MY GOOD OLD MARUTI ZEN

This blog has been migrated to wordpress, and is using the same address

My first post on the autoblog has to be about my good old favorite car - It’s a 1999 model, non-mpi Maruti Zen

Its an old war horse that has been around for 6 years and has clocked more than 80,000 kms. But it has been a reliable one in my drives in and out of city. I have driven it to places far and away, probably few personal cars have seen as much of South India as this. And in each ride it has been a trusted carrier I could count on. If I try to list the many places that I have taken the car to, you will understand how much I have used it and why am I so fond of it. Here they are

- Munnar
- Kodaikanal
- Ooty
- Wayanad
- Rangathittu near Mysore, probably 2 times
- Chennai, Pondicherry
- Jog falls
- Coorg
- Bandipur National Park
- Mangalore
- Chikkamagalur

There are places I could recall off my head.

Its not that it is a perfect car; the most irking thing about the car is its power delivery. With mere 50bhp, it probably has less bhp/tonne than a Maruti 800. And it groans when it is climbing steep slopes. But on the other hand, the fuel economy it delivers is something that few cars may be able to compete against.