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4000 km road trip in my 2013 Maruti Ertiga diesel

24th November 2021, 12:31 by Rahul Nagaraj

The Ertiga MPV returned an impressive fuel efficiency figure of 19.4 km/l for the entire trip.

BHPian paragsachania recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Nov 2021 |Drive to Aurangabad & Gujarat | Solo Non-stop return from Rajkot to Bangalore | Round trip ~ 4000 Km

I prefer to have this trip report as a separate post for there was yet another marathon run that I did and solo with this one. This was happening after a long gap (20+ months) and as always, such drives always excite me as they are really long. The plan was to drive parents from Bangalore to Aurangabad while wifey and the kid fly to Ahmedabad. I then continue from Aurangabad to Ahmedabad solo, pick them and then continue to Rajkot. Return I drop them again at Gandhinagar so they fly back (the apprehensions about negative RTPCR to enter KA from MH made us do this) while I continue solo to Bangalore. Parents get picked up later in the coming months so it gives me yet another reason to drive again.

Preparations for the drive:

The oil change and engine mounts happened before this drive. These 2 were due, irrespective of whether I would drive anywhere or not. Apart from this, there was absolutely nothing that I had to really bother about before embarking on this drive. It is exactly this level of trust and confidence that look forward to in an automobile that I own and drive in future too. I can safely say even today that the WagonR at 260,000 km is as reliable to hit the roads as my Ertiga. Never for a second, I had had this thought about the car breaking down in the middle of the journey due to a component failure. The mechanicals and electricals are simple in this car and more than that, they have lasted really well and overshot my expectations – Alternator failure, Compressor failure, Starter motor failure, Turbo Failure – What is that??

Highlights of the drive:

Leg 1| Bangalore to Aurangabad via Hospet & Sholapur: 950 km | 13 hours - with parents

Leg 2| Aurangabad to Gandhinagar via Nashik, Saputara, Surat Baroda & Ahmedabad: 700 km | 12 hours – Solo

Leg 3| Gandhinagar to Rajkot: 250 km | 5 hours – With Family

Leg 4| Rajkot to Gandhinagar (with family) and then to Bangalore via Mumbai/Pune: 1800 km | 27 hours – Solo & non-stop

Driving non-stop for 1800 Km:

Personally, I will not advocate this to anyone and hence take this as a disclaimer. I have on multiple occasions driven Bangalore to Ahmedabad (1550 km) or even Bangalore to Rajkot (1700 km) non-stop. So, I very well know the following and I always factor all of these before taking up such drives:

The change in traffic pattern in this 1800 km and what to expect when you cross each section
Unruly and irresponsible traffic behaviour between Rajkot and Ahmedabad
Thick truck traffic till Mumbai where you need to drive besides an ocean of trucks (I love it)
The ever messy bypass of Surat with too many cut in the medians and misc traffic to deal with
Calculative timing to enter Thane when an entry for trucks is barred
Calculative timing to hit the Mumbai Pune expressway when Private bus traffic is lean
Breezy run between the otherwise irritating Pune Kolhapur section at night
Runway with lean traffic once entering Karnataka
Escape from madness by taking a detour from the main highway to my destination as soon as I am getting closer to Bangalore

Few thumb rules for such drives that I always follow:

No racing against time – The distance is large so don’t expect the same timings as your last drive for there can be multiple reasons why your progress can get slowed down
Drive based on the merit of roads – There are fast but empty roads and then there are fast but busy roads. Ahmedabad to Mumbai is the latter where no matter how fast you drive, the time taken will be the same as that supercar that just over to you because the traffic pattern here is extremely busy consisting of both private traffic and freight traffic
Patience is the key – I know I have a long way to go. Impatience should not influence my driving style because there is a lot to cover. I will encounter a lot of irritants but I need to remain patient for I need to reach my destination without any untoward incident
Respect the long haul truckers and you get paid back – This is the key here, especially from Ahmedabad to Mumbai. Though you are driving along an ocean of trucks, you will soon realise that you can make this driving an immensely satisfying affair when you begin to respect those long, loaded trucks. You will be given way sooner, so just ease that pressure on the horn-pad and the accelerator for 2 seconds
Let the local cars get past you – This is no secret. I would pass a lot of urban clusters like Baroda, Bharuch, Surat and Navasari and I know when local drivers get impatient spotting out of state cars trying to show their might. I simply make way and let them pass without even making any eye contact
Maintain steady speeds throughout the journey– I get the best of average speeds when I am in the 100-120 km/h band and this has always worked. I slow down to 90-110 on considerable sections of Mumbai – Baroda highway because anything faster means I need to brake ahead when 3 trucks are overtaking each other. Also, it is extremely unlikely that I will start hitting faster figures when I am closer to home or when I get a brilliantly flat and empty road ahead. These are situations that are extremely tempting but I always remain paranoid that something should not go wrong while I momentarily start driving faster. While I do enjoy some speed runs in sections that I am well aware of and the visibility is clean, I get back to my usual cruising speeds soon after
Energy levels throughout the journey – This I very important in my opinion. I am one of those who will exhibit the same level of enthusiasm and energy consistently throughout the entire span of such long trips and factors such as above always help me maintain that
Good Music for the company – I like to have good music playing in the background but the choice of this music is such that the tempo and the tune should not affect my cruising speeds. Hence, whenever I am on such marathon drives, EDM or Heavy Metal music is a strict no for me and I prefer Classic Rock from the 80s, Bollywood songs from the 90s and at times Western-Classical instrumental fusion. Such music invariably keep my speeds in check
Enjoy the engine note – I also very regularly mute the music and simply enjoy the engine and road noise during such drive and again get back to music after taking a short break
Small little breaks – Sitting in one position for long-distance, all alone can be a bad idea. You have reasons to pull over after that toll booth to wash your face, stretch your legs, peel a banana and eat that or for that matter, clean the windscreens and head and tail lamps. Do that, pop a mint or a candy and you are fresh and ready to continue further. I do that on quite a few occasions with no particular pattern on a need basis
Sunglasses to soothe the eyes- They always help, especially when you know you will face direct sunlight after driving all night. So I make it a point to wear them before the sun rays start hitting my cabin. Direct sunlight can be extremely irritating and disturbing to the eyes that have worked all night on such drives
Regularly keep drinking water – This not only helps you stay hydrated but will also make way for a reason to take a pee break regularly
Bananas and dry fruits – I always have them in my car during such drives. In fact, when I was driving down, I met a friend on Pune bypass and when he asked me if I need anything, I told him to get me half a dozen bananas to fuel me for the last 800+ km of the journey

Know when you are sleepy – Your reflexes will tell you a lot:

Taking a longer than usual time to lift your leg off the A pedal to hit the B pedal
Laziness in flashing your lights when overtaking or hinting at an overtaking attempt at night
Laziness in downshifting by a gear or two when you slow down to 50 km/h from cruising speeds
Concentrating on the road ahead without a single shoulder check (neck movement) or IRVM mirror check for a long time

All of the above are signs that you are really tired, you aren’t concentrating and you need to pull over and take a nap. I have had the experience of tagging along with drivers who show these signs even during the day and I had to switch places.

A combination of the above attributes has so far helped me take up such drives with absolutely no issues whatsoever. More than any of these things, during such drives, I always keep reminding myself very frequently that if I am sleepy, I simply need to pull over because getting involved in an incident due to lack of sleep and concentration means a breach of trust with my family that knows I know my limits when it comes to such drives.

Here are some of the pictures from this drive.

Breakfast stop on the way to Aurangabad, during Leg 1:

For a change, behind the wheels of my sister's Honda City on the roads of Aurangabad:

One of the most beautiful state highways - Aurangabad to Vaijapur:

2 MPVs that redefined the way we travel long distances:

Refuel - For self and the car:

Finally, we could manage to catch up. vigsom, aaggoswami and vishy76, thank you for the good times spent while I crossed Baroda. I also managed to pose with vigsom's extremely well maintained and the original Suzuki Grand Vitara: