How an HR-registered Skoda Laura found its new home in Kochi

We flew to Delhi, picked up the car, and drove it to Kochi. The 2750 km road trip was a piece of cake for the Laura.

BHPian Bibendum90949 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

The Story of HR 26 to KL 07

Since the time I've started lurking on Team-BHP and long before I became a member, Behemoth is a handle that I've come across many times. More so after I bought a Laura MT in 2011. But never in my mind, I thought we would meet one day and buy his beloved car for my close friend.

For the benefit of members reading this, let me write how Behemoth's HR registered car ended up with my friend in Kochi.

It was a few months ago that I pinged him the first time and ever since we used to chat a bit about Laura. One day he happened to indicate that his car is nearing the 10-year mark and owing to the NCR diesel ban, he will have to sell it. Knowing how well he has maintained the car, I was interested and recommended it to a close friend who has been planning to buy a German car for some time and he was very specific on Laura. But there was a little twist to the tale on two counts. Behemoth's family member outside NCR got keen on his car and he was gearing up to sell the car to him. But later the buyer changed his mind and wanted to buy a new car. This car was up for grabs again. In the interim, my friend ended up picking a VW Jetta TDI DSG. Even then, his dream of having a Laura has not quite died. I had opened a thread regarding this on his behalf.

Over a couple of WhatsApp chats with Behemoth, the price was agreed upon and my friend paid an advance immediately. He earlier had shared a few images of the car and my friend gave the free hand to me to do the decision making. We would've still bought the car even without seeing the car's picture. Eventually, we flew down to Delhi and picked up the car and drove down to Kochi.

The car I must say has been immaculately maintained. After having driven my Laura MT TDI for 190k kms, I almost know the car and its behaviour like the back of my hands. Behemoth's car drove like a charm. There are zero rattles or squeaks. He was kind enough to do a thorough check of the car before handing it over to us. He also got the wheel balancing and alignment job carried out at his preferred Bosch FNG and kept the car ready. It helped us to save half a day too after I'd missed my flight from Bangalore earlier in the day. My friend arrived from Kochi separately the same day morning. We later reached Behemoth's home and then drove to Bosch garage in his Jeep Compass. After picking up the car, we came back and had lunch at his home before we bid adieu. We could sense that he was parting it with a heavy heart but at the same time he took consolation from the fact it's going to be in another home that will take good care of his beloved car.

VAG TDI is a gem of an engine on many counts and its frugality is well documented. And as we know, the best Skodas we got here in India were during that period long before the word localisation caught the fancy of the VAG group. IIRC, the Laura's were CKD units and it shows in the build quality and the cars of that vintage still feel tight and almost new. We drove the car at a steady pace of 100 kmph thereabouts and as expected it returned 25-26 kmpl and at times more, so much so that with a full tank fill at Hyderabad, we managed to reach Kochi with still a quarter tank diesel left. I'll post some of the MID snaps for reference. The actual FE must be 0.75-1 kmpl less than MID figures. A couple of tankful to tankful calculations too showed 25 kmpl consistently. We were sedately driving all through the journey and well within legal speed limits. With me driving a larger part of the journey and the car handling well and feeling so nice and tight, I was firming up my mind to do a complete suspension overhaul on my Laura as soon as I reach Bangalore. The same was kept in abeyance since the onset of the pandemic. This drive made my love even deeper for Laura. These are such brilliant and timeless cars and with the right care and attention can serve you well for years. They can still give modern cars a run for their money. The whole trip was uneventful with His grace and the car just lived up to the expectations. It seemed like just another drive for the car. The 2750 kms trip was like a piece of cake for it. We didn't feel any sort of fatigue though we drove only during the day and was covering 600-700 kms a day. Towards the end of the journey, my friend who's not very keen on driving was not leaving the driver's seat at all. I knew by then that he has totally fallen for it. A non-enthusiastic driver has turned into one during the course of the journey. After reaching my home in Bangalore, I made him drive my Laura too. He has driven it before too but this was a back to back drive. And he couldn't feel any difference with my 190k run car vs the 85k run car of his except for the deterioration in suspension performance. His impression of these cars has grown further since then and today he's a happy Laura owner and he plans to spruce up the ride with some thoughtful upgrades.

Few pictures clicked during the journey and also the car with KL07 regn plate.

At the India Gate which the car will never see again.

A quick shower en route.

At a hotel in Gurgaon.

In Agra.

Somewhere in MP.

MID showing the FE at various stages of the journey. At one point it even returned 33 kmpl, I wasn't surprised one bit.

My car and Behemoth's car together at my Blore home. They may have crossed their paths before at Aurangabad factory as both cars are of similar vintage.

Finally at her new home with the new regn plate.

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