Flawless performance of my Jeep Meridian on our 1500 km road trip

It's a luxurious SUV but also not as fragile mechanically. It can certainly take some beating.

BHPian shashankjain16 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

2000 km Update, First long road trip

Just came back from a 1500 km road trip to Udaipur. Meridian performed flawlessly, and the trip was amazing.

We left early morning from Gurgaon, it was dense fog all through Delhi - Jaipur highway. Meridian's lights + fog lights helped us steer through safely.

After Jaipur, roads improved and we were greeted with the empty smooth tarmac of Rajasthan - a driver's delight.

We reached in the evening around 5 PM. The onward journey of 650 km was done In 11 hours without sweat, including 45 mins lunch break and 10 mins tea break.

At a Burger King outlet for lunch. There aren't many good dhabas after Jaipur.

While in Udaipur, Google took us through some very narrow village roads, as if putting to test our car. It sailed through, of course. Also, I got the feeling that the car can take a beating. It's a luxurious car, but also not as fragile mechanically.

Google Maps was also in the mood for off-roading

Yes, this is Udaipur

Night view of Udaipur

Lake view from Zana Lake Resort

During our return journey, it was raining, and we faced heavy rains on many sections of the road. Braking was excellent and confidence-inspiring. Never I felt the car slipping or losing grip of the road. However, Jaipur - Delhi section was absolute chaos. Very heavy traffic all through and the rains only made it worse. It took more than 5.30 hrs to cover the distance we did under 4 hours during the onward journey.

Amazingly, I was able to do the entire return journey of 13 hours with just one lunch break of around 1 hour. I was tired, but I could have done more since I had pushed myself more on my Duster (15 hrs non-stop from Manali, for example).

Also, could not believe we did a 13-hour road trip with our daughter. She was really brave and didn't throw many tantrums although my wife was pretty tired of keeping her engaged. She is getting ready for many more road trips in future.

Fuel Efficiency

Fuel efficiency on the highway was 15-16 km/l which is pretty amazing. My Duster gave around 19 km/l. With a 60 ltr, that means we can do almost 1000 km in a single tank.

Headlights

On my way from Jaipur to Delhi I found the headlights a tad too dim. Not sure if it was because of the blinding flash of headlights from the other side of the road. On a detour that google maps had taken us to skip a traffic jam, the lights seemed adequate. I think on a highway with proper barriers between both sides, lights would be adequate. Without those, they might seem inadequate. I was also observing the lights of other cars like Harrier seemed brighter.

Seats

Seats are hard, hope they get a little softer over time.

Rattling

On bad roads, there are sounds from 2nd-row side doors, sometimes squeaks, sometimes something heavy moving to-and-fro. On smooth roads, there is sometimes a minor rattle from the passenger side doors, but otherwise, the car is smooth and quiet. I am observing these, trying for concrete reproduction, so I can get them ironed out at 5000 km service.

Other Dislikes

• There must be a way to permanently disable the auto start-stop function.
• Engine noise can be overwhelming when the ambience is relatively quiet (no ac, and cold winter morning).
• Overtaking is not an issue for sedate driving. But if you want to zig-zag quickly through traffic, Meridian is not for you.
• At one point the Auto IRVM stopped working, restarting the car fixed it though.
• Auto wipers are not so smart, they take their time to adjust to rain intensity. Also, they might miss the water drops splashed by vehicles running on a wet road.

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