To all those who might be interested, Julius (which is what my Dad has christened the XC90, thinking it to be a bit imperious) performed very well on the 1700 odd kms round trip to Udaipur and back.
A brief travelogue:
Day1: We departed mid afternoon on 19 Dec, reaching Jaipur 4.5 hrs later, with a 25 min stop at Shiva (?) between Neemrana and Behror. Traffic was heavy-ish but nothing alarming, and as dusk set in I found that the lights on the Volvo were not adequate. It doesn't have the ABL - 'active bending lights - option fitted, but this still doesn't explain the lack of sufficient illumination. I might get this looked at, or look to fit extra lights.
The ride was steady, with more than adequate comfort. It felt very safe to be perched up, and extremely roomy. We occupied all three rows, actually half the last row, no one felt any sense of being crammed or squeezed in including Bhagnath-ji, our (slightly built) driver.
I had been advised by the seller - you might recollect that this is a used vehicle about 2.5 yrs old - that the front shockers were now noisy, but frankly, I think they're good for 20k kms more. For information, the vehicle had run 84k kms when I got it, and had had an engine swap (I had full information from the seller and the Volvo dealer on this, and the reasons are good).
Day2: We were on the road a few mins earlier than planned, at 7am, with the morning temperature about 12 degC. Cranked nicely, settled into an easy idle, and Bhagnath-ji reported that the back seat was very comfortable to sleep in (he preferred it to the driver acco that was offered, lol). He's very un-fussed, and likes to travel with us.
Small short cut out of Jaipur to the Ajmer road, and we made good time despite the stupid truck wallahs hogging every lane. Couple of toll gates (the GVK one carries over toll credit to the next gate), to slow us down, before the turn off to Chittor, just after the Kishangarh one. We were now off the NH8, onto NH76 (if I recollect). We had been averaging about 75 kms/hr, so quite decent time. After a tea and parantha stop, we encountered a very poor stretch of undulating road past the turn for Bhilwara, with enormous sinking where the tyres usually run. I'm surprised it hasn't been redone, and someone is able to collect toll for such poor work!
No matter, we pushed on, coming up to the hill of Chittorgarh, from where we headed east towards Kota-Bundi. We were headed for a small place called Begu (pronounced with a nasal sound at the end), about 80 kms from Chittor. That road is marvellous and completely deserted, we were at our turn off in about 40 mins. Not long after, Arjun Singh, a strapping young chap from the hotel, was escorting us into the Fort, now converted hotel, we were staying at. We spent that evening at the hotel's second property, on a lake front.
Day3: The next day, we headed back to see Chittorgarh fort. We also detoured to see a (dry) waterfall and gorge as well as some entirely overrated temples at Menal (our host at Begu had claimed it is as wonderful as Khajuraho, and although we took that with a pinch of salt, frankly they're quite miserable and not worth it).
Chittorgarh is however quite wonderful, and it is hard not to be seduced by the endless stories of Mewar. Much of it is no doubt true, but large amounts are myth and legend, aided in part by the telling and retelling to a credulous Western audience by the likes of Tod. After the son-et-lumière, in English (since the Palace on Wheels party happened to be there on a Sunday), we left for Udaipur. It's a 120 kms or so run, if memory serves, and was made in good time. My mom was reading aloud on Mewar's history for the entire run, so we were quite up to speed on Rajputana by the time she was done!
Day4: Rankapur, rediscovered in recent years, is a Jain temple complex 70 kms or so from Udaipur, which has in the past century been reclaimed from the jungle and dacoits. Quite lovely. It is a pillared temple, supported by wonderfully carved pillars (1444 of them) and is, it is said, one of the best examples of a perfect structure from the vaastu perspective. Matches the Dilwara in beauty, although the grade of marble is poorer, my father observed. We also went to Kumbhalgarh, which is one of the famed bastions of Mewar, and lies on the border with Marwar. We had dinner on the lake front, in a nice place called the Ambrai (I might try the attached haveli as a stay option next time). The Volvo had no chance of negotiating the lanes of old Udaipur, so we were in an auto!
Day5: Shri Ekling is the kul-devta of the Mewar (erstwhile) throne, and hence has a certain aura about it. We spent much of the day at Devigarh, after the mandatory shopping for stone work, courtesy my mom.
Day6: Udaipur City Palace is now a museum, stacked to the rafters with the typical royal memorabilia of a now faded family. Enjoyable, despite the obvious tourist trap it is. Udaipur itself is very picturesque and lovely to meander in. Surprising good European food, I guess because of the large numbers of tourists. I also enjoyed an art gallery called Bougainvillea greatly, it is truly fabulous. The prices weren't so great though
, so I had to turn away from some of the wonderful paintings and sculptures there. We went to Fatehgarh, a new hotel that looks old, for a meal. I can honestly say it must have the best location in all of Udaipur, up on a hill. The food was good too.
Day7: Headed back to Jaipur early, stopping at Ajmer-sharif en-route. It was my first visit to the dargah, and I felt greatly touched by the experience. The drive itself was easy, and made in good time. The night halt at Jaipur was uneventful.
Day8: After some work at my office in Jaipur, we got into Delhi just about beating the traffic around Manesar, about a 5 hour run.
The XC90 behaved impeccably, eating up the miles, and returned an average consumption of 10.5 kms/litre. It's a 2.4l D5, 185 bhp, 400 Nm, AWD, Auto (6 speed), and weighs over 2100 kgs! Considering it was ferrying 4 adults with lots of bags, and we encountered heavy/ish traffic for at least half the distance it ran, I found the consumption acceptable. I had expected 11 or better, however.
It is also very comfortable, safe with no hint of roll and entirely poised at great speed. Mostly I drove at 120 km/h or so, where I could, but found instantaneous consumption to be best around the 90-100 mark.
The rear seat entertainment, delivered through twin 9 inch screens with wireless headphones, was also very good, my mom reports (seconded by Bhagnath, who was watching from the row further back!). The stereo system was perfectly adequate.
I'm happy with the buy, and am already planning a trip to Munsiari in Uttarakhand soon!