How Chennai floods forced me to replace my Ford Ikon with a new Swift

And with that, my 8+ year ownership stint came to a very abrupt and watery end. I had hoped to hold on to my first car for as long as possible, but in the end nature, had a different plan.

BHPian Joshua_Ray recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello Everyone! Welcome to a thread which I'm sure, no car guy would ever want to write... my 2005 Ford Ikon was drowned by the December floods and is no longer with us

The story unfolds in the beginning of December 2023, Chennai is known to have wild monsoons and for the last few years, almost every December, some major weather-related phenomenon wrecks havoc on us.

The last year, was no different and in the beginning of the month, Dec 2nd to be precise, we were warned about a Cyclone Michaung that was headed our way.

Now, we live in an area that doesn't usually flood and even in the December floods of 2015, we had a little below knee deep water (half tire depth) in our area - something that my trusty Ikon had already survived once before. With all the storm water drain work that has been going on over the last 8 years and with our area not being flooded since 2015, we hoped that this time too, the flood alert would remain as just another minor event - boy were we wrong!

On a serious note, my heart goes out to all those who have been severely affected by the Chennai floods of 2023. In my personal case, the loss was limited to my beloved Ikon, but so many people had their houses flooded to the roofs and their belongings washed away, not to mention the thousands of lives that were negatively impacted.

A little back story...

Every December, we are bombarded with flood alerts and usually it ends up just being false alarms that trigger panic among the public. Now, being a car guy and having faced the floods once, I generally move the cars (Honda City and the Skoda Laura, in those days) to higher grounds for every flood alert. The trusty Ikon is usually parked at home and raised on bricks, depending on the intensity of the alert. For the last 8 years, not once have we had more than 2 inches of water on the road and this time too I felt the same would happen, hence I did not feel the need to raise the car.

3rd December 2023

Given that the flood warning was in place and having owned my precious 320d for just a little over 6 months at that time, I was extremely proactive in protecting it at all costs...

My neighbor was very badly affected by the 2015 floods, to the extent that he spent a fortune on raising his entire house by almost 2 feet! Since, he had moved abroad, we were lucky enough to utilize the parking for the 320d and the City. At this point too, many in my street thought I was over-reacting and that the floods won't be that bad - 24 hours was all that was needed to change this perspective! In retrospect, I too had become complacent to so many flood warnings and decided to keep the Ikon as-is, without jacking it up on bricks... a decision which turned sour very quickly!

Never expected that the previous drive, would be her last

4th December 2023

Light rains had started the previous night and from around 1:00 AM on Dec 4th, it started pouring like crazy! By 7:00 AM, power was cut and we already had almost a foot of water in our street, and the predictions were for even more rain! At 10:00 AM, I had waded through above knee deep water to re-park the City in a better position to protect it even more and even jacked the rear of the 320d to give it a few precious cm of additional height... the Ikon however, we could not to anything as my parking already had half a tire depth of water and the streets around my area had even more water. Driving through would have been even more risky, so I did what I could and disconnected the battery. Apart from that, all we could do was to wait and watch as nature's fury unfolded.

The rains continued all day and since our entire street was in darkness, we had no idea how high the water was getting on the street. It was really painful from 6:00 PM onwards, wondering if the water level would reach the other cars. My family and I had a very unromantic and forced candle-light dinner as by that time, even the inverter had conked off. At around 9:00 PM the signal in our phones went off, as even the tower nearby had no power back-up. The last update we got on Twitter or X, was more rains ahead, till midnight - My heart wanted me to wade through the flood waters just to check on the cars, but my parents and my brain did not let me do any such thing. All we could do, was wait.

5th December 2023

The rains had subsided around 1:00 AM and I was up at 4:00 AM, having hardly slept at all. It was still dark, but I managed to use 2 phones for lighting and take a picture.

The grim sight outside at 4:00 AM

My neighbor's Mondeo (that we used as a depth indicator of the flood) that was half submerged the previous evening, now had water almost touching the door handles!

Just after the rains had stopped and the water level started receding

The rains had stopped but the water was receding at a snails pace. My ground floor was flooded and we could not step out at all. We could do absolutely nothing the entire day, except play UNO and walk on the terrace hoping to get some reception on our phones. By evening, the water had receded enough to walk and below was the pitiful state of my beloved Ikon.

Super grateful for my neighbor's raised parking

The next day...

First thing in the morning, I checked the dipstick in the Ikon and alas, water had entered. I had a sinking feeling inside, as this meant that water had gotten absolutely everywhere. The car did have a valid insurance and PUCC, so I made a call to our insurance agent, to get his views on the situation. He told us not to start the car at any cost and register a claim asap.

I had another head vs heart moment, logic stated that filing a claim and getting an amount higher than what the car was worth was the best option, but the heart wanted to get her running again.

The heart won this time and I made a call to my trusty mechanic, whom at this time had become busier than anyone in the PMO, thanks to the sheer number of flooded cars!

The mechanic paid a visit and within 10 minutes, the Ikon had her fate sealed. The ECU was soaked, the Engine had water inside, the Fuel tank had been submerged and on top of all that, it was an 18 year old car! The previous flood left me with a lot of issues and I was not prepared to deal with it again, considering the money, time and effort it would need to source the spares, let alone fix the car! I had to face facts, my Ikon was no longer a functional car

The water line can be seen clearly on the front door

The Silver lining (literally!)

With the Ikon in the state she was, I was on the lookout for a replacement. After considering a variety of options, I had decided to look for a neat and clean pre-loved Swift. After a week, I came to understand the harsh reality of the used car market under ₹5L, all the cars were either mis-treated, abused or had a lot of rattling with only around 30K km. The prices were sky high too, there was a 2020 VXI on sale, with only 11K km, for ₹6.4L... and a brand new 2023 VXI was only ₹7.5L with the year end discounts! Also, with the magnitude of the flood, there was no guarantee that the used cars on sale, were not partially or completely drowned cars...
With this discovery, on 31st December 2023, I went ahead and booked a brand-new Swift ZXI in Silky Silver.

The new daily!

This car takes the place of my new daily, with the 320d being promoted to weekend car status - thanks in no small measure to the wonderful road conditions post the flood.

With the big bro!

A dedicated thread will come on the Swift and the 320d, but for now back to my poor Ikon.

The End game

We got the car towed to my mechanic's garage, as we are still waiting for the insurance formalities to be done. In my mind though, I know for a fact that she cannot be restored to any reliable form of transportation - and this is a bitter pill to swallow.

Goodbye, my old friend!

And with that, my 8+ year ownership stint came to a very abrupt and watery end. I had hoped to hold on to my first car for as long as possible, but in the end nature, had a different plan.

I would like to conclude with a simple but important moral, everything in life happens for a reason and in the timing of the Universe - the Ikon came as my first car, kept me safe throughout my stupidity in my driving adolescence and when her time came, she silently accepted her fate. In all honesty and in retrospect, this was the only way that I would have parted ways with the Ikon....

Unfortunately, since I could not take one final drive in her, I would like to dedicate this post, on this esteemed forum, as my tribute to 9379!

Farewell my friend and Thank you for all the memories! You will be missed!

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