Delivery:
This
was my fourth car in last 8 years and for some reason I still remember the
exact dates when we bought them, this somehow reminded me of my dad’s words
that he used to say while we spent his hard earned money on stuff which wasn’t
required (as per him) – he would always say “The day you start earning, then
only you will understand the value of money”. Fortunately he was right beside
me while we took the delivery and you can see him below in the delivery picture
taking the car keys proudly. That theory indeed made sense now, as I guess I
will never be able to forget those dates of our prized acquisitions. The D day
was April 3rd 2013, went in after lunch to take the delivery as
showroom was at a stones through from our place – those were the longest 4
hours of my life as it took that much time to do all the remaining paper work,
final wash and polish after the car came out of their yard from Bhiwandi
(Around 40 km from showroom) with odometer reading 48. As the SE promised some
goodies at the time of delivery, we got a set of pen (Blue and Red) neatly
wrapped in a box with a perfume bottle which was fixed right in front of the
gear lever cubicle. Checked in the rest of the stuff like spare wheel, tool
kit, service / user manual and other usual things, everything was in right
order. Maruti (Shivam Motors) even offered to do a pooja before letting us off
with the car – that was a surprising move from them and since dad n mom were
with us – he did the formal quick pooja and made that mark on the hood as
visible in the picture below.
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| From left - Dad, Mom, Wifey with kiddo, My best buddy Vikram and me on extreme right |
Finance: I already had a preapproved loan of around 9+ lacs from HDFC bank but
as I read on lot of forums about the advantage of taking a loan from a
nationalized bank – wanted to try that. Hence approached State Bank of India
with no hopes because as far as my understanding went – they have a different
set of rules and are way too particular about whom they give loans too but
there was no harm in trying. Showroom finance guy took all the documents and
sent them across to the bank for approval. The very next day I got a call from
the local branch for verification; an officer visited our home and took all the
details. Next day they asked me for a copy of bank statement for the last one
year, sent them a scanned copy and to my amazement the very next day I got an
approval mail from them with a condition that we disburse the loan within 45
days or something – since the car had already arrived – we did that in next
couple of days and everything went very smooth to my shock and amazement. The
rate of interest that they offered with early repayment option was way too good
– SBI wasn’t charging us anything if in case we planned to pay off the whole or
part loan in big chunks – that was awesome. They even offered us the lowest EMI
compared to their private counterparts. They even sent the loan amount to
Showroom guys via online transfer and the best part was that – I hadn’t visited
the branch yet – not even once. Although the lady who was taking care of my
loan did tell me that once I get the registration done – we will be required to
make a visit to the branch in person with the car and they will take a copy of
everything that is registration card, insurance and invoice etc, which we
obliged once we got it from RTO. This was indeed my first fantastic experience
with a nationalized bank and I will highly recommend it to anyone looking for a
car loan in future.
First
Drive:
The
child in me was craving to go for a long long drive since the moment we got the
car delivered – I was even ready to go to buy vegetables to the nearby vendor
at the drop of a hat – as long as I was getting to drive the car. I even prayed
that my kiddo missed the school bus very next day so I could get to drive her
to school – imagine I was that desperate to drive and the opportunity knocked
right on my door. IPL season was on and my best friend called and declared that
he had 9 tickets for a particular match but the catch was that the tickets were
for a match to be played at newly made Subroto Roy Sahara Stadium on the
outskirts of Pune. If you live in this part of our country then I am sure you
know that the best road to drive a car or rather test is the Mumbai Pune
Expressway and that’s what I was dying to do. So the plan was to pick up my
friend and his kid from Powai with a couple of friends and I delightedly
offered that my car should be taken since we all can accommodate in one and it
will be fun too to go together. They all agreed – now the head count was 5
adults 2 kids (under 6). As we started for Pune from Powai – another friend
called and informed us that they too were on the way to Pune in his Ford Figo –
we offered them to come onboard my Ertiga and join us. We picked them up from
Vashi on the way to Pune and now the head count was 7 adults 2 kids. The car
was fully loaded with two XXL size guys on front with 2 L, 1 M and a kid in
centre with us two S sizes on back with one kid. Since it was a day trip – we
didn’t need much luggage anyways and the boot was only filled with knick knacks
that kids picked up for their morning snacks etc.
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| Thats me with my car :) On the way to Alibag. |
Feedback
from my friend who drove the car to Pune and on the way back too was a broad
smile and he approved our decision of buying this one with thumbs up sign. Car
performed as expected even with full load – there was no power lag, he did hit
120 KMPH and car felt stable with so much weight inside, but didn’t go beyond
it. Wheel size of 185/65 R15 with Z Grade Alloy is a boon especially on
highways and on top of that they have managed to offer a ground clearance of
185mm which is excellent. AC was effective – mind it this wasn’t the peak
summer but in our part of the world – AC is always required. The best part was
the AC vent for second row which was a blessing for the back benchers, it
chilled the whole vehicle in no time and not for one moment we felt hot. Since
this was the very first drive and car wasn’t even serviced once – no point
talking of the mileage but I must mention that the half tank diesel was all
which was required to do a round trip of Stadium which is on the outskirts of
Pune (45 ltr fuel tank capacity). Although the third row is a bit bumpy – no
doubt on that and isn’t as comfortable for long drives especially for adults
but I didn’t feel that bad sitting there as the drive was hardly a couple of
hours one way. Every time my friend drove over a hump or on a bumpy road – we
did jump a little and hooted – it was fun but only for a shorter period – later
he realized how he needed to maneuver the car to save us from bumping. Stock
stereo (2 DIN Single CD USB) is good enough with nice Bass, 4 speakers and two
tweeters work just fine and the remote comes handy for the back benchers. Also,
the steering mounted audio controls are a blessing for driver, no need to move
your head anywhere once you get used to them. Ample of water bottle holders on
all the rows is very useful, 2 each on front, 2 in the second row and 2 on the
third row too. I liked that pop out can holder on front passenger seat right
below the AC duct – which helps keeping the can colder – nice thinking by Ertiga
designers, although they missed at least one cell phone charging point for second
and third row.
So thats it for now!
But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep. (Robert Frost).
Thanks Ankit.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. I M going to buy a new ertiga-facelift next week.
ReplyDelete