[govindremesh]

Originally Posted by Vishnu Shaji

The car has been almost 20 years old and I do not wish to risk the chance of the timing belt snapping while driving around. All parts were sourced from Boodmo.

Thanks for sharing! Reading this thread brought a strong wave of nostalgia in me. The same color Alto VX 1.1 was our family car, also the car on which I learnt to drive. It was the first brand new car for my family. Purchased in April 2001 and moving with us as dad got transferred through Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and KL, we let her go in Kerala since parking and maintaining two cars was proving to be a hassle for my parents. The Alto bid bye in 2017, after serving us for 16 years.

The car had no problems and was always serviced at a MASS. Most of the part replacements were due to age, (clutch set spring failed when she was 14 years old, driveshafts started making weird noise) while some were service center scams, which I failed to recognize due to my naivety (steering rack replacement and suspension overhaul for a 8 year old car with 30K on ODO). .

Not a single part on the engine/gearbox was changed though, apart from the usual fluids, filter and the default "injector cleaning" every 3 years (not sure if the last one was required) The car had only clocked 45K in 16 years (ultra low running).

I strongly believe that it's this car that made me love driving, the performance difference being very apparent when I got my hands on an Alto LX.

I was already in the Netherlands when my parents sold the car, but they did click pictures before she left. Seeing her go was an emotional moment for all of us, as 16 years of fuss free ownership is not a small feat for a small car

Some photos before she left:

[Vishnu Shaji]

Originally Posted by govindremesh

Thanks for sharing! Reading this thread brought a strong wave of nostalgia in me. The same color Alto VX 1.1 was our family car, also the car on which I learnt to drive. It was the first brand new car for my family. Purchased in April 2001 and moving with us as dad got transferred through Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and KL, we let her go in Kerala since parking and maintaining two cars was proving to be a hassle for my parents.

Wow! That itself shows how much this car meant to your family.

[Vishnu Shaji]

Unfortunate Accident!

It was a fine morning and I was driving with my sister to Kanjiramkulam, Poovar to drop her off for the PSC exams. Two guys on a Honda Dio hit us on the front soon after an Auto in front of them braked suddenly to pick up a passenger. I saw the auto brake and this Dio guy appeared from nowhere in front of me giving me no chance to swerve before the impact. He was coming in a bit too fast and he didn't have a chance to brake and stay in his lane and hence he came into my lane.

Soon after the incident, my sister was panicked and I jumped out of the car to make sure the scooter rider was ok. They had minimal injuries but the scooter felt almost total loss to me. They didn't have insurance and they accepted that they didn't have brakes as well which made them jump into my lane. Luckily I was only doing 30-40kmph since we were almost there, almost I mean almost. It was just 500ms from the point of the accident. Fate