[blackwasp]

We will all agree that driving during regular hours in India isn't really fun. Forget the city, it's no longer fun even on most highways due to rising traffic levels. That leaves us with two options = early morning or late night. Which do you prefer? After all, every petrol-head needs to redline his engine ever so often, and there's nothing quite like a fun early morning / late night drive to make us "alive" again.

Early Morning

Pros:

1. You are fresh from a night's rest and ready to roll
2. Good visibility on the road - the sun is coming up
3. Club your drive with a tasty breakfast. Idli or misal?
4. No drunks on the road
5. Safer than night drives (i.e. criminal activity)
6. Emptier roads compared to the night

Cons:

1. Not everyone likes to get up early
2. If you get out too early, not all places are open - e.g. if you reach Lonavala at 7 am, you will find only 2 restaurants that will serve you
3. Expect some truck traffic at the city's exit points - in Mumbai, trucks are barred entry / exit before 8 am and after 9 pm

Late Night

Pros:

1. There are probably more night owls than early risers here
2. Certain eateries are open only at night - a nice biryani or kebabs?
3. Cityscape is beautiful at night!
4. Cooler & denser air = better IAT temps (especially for turbo petrol owners )
5. There is a romance about a sweet winding road, illuminated with just your headlights

Cons:

1. Drunk drivers are everywhere
2. Not at all safe for 2-wheelers or lone women (in some cities)
3. Poorer visibility could throw up nasty surprises
4. Higher crime rates
5. If you are going out after a long day at work, you could be fatigued / sleepy at the time of the actual drive
6. Next day could be ruined (due to a late night & lack of sleep)
7. A lot more traffic compared to early mornings

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to Street Experiences. Thanks for sharing!

Early morning for me! Reasons:

• Due to (healthy) lifestyle changes, I now sleep early and am up by 0600 - 0630 hours on most days.

• Almost no traffic + better visibility = You can drive the car harder. I take ALL the press drive cars on the highway early in the morning itself.

• Higher average speed. Mumbai - Lonavla - Mumbai is much, much faster early in the morning than anytime at night. Heck, the Lonavla ghat is jam packed with truck traffic at night.

• Not just the highway, even within the city, I enjoy early mornings more. There isn't any doubt on the sexiness of a night drive. That said, Bombay early in the morning is just as charming .

This is my kind of fun

[reignofchaos]

On my long drives, it is almost always early morning. I am out of the door by 4-4:30 am and by the time I hit the highway, the sun is rising. Its way less stress than driving in a tired state late at night with some unknown danger lurking in front of you.

Most of the times, there is barely any traffic and I'm out before the usual gaggle of tourists and truck traffic makes their way out onto the highway.

[padmrajravi]

Early morning. I don't mind getting up at even 4 or clock or even start the journey at 4 o clock. Our law and order situation in highways is not ideal. Even the most reliable of cars break down and when that happens, you don't want to wait for hours to get help in an unknown place while locals try to take advantage of you. It does not matter whether you are driving solo or with family - Strictly avoid late-night driving unless it is an emergency.

[Storm2.0]

You have made choosing difficult for me.
I prefer both as both the experiences have a unique charm attached to it. I agree with all the points put forth for morning drives and late night drives respectively.

[boniver]

Although there's a certain charm about long highway drives late at night, I personally dislike the added stress due to the blinding lights of cars coming from the opposite side. It takes a lot of effort to drive properly, and I have to maintain a much lower average speed. I much prefer driving early in the morning instead.

If it's in the city though, I'd pick the night time. Cities have demarcated lanes, are well-lit, and there's very less traffic late at night. Makes for a very soothing drive.

[VVN]

I am a night owl but when it comes to drives, early morning it is! Roads in India are just too stressful for an enjoyable late night drive. You cannot relax and enjoy the beauty of unwinding roads IMO. You have to be constantly on the lookout for jaywalkers, rogue bikers and even cars with no lights. If I were a co-passenger, I'd have enjoyed it to a certain extent yes. But for me, it has to be early morning. Its peaceful with less cars, no need for an Aircon, fresh air, brilliant all round visibility and most importantly - safety.

[ABHI_1512]

For long drives, I always start in the evenings. Driving through the night always saves me from the usual traffic during the day and when travelling through two laned roads, it makes sense even more. Focus is more in the roads and less on the surrounding events and also helps me a great deal when passing through congested towns which don’t have bypasses. Absolutely love driving through the night but then miss out from the photography point of view

Short drives are always fun during the day when early mornings are the best to enjoy. If the weather is perfect then that adds to the charm of the drive as well. Some perspectives here :

Drive through the city during the night gives you view like this some of the times


Driving through the day gives you these views some of the times

[--gKrish--]

I've always felt that the air is much cleaner and fresher in the early morning. It is the only time of the day I might roll down the windows and enjoy the air gushing in. The probability of meeting a drunk driver are also less in the morning. I've also felt that two wheelers are more disciplined and cautious in the morning. I keep encountering squids even past midnight here.

[balenoed_]

I love night drives.

Reasons, with respect to my often long drives to home town:

• Can have the family to sleep and at least they effectively are not losing any day time. Especially the kid who gets restless if he is awake.
  
• A peaceful drive, less traffic.
  
• My route has to pass through dangerous twist and turn ghat section. Easy to negotiate the curves by watching out for head light beams of on coming vehicles. During day, it needs numerous honking to pass through each curve.
  
• The joy of taking a break for a Chai in the wee hours at a road side tea shop.
  

[Fordlover88]

Early morning for me especially for long trips. I have a good night's sleep & prefer to start early at 4- 4:30 a.m approx when traffic at city exit points are sparse. Being comparatively fresh i can concentrate more on the roads & maintain decent speeds during daytime. Have done a few late night drives as well but they were more of a compulsion than pleasure. But i must admit that late night drives have a charm of it's own & overall trip timing is far less due to less traffic on highways.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Short drives / Rides - Early Morning, no doubt!

Long drives - Depending on the need, though I really would prefer an early morning start.

I sleep very late post my daily work schedule - so it is in fact quite a pain to get up early for the weekend drives - but I do really like to hit the highway before the sunrise. Watching the twilight/sunrise period during the drives is a very pleasurable experience indeed - and compensates every time for almost smashing the phone when the alarm rings.

Not averse to night drives, though that is mostly reserved for short drives with the wife - common destinations being airport (why not? ), ~100kms drive to one of the established highway restaurants etc.

From two recent weekend drives - before Corona put a spanner in the works:

[PearlJam]

It depends

If it's pitch dark and quiet, then it's late night for me. Nothing to beat the experience when the only sound you hear is of the engine and your favourite music, and the only lights you see are your own headlights and dashboard lights. It's also safer, since you can also see any rare oncoming vehicles by their headlights well in advance.

If there are streetlights, or if there is traffic, then I prefer early morning. Not only is the traffic much less, but the daylight slowly appearing in the horizon is something unmissable.

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Late Night
Pros

4. Cooler & denser air = better IAT temps (especially for turbo petrol owners )

I think we get more cooler and denser air early morning!

[Keeleri_Achu]

I always prefer early morning drives over late night driving for one simple reason - you need to put up with the high beam glare only until day break. I've thoroughly enjoyed the routine me and my little CBR had for 3 years during my undergrad days. Leave home after 6 AM, get to Cochin by around 7 30 and have a nice Masala Dosa, Vada and Coffee from the Aryas Hotel. Quoting a Malayalam Movie, "Aaha Anthass!". It doesn't mean that I never go out late at nights. But I've always kept those trips very short. At most a few kilometre and always within city limits.

[arindambasu13]

I have done my share of countless night drives when I was in my twenties and a bachelor. At the drop of a hat, me and a few friends used to regularly do a 100-120 km one way drive to the Coffee Day on Mysore Road and come back before the crack of dawn - all for the love of a night drive. However, it has been many years since I have done that partly due to realizing the risks and safety concerns of night driving on highways, as well as traffic becoming worse and worse over the years, even on highways.

Therefore, I now enjoy early morning drives much more and in fact, on a daily basis because I am usually in office by 745 in the morning. Which means that my daily office commute of 12 kms one way is typically done between 715-745am. At that time Bangalore roads are relatively empty and affords the opportunity for a quick blast. Thankfully, my route is through decent roads and therefore I get the chance to rev the iVTEC engine on my City every now and then. Ah, the small pleasures in life