This is what holidays in E do...

[S350L-E240]

All the way high up in the mountain,
A valley view right up front,
Everything just perfect,
but was mentally tired due to the car,

And it seems like the dealer was not there this weekend,
So was just hoping for something good or atleast nothing bad to happen to the car,I called ahmedabad and the service manager said it was ok if i drove it and he'll have it checked the first thing i get back,The next thing,Was out with 2 other guys,Up on a mango tree,now that im away from home,no more trying to be formal,The monkeyness in us was out,
Rushed down the hill on the mango tree,And had about 12 kg's of mangoes for just 14 people,

That evening was meant to drink and get wasted,But the weather and last nights lack of sleep had most of us in bed like babies,next day early morning woke up at around 6,
Had planned to click some nice pics of my car at sunrise,
But the road was closed on the way to Guru Shikar,one of the highest mountain peaks,Also a place from where pakistan border is visible on a clear day,

So took the car around and found an abandoned bus stand,
With a few old tickets around,lol,And the result was gorgeous pics,Some of which you will see,Thanx a lot to a friend of mine, Sahil who contributed most of the ideas,it was my first attempt at good photos,But i made a mistake of not setting the resolution to high,And ended up with these small pics,
Still i guess im fine as long as i know i can do better now,
ofcourse now i dont want to give you guys the details about what all we did so ill stick to auto related stuff,Saturday night is something GTO would love,A guy called Ronnie' takes 800 Rs, And in his wills jeep,he takes you out for a pure WILDLIFE offroading,we started at about 1 am sunday morning,
Spotted a few wild boars, hyenas, and not sure if one of them was a panther,The night was dark and 6 of us in this jeep going thru a roller coaster ride,Esp when he had the car climb over a rock and back down which he said was an angle of 74 degree,Now i dunno the real thing but i can tell you it was steep,Loved the way the jeep held the surface,An experience all of u'll shud go thru,believe me then next Team-Bhp meet shud be in mount abu,And lol lemme be the host,

And then the night ended at 4 .AM when we got back,
And well sunday ofcourse being a sad day since we had to leave,Also didnt know what my car wud be upto,While climbin the slope down the car just never went into higher gears,Stuck to 1 or 2 cause it cud feel it not go down smooth,
Also when id break it wudnt downshift early,So made things hard,Also had one sick lady,So had to be careful and not make her throw up,And down on the plains things were worst,
When even at 80 km/ph the car wudnt break well,And keep skidding as if it's being pushed away,

But well had great fun over all,
All i can say is,
It's the first time,
When i got back home,
I was tired,

And mind you all,
This is a mercedes benz E,
Just out 2 years back worldwide,

And it gave me a driving experience which could have been better in the Fiat,Now off it goes to the workshop,Hope they give me a good reason for all this,

Some points :

1. Once when i braked @ 145 km/ph the car atchually went sideways, I dont know if this is due to engine power,
2. The entire slope downwards my fuel efficiency was @ 35/100
3. The best mileage was before palanpur on my way to mount abu, it showed 11/100 @ 140 kmph mostly,
4. Used about 110 L of fuel @ 506 kms.


Pics are on my other post,

[GTO]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]
A guy called Ronnie' takes 800 Rs, And in his wills jeep,
he takes you out for a pure WILDLIFE offroading,

You said it, I would drive their for this jungle experience alone.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]which he said was an angle of 74 degree,

Impossible. Not even a Hummer can climb over an incline of 74 degrees. Its like driving up a brick wall.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Also didnt know what my car wud be upto,
While climbin the slope down the car just never went into higher gears,
Stuck to 1 or 2 cause it cud feel it not go down smooth,
Also when id break it wudnt downshift early,

Precisely the reason I would never ever buy an automatic (560 SEL excluded). My grey cells are better than a silicon chip, when deciding which gear to use.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ] Once when i braked @ 145 km/ph the car atchually went sideways, I dont know if this is due to engine power,

That is SCARY! I have braked my C from 160 in a panic stop, and it was stable as hell. I was impressed.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]
2. The entire slope downwards my fuel efficiency was @ 35/100
3. The best mileage was before palanpur on my way to mount abu, it showed 11/100 @ 140 kmph mostly,
4. Used about 110 L of fuel @ 506 kms.

What!! You averaged 2.85 km/liter of petrol on the way DOWN! How much did the display show you on the way UP?

Also your round-trip average of 4.6 seems way low to me. I have averaged 11's on my trips to Nasik in the C, and obviously much higher than that on the expressway.

GTO

[S350L-E240]

GTO,
Yes the Jungle experience and spotting animals was a great experience,
And abt the angle, like i said i have no idea but he went on blabbering so i was like yeah ok just drive man,
And about not buying the automatic, i dunno man things were never like this, have to find out what these twats are upto,

Yes braking was scary i never went above 120 after that,

And the mileage,
Yeah im still crying,
Going up was about 22.xx/100

[Jaggu]

[quote=[b]Quote[/b] (GTO @ June 07 2004,15:21)]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]

Impossible. Not even a Hummer can climb over an incline of 74 degrees. Its like driving up a brick wall.

[GTO

its possible, i recently did the Ford show and they had a 70deg incline which was easily handled by a endavour.. straight forward and on the return only one side climbing at that angle..

[Jaggu]

this is what i was mentioning, if u look close at the back drop u can see a hoarding and one mud ramp, its almost as high as the vehicle itself, u can drive over it n then coming back take it side ways.. only thing to keep in mind is u have to take it real slow or topple the car..

[GTO]

I'd love to see that endeavour in action, which beat a Hummer. According to General Motors (the new owners of Hummer), the Hummer H1 can manage ONLY a 60 percent incline or decline.

Dont believe that dealers tell you

Heres the GM - Hummer Link

GTO

[Jaggu]

oops my mistake.. it was "The track has slush pits, Rumblers, Sand traps, a 45 degree sandy incline, steep gradient, assorted "berms and chicanes" to help drivers experience the drive dynamics, suspension and braking power of the vehicle." i had the article saved somwhere.. stand corrected to 45 deg..

[Rtech]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]had the article saved somwhere.. stand corrected to 45 deg

lol...i was gonna say that the mud ramp there didn't look anything close to a 75 degree incline!

[Revvmaster]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (GTO @ June 07 2004,15:21)][

What!! You averaged 2.85 km/liter of petrol on the way DOWN! How much did the display show you on the way UP?

Also your round-trip average of 4.6 seems way low to me. I have averaged 11's on my trips to Nasik in the C, and obviously much higher than that on the expressway.

GTO

Well S350, GTOs concern about your E also has got me thinking.

At just 3 kmpl, i really think you have some deep trouble. Cuz i expect the E to give you atleast 5-6 even in hard driving as all the other magazines have achieved. Infact it should be so since you are going downhill, the momentum of the car would make the engine work less in comparison to even on a flat terrain. So therefore you should be achieving a pretty decent average. Unless you were braking hard at every curve, which could lead to such results.

Do check your car during servicing the next time around and ask your technician if the car can go that low. Cuz frankly at close to 3 kmpl you are in E55 territory which has nearly 3 times the power in your E.

Revv

P.S. What fuel did you use during the trip?

[S350L-E240]

Revv,
I was driving very safe and well,
Remember i had a sick person in the car,
Ill send the car tomm,
Cuz today they cudnt manage a driver,
Well it stil does not go below 3000 Rpm,

I used indian oil premium,