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-   -   Hyderabad - Nagarjuna Sagar Short Trip (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/33444-hyderabad-nagarjuna-sagar-short-trip.html)

Finally I was able to take a highway trip on my 11 month Fiesta Exi on 23th Dec, Sunday. It was short day long trip along with my wife. Thanks to the info I found on TBHP it was easier to get prepared for this trip & also to google maps since I had no idea how to get to the Nagarjunasagar highway.

Getting to Nagarjunasagar:

I had planned to start from home at 9 in the morning but with the usual delays I finally started at 10 AM. Filled up at the Shell station in Yellareddyguda & started out to the highway via secunderabad-tarnaka-uppal road. Surprisingly for a Sunday there was a lot of traffic on the Sbad road due to the auto digital meter mela.
After getting thru all the traffic all the way until uppal, took the LB nagar road & joined the Sagar highway at around 11:15. The highway is very good, sparse traffic & smooth road tops.
The road was tempting but I stayed below just below 100 for the first 40kms since this was my first ride on this baby.
But seeing a long stretch of road I hit the pedal & was going 130-140. There was a little steering wobble at this point which I found surprising considering my Michelin PP had done only 3500kms.
Just after a while, as I was accelerating towards 100 on 4th, a puppy decided to cross the road. I slammed brake doing around 95 & swerved the car towards the right. The car immediatley fish tailed & I after a bit of opposite lock came to a stop on the other side of the road (on coming traffic) amongs a few shrubs. My wife was a bit shaken but I noticed the engine had died. So I got off first to check if the puppy was ok. He was fine & had crossed the road & was staring at me as if saying "what is the fuss all about!?". I stared the car, drove to the other side & inspected it. Nothing except for the dust that got onto the bumpers from the shrubs.

I first patted myself for the tyre decision I had taken. I am not sure how this would have turned out on the MRFs. Also amazing Fiesta brakes & vehicle stability. I know I wasn't doing a very high speed yet this was good enough to seriously injure.
But now the steering wobble started at 90 which I am sure as due to the sudden braking & steering from the earlier incident. Stayed around the 90 mark through most of the trip except while passing 4-5 villages & a bad 10km stretch of road about 50 kms before Sagar.

Reached Sagar at 1:20 PM & checked in to Vijay Vihar room for a lunch & short rest.

The return trip:

Started from Sagar at 3:15 & the highway had even less traffic & was pretty much a cruise & it was easy passing the few vehicles.
I was pretty much on target to reach Hyderabad by 5 but then abt 25 kms before the city, traffic picked up & some really slow set of cars made things irritating. Finally made it to my home at 6 PM instead of the 5:30 I had planned for.

I checked my tyres at home for any damage & there seemed none.
Mileage based on approx. calculation (Total kms city+highway-335kms & fuel gauge showed exactly half - 22.5) was 14.9kms/lt.

I got wheel alignment & balance done yesterday (24th) & the toe in was pretty high on front right which was corrected. I hit a 100 on necklace road & no wobble so far.

Posted some pics below:

good trip there!! don't brake for puppies (unless it's big enough to damage the radiators etc..
where do you stay in secbad? because i see the auto meter fellows daily..how's michellin's tyre noise at high speeds?

nice writeup.
and rightly pointed don't brake for small animals.
try to pass behind them but don't try braking at a high speed.

Nice report with pictures. I am surprised you checked into a hotel room for a couple of hours stay at Sagar? What was the tariff?

Did you have lunch at punnami hotel which has a fantastic view from the dining/bar area? We were there during the Nsagar tbhp meet

"...Mileage based on approx. calculation (Total kms city+highway-335kms & fuel gauge showed exactly half - 22.5) was 14.9kms/lt..."

Hey theexister, that is not the correct way to guage mileage. I suggest you fillerup to get the correct reading.

I had to avoid the puppy since I din't want to kill it. I couldnt pass behind it because he kind of stuttered so I wasn't sure which direction he was going (forward or backward).

I was supposed to check in the previous day but I missed it due to some sudden work. I did not cancel the booking & so decided to check in for the time I was there.

mobike- I did have dinner at the punnami hotel & it does have a fantastic view from dining area.

vnabhi - I should have done that frankly but I completely forgot & remembered only while returning from work on Monday.

I hope I can be there at the next tbhp meet.

Block your calendar for the next team-bhp meet which is to Srisailam on Jan 26th, 08. A new thread will come up in meet section early Jan. Look forward to seeing you then.

BTW, I stay in Srinagar colony near Ameerpet.