Team-BHP > Travelogues


Reply
  Search this Thread
16,352 views
Old 23rd April 2022, 23:33   #1
BHPian
 
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 123
Thanked: 1,525 Times
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!

When an old friend, especially a school friend asks you for a trip, you don’t say no, even if the date of travel is less than a week away and there aren’t any office leaves you can afford.

Enter S, an old buddy, currently in Jaipur because of the WFH situation and on one Sunday evening, he pitched the idea of a trip to Dharamshala where he had a few friends who were inviting him over. With the new entry of Lucifer(https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/luxur...ml#post5263046 (Choosing a car for a flickering mind | M340i vs S5 vs 530d vs GLC43)) in the family, I was itching to take it out for a drive to the mountains and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

A shell shocked reaction was what I had expected from my better(and more sensible) half and she didn’t disappoint. “Have you completely lost it? Aren’t we travelling to Narkanda in a couple of weeks!” (Yes, I forgot to mention that before, we had another week-long Himachal trip planned in exactly 2 weeks ). But trips with school friends are so difficult to come by and who wants to be that person in the group who gets blamed for a ‘Bhai, because of you we weren’t able to do a legendary trip’ (of-course in Hindi with a few more expletives).
Intense negotiations followed and the temptation of going on the first long drive with Lucifer ultimately tipped the scales for her, even though we agreed to not take any leaves and work during the days.

So, the trip was finalized for Sunday (6th March), we would be returning back on Saturday (12th March) as it was my bday and wanted to spend some time with my parents, before our next trip started on 17th March. Of-course, practicality isn’t one of my traits .

Another school friend agreed for the trip before backing out at the last moment. As I mentioned above, that one friend in the group who becomes the hurdle and gets cursed for the rest of their life, this one earned that badge. The rest three of us decided to continue with the plan.

Day1: The flag off

Shades on, windows up, Lucifer in dynamic mode and we started around Noon, the route was going to be Jaipur - Delhi bypass (Western Peripheral expressway) - Ambala where we would be breaking for the night.

As called out by a number of experienced bhpians, the Jaipur Delhi drive was the most boring leg and felt more like an extended city drive. Though roads were mostly fine with some surprise potholes (like early levels of the ‘road fighter’ video game), the traffic was quite heavy. For a while we tried hard to find open patches of roads for Lucifer to stretch his legs, but soon gave up, put him back on comfort mode and decided to enjoy the B&O speakers instead of the exhaust.
With just a tea break at one of the thousands of midways now open along the way (amusingly with similar names and brandings, highway kings/queens/princes all are there), we were able to hit the expressway in about 4 - 4.5 hours. This was the moment I was waiting for.

With 1000+ kms done on the odometer of the car, it was now time to mark the end of the ‘run-in’ period and fully unleash the beast. And boy, did it fly! We were pushed to the backs of the seats, the exhausts sang out loud, the adrenaline flew high and we were reminded of the feeling of ‘being alive’ which sometimes evades us in the monotony of corporate life. The car buy had been justified.

We stopped more than once to click photographs, switch drivers and feel that launch surge, the kick in the stomach, one more time. What’s life without the joy of letting the kid inside you take over!
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220306_082952853.mp.jpg

Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220306_121726001.mp.jpg

Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220306_103059905.mp.jpg

Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220306_115551792.mp.jpg

Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220306_121609462.mp.jpg

Post the expressway, it was a mostly breezy drive barring the traffic around Sonipat, Panipat and the Dhabas of Murthal. The plan to treat ourselves to the Parathas and Chole-Kulche of Amrik Sukhdev was kicked out of the window looking at what felt like the entire population of Haryana. We reached Ambala around 8:30, had a quick dinner and crashed.

Summary of Day1:
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220306_160011056.mp.jpg

Day 2: The surprise breakfast

The route for the next day was Ambala - Ludhiana - Hoshiarpur - Dharamshala. Though Ludhiana is a slight detour, S wanted to visit an old uncle of his.

It was a Monday, remember the deal with the devil (oh no, that's just for the theatrics, I actually mean the agreement with my dear wife) where we were supposed to be working on Weekdays. The plan was to reach Dharamshala by around noon.
In-order to honour that agreement, we left early and breezed through the morning traffic of Punjab. The sound of the exhaust was the only dose of caffeine we needed and by 8 am, we were at his uncle’s place.

Now when S had mentioned uncle’s place, I didn’t imagine it to be an uncle’s palace. A strict looking security guard stopped us at the huge entrance gate and asked if we had an appointment! That’s when we realised that his uncle owned a big business and a majestic house.
Now if anyone shows up at my house so early in the morning, I would be half cranky but we were welcomed with so much warmth, treated with a range of delicacies from Protein shakes (as a welcome drink!) to Omelettes and Parathas, walked around the gardens and kitchen gardens (which should be actually called farms). I truly understood what big hearted Punjabi hospitality is and a lesson for me to remember for the rest of my life. The fun part was that Lucifer managed to garner attention and praises from a family who had the 3 big Germans and a Jag in their garage. Talk about Validation!
What was initially meant to be a quick 15 min visit had taken up more than 2 hours, not that we were complaining but with heavy hearts and heavier stomachs, we trudged on.

Punjab had woken up by now and we met a lot more traffic now. By the time we crossed Ludhiana city and got back on the highway, the office timings had started. Instead of the music or the exhaust, we were now listening to calls of my beloved.

The roads turned prettier after Hoshiarpur as we crossed acres of mustard fields before starting the ascent into the hillier regions and while that sounds beautiful, we were met with the practical problem of patchy internet which meant that we had to halt at a place with connectivity for every meeting. If you thought the ‘moshi moshi’ Hrithik scene from ZNMD was a work of imagination, think again.

Work from wherever!
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220309_080610239.mp.jpg

Even the food options post Hoshiarpur were limited and took us a while to find a decent place for lunch. The good part was that we found some really nice set of twisties with little traffic which meant Lucifer was able to get a damn solid workout and it didn’t disappoint one bit.

Here is a video capturing a small section of the drive on the twisties, headphones recommended


Crossing a relatively empty highway in Punjab, a phenomenon that's rare and mostly found only during early mornings!
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-img_20220308_143552.jpg

Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220307_051836287.jpg

Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-img_20220308_143351.jpg

Lets stereotype Punjab with Sarson ke khet, a glass of lassi and an Audi

Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220307_062035408.mp.jpg

Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220307_082135208.mp.jpg

Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-img_20220308_143112.jpg


The twisties start as we approach Himachal
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220307_071028253.mp.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220307_074743883.jpg

As we crossed Kangra and started approaching Dharamshala, we were awed by the huge snow capped mountainous backdrops. The towns, roads, vehicles all seemed diminutive in front of the mighty Dhauladhars. We reached around 4:30 in the evening and while the lady rushed for another meeting, me and S enjoyed a cup of tea at the base of the mountain and the cold gusts of wind blew away any iota of tiredness we had.
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220307_101806249.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220307_105003992.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220307_105305855.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220307_105411824.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220307_105653453.jpg

More than the mountains, finding Xp 95 in remote areas of Himachal made me happy!
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220307_094033792.mp.jpg

Catching up on well deserved rest!
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220308_100904851-1.jpg

Last edited by GTO : 25th April 2022 at 08:37. Reason: PM'ing you
animeshc is offline   (41) Thanks
Old 23rd April 2022, 23:46   #2
BHPian
 
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 123
Thanked: 1,525 Times
Re: Old friendships, mountains and a S5!

Day 3: The picturesque stadium

What is the worst thing to do after a peaceful early morning walk, watching the sun light up the snow capped peaks while sipping a cup of your favourite drink? Follow it up by a day full of office meetings :| Alas, we had chosen this dual life for the week.

Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-img_20220308_141646.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220308_021801631.mp.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-img_20220308_141415.jpg

In the evening, we stepped out and our first destination was one of the most picturesque cricket grounds, Dharamshala Cricket Stadium. G knew someone at the stadium which meant we were allowed to park the car inside and given a quick tour around. The cricket lover in me was engulfed in a sense of nostalgia as we walked around the galleries adorned with pictures of matches and cricketers, old and new, a lot of which are still fresh in my memory.
Goes without saying that it had an absolutely magnificent view. I wish I could play my cricket here and blame all my dropped catches (I share something common in terms of fielding skills with another famous Bong cricketer ) on being distracted by the lovely surroundings.


Of Course the laptop went with us on outings, in this case wrapping up a last minute email before leaving. Though this was sometimes frustrating, at least I was assured that at-least one of us will have their jobs!
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220308_101159942.mp.jpg

Lucifer in its exclusive stadium parking:
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220308_104825088.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-img_20220310_175244.jpg

Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-img_20220310_175652.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220308_105550499.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220308_110234288.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-img_20220310_180050.jpg

The next halt was the Naddi view point in Mcleodganj, a few kms ahead of Dharamshala, the last leg of which turned out to be a particularly steep drive and through narrow congested lanes bustling with a lot of curious onlookers wondering what a red Audi was doing there.
As we struggled to find a parking spot, a few generous local cab drivers helped us by moving their cabs around to make space for us. They were rather surprised to see the car and asked about our whereabouts, the BH number and how we managed to get the car from Rajasthan with its ground clearance. It was surreal to see how Lucifer was helping us break social boundaries now.

The view point itself offered a close up zoomed in view of the ranges. We just stood there, losing ourselves to the magnanimity of the surroundings, forgetting about the worries of the world and petty meetings, till it got dark and we were knocked out of our trance to realise we needed to rush back for another set of night calls.
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-img_20220310_180327.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220308_113917906.portrait.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220308_120645206.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220308_121859149.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220308_122021653.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-img_20220310_180437.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220308_124007711.jpg
animeshc is offline   (23) Thanks
Old 24th April 2022, 00:03   #3
BHPian
 
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 123
Thanked: 1,525 Times
Re: Old friendships, mountains and a S5!

Day 4: The Shershah town
With some free time on our work calendars today, we decided to explore some fancy food joints today and our gracious host helped arrange a table at the Amoha which offered breathtaking views along with some authentic local delicacies.
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220309_074526384.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220309_080008423.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-img_20220310_180808.jpg

A plate of Himachali thali ravaged
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-20220309_143235collage.jpg

From there, the recommendation was to drive till Palampur, the hometown of our brave war hero Capt. Vikram Batra. The drive was just the antacid we needed after a heavy lunch. It was the definition of serenity as we breezed across grass meadows, tea gardens, river tributaries on a bunch of open twisties in the backdrop of the snow peaks.
A cup of tea in one of the tea gardens, with a clear view of the mountains was the ideal setting to close the day and head back.
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220309_113835413.mp.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220309_120407196.mp.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220309_091908055.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220309_120436601.mp.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220309_121511909.mp.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220309_123130336.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220309_121135441.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-original_3474a7f9cb4241639ccfbb6f0d891f5c_pxl_20220309_125414239.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-img_20220310_182231.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220309_131512277.jpg

Day 5: Trek
Today was the trekking day. Dharamshala offers a lot of trekking opportunities and while Triund is one of the most famous ones, it's a long one and wouldn’t fit into our WFH schedules. So instead we decided to do a shorter one starting from Dharamkot, which is a few kms ahead of Mcleodganj.

It ended up being a trek for Lucifer too as maps took us via some shortcut through a road which is known as Khada Danda Marg (one can look it up on youtube for some reference videos). As the name suggests, it's really steep and narrow and scary enough for my wife to panic and curse the very company we work in (in the process keeping the phone aside and not capturing the adventurous drive). A combination of the V6 and quattro meant Lucifer aced the test with ease as it climbed effortlessly through the sharp turns. More than the climb, it was the narrow passages we had to squeeze through, that had me sweating in-spite of the cold morning.
With no proper parking available, we had to park it literally among the woods and hope nothing untoward happened.

Lucifer in the woods!
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220310_021905708.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220310_021803265.mp.jpg

The trek was rejuvenating. Early morning breeze filling up our lungs, tall Rhododendron trees on both sides, a red carpet of Burans flowers laid out in front of us, a meditative ‘flag point’ with hundreds of Buddhist flags tied across the forest with an aerial view of the sun rising on the town of Dharamshala and along the way a small food shop in a van offering tea and maggi, the perfect morning walk!, enough to trigger a discussion among 3 people in their early 30s to think about retirement to settle in the mountains.
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220310_022348469.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220310_023851617.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220310_024105549.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220310_025425810.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220310_030834060.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220310_031030639.jpg
We trekked till a temple before heading down via another route to Dharamkot where we planned to work through the day. Dharamkot had a very young vibe to it. Lots of cafes with interesting graffiti and invariably a fluffy dog waiting to receive you, nice music playing even at 10 in the morning, the smell of fresh bread from different corners, the sights of a few people practising martial arts in their backyards and the refreshing sight of a few Buddhist monks enjoying pizzas in one famous home run cafe (who said monks have to denounce the gourmet pleasures of life, was happy to have the stereotypical image in my mind broken).

We finally settled in a cafe which had good internet and a lot of folks doing WFH, and spent the day in an environment closest to resembling the office since Covid.
animeshc is offline   (29) Thanks
Old 24th April 2022, 00:11   #4
BHPian
 
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 123
Thanked: 1,525 Times
Re: Old friendships, mountains and a S5!

Day 6: The return
Funnily enough, this was our first holiday of the trip and we were starting back. We chose to return via a different route this time, Dharamshala - Kangda - Una - Anandpur Sahib - Chandigarh - Ambala, again the night break at Ambala.
It was a more relaxed drive as we chose to stop on multiple occasions, covering the famous Nangal dam and the historical Gurudwaras at Anandpur Sahib and Kiratpur Sahib.

Similar to our onward journey, the fun twisties of Himachal were contrasted by the heavily crowded highways in Punjab and it overall took around 9 hours to reach Ambala.

The final pic before starting back:
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220311_052107385.jpg

@Anandpur Sahib
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220311_120648166.mp.jpg

Day 7: Happy b’day?
A midnight surprise cake celebration had kicked off my bday but never in my wildest imagination, I knew what awaited me.

We started off by 6 trying to cover as much ground as possible on the empty highways before the cities woke up. It was all going perfect until a couple of hours later, when crossing a crowded junction around Sonipat, I heard a dreaded screeching noise and realised a truck had banged into our Lucifer. We were moving slowly in our lane but at the blind spot (towards the front left side) of the truck and for some reason, it decided to turn left, hitting the rear of our vehicle. It was so crowded that I couldn’t risk stopping the car in the middle of the road and by the time I maneuvered it to the shoulder of the road, the truck had vanished. Damages to Lucifer on the rear bumper as well as the driver side rear door, what a bday gift to be had!
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220312_034308276.mp.jpg
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220312_034318064.mp.jpg

I had a similar experience a few years ago and while that time an angrier version of me had taken the driver to the police station, it hadn’t been of much help except for some mental vindication. Knowing that, the best we could have done is to not worry much about it and have some Parathas at Murthal to keep the Bday spirits up

Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-pxl_20220312_035717171.jpg

The conclusion
Though the trip ended on a rather sombre note, it couldn’t take away much from what was otherwise an amazing journey. We had not only covered some beautiful places in a marvellous piece of engineering but also met a few wonderful people along the way and were enriched with memories and stories of a lifetime, of-course catching up with a school friend after such a long time made it even more memorable.

A word about the car

Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-img_20220308_143321.jpg

It would be unfair to not write a small section dedicated to Lucifer. After all, he was the hero of the trip, getting pictures clicked at all scenic points and garnering tons of attention from all genders and ages.
While my narcissistic self would like to imagine that it was me who was the reason for the multiple moments of amazement “OMG!” or “Wow” from the opposite gender on the roads, it was Lucifer (at least this time) who was stealing the hearts. It was quite unbelievable to see some of the reactions.
Several folks came to talk about the car, we got multiple nods of approval from the drivers passing by through gestures and verbal compliments. We knew Lucifer looked good but never had imagined this level of attention and external validation.
As I have called out earlier, the exhaust was musical (and from what I know without piping any artificial noise through the speakers). My sensible better half who was earlier not really convinced about all the fuss around an exhaust, now couldn’t stop grinning on the aural drama associated with each burst of acceleration.
We climbed through some quite steep roads and not once did we feel the lack of grip or power even if we were approaching the climbs at crawling speeds. Never in the past, I have driven on twisties with so much confidence and speed. A special mention about the drivability and maneuverability on the narrow crowded streets, the steering is just the ideal weight and the car never felt cumbersome to drive through traffic.
I was worried about the ground clearance and low profile tyres but Lucifer handled a lot more than I could have imagined. While driving around the nearby areas of Dharamshala, we encountered less than ideal roads on multiple occasions and in a couple of cases, no roads at all and barring the mental stress humans are used to creating unnecessarily, there wasn’t an iota of an issue.
Since a lot of people ask me about the average, I would like to address that it wasn’t bad at all. With my driving, I managed somewhere around 8-9 kmpl and S with a more balanced driving style would manage close to 11kmpl.

The only issue if I have to call out is the ergonomics of the driving position. Neither me nor
S could find a really comfortable position and we had to keep changing the configuration every hour or two.Maybe this is about getting used to sitting in low slung cars as I remember facing similar discomfort even in a Bmw 3 series. Any tips would be handy!

If you look at my original post before buying Lucifer,(https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/luxur...-vs-glc43.html (Choosing a car for a flickering mind | M340i vs S5 vs 530d vs GLC43)), the considerations were “buying a car which looked cool, sounded good, is fun to drive and would take us to different corners of India once WFH/Covid ends”. I can now confidently say this has ticked all the boxes with elan

The final reading on the odometer:
Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!-img20220314wa0002.jpg

Last edited by animeshc : 24th April 2022 at 00:50.
animeshc is offline   (60) Thanks
Old 24th April 2022, 05:13   #5
Team-BHP Support
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 17,689
Thanked: 76,310 Times
Re: Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!
Aditya is offline   (3) Thanks
Old 24th April 2022, 07:16   #6
Distinguished - BHPian
 
androdev's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: bangalore
Posts: 3,083
Thanked: 21,784 Times
Re: Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!

Awesome road trip! I think it's one of the best looking red cars in the market. What an epic start to the ownership! I am sure you will find a good seating position after some trial and error - maybe it's not the seat but front visibility being hampered by low seat/high bonnet?

Please post a snapshot of Google maps route you took.
androdev is online now   (3) Thanks
Old 24th April 2022, 09:46   #7
Distinguished - BHPian
 
Dr.AD's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Bangalore/Pune
Posts: 1,793
Thanked: 18,445 Times
Re: Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!

Fantastic travelogue, fantastic car, and lovely photos too! Thanks for sharing.

Rarely do we see such beautiful cars being driven across the interstate drives, and even more rarely on mountain drives and challenging terrains. Kudos to you for doing that. That is what makes this travelogue so special. Looking forward to more such reports with your beautiful S5.
Dr.AD is online now   (6) Thanks
Old 24th April 2022, 10:03   #8
Senior - BHPian
 
jkrishnakj's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,662
Thanked: 4,122 Times
Re: Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!

What a log. What a car! Whew! 1700+ km of fun.
jkrishnakj is offline   (2) Thanks
Old 24th April 2022, 11:54   #9
Senior - BHPian
 
JoshMachine's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Pune
Posts: 1,248
Thanked: 6,049 Times
Re: Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!

Beautiful car. Beautiful log. Beautiful pics.
Thanks for sharing

There's a thing about mountain drives and low-slung sedans! Good to see it in your travelogue.
JoshMachine is offline   (5) Thanks
Old 25th April 2022, 09:49   #10
BHPian
 
Surya1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2022
Location: India/Poland
Posts: 33
Thanked: 66 Times
Re: Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!

What a journey!
Thanks for all the beautiful pics.
I hope you get Lucifer back to the state it left the showroom soon.
Surya1 is offline   (3) Thanks
Old 25th April 2022, 10:36   #11
BHPian
 
sachin_cs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Raipur C.G.
Posts: 505
Thanked: 2,815 Times
Re: Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!

What a way to start Monday morning, you just made my day. Looking at the S5 is such a visual pleasure and especially more so in the Himachal. Mcleodganj has been one of my favourite place and seeing it through your lense rekindled my memories of graduation days, when I would mostly be found in either Dharamkot or Bhagsu. Kudos to you guys for taking your V6-low slung-low profile tyred car to Himachal and not keeping S5 as a garage queen. I'm sure, had it been the 340i, it would have passed off as a regular 3 series. Audi S5 screems attention and rightly so, its such a beautiful car. And you have a witty writing style, you made me spill my coffee this morning
Quote:
Though this was sometimes frustrating, at least I was assured that at-least one of us will have their jobs!
sachin_cs is offline   (2) Thanks
Old 25th April 2022, 12:02   #12
BHPian
 
d_payne's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 176
Thanked: 209 Times
Re: Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!

Beautifully chronicled! So glad to see a vehicle of this caliber being used right - grand touring in the Indian way.

I drove my S5 to Udaipur and back in the first week I received it and I couldn't have been happier with my buying decision. The true joy of ownership for car is on road trips and not hooliganism on city roads. Beautifully documented, happy belated birthday to you.
d_payne is offline   (4) Thanks
Old 26th April 2022, 08:10   #13
BHPian
 
BhaskarG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2020
Location: GAU & BLR
Posts: 179
Thanked: 1,580 Times
Re: Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!

Thank you! Your piece made my day!

I am always of the opinion that if money permits, then buy the car that gives you the kick while you are still young. Your car is testimony to that.
BhaskarG is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 26th April 2022, 09:36   #14
Team-BHP Support
 
benbsb29's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 9,954
Thanked: 13,050 Times
Re: Old friendships, mountains and an Audi S5!

Thanks for sharing your writeup on this trip, and the memories made along the way. There is just something about roadtrips and being with great company.

About the damage to the car, for something that wasn't in your control, glad that you decided not to pursue it and ruin your trip. Attribute it to an unplanned expense, and continue to enjoy your car.
benbsb29 is online now   (1) Thanks
Old 26th April 2022, 13:23   #15
BHPian
 
evil_grin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 289
Thanked: 963 Times
Re: Old friendships, mountains and a S5!

Quote:
Originally Posted by animeshc View Post
remember the deal with the devil (oh no, that's just for the theatrics, I actually mean the agreement with my dear wife)
This cracked me up! You have an amusing writing style.

I so love the exhaust note! It's now my favourite one. Keep sharing pics and videos of the car.

The car is so sporty that I feel the Civic tried to copy the look!
evil_grin is offline   (1) Thanks
Reply

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks