[ashish2135]

Very nice cats you have. Look like they've come from abroad. specially the grey one.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by ashish2135

Very nice cats you have. Look like they've come from abroad. specially the grey one.

Thanks and well noted; R2's an American long hair breed. US citizen, you see. Has the airs of one too

[Thad E Ginathom]

Thanks for the report. Perambur is a really long way for me, but it is good to hear more about Jai Prakash.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Thanks for the report. Perambur is a really long way for me, but it is good to hear more about Jai Prakash.

It was/is for me too. I had to take a bus (116A) back to Chennai Beach station and then the train back home. Today morning (thankfully) I ran to the Beach station and then take the bus from there. Turned up too early; had to wait half an hour for him to come to the garage

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

It was/is for me too.

Oh yes! Of course... only a couple or three km less than for me.

[ninjatalli]

So the dashboard lit up again after a long time! The "coil" started blinking while the check engine light was lit up all the time. And all this just a few weeks after the suspension overhaul, so it was unexpected for sure. Called up Jai Prakash and scheduled an appointment with him early today morning. You know you have a good mechanic when he becomes defensive with a hint of concern that the car is showcasing signs of trouble within such a short timeline.

Anyway so I head towards his workshop, albeit at a very slow sub-50 kmph speed. Throughout the ~45 min ride, I try to figure out if I can see some issue; but no, the power throughput seems the same; the engine is making no different noises, and the car's running just as usual.

I reach the workshop and we open up the bonnet and he runs the diagnosis to see where the issue is. And a chewed up wire turns out to be the issue! I literally start laughing! You'd think a household with 3 cats and a dog would be able to ward off any rats from the vicinity but no; here's a crystal clear case; I could visually see the chewed up part of the wire! Anyway he reconnects the wire and we are back to normal! All in a matter of few minutes. On the return trip home, I ponder about how the durability of this car; keep it up and running regularly, maintain the car well, and the vehicle will not give you much trouble.

Yes, the service centers are out to fleece you at a drop of a hat; even ignoring official recalls and hiding information from the unsuspecting customers. And that's the problem; for which we have threads on the forum and a lot of unsatisfied customers who are not ready to see the sense of the situation because they have lost trust.

I was going through old posts; I clearly remember this one post (A case of unreliable Volkswagen Ventos (2010 - 2012)) by @mariner who shared this seemingly sarcastic remark on my injector issues as a cause of my non-maintenance of the car; simply because I had pointed out the same wrt to his Vento which was not maintained well in the past and later had injectors and other issues which unfortunately VW did not handle in the right manner.

Looking back now for my own car, I can clearly draw the period of Oct'14 - Aug'16 as the timelines when my car did less than 3000 kms when it was with a friend while I was overseas. Unfortunately, he did not heed my request and used the car sparingly over this 18 month period; and the rest is history (Failed injectors, EGR issues).

Anyway, the car seems to be not going anywhere for a while. So let's see how year #8 turns out eventually!

[ninjatalli]

So a decision that has been lingering in the corridors of my confused brain has now come to a point of clearance - the car will have to be let go off soon.

One half of my brain still refuses to see the sense in this decision - all 4 injectors have been replaced, the EGR valve has been cleaned; the suspension has been overhauled, relatively new battery and tires; the car's running just fine - there is no need to sell this car.

But then the other half speaks up - the bike is the future. And that is an undeniable fact - I'm soon to be the owner of a Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 in less than 24 hours. And with the entry of this bike, my driving days are going to be more focused on two wheels than four wheels. As it is the car's not seeing much movement except for long outstation trips. And increasingly I am preferring to take an Uber/Ola instead of the car to drive within the city. The last drive that I used the car was for a trip to Bangalore back in March.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


So here's a call out to folks on the forum - if anyone's looking for a used diesel Vento, give me a holler. Price won't be an issue; I'm looking for a good owner who will be able to utilize the car better than what's being meted out to it in the current timeframe.

The vehicle's with me in Chennai; with a Pune based number plate. All the history of 8 years / 80,000+ kms has been well documented on this thread - servicing records, insurance claims, warranty claims, accessories, and all the bells & whistles!

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

So here's a call out to folks on the forum - if anyone's looking for a used diesel Vento, give me a holler.

My advice would be to retain it. Its a beast and you won't get much on selling it. Buying a new one cost almost 1.5 times of original.

I still got mine. Used less but works flawlessly.

Do bike touring for a while and then take a decision. Take it from me, bike touring is not safe in India. Period.

Be it rains, unexpected pot hole or speed breaker, car is any day preferred.

Just my 2p as a friend.

[ninjatalli]

So the ownership comes to an end. And not in a manner that I would have liked to, considering the vehicle still runs as good as day 1, barring a few niggles and irritants. But the car was gathering dust, and with personal constraints and the situation@home ensuring that I was going to be the only one to drive this car with a very limited run-rate, the writing was on the wall, loud and clear.

Anyway I hope the car is better utilized by the next owner; it certainly has enough juice to do another 1 Lakh kms at the least.

It's never easy saying farewell to your first car. But I can only say one thing - the juice was definitely worth the squeeze! Adios!

[noopster]

End of an era! One of the original Vento brat pack calls it a day.

Good luck with the Interceptor. But if you ask me, a good car cannot be replaced by a bike.

[contact.nitin7]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

So a decision that has been lingering in the corridors of my confused brain has now come to a point of clearance - the car will have to be let go off soon.

One half of my brain still refuses to see the sense in this decision - all 4 injectors have been replaced, the EGR valve has been cleaned; the suspension has been overhauled, relatively new battery and tires; the car's running just fine - there is no need to sell this car.

But then the other half speaks up - the bike is the future. And that is an undeniable fact - I'm soon to be the owner of a Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 in less than 24 hours. And with the entry of this bike, my driving days are going to be more focused on two wheels than four wheels. As it is the car's not seeing much movement except for long outstation trips. And increasingly I am preferring to take an Uber/Ola instead of the car to drive within the city. The last drive that I used the car was for a trip to Bangalore back in March.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


So here's a call out to folks on the forum - if anyone's looking for a used diesel Vento, give me a holler. Price won't be an issue; I'm looking for a good owner who will be able to utilize the car better than what's being meted out to it in the current timeframe.

The vehicle's with me in Chennai; with a Pune based number plate. All the history of 8 years / 80,000+ kms has been well documented on this thread - servicing records, insurance claims, warranty claims, accessories, and all the bells & whistles!

My car will be completing 80k once the lockdown gets over, enjoyed reading the thread end to end.

Though I am still gonna keep it.

The Upgrades I have done are -
LED BI BEAM Headlamps, and Phillips HIDs in FogLamps
OZ alloys and Yokohama SDrive R1 tyres
Brembo - Race pads and Callipers
Stage 2 Tuned from Pete's!

That's all mi-lord!

I hope its a treat for your eyes!

[batladanny]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

So a plan had to be construed to transport my pet cats to my home (@Chennai). Options were considered to even push this later during Jan or Feb. However moving cats to a new place has its own set of problems; I wish it was as fun as moving dogs (which itself is not easy). So a last minute plan was hatched - the road trip home.

I'm in a similar situation right now and am looking at going back home (finally) but am in a dilemma about how to transport my cat. Will most likely do a roadtrip and could use all the help and pointers I can. It will be an 16-18hr journey from Bangalore to Mumbai.

Firstly, should I acquaint my cat to the car with short 1-2 hr drives in the city? or will that put a fear of drives in her and it is best to just do the main drive directly?

Next, any sedatives or other methods you used to calm your cats?

What about allowing them freedom/moment? I'm thinking of installing a transparent (covid) shield between the front and rear seats and letting her roam freely behind. Is that a bad idea?

Absolutely any other tips you have will be appreciated

[nileshch]

Originally Posted by contact.nitin7

Though I am still gonna keep it.

The Upgrades I have done

That's great! I too have decided to keep my blue TDI for another year, taking it to 10 years of ownership, while I wait for that perfect upgrade. Your ride looks nice! I too am planning some small updates to bring in some bit of freshness!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by batladanny

What about allowing them freedom/moment? I'm thinking of installing a transparent (covid) shield between the front and rear seats and letting her roam freely behind. Is that a bad idea?

I've only done one long (longish, a mere five or six hours) with a cat in a car. Friend's cat, friend's car, couple of us as passengers.

What I recall was that the cat was crazy to be stuck in a box and destroyed it. Once out of the box, she sat on the "parcel" shelf, watching the world go by happily for the whole of the rest of the trip.

--- But I just can't advise that. Loose cat is loose object to be flung around in case of accident or even emergency stop.

--- How are you going to get the cat out, ensuring that it comes out in your hands, not between your legs, or from the edge of the door before you even get your hands in there. And she could run off never to be seen again.

--- How are you going to do toilet breaks without danger of escape?

I'm sure it's been done, and people with something more useful to say will be along shortly. I'm afraid I'm one of those people who always thinks what could go wrong. Which actually made me quite good at sailing when I did that for a hobby. No ship's cat, though.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by batladanny

I'm in a similar situation right now and am looking at going back home (finally) but am in a dilemma about how to transport my cat. Will most likely do a roadtrip and could use all the help and pointers I can. It will be an 16-18hr journey from Bangalore to Mumbai.

Take them into the car only once. It's a torture for them, so no use giving them trial runs. If you have company in the car, then yes leaving them out of the cage might help. If alone, do it when you take a halt and let them out for a while in the car, depending on the situation. I let them out when I took sleeping breaks.

Other aspects - don't feed them, let them be hungry during the trip. As it is they would not eat during the trip for sure. Medication - let your vet advise you on that.

Try to do it one single trip. Midway halts where they have to get out of the car (like a hotel stay) is better not done. It's better for them than us.

Keep liquid absorbing material (or newspapers on the floor for obvious reasons.

P.s. There's a thread for traveling with cats and dogs on this forum. Started by me only. Have a read on that too.