[satyaanveshi]

Originally Posted by sudipta

Even if I am to drive, the timing should as mentioned by you like out of BLR office at ITPL by 2:00 pm every Friday and reach HYD home around 10:00 pm and start back on Monday morning latest by 6:00 am and be at BLR 2:00 pm.

Whichever travel option you choose, I must say that your job seems wonderful! Out on Fridays by 2 pm, in on Mondays at 2 pm

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by sudipta

Due to my new job, I travel every week between Hyderabad and Bangalore. Currently I use the intercity volvo bus service which takes roughly 10 hours over-night and the pickup and drop points are less than 5 kms from my house in both the locations. This is pretty convenient but I would like to check the option of self drive with the gurus in this forum. The budget will be less than 20 lakhs on road at Hyderabad.

As a background, I currently own a Scorpio MHAWK (2009) which it is pretty good on highways and I get around 13 kms of mileage. The road is excellent between these 2 cities and well maintained 4 lane throughout the distance.

Some expectation are that the car will provide a better mileage than my Scorpio and will be able to cruise at 140 kmph without to much of noise and strain. It should also have good highway manners and relatively less stress on driver. I am open to both sedan and car options. All suggestions are welcome including my current option (which will be music to my ears).

If I were you I would take the Volvo every time, this being India! Had you spoken of this in Australia or America or England/ Europe I would definitely, like you, consider driving. Simply because people there follow rules in a more civilized manner in general, than they do here.
However much of a driving enthusiast one may be, driving in India is fraught with dangers, delays and other unknown quantities, not to mention extreme tiredness and high irritation level, depression etc which will most certainly take over once the novelty factor wears off.
I would 'treat' myself to a 'drive' like this once in 4 or 5 months and not more.
Consider also that the overnight Train or Volvo bus option is likely to be far less expensive too, in terms of fuel costs as well as wear and tear on the vehicle, were you to drive yourself each week in your car.
I have owned a Scorpio and I don't think it will spare you the body ache, neck pain and other similar ills of the flesh if you were to actually drive it for such distances with such monotonous regularity. If you change to a car like say a Skoda Laura or Superb or Yeti or Chevy Cruze or even a Bee Em or Audi, you will still be very 'juiced' if you do this regularly.
Frankly, I would not do it even if I were driving myself in a Big 6 or 7 Series Bee Em or one of those nice Audis either, unless, of course, it is a chauffeur driven set up!

[NPV]

I don't think driving every week (and a work week follows, rather you're driving in to and out of work for 500+Km one way each week!) will be fun after the first few times. Also, however good the condition of the highway is cruising at 140km/hr isn't safe (gets even more riskier during a night/late evening drive) and can't be done consistently over a long distance as well.
I think the better decision would be to do the odd drive maybe once a month/2 months and for the rest use the Volvo bus service.
Given this, if you really don't have the need for another vehicle, that amount is a virtual saving of about Rs.20 Lakh! - Unless you're using the weekly drive line of thought as an excuse to get a brand new vehicle .

OT:No offence, This topic seems to have excited the mods enough to post back to back as well (though different mods!)

[pganapathy]

If you can afford to keep two cars (and OP says you can by considering a purchase), keep one car in Hyderabad and one in Bangalore for city use and take the bus or train on a regular basis.

I do the same and I only travel maybe half the distance (225-250) to Coorg and not even every weekend. The bus is stress free and you can rest. Ideally get the front seats which have a seatbelt and put that on and doze off.

The cost issue has been mentioned but suffice it to say it is a lot cheaper to use the bus.

Yes, do occasionally drive (after all we live to drive and nothing else) but doing it regularly becomes physically and mentally exhausting irrespective of how good the road is because of india's wonderful road manners (driving on the wrong side of the road, crossing without looking, u turns in the fast lane on a highway instead of a flyover, speedbreakers etc).

If you are serious about driving though, try and find a car with every safety device possible, because you will have at least one close call at some point during the drives. Thus, things like ABS, stability control etc become critical.

[junkishya]

I've driven on Bangalore - Hyd quite a few times and atleast on 2 occasions, driven to Bangalore on Friday afternoon and back Sunday afternoon. I liked it a couple of times, however beyond that, it started getting a boring and monotonous !! Maintaining speed of 140kmph all thru is highly unrealistic on this road; at the most, you can hold on to that speed for a minute or two before reducing the speed.

Driving at higher speed > 120kmph is always stressful, no matter what you drive !!

If I were you, I would go with a Full-Sleeper Volvo or just Fly.

[PVS]

Well, I was in the same situation, last year. I had to take up a 5-month project in Bangalore, and once aforthnight I would come back home. Riding the bus or the train in definetely a better option than the road. True, the road is good, and you can maintain good speeds, but remember that you have to be on your guard always. I did a night drive (not an all-out night drive), and there are two aspects to it - one, you will find sparse traffic at village intersections which is a good thing, however, you would need to watch out for truckers with no functional tail lights, no indicators! At 140 Kmph, you would need pretty quick reflexes to take a call and rapidly switch between lanes.
Take the bus - plenty of Volvos and comfortable A/C 1+1 sleeper coaches are available, and they drop you pretty close to where you stay anyways!

[sudipta]

Thanks all for all the input and feedback. I think we should have started a poll on this issue as well.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Sudipta, Firstly congrats on your new job. However, based on our last conversation, you plan to re-locate back to Hyderabad in a year

Even if the roads are fantastic, I would never recommend you to do self-drive 1200kms every weekend. It's simply NOT a good idea

I would recommend the following :-

1. Too early to splurge on a new car. Take it slow

2. Drive 1 weekend and 3 weekends take the overnight volvo

3. Try to cut-down your frequency to fortnightly. I know its not easy but, travelling every weekend means you will not able to afford full concentration to your work and on other hand your family will be continously worried when your on the road. Not worth it dude!

Having said that, I am game for a ride on our identical Bullet Chrome 500 cc atleast once to Bangalore on that fabulous highway

Think hard and take a wise decision !!!

Thanks Mobike008, I would love to be back to Hyd any day

I also agree with your suggestions and this was just to bounce my thoughts with all here. I am not going for a car right away, especially just because I will do the weekly drive. Also I will work on the frequency starting March as family will be travelling.

For the ride part, I am planning to ride to Blr on 3rd March and you are more than welcome to join.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

If I were you I would take the Volvo every time, this being India! Had you spoken of this in Australia or America or England/ Europe I would definitely, like you, consider driving. Simply because people there follow rules in a more civilized manner in general, than they do here.
However much of a driving enthusiast one may be, driving in India is fraught with dangers, delays and other unknown quantities, not to mention extreme tiredness and high irritation level, depression etc which will most certainly take over once the novelty factor wears off.
I would 'treat' myself to a 'drive' like this once in 4 or 5 months and not more.
Consider also that the overnight Train or Volvo bus option is likely to be far less expensive too, in terms of fuel costs as well as wear and tear on the vehicle, were you to drive yourself each week in your car.
I have owned a Scorpio and I don't think it will spare you the body ache, neck pain and other similar ills of the flesh if you were to actually drive it for such distances with such monotonous regularity. If you change to a car like say a Skoda Laura or Superb or Yeti or Chevy Cruze or even a Bee Em or Audi, you will still be very 'juiced' if you do this regularly.
Frankly, I would not do it even if I were driving myself in a Big 6 or 7 Series Bee Em or one of those nice Audis either, unless, of course, it is a chauffeur driven set up!

Can't agree more on the expense and danger front Shankar and also the stress part as mentioned by all is a sure shot menace if not a killer. I would start with a test drive with my Scorpio sometime in March and see how it goes.

Originally Posted by NPV

Given this, if you really don't have the need for another vehicle, that amount is a virtual saving of about Rs.20 Lakh! - Unless you're using the weekly drive line of thought as an excuse to get a brand new vehicle .

OT:No offence, This topic seems to have excited the mods enough to post back to back as well (though different mods!)

I am ever thankful to all and every member for their input and feedback and the mods are surely special for sharing their vast knowledge and experience in this topic. I hope there will be a day when we all will be able to take a conscious decision of doing this kind of regular trips on our own cars like people do in the US/Europe.

Originally Posted by pganapathy

If you can afford to keep two cars (and OP says you can by considering a purchase), keep one car in Hyderabad and one in Bangalore for city use and take the bus or train on a regular basis.

I prefer to use 2 wheelers for the city to avoid as much traffic as possible. So I have my 2011 Bullet at Hyd and my 11 year old WB registered Pulsar 180 at Blr.

[lapsi]

Originally Posted by sudipta

Due to my new job, I travel every week between Hyderabad and Bangalore. ...I would like to check the option of self drive with the gurus in this forum. The budget will be less than 20 lakhs on road at Hyderabad.

The cost of owning and maintaining a 20 lakh car will be in the range of about 40,000 per month. Plus your running cost will be approx. 20,000 per month. So your expenses will be in the range of 60,000 per month.

If you take flights, the cost would be in the range of 30,000 per month plus you will get the extra two nights with your family without the fatigue of driving. Also, you could take the bus once in a while and reduce the spend whenever you want.

Travel by bus may appear to be much cheaper, but it is at the cost of losing 8 nights per month with your family. This time is priceless.

Right now the financial figures seem to be favour of flights, and you can always reconsider when this situation changes.

Cheers!

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by lapsi

Travel by bus may appear to be much cheaper, but it is at the cost of losing 8 nights per month with your family. This time is priceless.

Love your logic - it is correct except this bit.

Consider the fact that for flights you need to arrive ~1 hour before the flight - both BLR and Hyd airports are WAY out of the city. Total up the time, and you spend easily 6 odd hours door to door.

Bus would be better.

[masin4]

Having been in the same position "Sudipta" and I had 2 other folks in my company with the same situation i.e Home and Hyd work in Bangalore.

Have tried all options mentioned by you .Dive,Train,Plane and Bus the only thing that worked for us was mix it up i.e in a month 2 drives,1 Bus,1 Train(If ever available)/Flight .After 7~8 months all of us have now moved to Bangalore,eventually it gets very tiring whatever option is selected.This inspite of having 2 other guys for company.I can only imagine your situation.

As was mentioned by some member you have an option to get back to Hyd in a year.My suggestion would be to try and expedite that process as much as possible since all other options will only leave you tired at the end of it.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by lapsi

The cost of owning and maintaining a 20 lakh car will be in the range of about 40,000 per month. Plus your running cost will be approx. 20,000 per month. So your expenses will be in the range of 60,000 per month.

Where did you get these figures from? Also how can you generalize all cars with that figure?

It seems pretty off for me. In most cars nowadays all you would need is fuel for the month and the service once or twice a year which would be 20k max. Possibly some part or the other going bust, lets double that figure at make it 40k for the year excluding fuel.

In 40k a month you could probably buy an A4 on a 7 year loan lol.

[BREAK FREE]

Listen to the heart or the mind is the question.

Get a low slung sedan and rip it on the highway says the heart.

Mind says a Rs 20 lacs vehicle is atleast Rs. 15k in opportunity cost plus Rs. 20k in depreciation plus Rs. 10k in running expenses (all per month)

IMO, if you want to listen to your heart, get one of the European sedans with an automatic dual clutch and just let it rip.

If you are going with your mind, park your car at the airport and catch the 8.30 pm flight. You will reach Hyderabad in time for dinner. Catch the Monday morning flight back, take your car from the airport and go directly to work.
As I am typing this, got an e-mail - A seat sale is on at jet airways - Rs. 2850/- all inclusive one way fare on the Bangalore - Hyderabad sector.

[lapsi]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Where did you get these figures from? Also how can you generalize all cars with that figure?

It seems pretty off for me. In most cars nowadays all you would need is fuel for the month and the service once or twice a year which would be 20k max. Possibly some part or the other going bust, lets double that figure at make it 40k for the year excluding fuel.

The totals costs of owning and maintaining a 20 lakh car will be as follows:

• The EMI for a 5 year loan is about 2150 per lakh.
• The car is going to run 5000 kms a month so it will need 4 services in a year.
• Add annual insurance and you will have a ballpark figure.
• And I have not even considered the parts which will be consumed in doing 60000 kms a year.

The amount of resale he will get for a 5 year old car which has done 3 lakh kms may not be more than 10K a month for 60 months. So you may reduce that from the expenses, if you wish.

You can do the math and tell me if it will cost anything less than 5 lakhs a year for owning and maintaining any 20 lakh car.

And this does not include fuel costs and the tolls that he will pay.

Cheers!

Originally Posted by BREAK FREE

If you are going with your mind, park your car at the airport and catch the 8.30 pm flight. You will reach Hyderabad in time for dinner. Catch the Monday morning flight back, take your car from the airport and go directly to work.

As I am typing this, got an e-mail - A seat sale is on at jet airways - Rs. 2850/- all inclusive one way fare on the Bangalore - Hyderabad sector.

Exactly. If you book more than a month in advance you could get return fares of about 5 - 5.5K, which will bring your flying costs down to less than 25K a month.

Plus you can work for full days on Mondays and Fridays. Much better than leaving office at 2pm on Friday and starting at 2pm on Monday. No obligation from the employer too, who, at some point, will consider that he has lost a whole working day in this arrangement.

Hope this helps.

[Agarwaka]

Given the responses already received, mine could be ! Nonetheless, wanted to share a perspective I got from our optometrist, who opined that driving strains the eyes and mind given the constant state of alertness required. Now, putting this in Sudipta's perspective - if you plan to work through mid-day and then drive back through reasonable city traffic and then the highway (both of which require an extremely high degree of attention), your eyes and mind will experience a fair level of fatigue sooner than later - not an ideal state to be in week after week.

Echoing what others have said before me, I too would favour driving up/down as an exception, rather than regular practice. Volvo does appear the optimal solution given the constraints you've outlined. Hope this helped.

[sandeepmohan]

I would rule out being on the road so often and for such distances every 5 days. Unless your career is asking you to do this and you do not mind the risks involved. It is not worth it.

Our highways have improved a lot but they are still far from safe.

The other problem is the stress and exhaustion from the drive. It is impossible to not have this set in no matter what car you drive or are driven in. Sure, you can improve on this with a better car but the drive is just so long and tiring. At the end, I want to see my family and spend some quality time with them. Not feel tired. After a drive like this, you are going to be so tired that you just don't want to do anything once you get home and your productivity at work will crash for sure on a Monday.

A little planning ahead will get you a seat in a Volvo or Train. This is the safest and best way to shuttle between the two cities.