Do dreams come true??? Finally my OHC Vtec

[Chethan25]

Do dreams ever come true is what all of us ask ourself many a times !!!

Oh yes in my case it did come true. From my school and college days I used to look at the Honda city and drool over the looks of the car not knowing the potential the car had in it. Grew up to know more about car and bikes. When I started earning I realized that owning a city is a distant dream, so resorted to bikes and slowly bikes and cars became my passion. It was in those days I joined team bhp(2007) and kept reading posts and threads and gaining good knowledge about the actual stuff about cars. That's when got to know what does the ol' Honda City VTEC has in it in terms of engine raw power other than the looks. I have just joined Gear heads recently... so i have been a active reader of tbhp but not very active in posting comments(my number of posts from 2007 in TBHP till date is 37 )...So hoping i ll post more on GH coz i already have posted 16 posts in 3 months ...wat i like more about this forum is its moderater free forum and its started by our Bangalore boys .... (no offense to other city guys here its just a good feeling i get whenever i enter this forum)

So in 2007 I decided I need to buy a car then looked for used cars like many of us do, to start with a used car and then buy a new one once u mater the art of driving. Actually the Zen and the city were my first loves in cars. My budget was low so I couldn’t buy a city, finalized it has to be a Zen hunt was on and found a good carb Zen and picked it up. Truly enjoyed every bit of it.

Days passed by and really wanted to own a city so in 2009 I started the hunt for a decent driven single owner Vtec. I had my own priorities like, the owner should have taken care of the car like a baby(regular maintainance good body condition with no dents or minimal dents) , the number 7 should not be there in the number plate (not keen on astrology but somehow 7 has always proved unlucky for me), shouldn’t be driving more than 70k kms and last but not the least it should be in the good price bracket. The search was on and most of the times some or the other points mentioned above would not be satisfied. So days passed by infact years and then in 2010 I needed to buy a car again so searched again and couldn’t get a city to my liking(may be i was too picky). This was the point where I gave up and said maga (maga is a slang in Kannada for dude or something similar) it’s been 7 good years that the ol' Honda City vtec stopped manufacturing and whatever good cars are there, are either not going to be sold by the owners or they are already in bad shape or I am really not able to find one for XYZ reasons, so better look for another car than ol' Honda City Vtec

Somehow after driving a Zen for so long didn’t like any other car so then after about 3 months of search ended up buying a 2006 Zen from Sagar true value on Dec 2010. Was pretty happy with the zen and not even thought of an upgrade till the time my in-laws came and I had to pick them up from the railway station. Dam that’s when I realized I need a bigger boot space and the Zen can’t help me only in that area.

So in Jan 2012 after a good 3 months research on GH, Tbhp and personal checks/reviews I had booked a punto (1.3 Emotion pack) because after a ol' Honda City and Zen this was the only car in my budget(for new car with a loan) that stole my heart. 10 days left my punto delivery and my grand pa then tells me you need to buy a house on your name that’s when it’s good to own a 8lac car and you don’t have to drive so much everyday as you can still use the company transport its only on the weekends you take out your car also it’s not a mandatory requirement(while booking the punto i thought i ll use the car everyday to commute to work which is 50kms to and fro) .Somehow didn’t want to override his suggestion so canceled the Punto booking and said to myself its ok maga whenever you need to get somebody from the airport/station/long trip we can hire a taxi. Rested the car case and moved on in life until I saw this ad in Tbhp of a 2003 old city Vtec and which was quoted at 5.25lacs. I saw the car and all the aspects of my search were satisfied, single owner driven 63k kms, car looked brand new with a nice skirting job, 15” alloys and man with a fancy number which doesn’t have a 7 in the number plate bingo. But the sad part was it was priced too high from my budget so again left it. In Feb the owner of the car again reduced the price to 4.75 now that did bring a smile on my face and called him in the first week of March and told him my budget he said he will not give it at that price but he said see and drive the car you will fall in love. Set up time with him to see the car and we met at a common point; I reached the place early and was waiting for the owner to come with the Vtec. Was checking my phone to call and by then I hear the smooth roar and thought some nicely done up car is coming so paused my activity of calling to see which car. And there comes the Vtec and I waived my hand to Shiv (Vtec owner). So the feeling of me seeing this Vtec in flesh was something like what Nicholas cage experienced when he saw the Shelby in “Gone in 60 secs”. I literally had goosebumps (now that’s a little filmy touch). So I meet Shiv and he hands the keys of the car to me and asked me to take a drive I am still in the mode of getting over that feeling and drive the car I drove it below 60kmph and a little scared as I was driving a car with skirts for the first time. So I stop over to admire and check the car and Shiv got to know I couldn’t drive as I was scared of the skirts and he said “why don’t you sit and I’ ll drive”. Key in the ignition, the car is started and there goes the 1st gear clutch released and 1st gear 40kmph, 2nd gear in and close to 90 -100kmph and rest is history . I was totally bowled out but how the car responded. Stopped by and had a small chat about the pricing and said will get back to Shiv by evening. But honestly I was sold out to how the car performed how it looked like brand new and the goodies it had. The list of goodies, 15” ava alloys and 205/50/15 yoko s-drive hardly done 2k kms, skirting all around, b&m short shifter, K&N performance filter, Header done by Raj, ICE with Sub and dvd player. The stock parts like the Vtec alloys, regular gear shifter and stock exhaust were also going to be given away to the buyer.

I go back home and talk about it to my friends and most says it’s way too high priced and can get latest model cars for that price or maybe even a diesel car for that price. Except for my best buddy, we both share the same liking towards cars he and I spoke and said this may be our last chance to own a Vtec in this pristine condition but yes the price is a little on higher side for my budget. I called Shiv in the evening and offered a price which he didnt agree so said give me some time i ll check and call you in a couple of days. I open my lappy and read all the posts(spent the whole night) related to the ol' Honda City and learnt all the known issues and added most of the Vtec owners to my friends list in Tbhp and in Facebook. Specially spoke to Vinay Vtec a lot and got to know about the Vtec more and more.

Day 2 I get back home from work and have a chat with my wife about the Vtec and she just asked one question. If you buy this car will the car changing bhoot in you go out of you atleast for the next 10 years, I thought about it for a min and said “Yes”(i wanted this car). I know i will upgrade atleast in the next few years atleast i will retain this and upgrade.But a few points I thought before saying yes, will this car be reliable for next 5 years atleast – Yes(with good maintenance), Will this car satisfy the thrill and pleasure and be a driver’s car – Yes. Will the petrol prices affect me badly – no (as I will mostly be using this on the weekend and my travel will be less than 500kms a month). Does this car turn heads in terms of looks – Oh yes any day I feel this is the best classic design which only grows younger day by day and not older (in my view).

So I call Shiv and have a small chat and tell my situation/budget constraints and how badly I want to own the car and he told me he knows how it feels when you want to buy something and you can’t stretch due to xyz reason but still he brought his price down and said this is the best I can offer you and nothing less than that and this was the special price he said he is offering only to me after seeing how eager I was to own a Vtec. I again take some time from him to manage my finances as I still had not sold my Zen and needed to arrange the whole cash. Took a week’s time and kept him updated on my situation and told him on Friday I would be coming on Sunday 18th March 2012 to buy the beauty. The whole of this week I actually had sleepless nights thinking about the car. On the D day there was no boundaries to my happiness I wanted to jump around like a puppy.

Most of my friends/colleagues and relatives told me that the car looks brand new and no signs of wear and tear. All the comments/compliments on how well the car is maintained is dedicated to Shiv as he is the true owner of all of these for the way the car is maintained.

Now for the ownership review of the car for the days i have used so far.

What are the things i like:
- The VTEC raw power
- Power delivery is smooth
- The car has currently completed only 66k kms and there is still a lot to life left
- Interior space and comfort
- List of mods that can be done on the car is never ending
- Looks is defiantly a killer one
- The rear seat are very comfortable
- Currently running the 205/50/15 yoko s-drive so the braking is good

What are the things i dont like
- seat support, ergonomics (may be i need to get used to the low seating)
- Gearshift / transmission quality for now is a little hard may be need to get it checked if its the clutch or the short shifter flowing
- Suspension & ride quality - slight noise when i go over a rough patch needs a check
- Handling, on-road behaviour and grip levels - Ol' Honda city as know is not the best of the handlers
- Slight niggles once in a while near the instrument cluster area - will get that checked


A pic speaks 1000 words and here it is. Will upload more shortly need to go to a nice location for a photo shoot.

[camchennai]

Congrats Chethan Shivakumar

Looks like a neatly maintained VTEC

[Chethan25]

camchennai yeap thank you !!

[2Stroke Junkie]

Guys i got to see this beauty in person. Man, what maintenance, superb looking car.

Great going SK.

[Guru]

Congrats mate. A dream come true is one of the ultimate achievements. I can well relate to how an unfulfiilled dream haunts you. The car looks extremely well maintained.

Now where is 007 ?

[shishirbn]

007 what do you think.

Chethan, congrats for the car and nice explanation

[raama]

Beautiful car there. Wishing you happy miles ahead.

[kvk]

Congrats Chethan Shivakumar

and very well written/expressed your entire dream of owning this beauty.

[007]

007 what do you think.

looks very clean. nice score.

the suspension can be improved by fixing OE replacement gas charged struts. gas charged dampers for the OHC

[Chethan25]

Thank you Ferrari2222, Guru, shishirbn, raama, kvk,

I am already talking to Venkat 007 on my other thread OHC VTEC mods, Venkat for now i dont want a suspension upgrade may be after a while because for now i am ok with it. The intake and the exhaust is what i am concentrating at the moment