Its been a while that I was thinking of re-organizing my hobbies and interests. Obviously this website is primarily focused on travel, food and photos, however I think its a good idea to also talk a bit about my car ownership experiences given my interests in the automotive world.
Besides all of those, I also have deep interests in news, geo politics, flight monitoring [planning to build an ADS-B tracker soon!], technology stuff, documentaries, list goes on.
Back to automotive world around us: I am an active member of the well known Team-bhp community. If you haven’t checked it out, have a look at the wonderful community of enthusiasts.
Lets talk cars.
Mahindra Jeep CL 500 MDI
This is not my car, but my family owns it back in Kerala. My father is the primary user and it does all the farm and home duties. Bought new in Feb 2000, this car has been tremendously reliable and equally capable all these years. Needless to say, its a 4×4. This was my platform for all my early years of driving. I basically learnt driving it around.
I have no clue of the number of kilometers it has run by now. It’s a simple machine, built for abuse and can handle almost any type of terrain. No power steering, no AC, no non-sense at its best.
Maruti Suzuki Wagon R 1.1
First car I bought in India my own money. This is what I use when I am in India. 2008 make, nearing 80k kms now. I bought it as used car back in 2017 as I needed something to drive around during my vacation times in India.
Now this baby has become 15 years old, It recently went through a mild refresh. Got the papers ready for another 5 years. When it comes to easy on maintenance and cheap to run – these are some of the unbeatable players. When I was looking up for a car, I deliberately picked up this 1.1 version of wagon R which has a 4 cylinder engine as opposed to newer 3 pot ones. Does it bring a smile when ever I drive it? Oh yes!
Renault Twingo
My first car in Netherlands. 2000 make, bought it in 2012 with ~150k Kms. It was more of an experiment to even check whether I could drive comfortably in EU roads as I was that doubtful.
It did not take long to get used to new ways of driving and I was very happy to have a car. I was also presently surprised on how good this small, funky but spacious car is.
Almost no troubles except a battery change and a starter motor replacement. Used it for ~3 years and about 25k Kms. I guess some day, I might buy another one!
Trips done with Twingo: Several of the early trips within Netherlands and then Dinant and Namur , Belgium
VW Golf 1.0 hatchback – 2015 to 2016
After a job change in 2015, I opted for an office lease car as job involved a fair amount of travel. It lasted for about a year after that lease company wanted the car back for some reason. This was my first ‘German’ car.
For me, the whole point was that Golf has sort of reached its optimum perfection by all possible means. Controls are where you would expect them to be. Good seating, all the safety kits, does not stand out if that is what you are looking for.
Opel Astra – Late 2016 to Early 2017
After lease company wanted to take away the Golf, they replaced it with another short lease which was a brand new Opel Astra that lasted a few months as I was then eligible for my long lease.
Trips done with Astra: Black Forest, Germany
After a few months, I moved on to one of the best cars I ever had.
Volvo V40 Cross country D2 – Early 2017 to late 2019
Picked this long lease car after a lot of research and test drives. Drove it for 3 years and 100k kms! What a car it was!
We toured from Italy to Norway and Paris to Berlin and all in between, loved every moment of driving it.
Volvos will remain in my heart. They are amazing cars with one of best seats in business combined with very high build quality and safety features [obviously].
Trips done with Volvo V40: Norway, Black Forest, Several Paris trips.
After 3 years and 100k kms with Volvo, I moved away from office lease program and bought my second private car after Twingo.
Golf Estate 1.6 Bluemotion TDI 2019 to 2023
This was a 2015 make, used Golf Estate 1.6 Bluemotion TDI. It was 100k run, but was almost like brand-new in and out. Got it from a dealer where I also exchanged my Twingo. Car came with 3 months of warranty.
Main reason for an estate [or combi] car was that by this time our family had grown and we needed more room inside the car to be able to carry everything thats needed around. Fantastic car, everything felt home very soon. This Golf did the most number of long tours so far. We saw newer countries, our baby grew up in this car – tons of memories to carry on.
However, water pump and timing belt replacements besides regular maintenance meant that it was not particularly cheap to maintain overall.
Covid times in-between meant that the amount of travel drastically reduced. If I am in search of an estate, Golf would still be on my list. Golf did around 65k kms by the time we moved on.
Trips done with Golf: Italian Alps, Stelvio Pass and Milan, Czech Republic [Prague], Croatia and Austria
Lexus NX300h Feb 2023 – Present
Towards end of 2022, A few things changed.
Kid started with her school – that meant driving within the city limits to her school every day with several traffic lights in between. That also meant that I had more traffic jams to face as I further drive to office as I could not leave early anymore.
The travel for work never picked up to the pace that existed before Covid. Relatively lower run was not really justifying the higher taxes and insurance to be paid for Diesels. For reference, The road tax amount needed for Golf now more or less pays road tax + full coverage insurance for my Lexus.
Besides, Diesels were getting stricter restrictions all across Europe. Several cities do not allow older diesels anymore in their city centers. Though I thought I would never be an ‘automatic’ person, having a few days driving with friends automatic cars clearly initiated some second thoughts especially given the more frequent city driving. I could have still driven the Golf at least for few more years, but I also had a growing wish to move towards something like a cross-over or SUV sooner than later. After a lot of research, picked up this beast from the nearby Toyota showroom.
This Lexus NX300H is a 2016, AWD and original NL car that came with 176k kms. Despite the age and high milage, the car was like brand new inside out. Post some 22k kms as of Oct 2023 and my longest, 5700+ kms solo drive [EU to Africa], I must say that this is one extremely comfortable car to drive supplemented by butter smooth eCVT. The 2.5l Engine makes it easy to cruise, never felt like its getting anywhere closer to running out of breath. Very silent ride supplemented by even more silent cabin. Seats are at same league as that of Volvo’s.
Trips done with Lexus [So far]:
To be continued!