[ARAY]

What a great thread. Crisp narration and very detailed planning for the trip.
The blog brought back wonderful memories of our Ooty trip. Did the trip clubbing up with weekend and authorities allowed without questions through the 36 hairpin bend. The Duster AWD is TS registered, 36 hairpin was one of the reasons for the trip. I would have been devastated if they stopped and didn't allow us.

Ooty is a beautiful place but best time to visit would be non long weekends , specially in KA. The Mysore road becomes just like any other KA road over weekdays. Learnt about few detours to avoid the jam enroute while returning from the trip.

Keep traveling and sharing such wonderful threads.

Beautiful Ooty and Duster

[Prowler]

Well written Travelogue interspersed with some great images. Evokes nostalgia from a 'native' of Nilgiris.

This is one of the weak-points of the Zest-Petrol. The turbocharged engine has 140Nm torque on paper but the car's kerb weight (1130 kg unladen) clearly makes it struggle on steep inclines, particularly from dead-stop. It did not help that my boot was loaded to brim with luggage and taxi drivers coming down the slope did not stop or give way on the narrow, broken road.

That is a price you pay for a 'stronger' built car. In hills, you could try mounting the gradient in a tangent while in the lower gears to help the engine crest the hills. Most turbo charged engines struggle in the mountains due to lower air density - it appears until the turbo spools.
I have a car which has 300 Nm but still breathes a little heavy until it touches the 2000 rpm. But once you learn the quirks of your engine, you will know how to keep it in the 'boil.