[SnS_12]

Our family loves travelling and more so a road trip is something we are always enthusiastic about. So back in 2014 around December we started chalking down our plan for our usual summer vacation in May as that’s the only time my Dad who is a teacher by profession has is annual off from work. As this would be a road trip, we had the luxury of keeping our dates flexible and not worry about booking air tickets in advance before the prices go sky high as they do during this time of the year.


So all of us got down and started weighing in our options on the place or rather places we wanted to go. We always wanted to drive down North, but May would be not the right time to explore Northern India in a car with the scorching temperature that region typically experiences. So the other option that came to our mind was to do a South trip. This would be our second South trip as we had previously done a trip to Kerala back in 2008 in our Indica Xeta (Petrol). So, we quickly decided that we would do a trip to Bangalore and then got to Chennai where my wife hails from. My dad was OK with this plan but wanted to go to some place like a forest reserve or a hill station along with Bangalore and Chennai. After a lot of searching and reading, we thought of going to Bandipur National Park. The idea was to stay in Bangalore at my uncle’s house for few days and then go to Bandipur and from there we would proceed to Chennai. But after a lot of thinking we skipped the idea of going to Bandipur and decided to go to Kodaikanal instead. Kodai suited us, as the distance from Bangalore to Kodai was under 500 kms and that would be a half day’s drive and from Kodai to Chennai was again just around 512 kms. So finally we had zeroed in on our plan, which was Mumbai - Bangalore – Kodaikanal – Chennai - Mumbai.


Now, fast forward to May and we were eagerly waiting for our road trip to begin. We decided to leave on 16th May. I read a lot of travelogues of Bhpians who have done Bangalore to Mumbai route. So based on their experience, I had kept a target to reach Bangalore in around 13 – 14 hrs from Mumbai. Now, we have two cars one is a 2011 Swift and our Brio which we bought in 2014. We decided to take the Brio as it was more spacious of the two cars and more comfortable. A lot of people including my father in law and my Bangalore uncle were not sure, whether we would have a comfortable journey and have enough space to carry luggage for a two week long road trip in our Honda Brio. my dad suggested we fit a roof carrier, bt I was not so keen as it would spoil the look of the car and more importantly the high speed stability will be affected tremendously. I was for once concerned on the low height of the Brio, with four people and so many luggage how would it perform on uneven roads and on those monstrous speed breakers. Anyway, we decided to go ahead with the Brio as we had the only other option which was the Swift and the Brio ticked more boxes compared to the Swift. Just before our trip the first proper service of the Brio was done and the engine oil and the oil filter were changed. On the 15th evening I got the air pressures check in all the tires along with the spare tyre, which is a challenge to refill in the Brio due to way it is placed and one needs to unscrew the mount which holds it in place. To load up the luggage took off the rear parcel shelf. We had slightly less luggage while leaving form Mumbai as my wife was in Chennai and would fly down to Bangalore on 16th night when we were supposed to reach Bangalore. So now with our bags packed, we were all set to embark on our two week road trip to down South India.


Mumbai – Bangalore

We left around 3:30 am from our house in Borivali. The idea was to cross Pune before the traffic builds up in the morning. We were on the expressway by 5 am and were covering distance at a good pace. At around 8 am we stopped at Vithal Kamat for breakfast and it was our first break during the journey. The food was nothing great to talk about, which is usual these days at most Vithal Kamat outlets. We kept covering good distance as the day progressed and the roads started widening up once we entered Belgaum and the traffic was also thin. By afternoon around 1 pm we reached Hubli and turned right towards Bangalore. Once we took the right turn we were looking out for a decent place to have lunch but to our surprise we could hardly see any restaurants on either side of the highway. We spoke with my uncle in Bangalore for any suggestions and he recommended stopping over at Apoorva Resorts in Davangere which was on the opposite side of the highway. Till now our trip had a smooth sailing but then mother nature had some surprises installed for us. It started pouring cats and dogs suddenly and the visibility became really bad. Our speeds dropped and we were covering distance at a slow pace, plus it was the first rain for the Brio too. After some time the rains melowed down and we were getting closer to Davangere, and that is when we hit our first major road block. The traffic had come to a standstill on both sides of the road and there was a sea of buses on the road. We were barely moving an inch every couple of minutes and it continued this way for over an hour. Its so happened that, there was a major rally held by Congress and villagers were loaded in buses and bought to the venue.100’s of buses 1000’s of villagers and here we were stuck between them with nowhere to go. I was quite confident that we would reach Bangalore by 5 or 6 pm max, but the Congress rally made sure that wasn’t going to happen. All in all, we lost over 2 hrs in that mess and I was really frustrated and my family was hungry as we still did not get a place to have lunch. In all that confusion, we did not even know whether we actually crossed Apoorva where we were supposed to stop for lunch.

Now to make matters worse as we continued forward, rains came back again and it was really pouring. There was water clogging on the highway and especially on bridges. Was really worried that I don’t encounter a huge pothole like the ones you encounter on Mumbai roads which are covered with water and you only realise it once you enter one and it causes some real damage to our beloved cars. But luckily I had no such issue, but had one scary experience, which was my first and hopefully the last. As I mentioned, there was water collected on the road and I went over one such puddle of water at around 90 kph and had my first aquaplaning experience. Man, was it scary, as for that few seconds I had absolutely no control and the steering did not respond to any of my commands. But, we made it out of that situation in one piece and luckily there was no other vehicle around. This is a situation hopefully none of us have to encounter on our road trips, as some are not that lucky as the SUV 500 which toppled after loosing control due to aquaplaning in Kerala recently. Now, I wanted to reach Bangalore ASAP as looking at the condition I wanted to get out of the highway and enter the city before dark. But, we still had to eat and finally before reaching Tumkur around 5:30 pm we found a place to eat. Post a 30 min break we were back on the road and the rain gods were waiting to welcome us once again. Soon enough it started getting dark and our speed dropped considerably to around 60 kph. Finally, we entered Bangalore city in its peak traffic hours and I was not one bit happy about it. It was insane and plus I had to reach the other side of the city which was near the Airport where my uncle stays as we were going to stay in his house for next two days. Unlike Mumbai, in Bangalore you can’t stick to the extreme left lane to make a quick pass is what I realized. Plus so many lanes turn into one way that taking a wrong turn would just be disastrous. Also, people travelling to Bangalore have to maintain the speed limit as displayed by the sign boards on the roads. Finally, with my Uncle guiding us over the phone, we reached his house at 10 pm. So much, for my target of reaching Bangalore in 13 hrs. But, the car performed well and it was a hoot to drive with the Yoko Earth 1 tires providing phenomenal grip. Boy, were we relieved to reach our destination finally.

Total Distance covered – 1080 kms

A few pictures from the first day and during our stay in Bangalore


Total kms covered in the Brio before we left for Bangalore.







The setup, my dad had is phone and aux cable ready for the GPS to guide us when required. Also, he had made a note of the key places we would cross on our way from Mumbai to Bangalore.











Our home for the next 2 days










Unicorn Restaurant at Infantry Rd is a must place to visit in Bangalore. The Unicorn prawns served by them are just out of this world.




Total kms covered in the Brio from Mumbai including our runs within Bangalore city.

[SnS_12]

Bangalore – Kodaikanal


So on 19th we left for Kodai at 5 am. The drive to Kodai was around 500 kms and if all goes as planned, we would reach Kodai by afternoon. The roads were nice and wide and as soon as we left Bangalore there was hardly any traffic. At around 7 am we stopped at Hotel Dhakshit for breakfast, which is actually on the route which goes to Chennai. We spotted the hotel and took a left from the main highway. The food was good and you really can't go wrong with south Indian delicacies like dosa and idli at such places. By 12:30 we had turned right on Dindigul and halted for refreshments just before entering the ghat section, which was about 52 kms long. The ghat section was fun to drive on, but one needs to keep an open eye for oncoming traffic specially on blind corners. The temperature started dropping as we climbed up and was a welcome change. As, we kept climbing we were greeted with the smell of the Nilgiri trees (Eucalyptus ).


We had booked ourselves at Le Poshe, which was a new property and had recently completed a year. We were going to stay there for two nights before proceeding to Chennai. By 2:30 pm we reached our hotel after a 2hr drive on the ghat section , and it was a thrilling experience. Gladly, we had no unwanted incidents as we encountered on our leg from Mumbai to Bangalore. However, we had one very pleasant surprise planned by my father in-law, who had come down to Kodai the previous night and was staying in the room opposite to ours.

Total Distance 492 kms.

Some pictures from our drive and stay at Kodaikanal





Halt for refreshments before climbing the ghat.



Going up







Total kms from Bangalore to Kodai



Welcome cake arranged by father in-law



Le Poshe

[SnS_12]

Kodaikanal – Chennai

Finally on 21st it was time to say goodbye to Kodai and head towards Chennai. We left at 6 am and planned to have breakfast at Meenakshi after completing the ghat section. The distance to Chennai was a little over 500 kms. The route was not a problem, as I had to follow the Innova in which my father in-law was travelling. We maintained a speed of around 100 kph and I guess it is in this stretch that the Brio gave us the best mileage. We wanted to reach Chennai before the evening traffic hits and had targeted reaching home by 5 pm. The journey was peaceful, but the heat was getting on to us. What a startling change from the freezing temperature at Kodai and the baking heat Chennai had to offer us. The Brio really suffers in the cooling department when compared to the Swift. We reached home (Egmore) by 4:45 and unloaded the entire luggage. The Brio was not yet fully loaded as we had kept some of our stuff in the Innova. The main task for the Brio would be when we head back to Mumbai with four people and the entire luggage we carried for this trip.

Total Distance - 512 kms

Some pictures















Radisson Blu Resort Temple Bay Mamallapuram

This is a resort that my dad wanted to go as he had liked it very much, when we took him there two years back. its a huge property situated on the beach front. We had booked ourselves for a day over here on the 26th May. We left form Egmore at 11 am and had lunch at Fortune Hotel in OMR. From there we proceeded towards Temple Bay via ECR (East Coast Road). This is a two lane highway with a very scenic view. Also, this stretch of road is notorious for high speed accidents thanks to reckless drivers and riders. One needs to be careful and obey the speed limit as there are traffic cops on this stretch of road with speed guns. My wife was once fined for doing 70 kph on this very stretch. We finally reached the resort at around 4 pm. Completed the check-in formalities and left our luggage in our rooms and headed straight towards the pool. The pool in this resort is the longest in India and our family had occupied a section for ourselves with no other resort guests around.

Some pictures of the Resort.




























This place is a must stop for us whenever we are in Chennai

[SnS_12]

Chennai – Mumbai

It was now time to call an end to our trip and head back home to our busy daily routine schedule. We left from Chennai at 5:30 am on the 28th of May. Now, was the real challenge for the Brio as the entire luggage including the four of us had to fit in the car. Took us a while to load the entire luggage in order to maximise the space for my mother and father at the back and my wife in the front as not all the luggage fitted in the boot. The rear glass was totally covered up and I had to make some adjustments in order for me to get a decent view of the traffic in my rear view mirror. The total journey to Mumbai was around 1400 kms and we had decided to break it into 2 days. We planned to halt at Hubli for the night and continue to Mumbai the next day. We had to stop in Bangalore for some hours due to a sudden change in plan and which meant we would reach Hubli only by 8 to 9 pm. The drive was good and we managed to reach Hubli at around 8 pm. The roads leading to Hubli city were in a bad state and with lot of traffic. The Brio had performed well throught the journey without any hiccups and the underbelly never scrapped on any speed breaker despite the amount of load it was carrying. Except for one speed breaker in Hubli City were the under belly scrapped and it could have been avoided as I was carrying a little too much speed while crossing the speed breaker. We had dinner and headed to bed early as we had to get up early for our onward journey to Mumbai the next day.

The next day we wanted to leave by 5:30 am, but only managed to leave the hotel at around 6:30 am. The roads were wide smooth and had hardly any traffic. Helped us maintain a good speed and by around 10:30 am we were nearing Kolhapur. Just before Kolhapur there was a huge traffic jam on the highway. People were reversing and going on the opposite direction to take the service road. I hesitated at the first, but then looking at the number of vehicles going back I decided to join them and it so proved to be a right move. After moving at a crawling pace for sometime on the service road, we found out the reason for the traffic jam. It so happened that a tourist bus had banged into a rickshaw and all the villagers had come out on the road blocking the traffic. Need to be really careful on this section of road as the villagers generally drive on the wrong side of the roads most of the time and even if it’s their mistake, we are the ones who have to face the consequence at a time of an accident. We lost some time due to this, but still had enough time to make it to Mumbai before the peak traffic starts. We entered Pune by early afternoon and stopped at the expressway food court for lunch. Next stop was straight home and we reached our house at 5:20 pm. Phew!!!

So, finally our two week road trip came to an end and we had returned back with lot of fond memories. Some pictures from our drive back to Mumbai. And we are now looking forward to our next road trip in our Brio or maybe the soon to be launched Abarth Punto Evo

Total kms covered – 3713 kms

Fuel consumed – 212 ltrs

Fuel cost – INR 16,737

Best mileage – 18.8 kpl

Overall mileage – 17.5 kpl

Luggage stacked up to the brim





Stopped at Highway Oasis for breakfast.











Luggage stacked up again the next day while leaving from Hubli



Traffic jam near Kolhapur



Amount of luggage that came out of the car when we reached Mumbai. despite this everyone were seated comfortably.



Total kms from Chennai to Mumbai



Total kms covered in the Brio post this trip

[arun_josie]

Very nice write-up.
- The Le Poshe resort in Kodaikanal looks very nice. Is it on the lake side?
- In one of the pic taken during the Chennai - Mumbai run, the luggage is covering the complete rear view. May be next time onwards try to avoid this kind of stacking. It is always good to have a complete rear view, especially on the highways.

Originally Posted by SnS_12

And we are now looking forward to our next road trip in our Brio or maybe the soon to be launched Abarth Punto Evo

A long trip in Abarth Punto Evo for sure will be a rocking experience

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Very nice write-up.
- The Le Poshe resort in Kodaikanal looks very nice. Is it on the lake side?
- In one of the pic taken during the Chennai - Mumbai run, the luggage is covering the complete rear view. May be next time onwards try to avoid this kind of stacking. It is always good to have a complete rear view, especially on the highways.




A long trip in Abarth Punto Evo for sure will be a rocking experience

Thank you. The Le Poshe resort is not on the lake side but much before it. Its a good property and with good food too. Should try it out whenever you go to Kodai.

On the luggage covering up the rear screen, it was adjusted once we got into the car. I surely can't drive peacefully without using all the three mirrors.

[F150]

Very nicely done. This trip is on my to do list for a very long time. Can you please post the detailed route map or route log that you used/prepared?

[LandCruiser]

Excellent details and pictures. Very nice write up.

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by F150

Very nicely done. This trip is on my to do list for a very long time. Can you please post the detailed route map or route log that you used/prepared?

Thank you. The route we took for Bangalore was as below:

We went to Hubli via Kolhapur using the NH4



At the Hubli junction, we turned right and headed towards Davangree, followed by Tumakuru to enter Bangalore.



From Bangalore, we headed towards Kodai via Electronic city.

[ku69rd]

Nice review SnS_12; can you also please share any new delicacies you tried in this trip?
Mountains and Beach...two different perspectives.

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Nice review SnS_12; can you also please share any new delicacies you tried in this trip?
Mountains and Beach...two different perspectives.

Thank you. I can't remember any new delicacies that we tried in this trip, which are worthy of a mention out here. But I can list down a few places and food served in Bangalore and Chennai, which people should try when visiting these cities.

Bangalore - As mentioned earlier in my post, Unicorn Restaurant is a must visit place for fish lovers. I have visited Bangalore twice till date and every time I make it a point to go here. Its a paradise for fish lovers, everything from the crab meat soup to the heavenly unicorn prawns are dishes that I have not tasted anywhere else. Guys visiting Bangalore should go here.

Another place that I would suggest is OKO restaurant in The Lalit. It has an open seating on the roof top and also an adjacent indoor seating. I really like the ambiance the place offers and I loved the lobster that I had here. Some pictures




OKO




Chennai - I frequently visit Chennai and I have a lot places that I would like to suggest. If you like Chinese then you should try Cascade restaurant at Khader Nawaz Khan Road. The dishes I like over here are dragon chicken and chicken basket. The other stuff is also good.

For Mughlai cuisine one can try Hotel Deluxe at T Nagar. I haven't been to this place, but we order food form here at home in Chennai. Dishes to try are the Mutton Paya soup and Biryani.


Another restaurant that we frequently visit is Food Village on ECR.

And finally for chats, one can go to any Gangotree outlets in Chennai

[neeravnaik]

Great write up!!

Reminds me of a similar trip on my Brio AT last year (BLR-GOA-PUNE-SHIRDI-BLR). We also had to decide between our Dzire and Brio and opted against Dzire as it does not have ABS or Airbags.

Brio did quite well on the highway and its low stance makes for a very stable driving experience.

[Mordred]

Nice writeup SNS, but can you post some of the tariffs and rates of the hotels and stays. Especially the Le Poshe resort. Looks interesting. Maybe I will do a drive there with my wife and parents.

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by neeravnaik

Great write up!!

Reminds me of a similar trip on my Brio AT last year (BLR-GOA-PUNE-SHIRDI-BLR). We also had to decide between our Dzire and Brio and opted against Dzire as it does not have ABS or Airbags.

Brio did quite well on the highway and its low stance makes for a very stable driving experience.

Thanks. Yes, I love the way the Brio handles. I switched over to Yoko Earth 1 185 section the day we got the car, so don't know how the stock tires handle. But the upgrade really makes the car a hoot to drive. Maybe another 35 bhp and a total of 130 nm torque would be great to spice things up.

Originally Posted by Mordred

Nice writeup SNS, but can you post some of the tariffs and rates of the hotels and stays. Especially the Le Poshe resort. Looks interesting. Maybe I will do a drive there with my wife and parents.

Thank you. Well, we stayed for 2 nights at Le Poshe and it costed us around 7.5 k per room per night.

We stayed at the temple Bay for one night and we had taken two different rooms.

a) Double Sea View Villa (for my parents) - 15 k per night

b) Double Pool View Chalet, which was upgraded to Sea View Chalet for free of cost at the time of check-in - Costed us 6.7 k per night

Both above hotel prices included breakfast only. Hope that helps

P.S - The Le Poshe rooms don't have air-conditioning or sealing fans as temperature even in summers is on the cooler side. We were freezing in the night in May. The reason I mentioned this is I know some people who can't sleep without a fan being on even in freezing conditions.

[MaxTorque]

Thanks for the detailed report.

Actually I am also considering a similar trip on our little Brio.

Pune > Bangalore > Pollachi (and some trips in Kerala and Tamilnadu around (1000Kms)) by end of this month. I was bit concerned about Brio's behaviour on highways. Your report enhanced my confidence. I am planning to reach Bangalore in one day and stay at a friend's place and continue to Pollachi next day.

I hope it is doable. In your case, I assume that you were driving during the whole trip.

Now my real concerns are,
1. This is my first long trip attempt, prior to this I have done 300Kms on a single day.
2. I have been never able to maintain the average speeds calculated by Google Maps

Your comments will be helpful.