Whats the relevance of the title? That will come in the last parts of the report. But, dont skip the rest of it, unless you really dont want to be caught in the excitement of a 20 year old having completed his first 'long' trip (If I can say so)
Why the trip?
Shopping. Well, i know that sounds stupid and almost girlish! However, thats not the case. My friend needed new alloys+ tyres, and i needed to buy a cam. Although bangalore prices were better, it was not enough to justify coming down to bangalore for the stuff.
However, seeing in a different angle, put in the excitement of a road trip to bangalore without spending any extra amount sounded too good to ignore! And the fact that the car in question here is a diesel CRDi and altogether 5 people were joining in made things simpler.
Planning
Team- bhp rocks! Planned everything here, and the best part is everything worked to the plan as well. All the planning is in these threads-
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...mera-help.html http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadget...ns-etc-76.html
Worked out the costs to be about 1200 per person (including diesel and lodging), which was acceptable.
Special thanks to kpzen, benbsb29 and rjstyles69 for giving all the help needed.
The car
A Hyundai Accent CRDi, which has done more than 50k+ kms.
Most team-bhp'ians will ask- whats so special about a hyundai car? Well, its a wonderful package. Very good power, mileage, nice build quality and comfort. NVH levels are high compared to modern diesels and it is not exactly made with the boy-racer in mind. However, the car did more than good in whatever thrown at it during the trip.
Day 1
Started thursday night by about 9pm. Roads were 'good' upto ernakulam. After that, my friend handed over the car. Wish i could say that i had a nice drive till coimbatore. However, roads were bad enough, and to add to it, was stuck in traffic for almost 2 hours near the border. Tamil nadu side was better till coimbatore.
From coimbatore, my friend took over again till bangalore. Took the following route.
Coimbatore->Sathy->Bannari->Thimbam -> Chamrajnagar->Nanjangud ->Mysore -> Bangalore route as suggested in the above thread.
However, roads were blocked in Sathy. And was stuck again for almost one and half hours. Near mysore, the roads were real bad. But road-side view was real good this route. However, we decided not to take that route back for the return journey.
Some pics from the trip down that road...
Had late late breakfast/ late lunch from mysore. And reached bangalore by evening. Took room in a hotel near majestic, and went roaming to near-by places.
Day 2
Started thinking about alloys and stuff. Bangalore city was new for us, however was hoping team-bhp would come through for us, and it did!
First up, called benbsb29 and asked about the whole thing. Took his advice and called up rjstyles69 who took care of the rest, literally! He gave us directions to the shop, called up the shop owner, made sure we got a good deal, called up kpzen and made sure we got all the specs right. Not to forget that kpzen had already given all the advice needed on what to buy and at what price.
Tyre shopping was almost like reading a manual, we just did as per adviced and made sure we didnt make a mess of it, and all went fine!
Then, the cam. rjstyles69 gave all the directions. Went to foto circle, and got a fair deal on the S5 IS. Got it, and am a happy man ever since.
Spent the evening at the 'forum', and headed back towards our hotel. Slept till late the next day.
Day 3
Started the return trip, but not before waking up benbsb29 and rjstyles69 for asking few things. Took the following route-
Bangalore> Hosur> Bhavani> Coimbatore> Palakkad> Ernakulam> TVM.
Coimbatore by-pass is real good, and almost made like a straight line. But kerala side roads are again terrible, and palakkad thrissur is a no- no! . Checked out the Audi and BMW showrooms, but both were closed as it was a sunday.
Sad part is that I didnt get a chance to meet up with the bangy -Bhp'ians. Anyways, will come there soon again. Thanks for everyone who helped with the planning. Wanted to meet up with and riju and benny for all the help they gave. But, have to postpone that also for later.
Kinda hard to believe how we all get connected through team-bhp!