[Dr ST]

Dear Cefil,

Beautifully written. Amazing thought process applied to buying a legendary car. Wishing you many more miles with COCO. Keep posting.

Regards

[cefiljoseph]

Originally Posted by paras211

Wow, a fellow 9th gen enthusiast. I own one too , it's far from stock now, but I have owned it from new, mine is a manual though.

Omg, it's great to receive a reply from you. This is the same corolla featured in Horsepower Cartel and The Drivers Hub channel right? I could identify it from the engine bay itself. I remember watching your video on horsepower cartel while deciding to buy Coco and it definitely convinced me to do it. Truly remarkable what you have done with it and can't believe the crazy coincidence getting a reply from you. Small world.

Originally Posted by paras211

Please go to the madhuban Toyota in kurla , they are the best.

Will definitely check them out for the upcoming service. I hope they gave some loyalty discount/treatment and not just treat it like a random old car which Toyota doesn't do in general. It's not about paying some 5-10k extra but more about their attitude in going about these things that bother me.

Originally Posted by paras211

Spares for this gen have become considerably more expensive than what they used to be. Enjoy the car.

That's true, it's unlike Toyota but I can't really blame them since they need to make profit from manufacturing a low volume batch for such an old car and import it as well from what I understand. Nonetheless, yeah maintaining the car at the dealer is an expensive affair despite being a Toyota.

[cefiljoseph]

Breath of fresh air - giving Coco a much needed TLC at 180k

Coco crossed over 179k kms which was about 10k since I got her. This means it was time for an oil service and there was a laundry list of items that I planned to take care of in this service.

To do list

Change engine mounts
Get a bumper bracket to fix a previous hit on the number
Service window regulators and door locks
Clutch replacement
AC frame replacement
Center console lid repair
Brake fluid
Brake pads
Power steering fluid
180k service
Steering rack
Check fuel tank
Speaker trim replacement
Hub caps
Right Mirror
Remove glue from dashboard
Toyota monogram
Screw on the dashboard
OBD port not staying in place
Low beam lights upgrade
Light check
Suspension works
Windshield rock-chip
Bodywork

I was willing to do the basic service in Toyota even if there was some premium so the service records look clean and then do the other jobs at a competent garage. Since Toyota typically charges 4-5x prices for most things and I don't have a currency printer at home I had to resort to getting things fixed at an independent place without compromising on any quality be it in parts or labour.

I asked Toyota workshop in Thane (Lakozy) for an estimate for the basic service and they send me a quote about about 14k. Having a fortuner back in Kerala, I instantly realised its a jacked-up quote.

Even for uninitiated, it can be seen how they add some random cleaning and engine flushing to increase the price around 4-5k which if you put into perspective is a shocking 50 percent increase in the quote. Happily declined their service and decided to get it all done at a competent place.



Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, my initial plan was to give the car to Wagenwerkz by Jatin who had already worked on our W211 before and did a good job. Moreover, I think it's a good practice to give cars to someone working with germans since they are likely to be more skilled after working on cars with low tolerances. My logic was if they can work on a Mercedes well, they can surely work on an old Toyota.

In the meantime I also remembered about CRK automobiles run by aakashk8300 from BeemerBug_06's thread on his Corolla. (The story of 'The Silver Streak' and I : My 2005 Toyota Corolla 1.8 E)

I was following CRK automobiles on social media and coincidentally around the time, saw a post of a corolla they just worked on.

The worked looked decent and it inspired confidence in me to keep CRK as an option. I DMed them asking what was the bill they gave for the corolla they worked on in the post. Next day, Akash got and I connected on call and he explained to me the costs involved. The prices were reasonable and in-line with what I had gathered from my research.

On the same day, a Friday my father had a flight to Kerala so I decided I'll drop Coco at the shop as well. I called up Jatin from Wagenwerkz to see if he was available to take a look at the car but he told me he was busy and gave me a slot for Tuesday. However, I wanted to get the work done earlier if possible so that we could have the car back in the following weekend when my father and sister would come to our place in Thane. So, I checked with aakashk8300 to see if he was available that day to take a look at the car. Surprisingly it wasn't that crowded then for him and told I can come to his garage in Dadar once I dropped my father at the airport.

Having gained confidence and this fitting within my schedule, I along with my father decide to give it there only.

I dropped my dad at the airport and then reached CRK Automobiles after a bit of hunting on maps and some calls with aakashk8300 himself.



Once I reached, he patiently explained to be about each and every issue, tried to understand to what ambition I want to fix the car and spoke about cars in general too. We went for a test drive where he found some issues with the suspension, clutch and steering rack. Later I explained some of my niggles with the car like the inaccurate fuel gauge and showed him the list of issues I had with me.

Afterwards, he gave me a tour of the place and showed me some of the cars they were working on. A W115 and W126 caught my eye. There was also a E60 530d which is sort of a rare sight these days because of its reliability or the lack thereof.

aakashk8300 also showed me his two personal cars, both Mercs - one SLK 230K and the other one a W204 200K Pre-Facelift (Review: My pre-owned Mercedes C-Class (W204 C200K)). Both these cars are documented on team bhp and good reads so linking them as well. Being a huge Mercedes lover myself, I saw he had good taste in his rides as well and it assured me that Coco was in good hands. It is always a good sign for me when the garage owner has a tasteful German themselves, they are not just in this business for the money but also their passion which is something I value so much in a mechanic.

aakashk8300 told me that they would open the car the next day on Saturday to see the condition of the internals and then give a detailed estimate.

Afterwards, I took the train back to Dadar but I was still thinking about Coco and hoping she would get the best care out there.

aakashk8300 sent me picture of the internals and told me what parts would need to be replaced.



Clutch and Flywheel was in a bad condition. I was recommended to replace the clutch and polish the flywheel. For the clutch I was given an option for the OEM one and an imported aftermarket one. The difference was around 2k more for the OEM clutch and I decided to go with the OEM one. I also approved the estimate as well. Will share the total cost with breakdown at the end of the post.



Next issue to be attacked was the steering rack.



Upon inspection, there was play in the rack but it was within repairable limits. Decided to get it changed with new boots as well.

What surprised and shocked me was to see that there was an issue with the suspension as well. This is because I has changed the struts in front at a garage in Hiranandani called Chandrashekar auto garage. However, owing to poor workmanship, it was installed incorrectly and there was a gap in the suspension strut as aakashk8300 showed me.



Notice the gap in the strut which made it useless. Thanks to Chandrashekar for th e work, I am now forced to get it changed again in less than a year. It was truly disheartening to see my go-to mechanic in Hiranandani Estate doing such a job. Now, to some extend I understand that things can go wrong in such jobs but what was truly disgusting is that even after flagging this to Mr. Chandrashekar, he didn't take any responsibility or accountability for the same. This is now way to treat a customer and is the recipe to ruin a business. Not surprisingly, there was another Corolla owner there who came to report a similar issue with his suspension that was changed there. To say the least, it was truly an appalling experience. Anyways back to the present.



aakashk8300 informed me that a lot of child parts like link rods, bushes etc were torn or needed replacement which is again thanks to Wasan Utrust who conveniently hid this during the sale. Again, a truly horrible thing especially considering it's a renewed brand supported venture.

I had no other choice but to solve all this at one go and decided to get it all fixed. Gave the approval for all these works. Due to increasing Mumbai rains the work was getting delayed so I was told to expect the car back by the coming Friday which worked fine with me. I was also informed that some of the trims couldn't be sourced and we agreed to keep it collected and would solve it at one go sometime next year.

All the parts arrived on Wednesday. I decided to go see the work and give an advance as well.

All the component including the front subframe was out when I went to see on Wednesday but rest assured Coco was getting the care it deserved.



Always nice to see good parts.



aakashk8300's SLK was undergoing bodywork that day and we talked about the car and that's when I realised it was the same SLK that was featured here on team BHP. I and my friend, Arman also run a social media page @findwagen where he had featured this SLK as well. Truly a small world.

I was told that I'll get the car by Friday and only some fitting and testing was remaining by then. Next day was Eid and aakashk8300 forgot to account for this when he estimated the timeline. So he told me now the delivery will slip over to Saturday. It was an honest mistake and I myself make these time estimation issues often so I didn't complain or anything and told it was alright. After all, a rushed work won't be a good one. The only issue however was my father and sister reached on that Friday night and we didn't have a car on the next day. It was a minor inconvenience we could put up with.

aakashk8300 updated me with the progress and delivery at around 5 p.m. Unfortunately, I got a meeting scheduled for then and it was so important that I couldn't skip it. So, my father agreed to go collect the car. However, at noon, during the power window service, aakashk8300's texted me saying that the rear left window motor has gone kaput and it will need a replacement to function properly. My sister always used to make fun of me for not getting this fixed so I told to definitely get this fixed. This extend the delivery time by a few hours so we agreed to collect the car from aakashk8300's at his residence around 8:30 p.m. which gave me enough time to finish my meeting and collect Coco myself. The failed motor became a blessing in disguise hehe.

On my way aakashk8300's mentioned that the parking light was not working and this is something they missed to check . I told it was alright since I was going to take the delivery and decided to collect her.

Upon reaching, I saw coco in her entire glory reborn at CRK. I will let pictures do the talking here.




Got the missing hubcaps replaced too.



I took an extended test drive with aakashk8300's and noted there was a good difference. I ticked off the completed work on the notes app and took the delivery.



We shook hand and paid him the remaining amount.

On the way back home, I noticed that there was an alignment issue. Upon asking aakashk8300's, I was told that my tyres had uneven wear and they tried fixing it. The only solution to this would be a tyre change so hopefully it will get fixed in the upcoming tyre change.

On the whole, I was really happy with the work done by the team at CRK and the great service provided by aakashk8300's. Hoping to make it my go to place for Coco!!

In case anyone was wondering how much all of this costed attaching the breakdown below.




Those reading might find the total cost spend to be high considering it's almost as much as the car. However, I would like to point out that doing this preventative maintenance would keep her good for the next five years at-least and it's still far cheaper than buying a car that would give a similar experience today. Also did I mention I love Coco

Till then, I plan to use the car as much as possible before I go back to Kerala shortly and won't be seeing Coco for at least a year.

Planning to do some road trips which I'll write about in another post. I can't get enough of Coco

[cefiljoseph]

Road-trip time!!

We got Coco back from CRK on Saturday night. My sister and father were already at the apartment here in Thane for the weekend. I proposed to go for drive the next day in excitement to drive Coco after the service.

We decided to go to Nashik and started at around seven in the morning from Thane.

My dad took the car to see the difference after service and he noticed the changes. We got on the expressway and notice some difference in acceleration and gearshifts.

Since the brakes were brand new and the team at CRK did not get time to test it we decided to do it ourselves xd. I was told that for the next 100 kms or so I need to go easy on the car and the breaks because a lot of components were new and would take some time to 'break in'. Keeping that in mind, we drove her sedately past some beautiful scenery in the monsoon.



On the way to Igatpuri





At around 8:00 we started talking about breakfast and saw a Mc'Donald's sign stating there's one coming up. So we decided to stop there and have breakfast. it was one of those clean foodcourts on the express way.









After some good breakfast burgers, dosa and coffee we set for Igatpuri.

We got a full tank right after starting again to check the mileage since we were so curious to know the post service change especially after changing the clutch.

During the drive, saw a lot of cars stopping at one place so we decide to pull over to see the view as well. However, it wasn't an exceptional view to our surprise. Can't complain since it gave a chance to see our beautiful Coco



On the way to Igatpuri, our initial plan was to see the Myanmar gate and Vipasana centre but we realised that we had more time at hand. Meanwhile we also a signboard showing the distance to Nashik and realised we could make it to Nashik for lunch. Hence, decided to extend the road-trip to Nashik and go to Sula Vineyards.

The roads were really nice and the scenery was lush with the monsoons going on. It was such a perfect condition to drive. Ocassioanly the rains would stop and the sun would glimmer through the cloudy skies. We continued cruising happily to in excitement for Sula.





At around 12:30 p.m, we arrived at Sula. Paid the cover charges of 1000 per head and got in. They gave us coupons of 200s for the over charge we paid.



We were going for the first time to Sula and was pleasantly surprised to see how well kept and organised the vineyard and the wine tourism industry were. My father and sister posed for photos with the large bottles of Sula wine bottles.





Then we went to counter to get tickets for wine tasting and tour of the facility.



I and my father got the tickets for wine tasting and tour. It was 600 per person. My sister unfortunately couldn't join the wine tasting since she wasn't 21 yet. So, got her the ticket for just the winery tour which was 200 per person. We gave the equivalent coupons and got the tickets.

The tour started with the video of their founder who explained how he started Sula post returning from US in the land owned by his family. He explained his struggle in starting Sula and thereby the wine tourism industry in India. By the virtue of this, Sula had many first to its name from starting the first wine tasting tour in India to making the wines itself. Seeing the current stock price and vineyard itself, it has surely been a great business so far. Being a finance nerd can't help but wonder these things even during a winery tour

Back to the tour, a woman started the tour after we finished watching this video and took us to their barrel room. She was really professional and asked for our preferred language and stuff. This adherence to an international standard is one reason for sure why Sula has been able to achieve success in this industry despite charing a relatively high price considering the earning and discretionary spending power of the average Indian even in urban areas like Mumbai.

We were first taken to a room with cylinder tanks where the fermentation of the wines happened. The temperature was crucial in wine making so the room was cold which is always welcome in the humid monsoon climate.



The capacity of these tanks ranged from an impressive five thousand litres to an astonishing two lakh litres.

It fun to chill (pun intended) around in this and then we went to the barrel room where some wines were kept for ageing.



Our wine connoisseur explained us why this aging was done and what kind of wines were aged. Sula even sold their used barrels to the visitors for around 6500. It actually makes for a pretty cool coffee table I must say.

However, I couldn't help but wonder if Sula really had the infrastructure to produce so much wine to meet the demand in that facility.

After this, the wine tasting followed which was not surprisingly the best part of the tour. My sister had to step out of the tour as we proceeded into the tasting room. She hung around in the souvenir shop and my father and I went for the tasting. I personally never liked having wines but the tasting made me realise that it's because I have never had good wines before.



A wine connoisseur came and explained us how to taste the wines and what wines were suitable for each occasion and meal. I personally liked the first wine which was brut tropical. It was a sparkling white wine and had a sweet taste. The wines that followed were less and less nice for my taste. In fact, I couldn't have the fifth wine for it was too bitter and poured it into the bucket they kept on each table. Our connoisseur also explained us which parts of the tongue to use while tasting each wine and how and when to swirl the wines. One good learning I had was to hold the glass at it's stem and not the base like seen in moves
The reasoning behind this was the wines temperature shouldn't be impacted by the warmness of our hands.

The wines we tasted in that order from left to right



After the wine tasting we went to have lunch at their restaurant where we ordered pesto pasta, biriyani and roti with mutton curry. The food was really nice and in line with the Sula standard. Overall we were impressed with the experience.



Before leaving Sula, we bought some wine bottles since a friend asked my father to and bought a pint bottle of the brut tropical wine we liked from the tasting.

On the whole Sula was a great experience and we loved the visit. However, I would say staying in Sula might be redundant for most people unless they are such wine nerds or something. I expected that we would need to be spending more time there to see everything but in 3-4 hours we saw pretty much everything there except the DIY wine making which we couldn't figure out.

I think at around 3:30 we were done at Sula and left back for Thane. We wanted to check our the Myanmar gate on the way back but the maps showed that it would be closed by 5 which is when we would have reached. Nonetheless we decided to see it since it was a small detour on the way back.

On the way back it was pouring continuously but not harshly. It was a really enjoyable drive except for minor roadblocks and once in a while mostly because some truckers messed up.

Continuing our journey slowly and steadily, we finally reached the Myanmar gate right after five when it was just closed oops. Ironically the gates for the Myanmar gate was closed. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise since we got to see the place peacefully and it didn't stop us from getting a picture hehe.



Also how can I leave a place without clicking Coco there.



As an added bonus, we saw a waterfalls behind the Myanmar gate and decided to drive there and explore it. It was truly an amazing place and a sight to behold. The slight rains added to the experience as well.



After enjoying the view for some time and taking pictures, we left back to Thane only stopping for coffee in between at a place called Orange still in the ghat roads.

Still enjoying the drive, we were mentally preparing ourselves for the heavy traffic to be faced in Thane from Korum mall. However, to our surprise the traffic jam started way earlier and we were stuck in it for a good one hour. It's a good way of being welcomed back into the city I guess. My left foot will hate me when I'm old from pressing hard on the clutch in these jams but for the time being manuals rock haha.

We reached home at Hiranandani Estate around 9:30 p.m. ending our road-trip. Truly a memorable day and Coco never fails to impress no matter what you throw at it all these years later. I am planning to go on another road-trip with friends hopefully in Coco but one of us don't know how to drive a manual car. So, I have made a deal with her that I'll teach her how to drive a manual before the road trip and if she's confident we will take Coco otherwise will take the lame automatic (just kidding, objectively the current day automatics are way better and safer but I just want to take Coco because it's cool to take an older car).

The next day morning dropped my sister straight to her college in south Bombay and got to enjoy Coco further.

On the way back, stopped to refuel Coco which gave me a chance to check the mileage after the major service using tankful method.

For the uninitiated, this is done by getting a full tank then reset the trip meters to zero. So, the next time you fill the tank entirely, can get the exact mileage by diving the total distance in the trip meter by the exact litres needed for the full tank.



Here, it can be seen that we travelled 340.8 kms after getting a full tank. Now, we need to check how many litres are required to get a full tank currently.



As you can see here, it was 23.78 litres, excuse for the picture quality since it's a zoomed image.

To get the exact mileage we divide the Total distance travel post getting a full tank by the numbers of litres required to fill the tank now.

The math works out to be 340.8/23.78 ~ 14.3 which is not bad for an 18 years car with a relatively large 1.8 litre dinosaur engine. This was a stark improvement from the usual 8-10 kmpl we got which except for the one time we got around 11 kmpl and became elated hehe. All thanks to Aakash8300 and his team at CRK Automobiles doing a great job with the 180k service and giving Coco the care she deserves. The ninth gen corolla is truly on the best all-rounder cars that can be bought today. It's got everything covered - decent power, handling, ground clearance, economy, comfort, you name it. I'm really grateful for having her and can't wait for more occasions to take Coco around

I hope you enjoyed reading this and thanks you for taking out your time for the same!! Wishing everyone a wonderful motoring experience.

[Ashtoncastelino]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this well detailed maintenance and also the travelogue. I truly admire Coco and she looks in a great shape for a 18 year old Beauty ! You've also gotten a good Fuel efficiency for a thirsty 1.8L engine. That 180k service aided well.

Glad you approached a good workshop that showed you all the poor workmanship of the previous place you serviced , I know it's unfortunate but it's better to move on and enjoy the drives with Coco. I'm glad you got all the parts replaced as preventive maintenance as it plays a crucial role in such old cars. The saying "why fix it if it's not broken " has terms and conditions and preventive maintenance is an exception. I'm sure Coco must be in the top most shape now.

Wishing you many more smiles as you munch miles

Regards
Ashton Castelino

[cefiljoseph]

Originally Posted by Ashtoncastelino

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this well detailed maintenance and also the travelogue. I truly admire Coco and she looks in a great shape for a 18 year old Beauty ! You've also gotten a good Fuel efficiency for a thirsty 1.8L engine. That 180k service aided well.

Hi Ashton, thank you for your kind words, I try to keep Coco in the best shape with the little I have. While I am happy with the progress, there's still a lot more I can and want to do to get her to the former glory of 2005. Getting there one part at a time.

Originally Posted by Ashtoncastelino

Glad you approached a good workshop that showed you all the poor workmanship of the previous place you serviced , I know it's unfortunate but it's better to move on and enjoy the drives with Coco. I'm glad you got all the parts replaced as preventive maintenance as it plays a crucial role in such old cars. The saying "why fix it if it's not broken " has terms and conditions and preventive maintenance is an exception. I'm sure Coco must be in the top most shape now.

I absolutely agree with you Ashton, people or cars or business or whatever, it's always better to fix things preventatively than wait for it to break. Many people I have seen are penny wise but pound foolish when it comes to their vehicle maintenance(often reflected in other aspects of their life as well) which is something that needs to be unlearned as a society. Sometimes, this stems from lack of resources but again that points out to an uninformed car purchase decision by going beyond the means. Like I shared in the checklist at the end, there are still some things to be taken care of. The most pressing one is to change the tyres. While the tyres do have threads left, the issue is that it has gone hard being 2013 tyres. Since, it is a safety risk and is currently causing increased wear on the new suspensions, I'll have to get it changed at the earliest. Folks at Team BHP, Thane WhatsApp group unanimously recommended Diwan auto which is a franchise at Thane to get it done. Grateful to BeemerBug_06 and his uncle for pointing this out to me. In fact, I think, the previous suspensions I put a year back went kaput so soon because of me driving with old tyres for 10k kms with it. Anyways, I'm taking it as a learning albeit an expensive one .

Regardless, of this, the lack of responsibility and washing off his hands by Mr. Chandrshekar who did this job is something I still cannot condone.

Once again thank you for your wishes and kind words. May you have happy days and roads ahead

[cefiljoseph]

It's been in a good 6 months since I saw Coco. My father once drove it in between and told me there's a scary sound coming from the front. My sister like any sibling exaggerated this and made it sound like Coco's nearing her end. Post this sound, my family has been unanimously forcing me to sell Coco especially since we have three other cars at home. However, being at Mohali for college and at Kerala during breaks, I had no idea of what was happening in reality and was worried for Coco.

All I had seen was a picture of Coco lying there dusty with the battery drained out. The tyres also weren't holding air and my dad filled the air with the portable inflator he carried. Yet, due to his hectic schedule he could not jump start the battery and had to leave Coco there as is.



Last week in college, we had a relatively chill week for the first time since the course started. That week we were supposed to get customer interviews done for an entrepreneurial course we were doing. Our group was doing a project on using augmented reality to navigate monuments and places of historical significance. Taking this as an opportunity I and my teammate, Rajat who is also my close friend decided (more like me convinced him) to go to Mumbai for our week and do research as well as check on Coco.

This was an impromptu trip that we decided on Sunday and we booked a Tatkal train ticket to Mumbai immediately. Our train was at 2 A.M on Monday morning and we left from Chandigarh in excitement to see Mumbai and Coco.

[cefiljoseph]

First thing we did after reaching the apartment was to check on Coco. As it turns out the battery was completely drained out that even the lights weren't turning on in the gauge cluster.

First thing in the morning, got someone to jump start Coco and being the trusty old corolla it is, started in no time. I was told to drive it for at least 30 mins to charge the battery. Drove it around in Hiranandani and left it for a while with engine turned on to get it upto charge.

I too did notice that there was a vibrating sound coming especially when idling and accelerating and figured out that it was related to the engine mounts. This was weird because I had replaced the engine mounts only in June this year. Got an appointment with Akash of CRK automobiles to take Coco for a follow-up on the service done and to get this sound checked.

We filled air, renewed the pollution certificate and drove to CRK. They too immediately diagnosed the issue and told me it's covered by their warranty. I also got a fresh set of number plates since the front one was broken with a minor incident with a scooter.

Next day, got Coco back with the vibration fixed and new plates. Coco drove just as fine.

[cefiljoseph]

Once we got Coco back, the first thing we wanted to change were the tyres which were long overdue since the current set was over 11 years old.

Contacted Diwan auto for the tyres who recommended us to get basic CEATs since the car didn't see much running. The tyres costed around 5.8k per piece and they also charged another 2k for alignment, balancing and new valves. I found them to be expensive. That said, the service was great.

Got new tyres and we were all set for Aurangabad.

[cefiljoseph]

We planned the road trip to Aurangabad to explore Ajanta Ellora caves to do more research for our project and to talk to different stakeholders like tour guides and operators to explore the domain better.

Started our road trip after lunch and initially we saw a lot of traffic on the way which was quite irritating. Eventually, the roads started getting better and more open. As a cherry on top, we also got to drive on the newly opened Samrudhi Mahamarg where both us and Coco got a chance to stretch our legs and enjoy some spirited driving to compensate for all these months of idleness.



For the evening, we had booked our stay at Hostel Aurangabad to give ourselves a chance to interact with fellow travellers. It was a comfy, lively and economical place to stay especially for students like us. Would highly recommend everyone to check it out.

[cefiljoseph]

On our first day at Aurangabad, we decided to explore the famous Ajanta caves. It was about 2 hours(98km) from Zostel. We left at 8 in the morning. I and Rajat had an online class at 8:30 to attend for the same course we were doing this project for. Saravana drove and we attended the class from car.

Upon reaching the caves, we were surrounded by salesmen who were borderline harassing us to buy books and souvenirs from them. There were also pushy restaurant owners calling us to have breakfast at their place saying that there is no place ahead (which we knew and later saw was a lie - there is a better restaurant by MTDC before the caves) Being hungry by then, we had our breakfast at one of the stalls and continued with our trek into the caves.

Ajanta comprises of 29 caves out of which some caves have paintings inside them. Every cave also had an information board in front explaining the specifics about that caves. Each cave were special with their intricate paintings and sculptures. It is fascinating to think how these sculptures were created around 2000 years back.









There were also multiple viewpoints to see the caves and it was a sight to behold.



Around lunch time, owing to the scorching heat we gave up on exploring the caves and decided to get lunch from the MTDC restaurant. We had their delicious food and continued on our way back to Zostel.

[cefiljoseph]

On our second day at Aurangabad, we started of by going for a Darshan at the Grishnewshwar temple. The temple was crowded and had long queues owing to Maha Shivratri. We left mid-way from the queue and continued our visit to Ellora.



To our pleasant surprise Ellora was even more spectacular than Ajanta. Having entire temples build with such attention to detail and craftsmanship was something we couldn't imagine for such an old cave. We only had time to explore one of the caves in detail.







Post exploring the caves, we left for Mumbai, taking a detour to stop at Sula, Nashik.



On our way back, we also took a break on the McDonalds along the highway for coffee and got some good pictures with Coco.



Trusting a twenty year old car to do a roadtrip is something most people won't do. However, being a trusty old Corolla, Coco is always ready for an adventure, covering about a thousand kilometres on the entire trip without breaking a sweat and more importantly keeping up and in most cases beating out the traffic

[cefiljoseph]

It’s been about six months since I last drove Coco. While I was away, my father occasionally used the car in Mumbai. However, for the past two months, Coco has been lying idle in our parking space. Meanwhile, I’ve been itching to take her out for a spin.

I completed my program at Plaksha in July and came back home, where I’m currently doing a remote internship. This situation—Coco sitting unused in Mumbai and my longing to drive—meant only one thing: drive Coco home

So, here we go: another Mumbai-to-Thrissur run filled with scenic routes, adventures, food, friends, and paying a portion of the car's value in petrol—the things we do for love.

[cefiljoseph]

Coco's engine bay is more spacious than the average apartment in Mumbai, and the rats have certainly made the most of it in these past two months. Thankfully, rats can only do so much damage to a simple Corolla—unlike some of our German friends. They did manage to nibble off a part of the windshield washer fluid cap and left a few scratches here and there, but nothing that could stop a trusty old 'Rolla.



As reliable as the Corolla is, it can’t defy the laws of physics, and the battery inevitably drained during its downtime. Luckily, I'm no stranger to a dead battery—I immediately called the usual jump-start guy, who arrived in five minutes flat, just like everything else in Mumbai.

He connected his battery with jumper cables and crocodile clips, and Coco roared back to life on the first crank. No big deal—after all, it’s an electrically simple car that doesn’t even have remote locking.



I took Coco for a 30-minute spin around the block to recharge the battery and watch for any potential issues that might derail the road trip. A few problems popped up—a couple of rattles, rear parking lights not working, and a loose bumper. Sorted these at the friendly neighbourhood garage for just a couple of hundred bucks. The parking lights, surprisingly, were only 30 rupees each. Bet your Adaptive cornering Matrix LEDs with lasers lights and video projection can’t do that

[cefiljoseph]

Having not used Coco for about two months, I thought it was prudent to drive the Corolla around in Mumbai before heading home. Plus, I had a few friends to meet there and some work to do during the week. I drove over 500 km in Mumbai, and it ran more or less fine—there was the occasional funny behavior from the brake booster and the power steering pump, but I was too enthusiastic and happy to care enough - Ignorance is bliss

I knew if I took her to a Toyota dealer, they would tell me about the umpteen things that are wrong with it—we don't want such negativity in life. After all, I'm just driving a twenty-year-old car halfway across the country. What could go wrong, right