Thread Starter
#1
Hi fellow TAI’ans,
I Am an Esteem lover …..Yes I love her and most of the time I spend is to pamper her even more than my girlfriend
My work included traveling across India so never got the time to focus on the car, the passion to maintain it in a good condition was always there though. Now my work is in Bangalore only so got the time to do some pampering for my baby!
I prepared this review a year back, just editing it a bit to be posted now
My love for the Esteem Off course may be biased because its my first car, however i received the same feedback from fellow Esteem owners, I believe the Esteem is one of those cars who offered luxury during the Fiat Ambassador and Maruti 800 times, not to mention the cheap maintenance, superb power to weight ratio and easy availability of parts – In Short I can call it a poor mans luxury.Truly a driver's car![[drive]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Drive.gif "Drive [drive]")
Esteem being a mod friendly car opens doors to a lot of creative mods
I have given some i20’s, santros and a couple of high end cars a run for their money on the high ways![[evil]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Evil.gif "Evil [evil]")
. Have driven a couple of cars trust me very few cars can beat the pick up of this machine
My love for the Esteem started this way - I was a back bencher in class 5 (1995) and the door faced the school approach road next to the basket ball court, one day a white Maruti 1000 with three spoke alloys (a trend those days) stood on the road, my eyes were just fixed on the car I was so in love with it! Well ultimately the teacher found me looking out of the class and shouted at me for looking out of the class while she was explaining in front of every one, this was the first time I saw the actual car on the road, after the Maruti 1000 and Esteem we had the cielo and other big cars thereafter on Indian roads but some how the Esteem appealed a lot to me. I used to dream of this car, day in and day out, I never used to sleep till late night thinking and imagining how it would be to own one of that lovely car. Thereafter school , board exams college made my obsession of the Esteem to a minimum and I almost forgot that I ever had an obsession for it
however this obsession does not explain why I bought this car, it was a sheer co-incidence that my brother’s friend wanted to sell the car when I was looking around for some 800’s, I had also reviewed about three 800’s which I kind of dint like coz they were not in a good condition, I always dreamt on buying an Esteem but never thought I would actually buy one for real, may be this is one reason why my love for the Esteem is so strong
with a little split second financial help from my uncle I finalized the deal post having a lot of people drive and give their verdict on it
June’2011 – June 2012
I Purchased this car CARB version 97 model- to be honest in a shabby condition (In this context the exterior paint) except that the engine had run for only 38000 kms !, I doubted the credibility of this though but then i had a couple of people drive it, and they had the same opinion saying that the engine is in superb condition besides I had seen the car many times while dropping my brother to his friends place, had also heard that it was taken out occasionally for super market visits only, since there was a civic and a verna for daily use
Since it was my first car i hardly had any idea of cars, their parts , service kilometres, oil quantity (Which explains why i got duped by a mechanic for its first service approx 7500/- ( for some parts he explained which was never heard off). I remember him charging me for the window roller handle for 250/- ! MGP is 37/-. Never gave him the car again!
Well at first i decided to get her painted, that’s when my car becomes a victim of drunken driving, the car which struck was a Bolero and struck my parked car in front of my house and damaged my rear left tail light and broke my bumper, so i got a more stronger reason for getting it painted
Back in 2011 January my friend's dad introduced me to a mechanic and painter in one garage. Im happy I met this guy, a rather honest chap who does an awesome paint job at a throw away price , and the work he did “A master piece” I couldn’t stop myself to give him 1000/- extra after my friends uncle left for doing such a fabulous work, My friends dad had directed me not to give any extra amount
My Baby looks amazing now
Also, since i got it painted at a bargain price i decided to change the tail light assembly as well from a normal Esteem to Esteem VX
The Normal Esteem has a pair of tail lights along with a plastic blazer in between which accommodates the reverse lights
The LX version onwards had the blazer which had brake lights and reverse lights in them, this appealed to me very much, but to my surprise this blazer alone costed me 2000/- /- but it was worth it however normal corner brake lights were quite cheap at 475 /- a light
I some how lost the pics of WIP of the paint job I shall post if I get them though
MODS I had planned to do at present–
Exterior –
It will either be a simple neatly kept shining sedan, with silver shining rims,black polished tyres, polished body, all badges neatly put (including the 1.3 L sticker) and a badge in the sides, and a short but elegant spoiler, and to maintain it like a military vehicle (squeaky clean,always gleaming !)
OR
It will be a rally car with white rims a pair of bonnet locks and a long antenna to complement its looks a tall spoiler (NO STICKERS!) and off course black tints
Well I have chosen the 1st option already
Interior – since it’s the executive theme I intend to do the following –
A complete beige interior, door pads, dash etc
an arm rest in the front
An arm rest in the rear seat (this will surely add to the executive look)
Two tone dashboard i.e black and beige
Reading lamps
Wooden finish console box, door handles
Matching upholstery
Matching roof
Adding a red light at the bottom of the door (Door warning lights) to avoid the bike and auto walahs banging onto your door when opened! (Already Done)
Ambient lighting as in the BMW’s (Amber color)
Changing ODO color to Amber
And AC controls in Amber again
Ritz Tacho after seeing some 800 Gurus like Deville66,varun560061 and other members putting it in thier rides - VARUN Bhai pls tacho laga ke do ! im waiting
Auto dimming cabin lights
I have still not completed all the MODs, due to shortage of Vitamin M will complete them soon and post them
Some pictures to do the talking from here –
Some mods i have done -
Water spray nozzles from SWIFT - have four jets instead of two
Dashboard and interior panels color changed to two tone - Got the color wrong 2 times over will do the upholstery before another attempt
Door Warning Lights - My main concern while fitting these lights was to give it a quality finish, as in to look as if it were OEM, hence i didnt want to use LED's
Door pads with blower were painted to black from grey, paint includes the - Ahem ! wat should i call it ? Door opening latch also![[lol]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Laugh.gif "Laugh [lol]")
Door handles in paint shop for a wooden finish
Just got WIP pics of the paint job from an old phone memory card - MODS IF POSSIBLE PLEASE PUT THESE IN THE FIRST POST
Tinkering -
Base Coat -
I Am an Esteem lover …..Yes I love her and most of the time I spend is to pamper her even more than my girlfriend
My work included traveling across India so never got the time to focus on the car, the passion to maintain it in a good condition was always there though. Now my work is in Bangalore only so got the time to do some pampering for my baby!
I prepared this review a year back, just editing it a bit to be posted now
My love for the Esteem Off course may be biased because its my first car, however i received the same feedback from fellow Esteem owners, I believe the Esteem is one of those cars who offered luxury during the Fiat Ambassador and Maruti 800 times, not to mention the cheap maintenance, superb power to weight ratio and easy availability of parts – In Short I can call it a poor mans luxury.Truly a driver's car
Esteem being a mod friendly car opens doors to a lot of creative mods
I have given some i20’s, santros and a couple of high end cars a run for their money on the high ways
. Have driven a couple of cars trust me very few cars can beat the pick up of this machineMy love for the Esteem started this way - I was a back bencher in class 5 (1995) and the door faced the school approach road next to the basket ball court, one day a white Maruti 1000 with three spoke alloys (a trend those days) stood on the road, my eyes were just fixed on the car I was so in love with it! Well ultimately the teacher found me looking out of the class and shouted at me for looking out of the class while she was explaining in front of every one, this was the first time I saw the actual car on the road, after the Maruti 1000 and Esteem we had the cielo and other big cars thereafter on Indian roads but some how the Esteem appealed a lot to me. I used to dream of this car, day in and day out, I never used to sleep till late night thinking and imagining how it would be to own one of that lovely car. Thereafter school , board exams college made my obsession of the Esteem to a minimum and I almost forgot that I ever had an obsession for it
however this obsession does not explain why I bought this car, it was a sheer co-incidence that my brother’s friend wanted to sell the car when I was looking around for some 800’s, I had also reviewed about three 800’s which I kind of dint like coz they were not in a good condition, I always dreamt on buying an Esteem but never thought I would actually buy one for real, may be this is one reason why my love for the Esteem is so strong
with a little split second financial help from my uncle I finalized the deal post having a lot of people drive and give their verdict on it
June’2011 – June 2012
I Purchased this car CARB version 97 model- to be honest in a shabby condition (In this context the exterior paint) except that the engine had run for only 38000 kms !, I doubted the credibility of this though but then i had a couple of people drive it, and they had the same opinion saying that the engine is in superb condition besides I had seen the car many times while dropping my brother to his friends place, had also heard that it was taken out occasionally for super market visits only, since there was a civic and a verna for daily use
Since it was my first car i hardly had any idea of cars, their parts , service kilometres, oil quantity (Which explains why i got duped by a mechanic for its first service approx 7500/- ( for some parts he explained which was never heard off). I remember him charging me for the window roller handle for 250/- ! MGP is 37/-. Never gave him the car again!
Well at first i decided to get her painted, that’s when my car becomes a victim of drunken driving, the car which struck was a Bolero and struck my parked car in front of my house and damaged my rear left tail light and broke my bumper, so i got a more stronger reason for getting it painted
Back in 2011 January my friend's dad introduced me to a mechanic and painter in one garage. Im happy I met this guy, a rather honest chap who does an awesome paint job at a throw away price , and the work he did “A master piece” I couldn’t stop myself to give him 1000/- extra after my friends uncle left for doing such a fabulous work, My friends dad had directed me not to give any extra amount
My Baby looks amazing now
Also, since i got it painted at a bargain price i decided to change the tail light assembly as well from a normal Esteem to Esteem VX
The Normal Esteem has a pair of tail lights along with a plastic blazer in between which accommodates the reverse lights
The LX version onwards had the blazer which had brake lights and reverse lights in them, this appealed to me very much, but to my surprise this blazer alone costed me 2000/- /- but it was worth it however normal corner brake lights were quite cheap at 475 /- a light
I some how lost the pics of WIP of the paint job I shall post if I get them though
MODS I had planned to do at present–
Exterior –
It will either be a simple neatly kept shining sedan, with silver shining rims,black polished tyres, polished body, all badges neatly put (including the 1.3 L sticker) and a badge in the sides, and a short but elegant spoiler, and to maintain it like a military vehicle (squeaky clean,always gleaming !)
OR
It will be a rally car with white rims a pair of bonnet locks and a long antenna to complement its looks a tall spoiler (NO STICKERS!) and off course black tints
Well I have chosen the 1st option already
Interior – since it’s the executive theme I intend to do the following –
A complete beige interior, door pads, dash etc
an arm rest in the front
An arm rest in the rear seat (this will surely add to the executive look)
Two tone dashboard i.e black and beige
Reading lamps
Wooden finish console box, door handles
Matching upholstery
Matching roof
Adding a red light at the bottom of the door (Door warning lights) to avoid the bike and auto walahs banging onto your door when opened! (Already Done)
Ambient lighting as in the BMW’s (Amber color)
Changing ODO color to Amber
And AC controls in Amber again
Ritz Tacho after seeing some 800 Gurus like Deville66,varun560061 and other members putting it in thier rides - VARUN Bhai pls tacho laga ke do ! im waiting
Auto dimming cabin lights
I have still not completed all the MODs, due to shortage of Vitamin M will complete them soon and post them
Some pictures to do the talking from here –
Some mods i have done -
Water spray nozzles from SWIFT - have four jets instead of two
Dashboard and interior panels color changed to two tone - Got the color wrong 2 times over will do the upholstery before another attempt
Door Warning Lights - My main concern while fitting these lights was to give it a quality finish, as in to look as if it were OEM, hence i didnt want to use LED's
Door pads with blower were painted to black from grey, paint includes the - Ahem ! wat should i call it ? Door opening latch also
Door handles in paint shop for a wooden finish
Just got WIP pics of the paint job from an old phone memory card - MODS IF POSSIBLE PLEASE PUT THESE IN THE FIRST POST
Tinkering -
Base Coat -
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![[clap]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Clap.gif "Clap [clap]")
Very nicely maintained and the mods look elegant too.![[:)]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Smile.gif "Smile [:)]")
![[:D]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Big%20Smile.gif "Big Smile [:D]")
![[glasses]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Glasses.gif "Glasses [glasses]")
![[cry]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Cry.gif "Cry [cry]")
