[Gannu_1]

We did a Chennai – Trivandrum trip last week to attend a friend’s wedding and except for the terrible single-laned roads between Cherthala and Trivandrum, we loved this drive! Mostly so because some of us were meeting after a LONG time!

This was the route:



On Thursday, we had an appointment with the Palakkad RTO for the registration change. All the relevant documents (Form 20, Form 33, PUC, original smart card, insurance copy, NOC) were duly filled and submitted to the RTO. He checked the VAHAN website (link) for the status of the vehicle and it showed that NOC has been taken from Surat RTO. He suggested that the registration amount (approx. Rs. 58k) be paid at the counter and the vehicle be brought in for inspection the next day. Since we had to leave for the trip the same day afternoon, we postponed this activity for another time probably during September.

We departed for Thrissur on Thursday afternoon as I had to catch up with a close friend and stayed overnight there. Resumed the journey the next day, picked up a friend from Koratty and another one from Cochin Airport, fueled up and the fun started!

All smiles after picking up Vaibhav from Cochin Airport:



But I have to admit, the route from Cherthala to Trivandrum is terrible! It’s a single laned road and there were potholes and patch work everywhere. I cannot imagine how the capital city is linked with the rest of the state this way. We started from Thrissur around 10:30 AM and reached our destination at Statue, Trivandrum around 8:30 PM.

The wedding was scheduled for Saturday and the muhurtham was scheduled between 12:30 and 1 PM. We ate the sadhya (banquet) before the muhurtham (how’s that for a change?! ), attended the muhurtham, clicked a few snaps with the newlyweds and departed at 1 PM after checking out from the hotel. A friend had to catch a flight from Cochin at 10 PM and we were hurrying up knowing that it took us a good 6 hours from Edapally junction till Trivandrum the previous day. He quickly got the web check-in done through the phone before the 3G network died out on him!

As we entered Alleppey, Google Maps showed a long 4 km stretch in blood red and we quickly decided to take some random bylanes to avoid this block. Glad we did that as we bypassed this block completely and entered the main road in less than 20 minutes. All the four friends were on Google maps and Here maps helping me navigate through this mess! Thanks to the terrible roads, we were averaging 33 kmph for the stretch between Trivandrum and Cherthala – no kidding! That is, 200 km covered in 6 hours. Had this been 4-laned roads, we could have shaved off at least 2 hours if not more. We didn’t see any signs of expansion work happening here either. And I’ve decided not to go close to these roads ever in the next decade!

And as we were entering Ernakulam, we saw Vytilla and Edapally junctions having a huge block. We took the seaport-airport road after diverting from Maradu and some random bylanes entering the main road at Kalamassery. Finally made it to the departure terminal at 9:10 PM. Man, this was some drive – I breathed a huge sigh of relief after dropping him.

The remaining four of us ate dinner from a hotel adjacent to the airport and left for Palakkad. Dropped a friend at Koratty, another one at the Mannuthy bypass, drove through the Kuthiran stretch around 11 PM and reached our Palakkad home around 12 AM. Crashed, woke up around 8 AM, had a quick shower and a brekkie and left for Chennai at 10 AM. Paused for lunch around 2 PM at Saisangeet, Thoppur and a break at Walajahpet toll and reached our Chennai home around 6:45 PM.

Some trip stats:







With 5 people onboard (including a massive 6 footer!) and almost 400 kg of load, she pulled like a locomotive! Overtaking on the single laned stretches and getting a head start at the traffic signals – really left my friends impressed.

In other news, I am yet to receive the heavy duty strut mounts. I plan to install the new struts after I receive the mounts. That’s all for now.

[Gannu_1]

Got some spare time today and we hooked up the front parking sensors with the new OPS module. Yet to install the switch on the front dash which will be done later.

The new OPS module which supports 8 channels:



The changed splash screen on the RCD 510:



Everything worked as expected - VCDS (v12.12) recognised the module instantly without the need of any security codes or access. The front sensors have a different beep sound compared to the rear sensors since they now have independent speakers. Very easy mod and something that will come in handy when you do a lot of kerb/parallel parking. Will put up a guide when I find some spare time. Have clicked some snaps.

I was really skeptical if the front parking sensors would work properly since they were installed on the bumper almost 6 months back (link) before I left Navsari and I had no clue if the paint on the sensors were applied correctly. There's some max. micron level of the paint that the OEM advises which has to be applied. Anything more and the sensor would refuse to work. I am glad they worked without issues. I made the harness all by myself by sourcing the connectors and terminals separately.

We also went for a late night drive yesterday (left at 2 AM, returned by 3:30 AM after a 60 km drive) to get familiarised with some important places here - airport, railway station, beach etc. Lovely drive. Will do more of these in the coming weeks.

[Gannu_1]

Crossed another milestone today:

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

We did a Chennai – Trivandrum trip last week to attend a friend’s wedding and except for the terrible single-laned roads between Cherthala and Trivandrum, we loved this drive! Mostly so because some of us were meeting after a LONG time!

Why drive through Coimbatore/Kerala for Trivandrum? You can do : Chennai-Trichy-Madurai-Nagarcoil-TVM

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by ampere

Why drive through Coimbatore/Kerala for Trivandrum? You can do : Chennai-Trichy-Madurai-Nagarcoil-TVM

Here's my response from another thread:

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Thanks!

I have an appointment with the Palakkad RTO (for the registration change from GJ to KL) and meeting a friend at Thrissur on Thursday. Also have to pick up a friend from Koratty and another friend from Nedumbassery airport en route to Trivandrum.

The original plan was via Nagercoil from Chennai with a stopover at Madurai.

How about the speedguns on the way from Thrissur to Ernakulam? Have they revised the speed limits from 80 to 90 kmph? I heard something of that sort from a couple of friends sometime back.

[Turbohead]

Any specific reason why you take the Krishnagiri route instead of the Ulundurpet route?( Between Chennai and Salem)

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by Turbohead

Any specific reason why you take the Krishnagiri route instead of the Ulundurpet route?( Between Chennai and Salem)

If I choose that route, the Vandalur-Guduvanchery stretch will be a crawlfest around 8-9 PM - the time when I usually depart my home at Iyyappanthangal. Whereas on this Krishnagiri route, it gets a lot better after Sriperumbudur and the roads become 6-laned after the second toll booth after 90 km. The route till Ulundurpet (which I take for my trips to Madurai) is a 4-laned road as well - the resultant average speeds are a lot lesser.

[antardaksh]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Got some spare time today and we hooked up the front parking sensors with the new OPS module.

Hi Gannu,

Could you please tell if there is any difference between the module you have installed and 7e0 919 475 J. Most of the listings on Aliexrpess have this as the OPS module in kit.

Regards.

[shibujp]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Have also ordered some heavy duty front strut mounts from ECS Tuning. Hopefully, they will be here by next week.

Are the ones you ordered the same as in this link (https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ecs-part.../015102ecs01a/)

These seem to have three bolt holes at the corners. However in the OE strut mount the strut seems to be fastened with just one central bolt.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by antardaksh

Hi Gannu,

Could you please tell if there is any difference between the module you have installed and 7e0 919 475 J. Most of the listings on Aliexrpess have this as the OPS module in kit.

Regards.

The last letter usually denotes the version of the component with the later ones implying its a newer version with a revised firmware (if there's one i.e.). You can ask the dealer to provide you with version L if you insist him to. The dealer from whom I sourced the module was Landsounds Inc, contact person Tank Tao.

Originally Posted by shibujp

Are the ones you ordered the same as in this link

Nope, this one - https://www.ecstuning.com/ES3089117/

[shibujp]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Nope, this one - https://www.ecstuning.com/ES3089117/

Attachment 1552842

Okay. Those are the right mounts. Have you started getting clunky sounds from your suspension or are you just doing a preventive replacement? I asked because my front suspension has become noisy and I am trying to find our the source of the problem.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[V.Narayan]

Dear Gannu_1, first congratulations on completing 80,000 kms in less than 3 years. That's a lot of driving each month especially as you are doing most of it yourself. Thank you for your very comprehensive and unpretentious posts and style. I notice that at times our owner's review threads lose steam and wither, sometimes they are pretentious trying to position and posture and still sometimes they are like facebook with a minute by minute rendition! But you have succeeded to keep it interesting and informative through 57 pages and still delight your fans. This is the best owners review on Team BHP. Happy motoring my friend.
-Narayan

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by shibujp

Okay. Those are the right mounts. Have you started getting clunky sounds from your suspension or are you just doing a preventive replacement? I asked because my front suspension has become noisy and I am trying to find our the source of the problem.

Drive on,
Shibu.

Are you getting tak tak sounds from the front suspension when going over uneven surfaces?

I would highly recommend powerflex purple or similar top suspension mount for the Polo/Vento if you are on stock suspension or even Bilstein B6. These top mounts really change the way the car handles around corners and the change in steering response which becomes sharper.

I have used them in Polo (first powerflex black and then purple) with stock suspension and the Octavia Mk1 (which shares the same bush) with Bilstein B6 and it made a great difference with no negatives in ride.

We put the same top mount bush in the Vento with positive results. Later the suspension in the Vento was changed to B14, the B14 and powerflex (purple) combination was too hard for ride comfort so went back to stock.

I would not recommend aftermarket poly bushes in any other places like lower arms or rear torsion beam, but for the top mount in Polo and Octy its good.

For the rear axle i recommend this:
http://www.pimpmyskoda.co.uk/Guides/RearAxleBush.htm

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by shibujp

Have you started getting clunky sounds from your suspension or are you just doing a preventive replacement?

During the 75K service, the SA remarked that the front shocks may require replacement during the next service as he had seen some oil marks leaked outside the damper. I had in my mind, the idea to swap these out with the B6 for sometime so I think everything fell in place. But no sounds anywhere on the inside or outside. *touchwood*

Speaking of which, I am yet to receive the ECS bushes and it is almost a month since they were dispatched! I can't seem to track it either. I just hope the package isn't lost in transit!

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Dear Gannu_1, first congratulations

Thank you.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

That's a lot of driving each month especially as you are doing most of it yourself.

All of it rather!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

But you have succeeded to keep it interesting and informative through 57 pages and still delight your fans. This is the best owners review on Team BHP.

Indeed it is a wonderful thread --- and I thought so even before I actually owned a GT TDI


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