[Bumblebee22]

Hello everyone! Its been a really long time just reading and not writing and my beast has been just too good for me to resist posting about him any longer!

So its that lean time of the year, and as a bunch of leaves were lapsing, I made a quick decision to take a week off. The heart was itching for a drive (long, but just enough as have to welcome visiting family on Jan 1 and wifey wanted to recover). Gujrat is a state that we had not touched at all and parts are drivable from Mumbai, so thought of going somewhere in the state. Baroda just landed on maps, and the proximity to Anand (the home of the milk revolution) just clinched it.

Left home at about 11AM on a Saturday morning and were lucky to get moving traffic on the Western Expressway. Loved the way the beast was munching miles. I was in an amazing driving position (secretly love the fact that the wifey loves to navigate, not drive ) with the driver seat at the maximum height. Also love the space that the front passenger seat has which allows the wifey to sit back and take in the views (and naps and recover). My almost 8 year old loves to just occupy the middle seat completely- takes off his shoes and throw on his comforting blanket over himself, often dozing off stretched on the bench seat, only to hyper re-energize himself when awake! The driving position is simply awesome - completely clear vision of the road in the front, great back support and superb grip on the steering. The sight of a long road ahead just gladdens the heart and makes the drive even more enjoyable. The stability, the safety, and even the maneuverability of a hulk that the Hexa is, is simply out of the world.

Despite a super hectic schedule leading upto the trip, I had been spending some time each day on the forum for some tips. My nightmare is a puncture on a highway in the middle of nowhere and I bought a Bergmann tyre inflator to overcome this fear. Fortunately, did not have to use it but I am glad I have it now. Planning to get a TPMS installed next.

NH48 is NOT the best highway in India. It is mostly 6 lanes (3*3) and is quite busy with significant heavy vehicle traffic all along that occupies all lanes and some larger vehicles are slow moving. It is also not a smooth concerete one, and has many portions where the road was wavy. I observed some construction activity but did not see any major road widening happening. Also, while the highway is dotted with modest restaurants and hotels, I felt the stretch is missing a food complex, specially with spic and span washrooms. Carry your hand sanitizers still is my suggestion - in case they are in storage 'post Covid'. We stopped for late lunch ahead of Surat and had a reasonably priced, generously portioned and tasty meal at Gangour restaurant but had to use the McDonald's facilities. As we were reaching Baroda, Google maps diverted us to State Highway - which was in a pathetic shape. For about 10-12 kms, there was absolutely no street light and the road was a 2 lane one. It was an experience but not one I would have liked with my wife and kid. In hindsight, I should have just carried on the NH. Again, the Hexa gave me a sense of safety- that I could revv at will and it will respond. One peculiar observation was the number of signs of 'rooms' we saw on the Gujarat stretch of the highway. I dont think I have ever seen so many motels (I assume) on highways in the north but its comforting to know that one can make an overnight stop if one needs to. I did not get a chance to explore any of these hotels but if anyone has, I welcome views.

I deliberately kept the speed between 80-90Kmph all along and avoided frequent and sudden braking. Besides keeping me completely cool and avoiding frustration, it helped the milage considerably. In the city, where 90% of my driving happens, the mileage is 7.5-8 Kmph. At the end of almost 980 Km drive, the mileage was ~16.5Kmph. I had seen these readings on the Facebook THOR page but had never felt that anywhere close was possible on my beast. Happy to see that my fears were unfounded.

Baroda is a nice city and we were able to pack in quite a bit in 2 nights and 2.5 days. The roads in the city are broad (as compared to Mumbai) and the highway to Anand is quite a beauty. While we did not get to Statue of Unity, we did go to the Amul chocolate plant and had fun, would recommend this to others. We did not get the tickets to the Dairy plant, given the program was last minute. We also did some boating on Sur Sagar lake (ordinarily closed on Mondays but kept open on 25th in anticipation of larger crowds). The Sayaji Baug and the Laxmi Niwas Palace are worth visiting as well. The Baug is specially impressive.

We were able to finally leave Baroda at around 3PM. Stopped at an IOCL fuel station at Navsari, opposite Uday Palace, a Radison property, at Navsari. This was more an air stop more than a fuel stop but was very pleasantly surprised by the service at the station. I got my windshield cleaned and it made a HUGE difference to the night driving. The air equipment also looked to be very new. Stopped for a late dinner at Bhagat Tarachand. Again, the dinner was good but the facilities could have been better.

This was the longest road trip I have done and just loved how the Hexa responded and supported. Looking forward to the opening of the Delhi-Mumbai expressway opening up and driving to the capital!

[rajarshi94]

Nice write-up! Hexa is a solid Indian machine and I cherish each post written on a Hexa.

Love to see some snaps of your big iron tank.