the rear and a pair of tweeters. They told me about subs, highs, lows, LPF, HPF, coaxials, 6", 6"*9" 3 point amps, 2 point amps, unheard of brands and what not. I was so scared, I thot better not to share my naivity to the forum and kept quite. I am still shivering :-).

I decided, when I buy the car in a week or two, I would rather seek personal help from some ole timer expert BHPian from Pune and get the stuff done without bothering my grey/white cells a lot.

Obviously the evening will end with a grand dinner... . You know of somebody in Pune?