[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Purple Cheetah drove on the snow again for more than 20 km before, at and after Sela Pass while going from Dirang to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh today.

Fantastic stuff chief, what speeds were you maintaining when driving on the snow?

Did you face any moments due to a cold morning start?

Appears that you are yet to put up a TL so will keep the route queries away.

Originally Posted by ku69rd

what speeds were you maintaining when driving on the snow?

We were crawling in the first gear. Driving 145.8 km took 7.5 hours due to this crawling and traffic jams in almost all the hair-pin bends resulting in the average speed of 19 kmph and fuel efficiency of 9.2 kmpl! Purple Cheetah refused to crawl on the Sela Pass top in the first 3 aborted failed missions, spinning without traction. Finally, the Army personnel pushed from the rear and Purple Cheetah cleared the peak on the fourth attempt! The return journey was totally different as it was a sunny day without any traces of rain or snow. The icing [] on the cake was Sela Pass is open for public 24x7 throughout the year, snow or no snow as told by a Subedar in BRO!

Did you face any moments due to a cold morning start?

Never. Purple Cheetah started at the very first cranking at Tawang, the coldest place we visited in this trip.

[Heavy Horse]

Originally Posted by ampere

Just to confirm can you guys also confirm the FE externally. (Either a brim to brim fill) or a regular auto-cut-off fill at a regular bunk? Anything above 16 for 2L 140bhp SUV is awesome.

Hi Ampere, good to catch up with you. As usual you raise fundamental and if I may say, uncomfortable questions with unerring accuracy. I too raised this question a while back and I too received the answer below.

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

During my next Bangalore-Chennai drive, after getting 18.0 kmpl on the display, I will check up with tankful-to-tankful method, assess the actual FE and report here as well as to Mahindra!

Like you, I too am awaiting a reply

It's human nature to look for convenience, like reading a number off the dashboard, more so when it is flattering, irrespective of the fact that the number is an untruth, albeit a warm and cosy one.

Now for the facts, with brim-to-brim method that I follow:

Having covered 4667 kms, I have recorded a cumulative FE of 13.8 kmpl on highways.

Since August 7, 2014 I have been using a diesel additive ADON (see my post here). With that I have covered 5157 kms on highways with a cumulative FE of 15.3 kmpl.

Let me know what you think.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Heavy Horse

Having covered 4667 kms, I have recorded a cumulative FE of 13.8 kmpl on highways.

Since August 7, 2014 I have been using a diesel additive ADON (see my post here). With that I have covered 5157 kms on highways with a cumulative FE of 15.3 kmpl.

Let me know what you think.

This looks far more realistic. Especially with cruising in 6th gear and with engine at about 2000/2200 rpm, and vehicle running at 100/110 should ideally return such an FE. Thats what even I thought. Hence wanted to confirm.

Purple Cheetah was in India Garage, Guindy, Chennai from 9:30 am to 5:45 pm today for the fourth and paid servicing at 30 k km. Dirty Purple Cheetah has now become clean Purple Cheetah!

[fusionbang]

Awesome sir You are utilizing this beast to its fullest and I can say you are seriously conquering the country. Good to know you had an amazing trip for 21 days and you are really munching miles. Wish you more and more of these journeys sir.

Purple Cheetah recorded an overall fuel efficiency of 13.26 kmpl on tankful-to-tankful method. Not bad, considering the terrain traversed. The price of diesel was the lowest in Assam and highest in Andha Pradesh.


______________________________

Originally Posted by fusionbang

Awesome

Thanks for the appreciation, wishes and nice words, fusionbang.

[Heavy Horse]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Purple Cheetah recorded an overall fuel efficiency of 13.26 kmpl on tankful-to-tankful method. Not bad, considering the terrain traversed.

Raviji thanks for sharing the FE data and other details of your wonderful trip. The FE data confirms once again that real FE is significantly lower than what the dashboard displays.

Originally Posted by Heavy Horse

Raviji thanks for sharing the FE data and other details of your wonderful trip.

Thanks a lot, Heavy Horse.

The FE data confirms once again that real FE is significantly lower than what the dashboard displays.

Purple Cheetah does not have individual fuel efficiency records separately for two trip meters. So, I reserve my comments until my next Bangalore-Chennai trip, when I shall compare both the MID and tankful-to-tankful figures.

[SumitB]

Wonderfully narrated Sir! Can you share details of the route you took to get to Tezpur from Siliguri and Siliguri from Guwahati?

[Heavy Horse]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

I reserve my comments until my next Bangalore-Chennai trip, when I shall compare both the MID and tankful-to-tankful figures.

Actually your trip data covering almost 7500 kms is fantastic given the huge amount of kilometres travelled. As you point out, 13.26 kmpl is understated due to the largely hilly terrain that you covered.

Look forward to additional data. Bangalore-Chennai is 350 kms, which is 5% of the data you shared, but being on flatland, it should be interesting.

Originally Posted by SumitB

Wonderfully narrated Sir!

Thanks for the appreciation, SumitB.

Can you share details of the route you took to get to Tezpur from Siliguri and Siliguri from Guwahati?

Sure. I drove in these parts in April, 2012. At that time, the roads in Hasimara, Falakatta, Koch Behar, Tufanganj were really in bad shape. The Bongaigaon-Guwahati 4-laning was incomplete. On the contrary, the Guwahati-Goalpara road was very good.

In this trip, I descended from Rangpo in the night and took Coronation Bridge>Sevok>Malbazar>Hasimara>Bongaigaon>Nalbari to reach Ginger Hotels, Guwahati. After two nights' stay, we proceeded to Tawang via Nagaon>Tezpur. Here is the route.



The roads via Hasimara are very good all the way to Shrirampur. The 4-laning of Shrirampur>Bongaigaon>Guwahati section is incomplete. There were umpteen number of diversions without any warning or signage. At one place after Bongaigaon, I drove only to find a gaping valley in front of me as the old bridge was demolished, new bridge is yet to come up, without any sign of construction activity or warning or signage for diversion. At that time itself, I decided not take that route for my return journey.

While returning, I drove from Tawang to Kaziranga. After two nights' stay there, I drove via Nagaon bypass>Guwahati bypass>Goalpara bypass>Abhayapuri>Bongaigaon>Shrirampur>Hasimara>P owerGrid Vidyutnagar>Bagdogra. I discussed with few taxi drivers at Kaziranga. They advised me to avoid Tufanganj and to take right after Abhayapuri. This was the route I took for my return journey. We had left Kaziranga at 12 noon and reached Bagdogra by 2:15 am the next day. Rain and thunderstorm accompanied us from Hasimara onwards. I remembered seeing PowerGrid township on my right before reaching Bagdogra totally bypassing Siliguri.

This was the route traversed by Purple Cheetah:

Purple Cheetah had its share of adventure in Sikkim by way of ice-skating, a few km after Thambi View Point, Zuluk, East Sikkim.



We were on our way to the Old Silk Route from Gangtok on 9 April 2015. At Ranipool, I saw a group of riders of Royal Enfield from Karnataka, overtaking me in the morning. I met them at Lingtam check-post in the afternoon, where the police verified our inner-line permits and entered the details in their register. I introduced myself to them and we had tea together. Later, we overtook each other at many places including Padamchey check-post and Thambi View Point.



After Thambi View Point, the road was covered with snow. I drove very carefully until I saw a Tata Sumo cab parked facing us. I asked the cab driver, where I could take a U turn as the road was very narrow. He informed me that a few hundred metres ahead, the road was very wide, where I could easily do U turn. After this, I started driving in the first gear very slowly, slightly turned towards my left so as to leave a gap between our vehicles. At that point of time, Purple Cheetah left my control and started sliding towards left. No amount of manoeuvre could change the direction and Purple Cheetah straight away went to the road-side drain filled with snow upto the brim with two wheels on the left in deep snow and the remaining two on the road.



I tried my best in pulling out Purple Cheetah from the deep snow, but in vain. I did forward and reverse driving, but Purple Cheetah won't budge. Then, the cabbie tried his best; even he could not rescue Purple Cheetah. Then, I took out the nylon rope with tow-hook. He attached it to Purple Cheetah and his Sumo. But, Sumo could not pull out XUV 500 either from the front or back. Then, I thanked and requested him to carry on as he had a lot of passengers including ladies and kids.



Then, the Samaritans came in the guise of Royal Enfield riders from Karnataka, whom I had been meeting frequently from the morning! All the eight of them pushed from behind with me behind the wheel. But, again, Purple Cheetah did not want to come out of the snow-pit. Before departing, the cab driver informed us to seek the help of Indian Army, whose check-post was just a km away from where we got stranded. The leader of the group volunteered to ride to the Army post to seek their assistance and left the place on his Royal Enfield.

By that time, it started snowing heavily. I asked my wife to sit inside Purple Cheetah, so that she would not freeze in the sub-zero temperature. Purple Cheetah was idling with ACC set at 26 deg C. After a half-hour or so, the riders' leader came back with the bad news that there was no towing truck available in the Army post. Any help could be expected by the next day morning only. The riders' leader offered us lift upto Zuluk, where we could stay for that night and rescue Purple Cheetah in the next morning. So, I sat pillion in one Royal Enfield, my wife sat in the other and we rode towards Zuluk, the nearest village. En route, while crossing an Army post near Thambi View Point, we stopped by to explore the possibilities of any assistance there. There were 3 Army personnel guarding that check-post. One Mr Prakasa Rao told us that they were not equipped with towing truck and suggested us to go to Zuluk Army base and try there. While we were discussing, we heard a sound and turned only to see a big Army truck approaching us!

The officer, who was seated in the front asked the riders' leader as to who was the driver of a XUV 500 that got stranded a few km away. Then, I stepped out and introduced myself. His second question was, why there were nobody near the stranded vehicle after lodging a request. The riders' leader replied to him about the non-availability of rescue vehicle, so we were returning to Zuluk. The officer informed us that they received our SOS by wireless, arranged a rescue-truck, visited the place where XUV 500 got stranded and started enquiring all the cabbies about our whereabouts. Luckily, one cabbie informed them that a group of riders just passed by a few minutes back, so they started chasing and caught us, when we were discussing the action plan at the Army check-post.

Then, the officer instructed the check-post Army personnel to see that my wife remained comfortable there and asked me to hop into their rescue-truck. I shook hands and thanked the Royal Enfield riders and went with the Army personnel to the place where Purple Cheetah got straned. En route, they asked a cabbie to accompany us, while his passengers clicked photographs.



We reached the place where Purple Cheetah got stranded. They had only a chain and did not have a rope. I gave my nylon rope with a tow-hook. They attached it to Purple Cheetah and the rescue-truck. I was asked to sit behind the wheel of Purple Cheetah, start the engine keeping it in neutral with hand-brake released. The rescue operation lasted barely a few seconds. It was as easy as taking out a book from a row of stacked books in a shelf!



Purple Cheetah was towed for a few hundred metres by the rescue-truck, where the road became wide. There, the nylon rope was detached and handed over to me. The Army personnel clicked a photograph of me and Purple Cheetah for their record. I requested the accompanying cabbie to click a pic of me, Purple Cheetah with the Army personnel for this thread! The Army officer requested the cabbie to drive along with me until the snow cleared to ensure safety of me and Purple Cheetah! I shook hand with all the Army personnel and thanked them.

I took a U turn, dropped the cabbie at the place where his cab was parked with his passengers clicking photographs, stopped at the Army check-post, thanked Mr Prakasa Rao and his colleagues including one Stalin from Dindigul for all their help, picked up my wife, who was very comfortable there after having tea with them and continued my drive to Rangpo en route Guwahati.

Hats off to the Indian Army and the Royal Enfield riders from Karnataka for rescuing me, the missus and the stranded Purple Cheetah without any injury, bruise or damage!

[ravib]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Purple Cheetah had its share of adventure in Sikkim by way of ice-skating, a few km after Thambi View Point, Zuluk, East Sikkim.

Wow ! Glad to know that you and your family and Purple Cheetah were rescued safely !

Hats off to Indian Army and the Royal Enfield riders from KA.

-Ravi

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