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Got lucky upgrading from a Figo diesel to a used Octavia vRS 230

1st August 2022, 16:04 by Dev Shah

My Figo was fun to drive, the peppy 1.5 diesel was exciting and the interior screamed quality (of course, for the price tag). I was happily living with my grey beauty.

BHPian rbk recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

A little bit of history for premise:

Cars. An emotion that we all share at Team BHP. I am no less an enthusiast. I was fortunate enough to have several cars at home as I grew up. To mention a few stalwarts from memory, there was a Maroon Contessa with the chrome bumper, a white Tata Sumo with the quintessential roof-mounted carrier, a Hyundai Accent GVS without ABS, a Wagon R Gen 2, an underpowered Hyundai Getz, a signature Green Gen 1 Ford Figo TDCi with surprisingly exciting speakers, a 3.0 TDCi Ford Endeavour Thunder+. All of these except the Figo and the Endeavour were more or less memories - as I was too young to drive.

But the first car that was daily driven and owned by me was a trusted Toyota Etios Cross. It still remains in our family clocking a solid 1.6+ lakh km on the ODO and going strong. When I passed the Etios on to my younger brother, I bought a grey Mahindra Thar CRDi. It was purely a go-by-the-heart kinda purchase - after I saw one climbing the snowy mountains on a trip to Himachal. But the bumpy ride, not so nice on the highway, inability to lock my belongings in the soft-top cabin and the almost never taking the car off-road made me realise it is time to part ways and go back to a sensible, affordable car. That is when I bought myself a Figo Blu Titanium TDCi. The car was fun to drive, the peppy 1.5 diesel was exciting and the interior screamed quality (of course, for the price tag). I was happily living with my dear Grey Figo.

Now for the twist in the tale:

One of my close friends drops a bombshell. He was off to vacation in the Maldives for a few days and he offers to leave his less than an year old glittering Black BMW 330i with me. He said I can keep it until he's back. That is a once in a lifetime kind of offer. Those few days changed everything! Though I have driven a few premium, powerful Germans before, this was my first prolonged experience with a proper, well built, performing, exciting car. The car gave me haunting memories, even after I gave it went back to its owner. I should say the Beemer has spoilt me for good.

A few months passed and I had to get a second, bigger car because long distance work travel demanded it. Of course, a BMW was a farfetched dream, considering both affordability and ability to maintain one. So I went ahead and bought myself the King of No Frills - a Toyota Innova Crysta GX Automatic (Diesel). It was the perfect work horse that I wanted. But, the ghost of the Beemer still haunted me.

I sold my Figo to my cousin, and was all over OLX to find that "Fun German" that I could buy which wouldn't burn a big hole in my pocket. A well maintained, low mileage used, German car is almost always a stretch on my budget. I gave up and decided I'll wait for an year or more before I can save up for a good car.

Now the fun part:

A flashback: It was on the afternoon of 6/2/2020 that I first saw this car, not just any Octavia vRS 230, but this car, the one the story is about. A random call from an old time school friend, telling me that he was in the vicinity with his vRS and if I wanted I could come check it out. In no time I pulled over by his office in my Figo, and I could see this Corrida Red beauty sitting on the side of the road, making a statement - doing absolutely nothing.

Man, I fell in love with the car that instance. I was gawking over it - front to back, side to side, floor to roof. He gave me a short spin in the car and I was simply blown away. The pops and bangs from the exhaust, the roar of the 2 litre TSI still stays fresh in my head.

I know what car guys feel when someone asks else wants to drive your car! Especially if you are not very familiar with the other person’s driving skills. Knowing this I never ask anyone if I could drive their car however tempting they are. But out of the blue my friend asks me if I want to get behind the wheel. As hesitant as I was, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse. A brief jaw dropping sprint was enough for me to fall head over heels.

I come back home and start searching “vRS 230” on OLX, and as any car guy would know - it is a rare commodity. In the meanwhile the vRS245 was launched in India, but the on-road-price was looming around 45 lakhs! How much ever I stretch the budget there is not a chance it would stretch to 45 at the time.

Back to real time: approximately a month back from when I am writing this post. This is the time when I had almost given up on buying a new car and promised myself to wait until I can afford one. Through the years I had watched every vRS video on YouTube and read every thread about the car on Team BHP (as any true enthusiast would). About 3 weeks back I again receive a call from my friend asking me if I want to come check out his gorgeous Merc 123. Towards the end of admiring the aesthetics of his well kept 123 he casually mentions that he MIGHT sell his vRS. Knowing my friend's cars to be as good as or even better than “showroom condition” I just couldn’t let this vRS slip away! I had convinced myself earlier that I am not going to buy a car now, but I knew if I pass on this chance, I may never sleep peacefully again.

I hurried back into my office and told the wife that I just need to figure out a way to buy this car. Cars like this don't come by every day, I told her! Convincing my wife that it was a vRS and not an every day "Octavia", hence the budget, was tricky. But one thing led to another and on the 30th of June 2022, the same car which now churns out an even heftier 309 herss-perrs (Donut Media reference) shares garage space with my Garnet Red Crysta.

And right before he handed over the keys to me, Anand says “I have never let anyone else randomly drive my vRS like I let you that day. I saw you gawking over it and went ‘well, wth’. Maybe it actually was destiny that you end up owning it”. And now I sleep peacefully.