[jetsetgo08]

Nice clicks Ashis, is it the pixel at work?

Good that you are in Bangalore, Hyderabad doesn't have too many scenic spots to travel back and forth in a day's time.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by procrj

It was good to meet you ashis.

It was good to meet you too, RJ.

Did you drive via Koothi - Vanagoor to Bisle or did you take Kundali - Patla route that gmaps directs you to by default?

We followed GMaps all throughout (except when it gave up due to lack of mobile network.

PS: It seems you all had started from Mallali moments before we did. We followed the last red Polo,of your group till Kundali Post office whereon we took the sharp left while you continued straight.

Patla betta and Bisle have been on my to do list for sometime now. Maybe next year after a visit to Mallalli again

All the more reason for another trip! I must say the place begs to be visited every year.

Here is a pic of the Coyote and Dwarf at Mallalli
Attachment 2053651

Thanks! I wanted to click one too but after spending considerable time waiting for the road to clear up, I forgot

Originally Posted by jetsetgo08

Nice clicks Ashis, is it the pixel at work?

Yes, though I had to reduce the quality of few of the pics to get them under the 5mb mark.

Good that you are in Bangalore, Hyderabad doesn't have too many scenic spots to travel back and forth in a day's time.

Completely agree

[ashis89]

Coyote went past the 12k kms mark over the weekend.

When the odo was at 4k mark, I had checked the exhaust tail pipe to look for any soot residue but it was clean back then. Yesterday I checked again and the tail pipe of a BS6 diesel still remains clean. I rubbed my fingers in the pipe but there wasn't any trace of soot.

[srvm]

Originally Posted by ashis89

Weekend day trip to Mallali Falls and Bisle Ghats

.....

Wonderful trip log. Loved the pictures
Welcome to Bengaluru. I follow your logs on Roadrunner and now, Coyote.
I'm happy that you are able to visit so many beautiful places around Bengaluru in this wonderful monsoon/post-monsoon season. Thanks for posting pics for other like us who are unable to do the trips ourselves.

Good to know that you met BHPian procrj in this trip. His wonderful thread on SH121 & Halekote/Mavinakere inspired my family to make a trip there last August as well as Gorur backwaters. We thoroughly enjoyed the place in monsoon season. And I see that you have visited Gorur dam backwaters too in this trip.

Wish you many more safe and enjoyable trips. Hope to see many more updates of your Coyote and your trips.

[Nalin1]

Started from the LBS Nagar at 6:15AM and reached Kamat, Kunigal by 8:15AM, via E-city Nice road.

Do you stay in LBS nagar off old airport road or somewhere close?

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by Nalin1

Do you stay in LBS nagar off old airport road or somewhere close?

Yes I do, near the Nilgiri supermarket in LBS Nagar. Do you also stay close by?

[ashis89]

Did a trip to Chitradurga - Nallur - Vanivilasapura and back. Another 671 kms added and total drive time was 11.5 hrs. Roads included 4/6 laned fast highways where triple digits were maintained throughout and several long stretches of broken hilly or village roads where Coyote could crawl in 1st and 2nd gears.

The details of the trip can be found here: Link (Cool Drives within 150 km from Bangalore)

The T2T fuel economy was 14 kmpl while the MID was showing 15.3 kmpl. The current odo stands at 12850 kms!

Got this fancy number on the ODO while at the top of the Jogimatti forest.




At peace and loving the cool breeze!


Did some off-road trails where the ground clearance was useful


Happy Man Happy Machine


Dirty Machine Unhappy Man


The black trims have turned grey and Coyote looks like a single tone car


Overall trip stats

[guyfrmblr]

I believe your Coyote must be now very familiar with pretty much most of the roads of Southern Karnataka with your regular weekend drives

How do you find the performance of the new headlights on highways while it's raining? I had the misfortune of driving in heavy rains near my home town last week and I could hardly see anything with the pathetic stock headlights.

[mankuthimma]

Awesome location !!
Man! how do you choose such locations to go week after week consistently ?!
I am following your thread to note down trip ideas to go in the coming days once the exams are over for my kid.

Originally Posted by ashis89

The black trims have turned grey and Coyote looks like a single tone car

Please make sure to clean atleast the plastic claddings on the same day or the next day. Otherwise the muck gets lodged into the micro grooves in the plastic and gets very difficult to clean it after sometime. I had the same problem..

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...ml#post4889951 (A superb Car cleaning, polishing & detailing guide)

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

I believe your Coyote must be now very familiar with pretty much most of the roads of Southern Karnataka with your regular weekend drives

Not sure about Coyote but his driver is learning new roads for sure. Honestly, in the past month or so, I don't look for Google Maps as frequently as I used to in the past.

How do you find the performance of the new headlights on highways while it's raining? I had the misfortune of driving in heavy rains near my home town last week and I could hardly see anything with the pathetic stock headlights.

A couple of trips in the rains made me seriously look for options to fix the stock halogen bulbs. The HID upgrade was well worth the money and I am lot more comfortable driving at night.

On this Saturday's trip, while returning, we encountered extremely heavy rains between Sira and Tumkur. These HIDs fared much better than the stock halogens and I could make steady progress in spite of the rains. Coming from 100/90W Philips Rally bulbs on my previous car, these HIDs have brought back the same confidence without turning the roads into a cricket stadium.

PS: Projector lamps seem to impacted easily by soiled headlamp lens (as compared to a reflector based headlight). Even if you car is dirty, make sure to clean the headlights before the night drive.

Originally Posted by mankuthimma

Awesome location !!
Man! how do you choose such locations to go week after week consistently ?!
I am following your thread to note down trip ideas to go in the coming days once the exams are over for my kid.

I am barely scratching the top layer!

I follow the suggestions and travelogues shared by our BHPians who swear by "Live to Drive" motto. Bangalore does give you a lot of options to visit and at varying distance from the main city.

And with a bunch of travel happy family members, it easy task to cook up a plan. Do share your experience and new suggestions when you start venturing out

Please make sure to clean atleast the plastic claddings on the same day or the next day. Otherwise the muck gets lodged into the micro grooves in the plastic and gets very difficult to clean it after sometime. I had the same problem..

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...ml#post4889951 (A superb Car cleaning, polishing & detailing guide)

Thank you for the suggestion. With the Bangalore rains, spending 2-3 hours every week (with a lot of "support" from my wife) to give a good wash/clean to have my car soiled within 10 mins of the next drive - losing patience! Thanks to your words, I hope to do a better job from now on.

[ashis89]

Coyote has been doing intra-city duty this past 3 weeks. Pending household work kept us busy most of the weekends.

One of these weekends, we made a trip to Devaramane and Charmadi ghat but we took my brother-in-law's City Vtec for a change. As with my past experience with the City, this was no different. Tight handling, very responsive brakes, revv-happy motor but the vtec scream is a bit too loud for me. I missed the NVH and turbo surge of the Hyundai diesel (can't believe I am saying this!).

As for Coyote, it does such 'off-roading'


One grudge that I have, the design of the mud flaps and the side cladding. They are utter useless. Even on a dry day, if I crawl through few drops of water on the road, the same would be neatly plastered across the side cladding and rear bumper. Makes my job extremely painful to keep my Coyote clean.

I found some to give him a small wash, followed by some 3M wax treatment (all by self). The shine and water beading effect gives the satisfaction after the few hours of work. (The 10 min drizzle the next evening gives an equal amount of pain!)




Someone had asked me about the HID performance in the rains. I clicked a couple of them last night during a short errand in the evening drizzle (clicked with low exposure auto setting). Both pics are with low beam which is what I used 90% of the times.

On a partially lit road


On an almost unlit road


Odo crossed 13k in the last week of September and I can see such FE numbers when driven in the city with the light foot


Stomp the A pedal, the FE is 13-14 kmpl which is what I usually get to see regularly. MID overstates by ~1kmpl when calculated T2T.

[surechim]

How about Stock LED HL on HTX onwards? Is that good enough?Mine is to be delivered by this month end
Also, it comes with 17 inch tyres (GY I guess), are they good in terms of Handling and ride Comfort?

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by surechim

How about Stock LED HL on HTX onwards? Is that good enough?Mine is to be delivered by this month end

Congratulations for your car! Wish you many happy miles with it.

Most owners find the stock LED lights are good enough though some have complained they're inadequate in the rains. During my brief test drive on a HTX variant, I found them to be good.

Also, it comes with 17 inch tyres (GY I guess), are they good in terms of Handling and ride Comfort?

Those GY tyres are prone to sidewall bulge and burst. Please upgrade them immediately post delivery. Have read very good reviews about Michelin Primacy 4. You should get good buyback price for the existing GY if you upgrade straight after taking delivery.

[ashis89]

Coyote is turning 1 at the end of this month. That means the insurance was to be renewed. With a lot going on, I was afraid I might forget the deadline.

Based on suggestions on TBHP, I looked up for quotes directly from the insurance websites and finally renewed with ICICI Lombard. Out of all the companies, I found the quote for Bajaj Allianz to be the highest with all the below add-ons.

IDV: 10.55L

Basic OD: 10100
Zero dep: 4220
Consumables cover: 1055
Engine cover: 1583
Key loss cover: 499
RSA: 199

NCB: 1969
Anti-theft device discount: 253

Total paid: 18212

[ashis89]

So the Coyote turns 1 in a couple of days. ODO stands at 13875 kms.

While I had renewed the insurance in advance, the PUC was pending. I went to the HP COCO bunk near Leela Palace but the guy turned me down saying Diesel Seltos is not updated on their system. He suggested I try the BP bunk in front on Manipal hospital. This guy also refused at first but then, he checked his system and confirmed that diesel Seltos is available for PUC check. So now Coyote has a PUC certificate for next 1 year.

October was a slow month for Coyote, having covered just 300 kms between Sep 21 and Oct 24. Last weekend was a long one and hence, we to made a long trip too - Ballarayanadurga Fort

Started from Bellandur at 6:45AM and sharp at 9AM, reached A2B near Hassan, for breakfast.


After a sumptuous breakfast, we resumed the drive at 10AM. Android Auto showing the way, the drive was a bliss. However dur to Dasara festival celebrations, we encountered a lot of local traffic in and around Hassan. On the way, we crossed the famous Kelagur Tea and Coffee estate and made a note to stop there on the return leg.

Just 3kms short of the view point, we were greeted with road closure due to construction work. A few cars and a bunch of bikes were parked there and probably people had trekked the remaining distance. It was 12:30PM. Since my kid nephew was along with us, trekking would be a tough task. Thankfully a local guy with a nicely modded Gypsy was offering to drive us through an off-road alternate route via a tea estate, right up to the view point, all this for 1000 bucks round trip. We took up the offer with some hesitation but it was more than worth it.

It was a really tough path, uphill, loose stones, a couple of stretches of deep slush and a stream crossing. A few bikers had attempted this route but were struggling very badly.




The Ballalarayana Durga Fort is a 1.5-2 hr. trek (one way) from this point and needs Forest dept. approval. There have been reports of wild animals being sighted near the fort. So we chose to check out the hills and the valley instead.

We trekked two small hills and spent some time there before returning to Coyote in the Gypsy.








It was 3:30PM by then and we were hungry. A quick drive back and we halted at the foot of the Kelagur tea estate. What better place to spread out the mat and enjoy your home cooked lunch?

Lunch


And this view!


We used the clearing behind the car to setup our lunch. All the plates and tissues were collected in a disposable bag and brought back with us. No trace left behind


Parked below the shoulder of the road and away from any blindspot


Well, Charmadi ghat was a 11 km detour and the last time we went there, it was covered in cloud and started raining. But today was a dry sunny day and the ghat deserved another visit!








Started from Charmadi at 5:30PM and return was the usual affair with some unexpected rains, lot of traffic near Hassan and witnessing a freak accident where a bike fellow had collided head on with a Swift. The return leg took us 6 hrs. including an hour long dinner break at Empire Kunigal.

FE for the trip: 15 kmpl (T2T).