[avira_tk]

Originally Posted by roy_libran

If I can venture a question - Is all of your Amby reliability experience based on the Amby with the Matador engine?

On RE - I own a RE for the last decade and while I love it for it's cult status and looks, I advise all my dear friends to not even consider one of these when buying new. It's an engineering disaster!

Thanks for bringing it up, being unreliable is nothing exciting, especially for a means of transport. Cult or not, bad engineering manifests in poor reliability.

The Amby making a long trip means a visit to the mechanic prior to the trip. The matador engine is reliable, but that is not OEM as I pointed out.

[theexperthand]

Originally Posted by roy_libran

If I can venture a question - Is all of your Amby reliability experience based on the Amby with the Matador engine?

On RE - I own a RE for the last decade and while I love it for it's cult status and looks, I advise all my dear friends to not even consider one of these when buying new. It's an engineering disaster!

70% from my own experience and 30% from the other Ambys in close circle (Matador, BMC, Isuzu etc). But - ALL of them have been well taken care of, and used to undergo preventive \ proactive maintenance.

I agree to the fact that Amby is not a reliable work horse just out of the pack - you do need to spend time to make sure that the car is in perfect order - akin to our REs and old Mahindra Jeeps.

I have had many bad experiences with shabbily maintained Ambys, so I am not equating them to the new generation cars.

What I am trying to say is, though the car have its fair share of niggles, I do not personally feel it is correct to label the car as a disgrace.

--Anoop

[mi2n]

I guess we should rather say that we were lucky that the Ambassadors and Padminis graced Indian roads at their prime. Given the road infrastructure we had as recently as upto the late 90's, the Amby's were not quite out of place. Blame HM for turning this legendary car into a "disgrace".
New Ambassadors are by no means better. They are far worse than what HM used to dish out 20 years ago. They are shabbily built and disrespectfully put together. I would say the Ambassadors currently rolling out of HM facilities are the real disgrace to the legacy of the Ambassador.

[avingodb]

One can notice that the rear bumper already has scratches!
Assuming this is a newly delivered vehicle, the company should have been more careful.
It showcases the shoddiness of the company/dealer's work standards.

[ashphil]

My Dad was a big made man and he learnt to drive in a Landmaster and owned quite a few ambassadors until he gave up driving at the age of 70. I learnt to drive in my dad's ambassador and got my license in 1973. I think that if one could drive an Ambassador one could drive anything including a Vijayanta tank! My first car given to me by my employers was an Ambassador and I taught my wife to drive on that Ambassador.
No doubt the Ambassador was a quirky vehicle. As long as you maintained it well it ran well. I have driven 'n' times to Bangalore and back with my family. I have also been to Kodai and Ooty too! No doubt one had to stop enroute on the mountains to cool off the car and change the water in the radiator but then that was part of the fun. So let's not call it a Disgrace. It remains an icon in the automobile history of India.
Regards,
Ashok

[jeeva]

Originally Posted by avira_tk

I don't remember that last time I opened the Fiesta's bonnet for anything other than refilling the windshield washer reservoir

Originally Posted by avira_tk

I don't see why anyone should buy this junk when there are so many options in the market.

Originally Posted by avira_tk

The car is a disgrace to this country, and probably one reason my dad is willing to try any new car, he knows the Amby is just praised by people who never had to put up with it.

Its not fair to term the amby a disgrace or whatsoever. Going by your logic of not bothering to pop up the bonnet of a relatively modern Fiesta once in a while to check on the well-being of its vitals and fluids says a lot about "your" kind of maintenance or the lack of it. No wonder the amby failed you.
Good luck with your cars. You need lots of it.

[Bigzero]

When it comes to Ambys I always remember my uncle's dark green amby which he used to keep in pristine condition . I think he purchased it in 1982 or 1983, and took extremely good care of it. We were all kids then, and I remember helping him out in cleaning and polishing the car - it used to take a good part of an afternoon .

I think he used it for a good 20 years or so. Very well maintained petrol engine, Not a squeak from anywhere, interiors and the exteriors spotless ( same coat of paint that still looked brand new - but perhaps gone very thin because of the zillion times it was polished with wax etc ) . The best part was the engine bay - I dont know how he managed it, but the engine bay always was extremely well maintained, and it was almost like peering into the engine bay of a car that had come out of a showroom recently.

He sold it off as he was getting old and couldnt give it the care it needed, and in any case he was traveling less and less. So finally he did manage to find a buyer . Unfortunately, being ever so self reliant, he didnt really ask around to find the right kind of buyer - eventually someone came over and bought the car.

He told me the story about that much later. Buyers coming in, their disbelief when they hear about the age of the car, and their disappointment when they learnt that ran on petrol.

finally he fixed a deal with someone, and the buyer paid and went. He sent a couple of people to pick up the car later ( not sure if he came himself ), and off they went with the car, my uncle watching the car disappear down the road with mixed emotions.

Around an hour or so later, he got a call from the buyer that the car has broken down. He was quite surprised because the car had never let him down. So he asked him what happened.

"Well it keeps on stalling, and its not starting up now." he said, his tone perhaps giving a hint that he has been handed over a car with hidden issues.

My uncle was quite surprised to hear this, and the first thing he did was to call his trusted mechanic of many years who had been with him on the journey of maintaining his car ( I had met him a few times, and he had very good things to say about the car himself - clearly a man who also loved this car ). Apparently he wasnt very far away ( all was happening in the same city ), and my uncle asked him to go and check what happened.

He got a call back from the Mechanic after some time.

"There is nothing wrong with the car," he said. My uncle's mood lifted.

"But then why is she misbehaving?" he asked him.

"Well, these idiots filled diesel instead of petrol" he said.

I didnt make this up - imagine selling off a perfectly maintained car to someone who could do this...

[avira_tk]

Originally Posted by jeeva

Its not fair to term the amby a disgrace or whatsoever. Going by your logic of not bothering to pop up the bonnet of a relatively modern Fiesta once in a while to check on the well-being of its vitals and fluids says a lot about "your" kind of maintenance or the lack of it. No wonder the amby failed you.
Good luck with your cars. You need lots of it.

Don't get so preachy about it, I got my license after we sold that junk. What exactly do you propose a car owner should do? Get trained to check the vitals. My Fiat doesn't require it and its a car that's considered not particularly reliable. I don't need luck with the car unless its a lemon in which case brand doesn't matter.
Your spirited defense ignores the fact that we have had an Amby, modern cars trump it in every way. While you are out defending it, is an Amby your daily ride? I had mentioned that nostalgia is usually the preserve of people without first hand experience.

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by avira_tk

Those eager to defend this car, please let me know when you had it as a primary vehicle at home, we had it as recently as 2003. The car is a disgrace to this country, and probably one reason my dad is willing to try any new car, he knows the Amby is just praised by people who never had to put up with it. I don't see why anyone should buy this junk when there are so many options in the market. Its high time safety regulations put an end to the production.

Originally Posted by avira_tk

Today's cars barely need that, I don't remember that last time I opened the Fiesta's bonnet for anything other than refilling the windshield washer reservoir. Proactive maintenance is not needed for any reliable machine, tomorrow if I wanted to drive to Goa, I am certain I don't need my car checked, an Amby will croak within 200km, experience makes me say that.

Matador engines by the way are reliable, but you know that isn't OEM. An Amby with its BMC will wear you out faster than travelling on a KSRTC ordinary.

Those are really strong words against an iconic vehicle and that too being a car lover.
We have had 3 stock (except fancy wooden dashboards) petrol ambassadors in our family over a period of 20 years and none of them ever stranded us on the road or had to make emergency visit to a mechanic. Maybe because my father maintained them well. In 1994 we did a 2500 Km trip in Rajasthan in a hired Amby (DL1CE 8845) and it was fabulous. So I don't understand your statement that the vehicle will croak within 200 kms. Maybe you have had a bad experience and made you biased against it or maybe you are a Fiat fan and deep down you hate the competition it gave to the Padmini and is still in production whereas the production of Padmini was stopped more than a decade back

[jeeva]

Originally Posted by avira_tk

Don't get so preachy about it, I got my license after we sold that junk. What exactly do you propose a car owner should do? Get trained to check the vitals. My Fiat doesn't require it and its a car that's considered not particularly reliable. I don't need luck with the car unless its a lemon in which case brand doesn't matter.
Your spirited defense ignores the fact that we have had an Amby, modern cars trump it in every way. While you are out defending it, is an Amby your daily ride? I had mentioned that nostalgia is usually the preserve of people without first hand experience.

First thing first. It pains to see such harsh words coming from an auto enthusiast (supposedly) on this forum.

I preach what I practice and I believe so do people who love their machines.
Well, one of the first things that I was taught during my driving classes, was to check the oil levels and water first thing in the morning before starting the car. Times have moved on, but its still imperative for a car owner to do these basic checks and look for anything not in place once in a while to avoid rude shocks on the road. These basic checks doesn't cost a thing and isn't rocket science either to get one trained on.

Since you've asked, we have had 3 Ambys at home until late 2007. The last one was a Nova, which was our daily ride. Before that a Mark3 and 4 with different engines at different point of times. And as of today, my daily ride is a 1997 vintage Tata Sierra Turbo, which has done close to 1.5 km and still going strong. FYI, my previous car was a Fiesta as well and on more than one occasions a customary peep into the engine bay has saved the day for me.

All machines require preventive maintenance. Maybe your Fiat is an exception. Peace.

[mallumowgli]

The current Amby is an outdated car - whether to call it a disgrace or be nostalgic about it is an individual's call!!

Now, the Ambassador as a brand is not a disgrace. The Mark 4 was a decent package. The flexible like rubber chassis was not the best driving companion (Above 80 kmph on undulating roads, I could feel the rear jumping around madly, when I was driving alone!!), but still it had its own strengths. Space, simple mechanicals, charm to name a few.

And who can forget the Isuzu 100bhp engine it later came with (de-tuned to 88bhp due to emission norms!!). This car could disgrace the Maruti zens and Maruti 1000s of that period in a straight line!!

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

The current Amby is an outdated car - whether to call it a disgrace or be nostalgic about it is an individual's call!! Now, the Ambassador as a brand is not a disgrace. The Mark 4 was a decent package. The flexible like rubber chassis was not the best driving companion (Above 80 kmph on undulating roads, I could feel the rear jumping around madly, when I was driving alone!!), but still it had its own strengths. Space, simple mechanicals, charm to name a few. And who can forget the Isuzu 100bhp engine it later came with (de-tuned to 88bhp due to emission norms!!). This car could disgrace the Maruti zens and Maruti 1000s of that period in a straight line!!

For a whole few generations of 'protectionist economy' Indians, the only car was the Ambassador.

It took us through thick and thin and was like a much loved though frequently ailing member of the family.

It would take the whole family and dog and an assortment of luggage, chugging slowly up the hills, wheezing a bit now and then but always getting there in the end.

It would take all of us kids to boarding school complete with our steel trunks and assortments, uncomplainingly.

A few generations of us learned our driving skills on the Amby.

Lets not denigrate it- many of us hav some great memories associated with that car.

Here is a small tribute to the Amby, in the form of some coasters which I have framed and displayed in the main guest room at home.

[Sanjeev911]

The new Amby is the one with a new BS4 engine developing 40 odd bhp. Two red ones were shipped to Nigeria as per information available on Overdrive. The Amby as I remember it was a comfortable car which was royal in a time of puny M800s & Premier Padminis & PAL 118NEs bar Hindustan's very own Contessa Classic. Once the Maruti 1000, Ford Escort, Daewoo Cielo, Mitsubishi Lancet & Opel Astra came into the market, the charm of the Amby in the common man's eyes reduced due to the new lines on the other cars available in the market. Maybe for a guy who grew learning to drive on a Plymouth Savoy, Ambassadors fitted with Jaya/Matador/Trekker/Isuzu engines, the charm from the Legend of the Ambassador will never die!

[av8er]

I dint want to jump the bandwagon to argue about it as I felt to each one his view. Since you kept asking 'is this your daily drive?' I thought I should step in and let you know YUP IT IS MY DAILY DRIVE. Have had ambys in our garage since 1987 and still there and the latest one bought in the year 2003 2000DSZ Grand still running strong everyday, day in day out clocking at about 140,000kms.

We have had numerous drives in it and still I prefer this car over our OTHER cars namely, Ford Figo, Ford Fiesta, Wagon R, Tata Indigo and the ever charming W123 200D. Every once in a while say about once a week I keep popping the hood of all my cars to check all the fluids and the belts and for any leaks etc...but now after reading your post I think I should skip it for all other cars except the amby since it looks like it is the only one which would break down.

Surprisingly last week after 10yrs the amby for the first time stopped dead on her tracks and after a short look around we figured the fuel had run dry as the float mechanism after JUST 10yrs gave up and was stuck at quarter tank.

Another surprise for you, after about 1year our fiesta had this weird problem when we were on a highway were the car just wouldnt accelerate, finally after driving for 3hrs to the service station which is usually done in about 1hr they found something wrong with the sensors.

I still do not conclude that the fiesta is a bad car nor that the amby is an awesome vehicle. All I am saying is that it is a machine, even though a lot of die hard motorists will disagree with me but end of the day it is one and every machine has its own problems.

The amby has never let us down (oops sorry after just 10yrs yes it did once), it is comfy, it has gobbled up a lot of luggage, you know the desis going to the phoren, IT IS THE CHEAPEST TO MAINTAIN of all my cars (big smile), it gives about 14-15KMPL in city and 18-19KMPL on highway with AC. It commands respect on the road and believe me on this, I have seen people not move when they see a figo or wagon R, but do take the Amby approaching very seriously. Sometimes you get away with free parking (big smile again).

To me the Amby is a legend, come a rainy day when I know the roads are clogged with water or when I know I am going to a place with bad roads without doubt the ambys keys will be missing from the key rack.

Cheers buddy :-)

Originally Posted by avira_tk

Don't get so preachy about it, I got my license after we sold that junk. What exactly do you propose a car owner should do? Get trained to check the vitals. My Fiat doesn't require it and its a car that's considered not particularly reliable. I don't need luck with the car unless its a lemon in which case brand doesn't matter.
Your spirited defense ignores the fact that we have had an Amby, modern cars trump it in every way. While you are out defending it, is an Amby your daily ride? I had mentioned that nostalgia is usually the preserve of people without first hand experience.

[jeeva]

Originally Posted by av8er

To me the Amby is a legend, come a rainy day when I know the roads are clogged with water or when I know I am going to a place with bad roads without doubt the ambys keys will be missing from the key rack.

Hey av8er, that's a neat garage you've got. The W123 and a 2000dsz.
Every other day, I'd park next to a neat black dsz at office. There have been days, I'd wait for the owner to turn up and ask if he is willing to let her go. Till date, I've not been able to meet him. Wish me luck