[akshaymahajan]

I used to be a morning 4 o'clock get out of the house person. Realized it was tough with friends who were more inclined to "15 more minutes" and then paranthas at home at 7 and then we can leave. Since my drives were mostly Delhi - Himachal (via Zirakhpur/Chd), realized that if I leave a few hours early, I would be in a safe zone till dawn and the twisties would come in a few hours after sunrise.

Plus, its difficult to sleep the night before a long drive. The day earlier, is much easier.

So if its from Delhi to Dharamsala or Manali during non fog periods, its between 1-3 AM. If its uncharted territories, its 5:30 AM in the morning so that there is light before I hit the highways.Reaching Dharamsala in time for tea and breakfast, sleep for a couple of hours and you have the whole day!

[kaush666]

Like some of the others here, I prefer both - but it depends on where I’m driving.

If I’m travelling on the highways, I absolutely prefer the early morning drives for the wonderful visibility, the serenity of the sunrise and the fresh air. Add to it the fact that traffic is way lesser across the board - right from the roads in the city to the toll plazas on the highways (both of which are ridden with trucks otherwise).

On the other hand, if I’m making plans with my family or friends within the city - nothing beats the late night drives. I love my visits to the empty beaches of Chennai with my folks, the late night biriyani / shawarma / ice cream runs and the general pleasure of being able to rev hard in the initial gears on the wide roads that are almost always ridden with traffic during the day time.

[kozhissery]

I reside in Trivandrum and my hometown is near Palakkad. My wife's place is in Ernakulam. If there are plans to stop at wife's place then ride in the night i.e. start after 9:00PM and break at Ernakulam else start very early in the morning (by 3AM) and reach hometown for breakfast. This has been the routine for more than a decade.

For all outstation trips/vacation it is always in the morning. Pack all the bags in the night and start by 4AM.

[IntoTheStorm]

Selected early morning!
While I feel that preferences can change depending on the road, time of the day and weather, here in Chennai for me driving on ECR on a Saturday morning (maybe with a slight drizzle) beats everything else!

[2000rpm]

I used to like late night drives in my early 20s, when my eyesight was so much better.

Also as I became experienced with cars, I realized I love sedans more than high rise SUVs.

And during my Civic Ownership, I realized the following Pecking order on Indian roads
Pedestrian < Cyclist < Bikers < Low slung Sedans < Hatch Backs < SUVs.

The way indians use headlights, there is no way a sedan guy can drive on Indian highways at night. If its a two land road, start praying to god on a night ride.

[_raviShankar_]

Love both night drives and early morning drives.
Longer drives (400- 600 kms) are always done at nights. Shorter ones can be at either slots. But never during the day time unless and until its an unavoidable or emergency situation.

[mazda4life]

I selected Morning as our family is currently in India and purely based on safety concerns,we prefer to travel early mornings. But, in US , we preferred night journeys as it was very convenient and safe and the roads were all well marked and plenty of 24 hrs open shops were available. I must have done quite a bit of night driving between Phoenix and LA and had to time it in such as way that we had to enter the CA border by 3 AM else the traffic would be so bad that it was unimaginable to be sane by the time you reached your home.

[devansn]

Early mornings for me.

If its only 150-200 km drive, we usually start by around 5-5:30. If its more than 500km, we start earlier - 3-3:30 AM.

- We can cover most of the distance by breakfast time. And reach the destination for lunch.

- Way less tiring with sparse traffic.

- You have that fresh feeling in the mornings. Love the twilight in the mornings as well.

- However, the mood build up of the long drive often reduces the sleep duration and quality. But the freshness of the mornings kind of compensates this.

- Its fun to see the average efficiency climb to 20s in spite of good average speeds.

[Reinhard]

I voted for "Early morning". But to be more specific - my early morning drives always start around 3 AM. I love the cool dark and empty highways. Every long drive that I go for - starts at 3 AM. This way - the travel is enjoyable, quiet & we reach destination early morning rather than past mid-day & tired.

In Europe - I used to drive cross continental after office on Thursdays. So around 7PM was when I'd start my drive & reach the remote destination around 5-6AM the next morning. Its fun to drive through the night in the EU. Simply not realistic and safe enough in India. So I start very early in the morning.

[Fan@Automotive]

Voted for early morning.

On the contrary a decade if I were to make a similar choice, I would have made otherwise. I was a nocturnal as anybody could get.

But now, with age catching up and so many newbie drivers prying on the roads, early mornings are a safe bet. Most of such drivers clearly do not adapt to the highway style of driving, tailgating at high speeds and super quick steering/braking responses are becoming worrisome.

There is one thing that we have to keep in mind, during early morning drives, a lot of them who do night drives would be at the end of their journey and some studies say, the probability of accidents occurring are very high in the last leg of a typically long drive.

[Shan_Kmu]

I usually prefer night for long drives. Like going to my hometown 300 kms away from Chennai. I leave Chennai after 11 pm and reach destination around 6 am.

Reasons why i prefer night :

1) Absence of "some" unruly bikes/autos/LCVs in town sides, makes me drive calmly - In National highways,there's no pb as most people follow discipline, but once you enter state highways you can see most folks speaking on mobile while driving during daytime
2) Not many stray animals roaming in the road during night
3) Can drive sedately (< 80 kmph) - as i have enough time to reach my destination
4) Better fuel efficiency due to relaxed driving style - will get 20kmpl in our Bolero
5) More accustomed to night drive - been driving in night for 7 years (can somehow manage high beam glare, fog, rain, etc)

Note : I drive night only if i had slept atleast for 3 hours before the drive. If not i'll sleep and start drive at 4am

[07CR]

Voted for a night drive.

Actually I prefer both early morning and night drives, however, hate to drive (speaking relatively) once the sun starts burning up.

Earlier I reluctantly chose to drive in the daytime, but that's primarily down to the pathetic headlamps of the Amaze. I hope our new Ecosport S is better in this regard.

[PrasannaDhana]

Voted Early morning

Reason:

1. I am an early morning person, my day starts at 4 am, and I drive to gym by 5 30am every day

2. Visibility - I am a big fan of driving through dawn. Sunrise is a beauty. Moreover you don't have to worry about the things that might cross the road without reflectors on them if it's dark - dogs, cattle, 2-legged cattle, Bullock carts, wrong side riding cyclists

3. 99% of people on road are sober. It's the complete opposite during late nights.

4. Even in case of an emergency, finding help and providing help is much easier in the mornings.

5. Traffic is less and we can have fun driving hard

6. Chances of being robbed/attacked/bullied is very less in the daytime.


Above everything, mornings symbolise hope, and they are damn beautiful.



Attachment 2018292







Be it motorcycles or cars, mornings feel much much livelier

[megazoid]

Voted Early Morning.

Great feeling to lower the windows and tackle a winding section early dawn. You are fresh for the effort yourself, the car gets cold dense air and after doing that 40 minutes of hard driving, when you pull over under a peepal tree to admire the car with intentions to nail a shot, the daylight helps and the scenery is enjoyed better.

There is almost nil peripheral vision in the night except where the light from the headlight falls. So feel a tad unnerved to rely only on whats directly seen. Enjoy the windows down, slow cruising at nights perhaps for this reason.

[rijo_tj]

Driving around in Kerala roads (both highways and others) during the day time for a long journey is a sure fire way to get a headache and to feel terribly frustrated. Since Kerala is such a closely populated state, the chances of you encountering less traffic during day times is usually restricted to on the major days of Festivals or else during Harthals (which is Kerala's own patented holiday). Plus the highways are not 4 lanes except for certain pockets hence there is no pleasure to be derived from that aspect as well.

Due to all this whenever I have to drive long distance (usually from Kannur to Alleppey) I prefer starting by around 12.30 in the night. For me driving at these times means I can cruise through at a steady pace. I never drive over 100 km/hr, usually keep the speed at a steady 85-90 kms/hr and this is possible for most stretches during night time driving. Also another advantage of leaving at such an ungodly hour ( as per others) is that even if I feel sleepy, I can easily park the car in the next petrol bunk and get a quick nap of 30-45 mins and would still have enough time to beat the morning traffic at my destination.

Day time driving is pleasurable if you encounter good wide 4 lanes roads. If not I would never prefer a long day time drive .