Quote:
Originally Posted by SlowRider Smashing travelogue, humyum! Kept me glued to the screen. I specially appreciate the pains you took to share the experiece with everyone here. It's almost like reliving it, albeit without the altitude sickness. And may I add, breathtaking photographs!
I dreamt of hitting the Himalayas in a Gypsy some day. That's till I found out on T-bhp that they have a bone-jarring ride and offer few creature comforts.
I wanna discuss (with everyone following this thread) a technicality with respect to your experience tackling extreme gradients at Zozila pass. You say the Swift D struggled owing to its turbo lag, even though the DDIS is generally perceived to be very torquey.
1. How on earth do those trucks negotiate the stretches with ease? I believe their torque-to-weight ratio can't beat Swift's. Am I wrong or am I stupid?
2. Do you think a naturally aspirated (like a Mahindra jeep with DI engine) or mildly turboed (aka the Figo / Micra) car would have fared better in the circumstances?
3. How would a Swift petrol do under similar circumstances?
4. Now this, I'm really curious to know. What sort of wheels do the natives over there use? You did mention some SUVs like the XUV500, but there must be people out there using less expensive machines.
Cheers,
SlowRider. |
Thank you very much. Well, I rather go in a Gypsy than a Swift. You are always worried in a small car that 'WHAT IF' ? I saw a DL registered Swift at the Leh Workshop which was waiting for a wheel bearing change since 6 days as a part of that size could not be available and was ordered. A Rajasthan registered Baleno which had its engine seized and was there since a month because of a cracked oil sump and driving around with all its oil on the road. That car was towed from the Kargil Leh Highway. Now you know what I mean?
About the car struggling at Zozila. I ll give you an explanation.
Zozila is extremely steep with big stones etched at many hair pin bends. Truckers can take these turns with momentum because they have amazing ground clearance. A Swift with its paltry 170 mm ground clearance cannot take a run up and climb these slopes as you risk hitting something. At 15 to 20 kmph if you hit a stone with that exposed underside of the Swift, maybe a gearbox housing, oil sump, a lower arm, cross member etc could take a direct hit and your trip would be over right there and so would the car if its too serious.
So these turns and stone passing's on the stones had to be done with extreme slow maneuvers because of which you did not have the precious momentum to climb. I revved the car till 4 thousand rpm as if at 3 K if i let the clutch go, the engine just did not have enough torque to keep it going and would just proceed towards a stall.
Traction was never a problem, it was the lack of pulling power which was.
Okay imagine this scenario. I let the clutch go at 3 K, the RPM falls to around 2 K. With the higher altitude, rarer air, the turbo spools later than 2200 rpm, you fall below the turbo band and thus all i ll do is proceed towards a stall.
Next I dump the clutch at 4 K, It drops in the Turbo band, travels a little further than what it did when I dropped it at 3 K, but still the turbo is not able to develop enough torque for the car for it to pull through. It again stalls after a certain distance. Then you handbrake, rev the car again and dump the clutch. This went on till the steepness reduced and the car was able to pull through minus any rev dumps.
This scenario has been a character of the Swift Diesel for me a lot of times.
There are private Bunglows in Panchgini where we often visit for a stay over for a day or two. The entrance and exit roads to these Bunglows are very very steep and you cannot race through them as the exit directly leads to the busy main road. Many a times I have had a situation where in the car has reached almost the end of the exit and shuddered to a stall and yes this is in 1st gear. I have had to reverse the car a certain distance on the slop and try a little higher speed for her to climb.
The turbo lag in the older Swifts can be the wait before the storm on the highways but on hilly terrains its a pain in the wrong places.