[d3mon]

ITC Grand Goa deserves its own mini review. Put simply, the level of service and attention that we received there is beyond excellent. Every single member of staff greets you with a smile on their face and they also go well out of their way to satisfy all of your requests. My parents had also flown in to Goa and had joined us for the last 2 days in Goa, and they'd accompany us on our journey back to Bangalore. They had a great time here as well, hardly bothering to step out of the resort.

"Private" beach (They can't actually restrict public from visiting this area from nearby beaches, but they have their own security, lifeguards and other amenities for resident guests)



You could pick from an array of different pillows - never even heard of this concept before.



Beautiful pools & gardens









After staying for 3 days here, we also stayed at Novotel Goa Resort & Spa for a day, just to also get a feel of North Goa & Candolim. Despite having booked a duplex suite here, it paled in comparison to ITC's grandeur! Nevertheless, the food was good and we enjoyed spending some time on Candolim beach.







One interesting thing is that the display key has quite a long range. Here I am on the 3rd floor in the hotel in my room and the key is still connected to the car, standing outside. Carrying this key helped quite a few times on this trip - in ensuring that I didn't need to wonder if I'd actually locked the car or not, and also to bring the car out of tight parking spots using remote parking on a couple of occasions.


Trie at the BITS Goa campus

[d3mon]

Finally, it was time to leave Goa. In order to fit things comfortably, we were only carrying one large suitcase and the rest of the stuff was in soft bags which could maximize the space utilization in the boot. Thankfully, it managed to swallow all of it comfortably, even with the raised boot floor due to the space saver.

We drove down to Karwar and then proceeded via the Yellapur - Hubbali route. The ghat roads after Karwar were amazing, with sweeping turns all the way through. The road was fairly undulating and you absolutely need a car with great body control to make quick progress, otherwise your passengers would end up bouncing all over the place on this road. Thankfully the dampers in sport mode were more than up to the task and it was great fun hustling the fully loaded 2+ tons via these ghat roads with no complaints from the passengers. Some amount of body roll was felt during fast cornering, but the grip was more than adequate.

Our first stop at a lunch stop - Sugar and Spice. Lovely highway food.


After resuming the journey on much more flat roads, I experimented with comfort mode for some time, but while in Sport mode, Trie keeps egging you on to go faster & faster, it's the exact opposite in Comfort mode. You keep slowing down gradually until you are at just 90-100kmph, which is all that comfort mode can manage on anything but perfectly level roads. Sport mode introduces a much more connected feel and you get the confidence to keep pushing to the limits of ... what the passengers can take

Finally reached our destination, again much faster than what google maps predicted.



Hyatt place, Hampi - this is a hotel in the industrial town of JSW.




Being an industrial township, we were gobsmacked with the prices in local restaurants. 4 of us had a delicious meal for Rs 341!
Granted, the ambiance wasn't the best, but the food was pretty good.




Local nescafe.



Ran into a G30 520d, masquerading as an M5. The guy had gone to the extent of installing some sort of speaker/sound generator in the exhaust that was producing loud fake sounds for the outside folks



Local shops - all with the same font. Nice, simple life.

[d3mon]

The next day, we decided to see some sightseeing in Hampi before heading back. After spending a couple of hours doing that, we set off towards Chitradurga.




I've always bemoaned the fact that the rear seat entertainment package hasn't been put to good use in my car and this was a good opportunity to correct that. So we screen mirrored a phone on both the rear displays, which let my parents enjoy youtube for some time.

Anyway, after a quick lunch break, we made double quick time and hit the satellite ring road once again. This road helps us bypass all the traffic that we'd otherwise encounter from Bangalore and ends up pretty close to our house. As we were nearing the end, a monstrous thunderstorm hit and it started raining like crazy. Had to reduce speed quite a bit to avoid aquaplaning, but we ended up reaching home in just about 4:15hr after leaving Hampi, which is a crazy good time.

Total time including local sightseeing in Hampi. As the average speed indicates (including all the local running), you can carry great speeds on this route.


Back, and resting at home after a free power wash thanks to the thunderstorm.


Stats for the whole trip - 1972KMs, 59KM/h & 14.9KM/L



Route map. You can confidently follow a similar route if you want to - roads are great throughout with the small exception of some roads near Hampi, where large speedbreakers were a bit of a bother.



One final note on the hotels - all of them were booked using points, so it ended up being as close to a free vacation as possible

Fortune valley view - 4.5K ITC points/night + taxes + dining (settled with points too)
Amazing value, will definitely go again, to enjoy Udupi & their breakfast buffet & dining options.

ITC Grand goa - 9.5K ITC points / night + taxes (with some ongoing offer - usual rate is higher)
Amazing property, super VFM at this price point. Would not have felt short changed even at 2x this price given the service on offer.

Novotel Spa & resort - Rs 11.5K + dining (settled with Accor points)
OK, but Accor points are worth Rs 1.8 - so good value.

Hyatt place hampi - 6.5K Hyatt world points / night (no taxes)
Decent, but ~45mins away from Hampi attractions.

I'm extremely happy having done this road trip - already looking forward to the next big one!

[androdev]

Great combination of roads, hotels and of course, the car!! One can maintain good speeds safely on most of these roads. These used to be my routine choices when my kids were small and I could whisk them off whenever I please! Now everything needs to worked out based on school schedules!!

Opening up of STRR perfectly coincided with your 530d ownership - must be really nice to reach home from a holiday without the bad taste in mouth due to city traffic. Do they enforce speed limits on this STRR?

How is the Chitradurga > Shimoga > Udupi section? It used to be somewhat painful (except for the few sections that were amazing!).

[d3mon]

Originally Posted by androdev

Opening up of STRR perfectly coincided with your 530d ownership - must be really nice to reach home from a holiday without the bad taste in mouth due to city traffic. Do they enforce speed limits on this STRR?

How is the Chitradurga > Shimoga > Udupi section? It used to be somewhat painful (except for the few sections that were amazing!).

Thanks Androdev!

No speed limits are enforced on the STRR (yet). Anyway the radarbot app is super useful and can warn you about all the fixed, and some of the mobile speed cameras. I was using this app and the only place where there were some speed cameras were within Goa itself - the rest of the route is free of this menace.

The Chitradurga -> Udupi section is great! It was recommended on the art of traveling to Udupi thread recently too, which is why I felt encouraged to take it, and turned out to be the right decision. Actually most roads are great as soon as we step out of bangalore - if you can manage bangalore internal roads, the rest of them are cakewalk in comparison

[Deep Blue]

Originally Posted by d3mon

The next day, we were bowled over by the breakfast buffet on offer at the hotel - the quality and sheer variety of dishes on offer was just great. This buffet would command a price of no less than Rs 1500 in Bangalore per person, and we'd paid just 4500 ITC points per night for the place. And in fact, the food in Udupi was quite a pleasant surprise - upscale restaurants and even the hotel's own dining joints were priced at just 1/3rd of the bloated rates that we are used to paying in Metro cities like Bangalore. The good roads, lack of traffic, great facilities and nice beaches made me really like the place.


Wonderful Khao suey at the Cosmo restaurant in Fortune - so good that I ended up having it twice.
Attachment 2613683

I work at the hospital opposite Valley view. All of us here hate Valley view food, and I have not gone there for almost 4-5 years!
Maybe it is time to check it out again.

[sachin_cs]

Man what a beauty she is, I was literally imagining myself driving a 530d/i someday, she feels like a perfect car to me (along with Octavia VRS). She looks beautiful, has a ton of power, interiors look so well designed, current crop of cars are just filled with touchscreens and on top of that, it’s frugal. You were lucky to find such a good example of the G30. Keep posting more pictures, even if you don’t drive it, just post pictures from your parking, we can stare at her all day long.

[d3mon]

Originally Posted by Deep Blue

I work at the hospital opposite Valley view. All of us here hate Valley view food, and I have not gone there for almost 4-5 years!
Maybe it is time to check it out again.

Haha, a case of familiarity breeds contempt perhaps? Just kidding, my 2 days worth of knowledge of Udupi can't hold a candle to what the locals know. Please share other better places for us to try next time

Originally Posted by sachin_cs

Man what a beauty she is, I was literally imagining myself driving a 530d/i someday, she feels like a perfect car to me (along with Octavia VRS). She looks beautiful, has a ton of power, interiors look so well designed, current crop of cars are just filled with touchscreens and on top of that, it’s frugal. You were lucky to find such a good example of the G30. Keep posting more pictures, even if you don’t drive it, just post pictures from your parking, we can stare at her all day long.

Thank you, will do! Hope you find a great example too!

[BeMyWings]

Thank you for sharing Demon, its quite amazing how Trie is holding up. The 530d is a car for the ages. A little sad that they don't make them anymore. If available, I would have bought that instead of the 340.

A super car for a super person All the best!

[sharad_kmc]

Originally Posted by Deep Blue

I work at the hospital opposite Valley view. All of us here hate Valley view food, and I have not gone there for almost 4-5 years!
Maybe it is time to check it out again.

Was nice to read about Vally view and Cosmos on the thread, did my MBBS from KMC ages ago. They did have other popular options in my time, Dollops at TC was a favourite with students. No idea if it still survives.

[Deep Blue]

Originally Posted by d3mon

Haha, a case of familiarity breeds contempt perhaps? Just kidding, my 2 days worth of knowledge of Udupi can't hold a candle to what the locals know. Please share other better places for us to try next time

I guess so. All official functions of the hospital are held there. So, we are indeed bored of their food. But, Cosmo cafe did undergo a renovation recently. I need to visit once.
There are many others, Kyoto, Vito's, Tawa Punjab, The Mill etc.,
There is a thread on Tbhp too!! https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...i-manipal.html (A Guide: Eating out in Mangalore/Udupi/Manipal)

Originally Posted by sharad_kmc

Was nice to read about Vally view and Cosmos on the thread, did my MBBS from KMC ages ago. They did have other popular options in my time, Dollops at TC was a favourite with students. No idea if it still survives.

Dollops still survives and thrives!
Come visit Manipal sometime.

[Vikash Kumawat]

G30 530D my crush, thanks for the lovely pictures, IMO G30 was the peak of BMW designs, now they just ruined the new 5 series. G30 has the best instrument cluster, it is far better and cool then today's fully digital clusters. It has the perfect dashboard with physical buttons and yes with chunky gear lever, I hate that "Khatka" they are giving these days. And what a timeless design it has, those double barrel DRLs are love. My never ending love for the G30 530d.

[megazoid]

Top car and great for long distance cruising. With the tank distance at your disposal and the effortless cruising speeds one can do, this has very few rivals. And when you get some undulating narrow tarmac, the adaptive dampers somehow manage to tighten things up, reduce the footprint and propel you forward. Solid machine!

[Unbranded]

Thanks Demon for this very informative thread on G30.
For me, it was always a toss up between a new M340i (new) and pre-owned G30 ( LCI Model) as the next car and your thread as well as other ownership reviews really did help me in making my final decision. After a very patient search, was able to zero in on my very own G30 few months back - Drives like a charm as they say, making every drive an occasion!

[d3mon]

Originally Posted by Unbranded

Thanks Demon for this very informative thread on G30.
For me, it was always a toss up between a new M340i (new) and pre-owned G30 ( LCI Model) as the next car and your thread as well as other ownership reviews really did help me in making my final decision. After a very patient search, was able to zero in on my very own G30 few months back - Drives like a charm as they say, making every drive an occasion!

Congrats Unbranded! A few pics and a note on your buying and driving experience so far are in order, I guess! Which engine did you go for?