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[Gireesh]

Best time to take a road trip by car
If you are planning to visit Goa road trip, December and January are considered the best time to visit Goa and also these are the busiest months. During December and January, it is highly recommended that you must make bookings in advance otherwise you won’t get any hotels. If you are among those who wants to avoid the crowd, then visit Goa in February, June or in October. Monsoons are also a great time to visit Goa. Even though an off-season, Goa looks stunning during monsoons. You will not find any crowd in Goa during this time and in the off-season, you will get hotels at dirt cheap prices.

I have recently travelled to Goa and I used 2 routes.

• Pune — Kolhapur — Gadhinghlaj — Amboli — Sawantwadi — Mapusa — Goa(Panaji) — Margoa

Pune to Kolhapur road condition is best. After that road condition is quit good but you have to keep your car between 40 – 50 kph. Amboli  ghat is quit easy when you are going to Kolhapur to Goa, but I will suggest beginner to avoid this when you returning from Goa. Don’t drive it at night.

For normal fuel you will get it anywhere on road. But CNG after Pune you will get it at near Khed-Shivapur, Kolhapur, Panaji, Margoa. For Electric cars After Pune, you will get chance to charge it at Kolhapur and after that in Goa only.

 

•  Goa — Mollem — Ramnagar — Khanapur  — Belgaum — Sankeshwar — Nipani — Kolhapur — Satara — Pune

Ghat after Mollem is quit good and not that much danger you will enjoy it. Don’t take shortcut to Khanapur   from Akheti — Rangarook — Shiroli — Khanapur . The road is very bad and its Jungle / Forest area. Traffic is very low and you will never get help if your car breakdown.  Better you take  Mollem — Ramnagar — Khanapur  way only. After Khanapur road is too good and you will love to drive car till Pune.

You will get CNG station at Margoa, Panaji, Belgaum, near Khed-Shivapur and finally in Pune also 🙂

Its a very long drive and you have to be care full. Read this article to get long drive tips

Also follow below points for safe driving

• Don’t Speed
• don’t try to Overtake much
• Keep a Safe Distance
• don’t drink and drive/ride
• Stay alert
• If tired then don’t hesitate to take rest.

[Gireesh]

1. Pune to Ambajogai via Barshi
Pune(Swargate) – Tembhurni – 160km – Solapur highway – excellent condition – Toll is there
Tembhurni to Barshi – 50km – Small road – Mostly good – Few rough patches – No toll
Barshi – Kalamb – 45kms – Small road – few rough patches – some very bad(~5kms) – No toll
Kalamb – Ambajogai – 45kms – Good road – few rough patches – no toll
Overall good road but few patches around Barshi and few around Kalamb slow you down.
Actual Driving time(Punto MID) – 5.5 Hours
Hotel on the way – Hotel Shree Veg. is right after Bhigvan(~1.5/2 hours from Pune) Very good hotel.

2. Ambajogai to Pune via A’nagar
Ambajogai – Kej – 37 kms – Wide cement road newly constructed – no toll for now, but in future there will be.
Kej – Manjarsumbha – 40kms – Good wide cement road – no toll
Manjarsumbha – Ahmednagar – 135ksm – 10kms till Patoda is new cement road.
Ahmednagar – Pune – 120kms – Excellent – No toll for cars only.
Actual driving time – 6.5 Hours
Hotel on the way – Hotel Raghunandan ~2km before Jamkhed. Lunch was good. Clean toilets.

I am really not sure which is the best route since both are sort of okayish roads but I would recommend going via A’nagar.
When going via Barshi, there are many rough patches between Tembhurni till Kalamb and the road is narrower than via A’nagar. Even if time needed via A’hmednagar is more there are many good hotels on the way. While between Tembhurni till Ambajogai – there are very few options.

Places to stay in Ambajogai:
Yogeshwari Yatri Niwas – 02446-244559 – Right next to the temple – I did not stay here but looks well managed rooms. They have AC rooms also available those wants.
Hotel Krishnai – 02446-245266 – Did not stay here but looked very descent.
Santosh Palace – 02446-246056,244656 – I stayed here. Descent hotel for a night stay.

Suggest you to book hotels in advance especially on weekends/holidays.

Please update the road condition after you have been there. I would be doing the route in coming weeks again. So any pointers from you would be helpful. Also read my article, Things to check before road-trip/long drive

[Gireesh]

Hello Sir,

Ford EcoSport could be a better option if you are looking for a fun to drive sub-4 metre SUV. If you’re going spend most of your time behind the wheel, the EcoSport is the SUV to go for. The EcoSport offers great handling, good steering control and the engines with just the right amount of punch to keep you grinning. Kia Sonet, on the other side, offers big feature list, stylish design, spacious cabin and multiple powertrain options to choose. As of the value for money standpoint, both EcoSport Titanium and Sonet HTX offers good value for what they offer. Moreover, I would like to suggest you to take a test ride for a better understanding of comfort, features, and compatibility.

Please let me know if you have any other question on it.

[Gireesh]

Maruti S-Presso Gets Zero Star Safety Rating From Global NCAP.

S-Presso scored zero stars overall and exactly zero points for adult occupant safety in the crash tests.

Here are some facts
> ABS with EBD is standard in Maruti S-Presso
> Car available with Driver Side Airbag along with optional Co-Passenger Airbag and Standard co-passenger Airbag in Top End Model
> Available with seat Belt pretension, high speed alert system

1. S-Presso Global NCAP Crash Scores – 0.00/17.00 (Adult), 13.84/49.00 (Child)
2. Global NCAP conducted frontal crash test at 64kph
3. Overall S-Presso structure found to be unstable by Global NCAP

You can check S-Presso as well other Maruti Suzuki cars Global NCAP crash rating at here. URL : https://wheelsofmotor.com/maruti-suzuki-will-not-send-cars-to-global-ncap-crash-tests/

[Gireesh]

Greetings !!

Skoda Rapid Ground Clearance in mm 116 mm, Skoda Rapid Ground Clearance in Inches 4.56 inches, Skoda Rapid Ground Clearance in cm 11.6 cm, Skoda Rapid Ground Clearance in Feet 0.38 feet

This is quite a good figure given the fact that for a sedan the ideal ground clearance should be above 160mm

The ground clearance of new Skoda Rapid is 116mm. One big advantage of low ground clearance is, At highway speeds the Rapid is bale to make himself stable. It’s good over the bumps, settles quickly and is on the whole quite confidence inspiring. it is nicely tuned for the city roads. I would like to suggest you to take a test drive for a better understanding of comfort and compatibility of new Skoda Rapid.

Most of the cars in this segment offer good ground clearance with the best ground clearance being offered by Fiat Linea which measures 185mm. Mahindra Verito and Toyota Etios offer ground clearance of 172mm and 170mm respectively, which is better than Skoda Rapid. Mid-size sedans which offer same ground clearance as Skoda Rapid are Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Vento. Other competitors of Skoda Rapid like Honda City, Hyundai Fluidic Verna and Nissan Sunny come with a marginally lesser ground clearance of 165mm.

[Gireesh]

Kia sonet got 3 stars in global ncap rating. Higher version gets ABS EBD BA ESP TCR HC. But lower model only get ABS EBD BA IT.

you can read more here: https://wheelsofmotor.com/kia-sonet-a-comprehensive-guide-to-safety-features/ and here https://wheelsofmotor.com/forums/topic/confused-in-ford-ecosport-and-kia-sonet/

[Gireesh]

Hi,
Nano can be used for long drives. You can drive it as like other car. Nano can drive over 600 KM. Also nano offer good mileage. You will tire before this little beauty does.

There is no secret that cars before being commissioned on the roads are tested under extreme conditions. we will surprised to know that it has perhaps done over 10,000 kms non stop. Making a car and launching it for indian roads is not a joke.

[Author]

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