[nikesh]

Originally Posted by Vipin Kumar

Thank you so much Nikesh, It is really helpful. I assumed that there was confusion regarding Maihar. Mine is a Fiesta (what is now called classic) and has the same GC as Vento. (Did you make any other posting in the forum about your Vento experience?)

My originating station is Lucknow, and I can reach Allahabad only by 10.30/11.00 am. So either I must stay at Allahabad for a night or I have to prepare to reach Jabalpur by 8.00/9.00 pm, I assume.

By one lane, I hope you mean the regular highway with a line in between for demarcating it into two.

Can't we really reach a point of repair with a punctured tubeless tyre itself?

And did you stay at Jabalpur or continue the same day to Nagpur?

Vipin Kumar.

I have to make the post on Vento driving experience on the forum but havent done that yet. Overall the sedan performed amazing and thoroughly relished the high torque while driving through single lane highways. I had to be cautious on bad patched but beyond that 100-120 was comfortably attained. I am posting few pictures for your reference on the allahabad-Jabalpur section which will give you an idea. Puncture repair shops were very scarce and I had to rely on my luck. You cant plan much except that a tubeless puncture repair kit is available with you and your spare tyre is in good shape.

It took me 9 hours from allahabad(civil lines) to Jabalpur town. You can very well do the same if you are able to leave allahabad by 11.30 maximum. Try starting a bit early from Lucknow or, else stay at allahabad. I continued all the way till Nagpur so was a tough drive to be honest because the Jabalpur-Nagpur section was the worst in my entire journey as the road had millions of big-big patholes

To my luck when I got Vento verified at B.U.Bhandari(Pune Dealer) all parts were intact and only alignment was out.

t1.zip

t2.zip

t3.zip

[Vipin Kumar]

Originally Posted by nikesh

...Overall the sedan performed amazing and thoroughly relished the high torque while driving through single lane highways. ... I am posting few pictures for your reference on the allahabad-Jabalpur section which will give you an idea. Puncture repair shops were very scarce and I had to rely on my luck. You cant plan much except that a tubeless puncture repair kit is available with you and your spare tyre is in good shape.

It took me 9 hours from allahabad(civil lines) to Jabalpur town. You can very well do the same if you are able to leave allahabad by 11.30 maximum. .

Dear Nikesh,

Thank you again for the snaps. The highway in the t2 image is particularly impressive and looks very much drivable and with less traffic. So all I have to worry about will be the 20 kms on NH27 and then another 10 kms at Bandhavgarh (?)

Yes, I think I will buy a tubeless puncture repair kit.

And it will be wiser for me to start in an evening, stay at Allahabad and then proceed the next day morning. Particularly because of the so-far unfamiliar road territory in MP for me. While driving back, I think I can start early and reach Lucknow the same day even if I get delayed, as I know the Allahabad - Lucknow section pretty well.

Thanks
Vipin.

[nikesh]

Originally Posted by Vipin Kumar

Dear Nikesh,

Thank you again for the snaps. The highway in the t2 image is particularly impressive and looks very much drivable and with less traffic. So all I have to worry about will be the 20 kms on NH27 and then another 10 kms at Bandhavgarh (?)

Yes, I think I will buy a tubeless puncture repair kit.

And it will be wiser for me to start in an evening, stay at Allahabad and then proceed the next day morning. Particularly because of the so-far unfamiliar road territory in MP for me. While driving back, I think I can start early and reach Lucknow the same day even if I get delayed, as I know the Allahabad - Lucknow section pretty well.

Thanks
Vipin.

Yes Vipin. Plan looks perfect.
Your understanding on the bad patch is also correct and can assure the rest of the road was silky smooth. You will enjoy the fiesta drive.

Take Care friend!!

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by nikesh

I have to make the post on Vento driving experience on the forum but havent done that yet. Overall the sedan performed amazing and thoroughly relished the high torque while driving through single lane highways. I had to be cautious on bad patched but beyond that 100-120 was comfortably attained.

The Vento drives amazingly well on highways. Specially on flat out stretches it will put outdo some of the sedans from a segment above. Since you said you had 20kms of bad patches before Rewa, how long did it take you to cross this stretch and what were your average speeds? Is this stretch just unpaved with stones lying around or has potholes too? I guess this is NH7 and not NH27 you were on as NH27 merges with NH27 at Mangawan and NH7 has a lot of notoriety. Were there any decent restaurants within Rewa where one could break for refreshments and bio-breaks?

Originally Posted by nikesh

I continued all the way till Nagpur so was a tough drive to be honest because the Jabalpur-Nagpur section was the worst in my entire journey as the road had millions of big-big patholes

Did you continue on NH7 after Jabalpur towards Nagpur through Seoni? If you did, thats not perhaps the route to take as entire NH7 in MP is totally in shambles as has been stated by Kumar sir. Though I am not even sure if there is an alternate route which is driveable and good. Also since you continued on NH7 from Rewa to Maihar how was the road condition in this stretch, what kind of speeds you could maintain and what was the time taken for you from Rewa to Maihar? Actually if you have a trip log which you could upload that would be great. Sorry for bugging you so much.

Originally Posted by nikesh

Attachment 889257

Is this the stretch before reaching Rewa?

Originally Posted by nikesh

Attachment 889258

I am assuming this is from Maihar to Bandhavgarh.

Originally Posted by nikesh

Attachment 889259

And this I guess is the broken stretch within Bandhavgarh.

[nikesh]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

The Vento drives amazingly well on highways. Specially on flat out stretches it will put outdo some of the sedans from a segment above.
===============
And this I guess is the broken stretch within Bandhavgarh.

Yes. Here again the road on the right side is still a bit ok but speed average was just 20 kmph here.

Time Taken :
Allahabad Start Time(Civil Lines) - 7.30 AM
Rewa city - 9.44 AM
Bandhavgarh exit check post - 12.48 PM
Umaria(break for lunch) - 1.45 PM
Jabalpur city - 4.30 PM
Jabalpur city exit on Nagpur Road - 6 PM
Nagpur railway station - 10.30 PM

The best road in this stretch was after Umaria to Jabalpur. Beautiful single lane with moderate traffic and nice curves. Did lot of over-speed in this stretch to make up on the lost time and also eager to get on the nagpur road. I must admit that I did got lost inside Jabalpur city to locate the Nagpur road thanks to excellent guidance given by local jabalpur residents and my GPRS

GPRS took Vento from such narrow roads in city where just two auto rickshaws could barely pass because of shop encroachments. I switched the device off and then stopped by to ask few temp travelers. They helped me get out to Nagpur road finally. I lost 45 minutes here because I took the wrong road in city. No signage. I started in dark on Nagpur road towards Seoni. Although I had a string recommendation to go via Dindori to Seoni which I did not take on advice from local travellers in Umaria who advised the Nagpur road is better rather than going a long distance now via Dindori. Not sure what I did was correct but I did manage to reach Nagpur in 4.5 hours from Jabalpur considering the moon crater stretch as well. Vento did manage well in that worst patch as I did confirm earlier that there were no damages to the vehicle shockers etc post inspection at VW. I must give that credit to VW for putting really strong stuff that could bear that pain. Good built car!!

[samarjitdhar]

A quick update on this route for those who care. I reached Bandhavgarh starting from Varanasi going via Allahabad-(NH27)-Rewa-(SH9)-Beohari-(SH9->SH10)Tala village (Bandhavgarh)

Actually the totally broken part for around 10-15 kms is on NH27 before one reaches Mangawan. Its still drivable but the highest you could go is I guess 30 in this stretch. Once you reach Mangawan where NH27 ends you are on NH7 which is in good condition at least till Rewa. From Rewa I took a different route taking SH9 which was the most amazing drive I have ever had. Its two laned, butter smooth and lots of ghats thrown in, not one patch of bad road. I maintained 80-100 on the most part. You just have to slow down when you go through local towns and villages which is not much. There is even very little truck traffic on this route. This is true even for SH10 which you have to take from SH9 to reach Tala (Bandhavgarh). From Rewa it took me just about 3 hours to reach Tala village where most of the resorts are located. Yes I confess there was some spirited driving but one cannot be sedate for long when the car is a Vento . I highly recommend this route if one is coming down from Allahabad to Bandhavgarh. More on this when I put up my detailed travelogue later.

[satrab]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Lucknow - Allahabad will be barely five hours. So try and partition differently.

Sir am planning to drive from Allahabad to Pench. This is part of a long trip that I plan from Mumbai to Kolkata and back. Would request if you could please advise on the route as well as on whether its possible to do this in one day. Or should I look at going to Kanha and then go to Mumbai from there? I will be driving a Yeti 4x4. Will have a driver along, so that one person does not have to drive too long.

[gungeek]

Originally Posted by Vipin Kumar

If one is there in Allahabad civil lines, say at the coffee house, how can one reach the NH27? Is it via the MG road?

Vipin Kumar
Lucknow.

If you drive from coffee house , civil lines on MG Road you have to go straight and MG Road ends on new naini bridge which will directly connect you to NH27.

[Vipin Kumar]

Originally Posted by gungeek

If you drive from coffee house , civil lines on MG Road you have to go straight and MG Road ends on new naini bridge which will directly connect you to NH27.

Thanks for the information. Is this MG road a congested one in any manner? As much as I drove around the coffee house and the bus stand in the civil lines, that condition is okay with me. But a Varanasi-type congestion is scaring. In March this year, I had to drive from Allahabad side and enter Varanasi, specifically in the Sigra area for a hotel. It was too much as a cyclist simply came, hit me from behind and fell down leaving a small mark on my car's boot. And everything appeared to be normal there!

Vipin.

[gungeek]

Originally Posted by Vipin Kumar

Thanks for the information. Is this MG road a congested one in any manner? As much as I drove around the coffee house and the bus stand in the civil lines, that condition is okay with me. But a Varanasi-type congestion is scaring. In March this year, I had to drive from Allahabad side and enter Varanasi, specifically in the Sigra area for a hotel. It was too much as a cyclist simply came, hit me from behind and fell down leaving a small mark on my car's boot. And everything appeared to be normal there!

Vipin.

MG road is not so congested, it depends on what time you cross MG road.

Varanasi is most congested city in U.P. IMHO. My dad says if anyone can drive in Varanasi & Allahabad without any scratch then he can easily drive all over India.

[Vipin Kumar]

Originally Posted by gungeek

M
Varanasi is most congested city in U.P. IMHO. My dad says if anyone can drive in Varanasi & Allahabad without any scratch then he can easily drive all over India.

Lucknow is not far behind, though here roads are quite wide and systematic. The traffic culture is the problem. Despite wide four-lane roads, you can see incorrigible wrong-siders everywhere! And the police control is just helpless.

You are correct. In other places, you can see even quite old vehicles very well kept, without scratches. My one year old gaadi has at least 10 scratch marks by now.

Vipin.

[torque18]

hi

I am planning a trip from allahabad to nagpur this weekend. Can anyone provide me recent update on the roads...also which route should i take from rewa?

Kind regards.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by torque18

hi

I am planning a trip from allahabad to nagpur this weekend. Can anyone provide me recent update on the roads...also which route should i take from rewa?

Kind regards.

Roads are in bad to terrible condition from Allahabad to Rewa and from Jabalpur to MH border

[torque18]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Roads are in bad to terrible condition from Allahabad to Rewa and from Jabalpur to MH border

Si,r what route do you suggest beyond rewa? Also, since this is supposed to be a fun trip to Kerala, should I consider cancelling it and look for some other destination. If the roads are extremely bad then may be I will head to Sikkim. Need your valuable advise here sir! I am confused now

[sgiitk]

I did the stretch in 1996 and it was the same. Out of foolishness I took the Naraini - Nagod route, which was SH and 100km shorter, that was even worse. On the way back I used the NH. By time times taken I think things are worse - since I was in a 118NE. Things never change in Mera Bharat Mahan.