There was nearly no time to plan as the final go-ahead happened 3 days before. Since I had just the weekend with me, I decided to start early Saturday morning and return via flight next day (Sunday). Simple as it sounds. I set some targets. Some simple and easy targets, considering a leisurely journey with sufficient breaks.
Also set myself a couple of basic culinary targets:
> Breakfast at Kolhapur – “Misal Pav” – A local favorite dish. I was hoping it turns out more of a “Missile Pav” as I was intending to have it at Kolhapur.
> Lunch at a trademark “Kamat Upachar” some place enroute.
Ford had arranged and delivered the car by Friday evening at Mumbai. After getting the car, I immediately performed the basic checks (under the hood, essential fluids etc.) as well as checking the spare wheel and ensuring the jack / tool kit exists. Yes, all is well. On Friday night, I also briefly browsed through the ownership manual for a basic-know of Fiesta Powershift. It was a “Kinetic Blue” Ford Fiesta badged Titanium in the back. But surprisingly no signs of it being an automatic car on the outside. This TN registered Fiesta had already clocked 6,042 kms on the odometer by then.
I set an alarm for 3:00 AM and actually woke up on time. It does not happen too often with me because I am not one of the ‘early to rise’ birds. You can probably say that the passion for driving jump started me up early morning. OK. It was now 4 AM as per the schedule and I turned on the Fiesta. Unfortunately, it had rained overnight and I had not factored wet weather in my planning. So I was now thinking it would now take an additional 2 - 3 hour toll on the travel time depending on how bad it gets. It was time to reset the Fiesta trip meter to zero and kick start the thrilling “Mumbai To Bangalore Drive”. First section was like the back of the hand circuit, Mumbai-Pune expressway, as I have been doing this every weekend, it was the easiest part.
04:15 and I was hitting the expressway towards Pune. It was dark but with less traffic so easy. The hard part was to remember that your left foot has no business in an automatic. It took some 15 minutes for me to get acquainted to the fact that the left feet needs to be cemented to the dead pedal. Once this got ingrained in the mind driving, it became so much more easier. In no time, I was very comfortable with the braking, acceleration and handling part – much to my own surprise. Since the petrol steed I own is a Honda Cvic, a few comparisons (although unfair as civic belongs to a different segment) are inevitable.
I had to fuel up, so went in to the HPCL CoCo (Company Owned, Company Operated) fuel pump just past Khalapur toll plaza – Got a few cans of Red bull as well just in case I get exhausted. Started looking for the fuel opening lid switch and then realized it did not have any. The fuel lid works with the central locking and when the car is unlocked, the lid unlocks as well. A tank full done. I was ready to stretch those legs.
Two things that immediately struck me were handling and braking. The Fiesta Classic is a benchmark driver’s car; the new one fortunately carries the same legacy forward even though it is a 1.5 liter engine as opposed to the 1.6 liter on the Classic. I was amazed at the handling and the taut steering – the steering seems to read the human mind. It is indeed a great driver’s car and I was at complete ease with the twisties of the Mumbai Pune Expressway. The brakes were very good as well and offered a brilliant stability, keeping in mind that the rear is a drum while front are ventilated discs. The feedback was excellent and it does the job perfectly well. In addition, the steering feedback is immaculate and I found it was very slightly lighter than my Honda Civic but much much taut as compared to Mahindra XUV5OO. (Apologies for giving wayward comparisons but I hope it makes sense to some readers atleast!)
05:30 – I was thundering past Chandni chowk at Pune, doing well against the set target time to reach Pune. Bye Bye Sleepy Pune (Home sweet Home). Reached the Khed - Shivapur toll at 06:00 in the morning. It was for the first time ever I saw this toll nearly empty – it’s a traffic nightmare on this toll plaza otherwise. However, I realized it would be a day full of toll plazas on the Bangalore route. Sigh!
A few more tolls passed and I was getting used to the toll stops. So many tolls - it takes a toll on you, literally. Wish they would think of a toll free lane all the way to Bangalore. After all, this is part of the golden quadrilateral, atleast have some automated systems! The two lane concrete roads begin some 110 odd kms before Kolhapur and I was beginning to think this is getting better and my mind was starting to think about the first target “Missile Pav” breakfast. Rather than fancy hotels, I prefer local eateries, which would provide authentic local stuff, but alas, I was already gunning past Kolhapur and in the anticipation of finding a good local eatery, I had crossed over to Karnataka at 09:00 AM reaching Nipani. I was too hungry and stopped at the next eatery, a little dejected as the Kolhapuri breakfast plans got ambushed – thanks to the fact that I didn’t realize I was doing such good times that I crossed in to Karnataka before 09:00 AM. That’s a continuous five-hour journey.
To my surprise the eatery did have the Misal Pav breakfast I was looking for, though i knew it might not be the same stuff one would get in Kolhapur. Anyways breakfast done, I decided to take many pictures of the car that you will see in the road test review separately. I knew I might not reach Bangalore in good sun light so might as well take a lot of pictures and do the writing later. I had also arranged for the car to be returned on the same night at Bangalore.
Anyways atleast they have thought about providing the facilities, so I will give that to them.
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what's the mileage ?
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