BHPian V.Narayan recently shared this with other enthusiasts: My father, then at the end of his career, took delivery of his light blue Maruti 800 in December 1985. This was his first car buy in India after 1965 and the booking had been done IIRC in ~1982 or early 1983! It was such an occasion that I travelled over to Delhi from Chennai, where I was posted, to join my father in the delivery. Maruti’s conduct and smoothness of the delivery process, the PDI all were so far ahead of the shoddy service we suffered from Premier and Hindustan Motors that that itself opened my eyes. First time I saw an OEM engineer patiently explain the controls and take us for a trial round. Hindustan Motors and premier for an oligopoly and looked down on customers as vermin to be suffered. The car was handsome, well proportioned and modern. Modern – whats that. cars in India were anything but modern. And it was a shock to drive – both the acceleration and braking were way to strong to what I was used to and I sure am glad I did not bang up my Dad’s new acquisition. I almost lost control with the acceleration in my first drive. It was so strong. Till then my driving had been only on our Standard Herald and my uncle’s Ambassador. The SS80’s power to weight ratio made it fly. All good fun. The transversely mounted engine was a masterpiece of design packaging and unbeknownst to my father I revved her to 100kmph+ for the first time ever on Delhi’s then very uncrowded roads. Herald’s and Ambassadors could simply not get to 100 and if by mistake they did you could be sure the brakes were simply not strong enough to stop them! God bless Suzuki San. He gave Indians their first taste of a modern car. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
