re: Chennai - Mumbai - Chennai : Route Queries I drove from Pune to Chennai recently (mid-Oct 2018) with my wife and 5 years old kid. Sharing the timings and some impressions of the whole trip:
Planning:
I was travelling from Kharadi (Pune) to Hiranandani (Egattur, Chennai). Total door to door distance for me was around 1215 kms (about 19 hours' drive as per Google Maps). Since I was travelling with family, I initially inclined towards breaking the journey into equal parts of 600 kms each. Google maps predicted that would make me drive 9 hours and bring me to Devanagere. Adding in 1-1.5 hours break, it seemed like a reasonable plan. However, after reading tips from fellow BHPians about stay options (i.e. lack thereof) en-route and some of my friends who frequent Pune-Bangalore, I wondered if I could directly drive to Bangalore on the first day and then have a relax drive to Chennai the day after. That would've been 850 kms and 13 hours' drive (Google maps algo) without counting breaks. A tall order for someone like me - I had done 12-hrs drives only twice in my life.
But friends suggested that it was doable if I left super-early from Pune. I discussed with my wife and we decided that we will aim for Bangalore and if the going gets tough, the tough will stop at the nearest major town and stay wherever possible.
Preparation:
I got my 2014 Vento TSI fully serviced, 3 months old Michelin Energy XM2 tyres filled with 33 PSI of Nitrogen, and gas tank filled with normal saada petrol. Stocked up on banana chips, foxnuts, biscuits and most importantly, red bulls.
Drive:
At 4:15 am, we had a Red Bull, put on some 90s Bollywood music and started from Kharadi. Blissfully escaping the city traffic, we were out of the city within 30 minutes! Till Satara, there seems to be perpetual construction going on blocking half the road and creating ever more traffic diversions. Yet, with low vehicular traffic, it wasn’t bad. We crossed Satara at 6:15 am. After Satara the good stuff starts. Kolhapur went by at 7:15 am and by 8 am, we were at the famous Nipani turn having a coffee. As it always happens, an unexplainable spirit overtook and demanded that we abandon everything and take the Nipani turn to Goa. But, sanity prevailed, and we were off again, cruising on the NH48. When we drove past Belgaum at 8:55 am, reaching Bangalore the same day didn’t seem unfathomable at all. Its when we reached somewhere around Dharwad at 9:45 am that things got a bit dodgy.
Dharwad to Hubballi was a 50-60 kms of two-lane, divider-less stretch. It slowed down our tempo quite a bit. It was like getting downgraded to dial-up after habituating to fibre-optic. So, we decided to take a breakfast stop at a derelict Kamat just outside Hubballi. After finishing breakfast at around 11 am, we got on to the road to Chitradurga. Unlike the stretch before Hubballi, it had dividers, but, it also had major potholes. It was difficult to catch speed unless you could manoeuvre like an autorickshaw. That was another 200 kms that ate into our time. But, as they say, keep going, and you will find light at the end of the tunnel. And light found, we did. Our drive from Chitradurga (around 1:15 pm) to Tumkur was one of the best parts of the day. It’s a 6 lane high speed stretch of straight road with barricades to prevent anyone just walking over from the sides. It felt like Yudhishtir's chariot gliding 4 inches above ground. What a beauty! When Bangalore felt within reach, we started googling for stay options and found an Oyo room in Electronic city, just 500 meters from the highway. By 4:20 pm, we were parked at our Oyo stay.
The next morning, after a good 9 hrs sleep, we started towards our destination at 7:15 am. Now, it seems that by Bangalore traffic standards, we started late because traffic was heavy - especially lorries. Took us one hour to reach Krishnagiri toll. Right through Ambur (9 am) we were greeted with beautiful backdrop of stone hills and coconut groves! If I was living in E-city, I would frequent this route way too often for weekend drives. We crossed Vellore at 9:30 am, Ranipet at 10 am and stopped at 10:20 am for breakfast at our favourite idli chain - Murugan Idli, just before Kanchipuram. Till Kanchipuram the roads are smooth, scenery beautiful and its overall an extremely pleasant drive. Kanchipuram onwards the lorry traffic goes up significantly and roads too are just average. After reaching Sriperumbudur at 11:40 am, we left the national highway and got on to the Google maps suggested state highway to Mudichur/Vandalur, passing Mambakkam and finally reaching Kelambakkam. The route was decent, criss-crossing through some quaint little villages with decent roads (far better than the potholes-ridden stretch near Hubballi). We finally reached our destination, Egattur, at 12:30 pm.
Experience:
The man -
The first day of the drive seemed very breezy - until I hit the bed. The tiredness just overtook me. I slept like a politician during riots. Just blacked out. I realized that driving at high speeds on Indian highways for long stretches subconsciously pushes you and tires you out. Your alertness level is at its peak for long stretches without sufficient troughs. Maybe its just something to get used to.
The machine -
This was the first time my Vento TSI did a drive this long, and boy was it fun. The level of comfort it provides on long stretches is simple amazing. Before this, I had only driven an Ertiga for 10-12 hrs stretches and Vento is in whole other league. I was also positively surprised with the fuel economy, especially given the fact that it was fully loaded and was being pushed past 100/120 km/h very frequently.
The tyres -
It would be cruel to not give due credit to the XM2 tyres. Given their price point, they are really worth all the money. On two occasions I had to jam the breaks to avoid collision and they didn’t skid an inch - a thing of beauty these tyres are. Although, I do feel that they aren't as precise (for the lack of a better word) the as stock Apollos I had. With the Apollos, I always felt like I could manoeuvre the car within a millimetre of where my mind wanted it to be. These ones handle a fraction too loose - don’t know if that makes any sense. These are damn comfortable though. And they also grip and brake better. I remember the first 6-9 months of my Vento, the ABS used to engage way too frequently on the new Apollos - even at low speeds. XM2s have shown no such problem. These bad boys just come to a halt. No locking. I would recommend these over the stock Apollos any day.
Summary:
Pune to Bangalore (Electronic city):
Time taken - 12 hours (incl around 1.5 hours of breaks)
Fuel economy - 14.6 km/l (3 passengers, boot fully loaded)
Bangalore to Chennai (Egattur):
Time taken - 5 hours 15 mins (incl around 35 mins of breaks)
Fuel economy - 17.3 km/l (3 passengers, boot fully loaded) |