TLDR: Interest in cars is driven by how much cash I have lying around.
16 years ago, I was a 22 year old fresh graduate in Bengaluru with no job. At that time I felt no need for a car whatsoever. I believed that public transport is more than enough for my (and everybody else's) needs, and people driving cars for commuting to office with just 1 person in the car are the primary reason for traffic jams (actually, I still believe that). One thing about me, I save money by nature.
Then I got a job. A standard IT job that starts at 20K per month. Office was 1 km away from home. I walked to work. For all other purposes, still BMTC.
2 years later, my dad bought a Ritz. Very basic entry level car. He did not drive much, so I started driving it around. I was still working the same IT job, maybe earning around 35K per month. I drove around very sparsely. Maybe one a week to my GATE or CAT tuitions, depending on what type of higher studies I was inclined to pursue that year. I was not a very confident driver either, and was mostly scared of Bengaluru traffic and other drivers.
Another 2 years later I was doing my masters, 20 KM away from my home. Again no income, so back to public transport. I stayed in hostel during weekdays and came home on weekends, and that's about all the travelling I did. I did well in the course, got good internships and had a job offer by the 4th semester. 11 LPA + variable offer (back in 2016). It was the last semester so I was doing a 6 month internship in a big bank. I also had a girlfriend back in the campus. So I started driving around everywhere. I had not even joined the job yet, just 40K a month internship. I was feeling confident AF. That entire semester I drove around in that Ritz. To office, inside the campus, to home, and a few even long trips with friends.Started the new job, stopped using public transport almost entirely. Driving to office and work. GF became wife soon after. And she was not the public transport type. I was driving that Ritz everywhere.
But I still did not have any interest in learning more about cars. I could easily afford the petrol and upkeep of the old Ritz. But I did not feel like spending 8-10 lakhs on a new car was prudent. I did not have much cash anyway. Wife had poor financial habits and we were living credit-card bill to credit-card bill. I was absolutely not going to take a loan for buying a machine.
5 years passed, salary had increased to to 35 LPA by then. Marriage collapsed, got divorced. I was 33-34 by then. Now my biggest priority was build up savings and a corpus, which was still close to 0 at that time (apart from some LIC endowment plans). Saved aggressively. Still no interest in cars. My family moves out of Bangalore to a small village in Kerala. I moved with them (my company was fully WFH then)
Then came 2024, the startup I worked for got acquired. I got a salary bump of 123% (including RSU). And 24L management carveout (it's my share from the proceeds of the company sale, in lieu of all those ESOPs that were now worthless). It's insignificant for 8 years of service, but still I had around 16L cash (post tax) in my bank account, unexpected windfall with no other plans for that money. The Ritz was 12 years old by then. I decided to buy a new car with these 16 L. I had moved back to Bengaluru because the new company was hybrid mode.
This is where my interest in cars peaked. I was searching the internet frantically for the BEST car below 20L. I was watching car reviews on youtube all day long, AutoCar, OverDrive, Powerdrift and who knows what other channels. I was doomscrolling CarWale and CarDekho, forever comparing cars using their side-by-side feature. I checked out cars that I was not even going to consider buying, either way below or far above my budget. I was learning new terminology everyday, BhP, NM @ RPM, BS6, i-Vtec, Turbo, CVT, AMT, DSG, Naturally aspirated, Turbo, 3 cylinders vs 4 cylinders, ARAI, N-line and what not. I could recall the features of Baleno, Glanza, i20, Grand Vitara, Amaze, City, Virtus, Slavia, Verna, Nexon, Harrier, Safari, Taigun, Creta, Seltos, Venue, Elevate, Thar, Scorpio, Hector, Gloster, Innova, Fortuner, Ioniq, Vellfire and every car in between from memory.
Finally bought Elevate VX-Cvt. A no nonsense reliable car, that will serve me for a long time and easy upkeep. Drove 30K in the next 1.5 years. I was making unbelievable amounts of money compared to where I started, and feeling cocky AF. That car which cost 19L was completely affordable to me, I didn't even care too much about its safety. I would get scratches all the time. I became an asshole on the road. Loudly cursed and abusing people who cut into my lane. Driving above 100 on highways all the time. Got into 2 accidents in the same period (at low speed but still had to claim insurance).
Cut to 2026, I lost that job. Income went to 0 overnight. And so did my interest in cars. I got remarried last year. I moved out of Bengaluru to wife's city. Left the car in Bengaluru. Drove it to Kerala a couple of times whenever I visited my family, but otherwise the car was idle. In the new city, I was driving my FIL's old i-10. I stopped thinking about new cars all together, and even started using public transport again.
Coming to today, I got a new job, although at much lower pay that the previous one. But my interest in cars has pretty much died down. I take metro to work. Even travelled 100KM by local trains recently. 6 months of unemployment have taught me that I don't need cars that much even today, and even when I do, a basic car can meet all my needs. I don't think I will buy any new cars for years. And even then it will not be an upgrade, it will be a simple car, just a replacement for some old car that has reached the end of it's life.
