Folks, please read my earlier review on Tata Indica Lxi - you'll get a sense of continuity if you read that review first. Here I concentrate on how well the car handled in the last Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam tour:
12-01-2007: From Hyderabad we started early on 5th Jan - with 5 adults, 1 child, 1 medium stroller suitcase, 2 heavy backpacks, about 20 litres of mineral water - so the car was loaded heavy. Filled the tank and started driving - reached the Sagar Road(highway to Nagarjunsagar) in about 30 min from Begumpet area - after that it was smooth sailing. The road is well maintained and fairly straight - so you can maintain 100+ km/h most of the way till you reach the outskirts of Nagarjunsagar.
One observation about hatchbacks in general is that unless you load the back - i.e. the mini-boot space at the rear, the road handling at high speeds is not good enough. At 110 km/h if your car is evenly loaded, you get far better traction. You kind of "feel" the road gripping of the car.
Nothing eventful on the way - overtook most other cars except the luxury ones - a Skoda Octavia passed me at about 120km/h, a Honda CRV passed me at about the same speed, a Tata Safari tried to do the same - but fell behind on a little hilly incline.
But beware guys - there can be cattle, rice paddy sticks, sudden stretches of bad road with potholes, etc on the last 50 km stretch - so you should be very, very alert if you drive beyond 100 km/h.
24-01-2007: Arrived at Nagarjunsagar at about 9:00am and eased up the Punnami Vijay Vihar driveway.
Took a short nap in the afternoon and then set out for Ethipothala at about 4:30pm in the afternoon - with the sun slanting westwards - and directly into my eyes as I take on the first of the "mini" ghat section bouncers.
As usual, car is fully loaded - rev up to 2.8-3.0-3.5 towards the incline, tight curve it a bit - not too sharp, mind it, else the momentum will start the car slipping, but then as you level off, ease the throttle so that the car glides smoothly down the inner ledge - at the same time lookout for the behemoths - the loaded trucks coming in the opposite direction.
The ghat section past - I keep up a steady 60 km/h on the winding road to Ethipothala. Dusk is approaching as I switch off ignition at their gates.
The return journey was almost the same - except that it was 7:00pm and totally dark in the ghat section. Headlamps full on high beam with support from the front fog lamps and I negotiate the ghat section again - this time much more carefully. A truck buzzes past with ONE headlamp running, luckily it was on my side of the road. back at hotel by 7:45pm.
On the 7th - first job I do is fill the tank on the state highway going from Nagarjunsagar.
We pass Ethipothala crossing after 20 min - after driving the ghat section last day I am more confident and keep up the speed of 65-70km/h on the winding road, slowing when I see anything in the next 1 km range.the road straightens out and we come to the town Macherla - where we take a left turn and take the road to Durgi.
Major obstacles on the road just after Durgi - a bunch of buffaloes refuse to budge. Careful, guys, do not take risks with this animal - one swipe of that bulky head can smash your driver side mirror. I let a truck go in front of me and slowly follow it out of the bedlam. Once clear - I zip past.
Nothing major on the road - we pass Karempudi, take a right and hit 90-95-100km/h on the clear stretch to Vinukonda - our next halt. This stretch was beautiful - wide road with good tar on it - no problem keeping the speedo needle just above 100 km/h and a rev counter of 3.0.
Presently we reach Vinukonda - take a short rest and press on - towards Dornala - I plan to have our lunch at their Punnami Hotel there target arrival time 1:00PM.
I did not know that I would be passing the wildest stretch between Vinukonda and Dornala. The state highway now merges with the National Highway and I get clear lane of 110-120km/h, but I deliberately ease off a bit after driving at that speed for 10 minutes - it takes some strain to keep the needle at 120+ km/h and I shall need to conserve my stamina for the ghat section to Srisailam after Dornala.
At 95 km/h I level off and comfortably cruise along - test the power steering by taking my hands "off" the wheel - does the car begin to veer right/left? No - it is rock steady and goes straight as an arrow -my wheel alignment is all right, steering is also ok. A dependable car - the Indica!
I pass cattle again on the road - this time it is goats - and also drive over a short stretch of paddy strewn on the road - the car flies over it and seems nothing has happened -(later I would have to take out each strand of the straw from the wheel / axle individually and it is a pain in the back) - I pass on and arrive at the outskirts of Dornala - tank is reaching the half full mark.decide to top up again here.
25-01-2007: A dusty town - Dornala - my windshield and side window glass gets a coating of fine dust particles. I reach Punnami restaurant and hire a boy to hose-pipe my car for ten bucks.
Lunch over - I start the "actual" ghat road from Dornala to Srisailam.
The road starts its upward incline and the fields start to fall away on the left side as I drive up - a general incline of 10-15 degrees - no issue at all with 75 horses under the bonnet. I steadily drive at 30-40 km/h and take it in stride.
Then comes the first U turn - a steep incline of nothing less than 30 degrees. I anticipate that power will be needed and bring the gear down from 5th to 4th and speed up at 40 km/h. No issue with the car but it proves to be a wrong strategy - from safety point of view. Bang on - a state bus arrives at 40 km/h down the slope and on my lane, literally forcing me to slam my brakes and steer hard left - toward the cliff wall. I barely manage to keep 3 inches gap and the bus whizzes past! Whew - that was close.
I remember to honk loudly next time and take the next incline at 30 km/h in 3rd gear - two trucks coming on my lane straighten themselves as I pull into the incline and I drive past - the rev counter at 2.5.
Gradually settling down to "Ghat Road" driving, I freely use the horn to let everyone know that I am coming - and maintain around 40-45 km/h. I overtake countless vehicles on the incline - heavily loaded underpowered Toyota Qualis, underpowered Tata Sumo, not to mention the crawling Santros, Altos and 800s.
A Tata Safari and a Scorpio keep up with me and the three of us continue as a group - leaving behind the rest. Even then, in tight turning situations - it is the Indica Lxi which pulls forward first - low CG and much better balance than SUVs. I confidently take turns at 40 km/h where the SUVs need to slow down to 20. That being said - their chassis are much better and handle the dirt track road quality(road surface deteriorates from time to time) better than me.
Eventually after 2 hrs of gruelling drive - we reach Srisailam - what a drive. Its like "graduating" in driving.(Even then the best of adventure was yet to come - in my return journey - where I took a wrong turn and had to negotiate a bad dirt track for 2 km - in ghat section).
