Gurgaon - Sahnewal - Gurgaon

It was waiting somewhere in the corner of my mind and finally had it's opportunity to come out over this weekend. The wife and I decided for a LONG DRIVE TRIP..... a trip to Sahnewal which is 16km before Ludiana, by our car.

With a total distance of 335km (305 km from Delhi and an additional 30 km to reach the NH1 point at Azadpur from Gurgaon), the trip was really on!!

The Preparations

Nothing much really!! The car was ready to rock an roll without any prior notice. Just had the babe's tummy filled up with gas (with the odo reading 1475km) and that's it. The amount of gas filled was 27.5l. I did hire a driver for the trip as I was foreseeing a late night drive on our way back and therefore thought it would be safe to have experience behind the wheels!!

The wife prepared the meal for the journey (had a little chirp over that too!!) and off we were.

Start Time : 8:30 am, Saturday, 24th, January, 2009.

The Forward Journey

It took a little bit extra in Delhi as we went off map a bit and got lost!! :) but soon we found our track back and so did we find the NHAI - the NH1. After that it was straight.

The first toll came when the distance read at Ludhiana - 290km.... and after that it was pure fun!!

People say that Hyudai i10 Kappa is a light car and is can get shaken when passed by other vehicles at high speeds, but I didn't notice anything. The driver was handling the car quite fine and the car was just zooming through like a speeding bullet!! The speedo showed a speed of 90kmph, but it felt as if it was already past 110kmph.

The light weight (but not so light) of the car makes it more zippy and fun to ride. The McPherson Strut front suspension and the CTBA (with coil spring) rear suspension worked like magic and made the overall ride experience absolutely hassle free. But at the same time the car behaved rock solid at high speeds with the complete bulk of the car moving downwards, and there no sign of any havoc.

End Time : 2:30 pm, Saturday, 24th, January, 2009.

It took around 6hr non-stop to reach to the destination, where we were greeted by the smiling face of my Mother-in-Law (wow!! that's some smile the lady has!!).

The car showed no signs of any glitches what so ever in the entire journey. The max speed touched was 120 kmph.

While in Sahnewal the car worked amazing around the tight nooks and corners (and all credits to the driver for maneuvering and handling the car so smoothly).

After a day's stay, it was time to head back Gurgaon.

Start Time : 11:30 pm, Sunday, 25th, January, 2009.

The Backward Journey

The Oil Indicator needle was stationed a couple of threads over the End mark and therefore had the car's tummy filled with gas (with the odo reading 2003km). Again this time too... I took 27.5l of gas, and then straight away marched ahead....

So, by that standard, in the first fill, the car gave me an overall mileage of that the car gave me was - 19.2 km/l on highway!!

But this time the conditions were entirely different. There was fog..... lots and lots of fog. Both the driver and I had apprehensions in our mind about the fog, but the driver said that he would manage it.

The best strategy in such situation was to go behind any Tourist Bus or Truck. And we did just that.... On and off, the fog was getting cleared for a while and we just shot ahead of the traffic. The most dense fog cover occurred when we were about the touch Delhi......

We were not able to see anything just in front of the front bumper!!! It was that thick. But all kudos to the driver who handled the situation and car superbly.

End Time : 7:00 am, Monday, 26th, January, 2009.

took around 7.5 hr in our backward journey owing to the dense fog, but still it was a great learning experience seeing the driver drive in such situations!!

Since we reached early morning I was really hoping that I would be going for a Test Drive of the New Hyundai i20, but the overnight journey left me wanting of some sleep!! (Well the test drive's on the card very soon!!)

Over all it was an out an out fun and great learning experience, both from driving perspective and from the personal perspective.

The point which this journey made clear to me that, no matter what sphere of life it is... the better you hug your journey...... the better are your chances of success and finding true happiness!!