Apr 12, 2006 10:06 PM
6965 Views
(Updated Jan 25, 2008 08:38 PM)
We, a group of five families consisting of 13 members decided to go for a tour of Similipal forest & Chandipore in Orissa from Kolkata by our own cars. Three cars used for the trip were as under :
My Wagon-R LXI, Aug'05, Done-22,000 km.
Zen LXI of Mr.X, Sept'05, Done-12000 km
Alto LXI of Mr. Y, Oct'07, Done -2500 km.
It was decided to self drive the cars for more enjoyment & of course due to lack of space to accomodate drivers. Route was Kolkta-Khadagpur-Baripada-Simipilal forest-Balasore-Chandipur-Kharagpur-Kolkata. Date of journey: 11.01.08 to 16.01.08. Total distance covered - 945 K.M. Most parts of road was excellent expect brief bad patches. For journey is side the jungle , we hired 2 Sumos.
Myself & Mr. X are driving cars since last 10 yrs. Our friend Mr. Y was quite new to driving. He had never gone on a long drive before. The trip was extremely enjoyable, 2 night -stay in side the deep forest was the most enjoyable part.
As new to car drive, Mr. Y requested us to travell at a speed not beyound 80 KMPH. After touching the 4-way high way lane , Mr. Y gained immedite confidence & there after none of the cars was below 80 kmph. In fact we travelled at a speed of around 100 kmph for most part of the 4-way lane( to & fro approx-400 km). Very often the speedo were raised to 120 kmph though. For a brief period, all cars touched 135 kmph. In other high ways, speed maintained was around 90 kmph. Our journey also included approx. 100 kms of country side roads.
None of the cars developed any problem what-so-ever during the entire trip. Beyound 100 kmph wagon-r was noisy, alto was more niosy, zen- smoothest of the three at that speed. 2 fillings were done on the way. Av. miliage was: Wagon-R-16 (90% A.C.), Zen-15.5 ( 70% A.C.), Alto-17 ( 50%) A.C. Alto could have returned more, but due to the new driver.......
Due to more space in my car it was used as a luggage carrier for the trip. For our 2 nights jungle stay , we packed 5 cartoons of mineral water ( 90 lit), grocery, vegetables, fish etc all into my car. I also had to accomodate one baggage of Mr.X into my car. Not much of fatigue to any occupant during & after the journey. I feel mine was the best buy & most practical as well.
For a very detail Wagon-R review , you may go through my review in this site written on dt.12.04.2006.
Cheers.
C.R. Pradhan
