[H3LIOS]

I was looking for an excuse to make a long-trip on the Xylo and an opportunity came up to drop family members at the international airport in Hyd (they were travelling at short notice and couldn't get a convenient connecting train or flight). So roped in a cousin as navigator / co-pilot and set out on the trip.

Now, how do we load four 29" hard-cases, one 30" soft-case, two cabin bags and three over-night bags in the Xylo which has nearly zero luggage space? Folding the 3rd row didn't help much. So, we took out the third row completely and liberated oodles of space. Two screws, two bolts and 5 minutes later...

We started out from Vizag on 19th morning at 5:30 with a full tank of diesel. Three adults, two kids and 10 pieces of luggage totaling about 150kg. We had breakfast at Rajahmundry and started towards Khammam. It was very hot that day (over 40C), both ACs were on and kept the inside of the vehicle at around 22C.

We reached Khammam at 1:30PM and stopped for lunch and fuel. Mileage obtained was only 10.9 kmpl - I was disappointed, I expected at least 12kmpl. This is the lowest ever I got from my Xylo. I suspected the high AC use and bad tire pressure. Checked the tires and the rear tires were at 36 & 37 psi. Got them filled up to 40 psi and started for Hyd at 2:30PM.

Reached Hyd (L.B.Nagar at 6PM) and it was 7:00PM by the time we reached our apt in Masabtank. I avoided the rush-hour traffic by going on the ring road to Shamshabad and then taking the elevated expressway to Masabtank - sure it is a long-way around, but we reached home in less than half the time it would take if we tried to swim through Dilshukhnagar - Koti - Nampally - Lakdikapul in the 6PM traffic.

Rested that night. Next day (20th), did some last-minute shopping and took a long-nap in the afternoon. Then dropped off the travelers at the airport at 2AM, came back and grabbed a couple of hours of shut-eye.

Started back to Vizag at 7AM on the 21st. Filled up the diesel tank and this time I managed 12.3kmpl. The tire pressure helped, and also had to move slowler (~60kmph average) on the Khamman-Hyd stretch due to heavy traffic and lots of construction activity.

On the way back we took a detour from Khammam and went to Bhadrachalam. Paid my respects to Lord Rama and started towards Rajahmundry. A thunder-strom broke out with high-speed winds. We encountered uprooted trees blocking the road at three places.

The first time we went around the tree by driving through a ditch and farm fields. The Xylo was very poised and sure-footed through this, I never felt unsure about the vehicle. A 4WD on the Xylo would be a great addition.

The second and third time, some truck drivers and locals managed to cut-off the branches of the fallen trees and then move them a bit with rope to make just enough way for a vehicle to pass thru. All this delayed us considerably and it was 9:30PM by the time we reached Rajahmundry.

We stopped for Dinner and Re-fueling. To my surprise, the mileage on the return trip worked out to be 14.9 kmpl This is the best fuel average I ever got from this car.

We finally reached Vizag at 1:30AM. Total trip was 1540KM. Thanks to the comfort of the Xylo, the trip was smooth and not very tiring. The car is almost at 12000KM and I think the engine is starting to free-up. The car feels noticeably smoother after the trip and the 2nd oil & filter change. (As per the owner's manual the 2nd oil change is scheduled at 20,000 km, but I did it at 10,000 km itself).

Cheers
Teja

[Abbas]

Good to see someone form vizag. I started from mumbai in a scorpio on the 20th and reached vizag on the 21st. We might have crossed paths.