Just completed my first road trip with Hexa. Four of us - three adults and my son (six year) - covered Bangalore --> Madurai --> Rameshwaram --> Madurai --> Bangalore. We covered ~1300 km in three days.
Left early in the morning around 6am to avoid traffic. Drove around 80-90 kmph and what a pleasant drive. Took few breaks on the way for breakfast (A2B) and lunch. Reached Madurai around 4:30pm. We booked Hotel Park Plaza on the way for night stay. Visited Meenakshi temple and the legendary Murugan Idli Shop in Madurai. Believe me, there is no place that comes even close second when it comes to idli/dosa. I would just drive to Madurai for this. We also found out that Murugan has opened a branch near Hosur, about 100 km from Bangalore, which we also visited on our way back. More on that later.
Next day morning, we left for Rameshwaram. There is a lot of highway construction going on and lot of times you have to take guided diversions and drive on the wrong side of the road. That slows you down a bit but otherwise the roads throughout are in excellent condition. In Rameshwaram, we drove on Pamban bridge. We were fortunate as there was a train that crossed the railway bridge at that time, an amazing experience.
Here I noticed some dripping underneath the vehicle. I was scared for a moment but when I smelled, it wasn't fuel. I realized that it must be due to AC as we had the automatic climate control set at 23 C in the sweltering heat.
We then went to the Ramanathaswamy Temple but didn't dare to take a full dip on the beach as it was extremely dirty.

but cannot refrain from calling out the pathetic management of temple and beach by the local bodies and the government. We paid 500 Rs. in cash (no receipt mind you) to someone who took us around and took water from 22 kunds and gave us the holy bath in 30 min. It was rushed up. Most of the kunds had very little water. The beach was extremely dirty. Goats, cows, etc. roaming about and doing all sorts of daily activities in and around the beach. Discarded clothes lying around, mud making it very dangerous for elderly people to walk safely, cow dung, goat pellets, etc. were an eyesore to what could have been very clean and managed much better Temple from inside was not clean either. So much so for the Swachh Bharat movement and cess we pay.
We also drove on Pamban bridge. We were fortunate to see a train crossing on the railway bridge. Quite an awesome experience. We also covered Dhanushkodi (ghost town) and there is a small patch where you drive along the ocean. It's one of the most beautiful stretches to drive on.
In Rameshwaram, Pamban and Dhanushkodi were the highlights. One must visit both when in Rameshwaram. Dhanushkodi (or ghost town) was destroyed by a cyclone long ago and then the tsunami hit it so it has been abandoned but it is absolutely marvelous. I guess that's the thing with Nature, it is most intimidating in its most beautiful forms and we humans are not meant to survive it.
The ruins of the houses, where people lived once.
There was a stretch on the beach with huge density of trees. I saw people enjoying picnic but again there were plates, water bottles, etc. left behind. Such a beautiful place but spoiled by people who don't understand that Govt cannot be everywhere. Maintaining key tourist destinations is a responsibility of local bodies and govt for sure but even that requires cooperation from tourists. It's such a shame that most people don't care. Took few pics of Hexa in front of this beautiful stretch. I wish I had a folding chair or a hammock to tie to trees. It would have been wonderful. Next time
Now to Hexa. It did pretty good throughout.
Comfort - Put a huge smile on everyone's face as despite spending significant time in the vehicle, there wasn't an iota of fatigue and we were fresh. I guess that says a lot about its ride quality, handling, overall space, open cabin, etc. It was supremely comfortable for everyone.
Parking - Since it's a huge vehicle, parking in covered space at Hotel Park Plaza in Madurai was a pain. It took me 15 min and lot of guidance to park it right. Also GPS guided me to few roads, which were very narrow and it was difficult to pass. Once I was about to get out from such a narrow stretch when a Honda City came in from the opposite direction, and the guy wouldn't reverse (and I had three more vehicles behind me so there was no way I could have reversed). My nephew had to get out and guide me and him. I managed to take it out without any scratch but I need to find out the option where GPS avoids narrow roads.
Does anyone know how to do it? Others - I got mileage of ~14.5 kmpl on highway, which is fine. I hope it will improve slightly after first service. Thank God we got the sidesteps. Since getting in Hexa is a bit of climb than slide, they are extremely helpful. I used cruise quite a bit on the highway. It's a bit tough to keep cruising on Indian highways with habitation and new village every 5 min but it was pleasant to take both your feet off the pedals. There is a minor body roll around sharp corners at high speed so if you have folks who are sensitive to that, you may want to exercise a bit of caution on turns.
Overall, on our first road trip, Hexa amazed us. I cannot wait for our next trip.
EDIT - I am also sharing the GPS location of their recently opened branch near Krishnagiri.
https://goo.gl/maps/fASAx2q5haN2
The original outlet in Madurai serves idlis with a smooth texture and they are a bit on the sticky side. In Krishnagiri branch, the chutneys taste the same but idli was a bit different (more brittle). Their meal thali is awesome too. It is about 100 km drive from Bangalore but totally worth for a weekend morning breakfast or brunch outing. Here is a pic of Hexa parked there.
