With full luggage and four people, the car had no problem pulling, overtaking or cruising at highway speeds. Even on the ghat section, I rarely had to use second gear, it just pulls like a locomotive.
BHPian jonesanto recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Finally, after so much debate with head and heart, heart won. Elantra’s FC is done!
Now, some of you might be thinking, “What’s there to think too much about it?”
Because this is our first car getting the FC done. My dad has a 88 Bajaj Cub, which he will never sell and I have an Yamaha Libero finished 15 years, which is the first bike registered in my name and I don’t plan on selling that and it does not cost me anything when it comes to maintenance and stuff. But cars, a big no for us, dad was a business man (now retired) and he had lot of running, so he kept changing cars after 5-10 year mark, my brother also a business man, he has a minimum of 4 cars in his name all the time, two for business purpose and two for his personal usage. Same 5-10 year rule applies here. Though not in my brother’s league, I too had lot of running and things have calmed down now, still I easily do 15K an year, so never kept any car for more than 10 year. For me the list is pretty small, I got dad’s Ikon, sold that after using it for two years, got Elantra, then got Octavia, sold Octavia recently, offer was too good to pass. I don’t have a primary car now, using brothers Innova as my primary drive. I will make a purchase once this COVID situation settles, nothing has been finalized yet.
The Elantra is the first car purchased in my name, the Libero is the first bike purchase in my name and I still have both of them with me, weird coincidence?
I am gonna drag it a bit from here.
So 15 years and 4.5 lakh kilometers, NEVER STRANDED us anywhere is a big deal for me. The Elantra is Nov 2006 registered, so I still had a good 3 months to do FC, thought I will do the FC around that time. I had already spoke to an agent and all was good. Then me and my family had to go to Bangalore to sign some papers and appointment was fixed on particular dates and travel was planned. Wifey does not like long car drives, she prefers train or flight, but due to COVID she did not want to travel in train with our son. Plan was to take brothers Innova, brother told me service is due and he will get it done before the long trip. He got the car serviced and when I was about to pick the car from his place got the news he tested positive for COVID. Since he was using the car could not get it without getting it sanitized and I had just one and half day left to leave to Bangalore. Tried getting some rental cars, did not work out, one guy wanted 65K for one week. Taking advantage of the situations. Other options I had, Fortuner gone to business trip, will be back the on the night I wanted to travel, means I have to drive at night with family with no other co-driver, safety is more important, skipped that option, then I am left with redi-GO (let’s not go in that), Celerio, Swift zxi 2020 model. So Swift was the choice but again it was parked at brother’s home wifey and dad said, not to do that since all members from brother’s family tested positive.
In the mean time, I started talking to people in Bangalore about postponing the travel, but it was a property deal and seller is not happy about postponing it further, we had postponed it once earlier. What’s next? Elantra? I wanted to take her to Bangalore for the FC anyway but with family is contradicting to everything I have been following, old vehicle, with family is big no, I am alone and if something happens, I only have to worry about me, I can manage, but with family, it’s a different scene altogether. My situation is such, I had to take a risk somewhere if I were to reach Bangalore on time or possibly let go off the property deal.
This is where experience and age comes into play, my dad said, if you think the car will run and you are just worried about anything happening while on road, it can happen to a new car too, new car’s don’t breakdown? Just take it to your mechanic and leave it with him for a day and ask him to check everything. So I did that, took the car to my trusted mechanic, did all the normal service, I had all the parts stocked. He kept the car for a day and said, it runs just fine, just take it and go. Wifey also gave the green signal.
I know I dragged it too much but had to explain and only then the narration will be complete. Members were, wife, mother in law, son and me. When I loaded the luggage itself the car became over-loaded. I wish if I had taken a pic of the trunk condition, there was not an inch of space left to keep anything. Morning 4:30 left my place, we have taken Kollam- Aryankavu- Madurai-Salem- Hosur route. Evening 4:00 parked the car at my apartment in Bangalore. I did not think anything about the car, was enjoying talking to my family. Return, left at 4:30 in the morning from Bangalore, reached home at 3:00 in the evening, thanks to lock down in Kerala and overall less Sunday traffic. Wifey was impressed with the car and told me it was not tiring at all and she could sleep well, apparently the last long trip in a car she had was in Elantra, a Bangalore-Kerala drive back in 2016.
Somewhere in Tamil Nadu:
Next morning, while washing the car, I was thinking only one thing, I absolutely can’t expect anything more from Elantra, the car has served us more than anything anyone could ever ask for. I am a proud owner! With full luggage and four people, the car had no problem pulling, overtaking or cruising at highway speeds. Even on the ghat section, I rarely had to use second gear, it just pulls like a locomotive. On toll highway, I am not a driver who keeps it at 80km to get the maximum juice out of the efficiency, I try to keep a steady 120km, not more, which is not safe on our highways.
Coming to the FC part, called the agent, he came and saw the car, said all is good, just had to change the number plate to IND one, done that, current number plate I got with the car and still in good condition, survived all kind of weather and condition and this IND is so flimsy, it may hardly last two year and maybe that is exactly what the authorities want. At the RTO, agent came with his colleague, he’s the one took the car to the inspector and I was just there standing and they did talk about something and that was it, done in two mins. 10 days I stayed in Bangalore and I was extremely busy, I wanted to get a detailing done, last detailing done is 5 years back, also wanted to get dash camera and maybe a new head unit, but had no time, I will definitely do something soon, car deserves its 15 years’ birthday pampering.
Coming to the FE part, did not do a thorough calculation, before leaving 3300rs for full tank, with that I could reach Bangalore, usually I do a refill at Salem, this time I did not stop, then in Bangalore did a 2500rs refill did my run in Bangalore and before leaving for Kerala did a full tank for 3500. Again with that full tank I reached Kerala and yes the needle showed E mark but no fuel warning showed up, so there was still enough fuel left. With full load, full people and keeping a steady 120km on the highway it still gave a 700km full tank range. Pretty good for a 15-year-old car.
Coming to the conclusion, right?
There is no doubt this car will always hold a special place in my heart, I got this in my 20’s, all the wild thing I have done and all the places I have gone, this car was with me, then got married, I am a father now, I took my son home in this car, I am in my mid-thirties. Life has changed and things have changed, but whenever I require, Elantra is still there like a true companion, a car which has never let me down and was always dependable. Like I said, I will always be the proud owner of this car. I shall keep her as long as I can and I will be the FIRST and LAST owner this gem!
The underdog:
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Signing off:
Keyword: Took my 4.5 lakh km run Hyundai Elantra on a Kerala-Bangalore road trip