[Seran Manian]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Purple Cheetah brought me and wife safely and comfortably to our Chennai Royapettah home at 4:05 am today after an adventurous trip of 1868.8 km. We had left our Bangalore Basaveswara Nagar home at 10:25 pm last night.


Now, Purple Cheetah is ready for the second free service.

Oh. Great. You are born to Drive I suppose. Your family is blessed to have an enthusiastic and safe driver like you who also loves touring. Keep revving. All the best.

I also loved the way you handled incident (the accident) very well and managed it in a nice way to avoid it affecting you tour schedule.

[Vasuki]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

I handed over Purple Cheetah to Sai Colorium at 9:30 am on 22 August 2014 and got it back yesterday afternoon at 1 pm. The bill amounted to ₹16 k including replacement of RHS tail lamp assembly. Since the no-claim bonus I enjoy is almost the same, I decided not to claim insurance. Purple Cheetah got back its original shape and colour, thanks to Sai Colorium.

Sorry to hear about the mishap. Anyways glad to hear you all are safe. Take care.

It takes a great amount of grit to continue with the trip after such mishap. Hats Off.

[sagarpadaki]

Good to see your cheetah is fixed properly. Although the color matching is excellent,Sai colorium is notorious was leaving paint overspray on other panels.Basically many panels like roof , door and all will have a rough feel, like moving your hand on a sand paper. even when the surface looks smooth. Check it out after a wash. If all the remaining surfaces are smooth then you are lucky

Somehow i am finding it hard to believe that a Innova rear ending a bus caused the bus to come and hit you even though the bus had braked in advance. The Innova's damage does not look like a high speed damage looking at the pics. For it to hit the bus and move it with sufficient force to move the bus and the bus to hit you it should have had huge momentum. Looks like the bus guy had not completely stopped but stepped on the accelerator in panic when he was hit from behind and then rammed into your XUV

[fusionbang]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Purple Cheetah brought me and wife safely and comfortably to our Chennai Royapettah home at 4:05 am today after an adventurous trip of 1868.8 km. We had left our Bangalore Basaveswara Nagar home at 10:25 pm last night.

The accident:

Sir, sorry to hear about the incident to your pet, thank god it was a small one and you were safe inside the car.

Also a nice move by avoiding all those mishap with the policemen and the bus driver and continue your journey. But I am sure you would have had a feeling towards your car from the incident during the entire trip, till it was fixed and back to form.

[Sree_hari82]

Very sorry to hear about this incident. I hope this incident does not stall your purple cheetah from Leh and Ladakh trip

Thanks a lot for the soothing and comforting words, guys.

Originally Posted by Seran Manian

I also loved the way you handled incident (the accident) very well and managed it in a nice way to avoid it affecting you tour schedule.

I did not want to spend my money, energy and time to pursue the case and get compensation from the bus driver. So, I took the easy way out to enjoy my holidays as planned.

Originally Posted by Vasuki

It takes a great amount of grit to continue with the trip after such mishap. Hats Off.

Call it a fate or misfortune or attribute it to theory of probability, I roughly calculated the monetary loss and decided to absorb the loss instead of spending time with cops and courts.

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Check it out after a wash. If all the remaining surfaces are smooth then you are lucky

I think, my erstwhile Linea and Purple Cheetah are both lucky. I did not find any bad workmanship so far.

Somehow i am finding it hard to believe that a Innova rear ending a bus caused the bus to come and hit you even though the bus had braked in advance.

I concentrated more on the auto-rickshaw by honking continuously to get my right of way. So, I did not observe the bus coming too close before hitting Purple Cheetah's rear. Had I noticed the bus coming too close on my O/IRVM, I would have turbo-charged Purple Cheetah to zoom out!

Originally Posted by fusionbang

But I am sure you would have had a feeling towards your car from the incident during the entire trip, till it was fixed and back to form.

Until yesterday afternoon, when I saw Purple Cheetah regaining its original form and shade, I was not alright.

Originally Posted by Sree_hari82

I hope this incident does not stall your purple cheetah from Leh and Ladakh trip

Purple Cheetah's Ladakh and HP visit stands. Here is my tentative schedule:



The usual disclaimer clauses and terms and conditions apply. I have prepared this schedule based on my previous experience, tailor-made for my requirement. This time around, I have not reserved my accommodation in advance in any place. Let me see how it works out to in reality!

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Splendid Ravi Sir, wish you all the very best for your visit.

Thanks a lot for the wishes, MK.

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Purple Cheetah's Ladakh and HP visit stands. Here is my tentative schedule:

Splendid Ravi Sir, wish you all the very best for your visit. Looks a very much a reasonable drive. Very sorry to read about your Car getting rear ended. Hopefully the finish stays good.

[aneezan]

Excellent review and detailing Ravi sir. Truly shows the love for your XUV. All the best for your expedition in September. Await your travelogue.

[mpksuhas]

Sad to hear about the accident, only bright spot from the pics as far as I was concerned was the damage on Innova. Hope the driver takes makes amend to his driving henceforth.

Awaiting your Leh travelogue.

I ordered Draper Expert tool kits from amazon.co.uk as I like them very much. These tool kits have reached my daughter at France. No customs duty is applicable within EU. My daughter will bring them with her in October 2014-end. I paid ₹ 9,359.37 through my credit card. Just wanted to retire decade-old Taparia open/ring spanners so that they can remain at home. These glittering new hi-torque tools will occupy Purple Cheetah's boot.

Draper Expert combination spanner set

Draper Expert ratchet socket set








____________________________________

Originally Posted by aneezan

All the best for your expedition in September.

Thanks a lot for the wishes, aneezan.

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Sad to hear about the accident, only bright spot from the pics as far as I was concerned was the damage on Innova.

Thank you very much, mpksuhas. The Innova driver was the most vociferous of all. He wanted compensation for rear-ending the bus! One thing I must mention here is that Purple Cheetah did not shake at all when the bus hit its back. I just heard the sound. That speaks a lot about the build strength of Purple Cheetah.

[hamster]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Of all the three waterfalls, I would rate Thirparappu the best because of quantum of water and force and very less crowd.

Glad that you enjoyed the Thirparapu Falls which is also known popularly known as Kumari Kutralam.

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Then, our return journey started. Originally, we were scheduled to return to Chennai. But, I changed the destination to Bangalore just to get Purple Cheetah back to its original shape. I took Kulasekaram>Aralvaimozhi>Vadakkankulam route to reach NH 7 totally avoiding Nagercoil. We had our evening tiffin at Arya's at Satthur bypass and reached Bangalore home non-stop at 1 am on 22 August 2014.

I always would be tempted to suggest this route to avoid the mess at my native(Nagercoil).
How was the stretch between Kulasekaram->Aralvaimozhi. I am sure it would have been scenic, but how is the tarmac ? If the tarmac is good, I am sure it would be a better alternative for people taking Bangalore-Nagercoil-Trivandrum route.

Hats off on your enthusiasm and the detailed reported. Will be eagerly awaiting your Leh report Sir

[A350XWB]

It is sad to see that your Purple Cheetah had to suffer because of some others' fault. But the restoration seems to be done nicely, atleast from the pictures. A good rubbing and polishing should eliminate rough surfaces due to painting, if there are any. Also happy to see that the build of XUV is not so flimsy.
Good set of tools you have ordered and eagerly waiting for the travelogue, after your Ladakh trip

Purple Cheetah had its second servicing done at India Garage, Guindy, today. I handed over Purple Cheetah at 8:40 am and got it back at 4 pm. Some differences I noticed: consumable charges are less now at ₹ 350 [earlier cost ₹ 500] and the disposable covers are not charged [earlier cost ₹ 56.77].





Now, Purple Cheetah is ready for its maiden Ladakh & HP trip.
____________________________

Originally Posted by hamster

Glad that you enjoyed the Thirparapu Falls which is also known popularly known as Kumari Kutralam.

Thanks, hamster. I was dreaming to bathe at Thirparappu waterfalls since many years, which became a reality now.

How was the stretch between Kulasekaram->Aralvaimozhi. I am sure it would have been scenic, but how is the tarmac ?

The tarmac and road conditions are good generally barring a few bad stretches, but that was very negligible compared to the beautiful road that winds through rubber plantations and paddy fields. The traffic volume is very less. Yes, I will take this route [Vadakkankulam>Aralvaimozhi>Kulasekaram>Poovar>Kova lam>Thiruvanthapuram] to drive to Thiruvananthapuram from Chennai/Bangalore.

Originally Posted by A350XWB

But the restoration seems to be done nicely, atleast from the pictures.

That's why I didn't want to take chance with anybody else.

Good set of tools you have ordered

Thanks for the compliments, A350XWB.

[live2drive]

It seems they have added the mesh type A/C filter. Mahindra have introduced a newer filter (paper and not Nylon/plastic mesh). As per the RM, the newer design is better at trapping the dust particles and thus keeping the coil cleaner.
I would have got it replaced during my last visit but they had no stock. Will get it done during the 30K service.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

the deadly 2-laned Madurai bypass road

For future, if you are going anywhere south of Tirumangalam. You could use Trichy-Dindigul route as opposed to the Melur route. It takes about the same time (have done both on a given trip and it took 2:15 from TVS tollgate to bypass turnoff), adds about 10-15 km which is compensated by one less toll. What it will give you is peace of mind while driving.