[agd19682]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

It works all-over India. Here is the current list of active Fastag toll plazas, it is active in 303 toll plazas so far,

http://www.icicibank.com/Personal-Ba...page?#toptitle

Arun, would you happen to know whether these toll plaza's will have a separate lane for those with this tag?

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by agd19682

Arun, would you happen to know whether these toll plaza's will have a separate lane for those with this tag?

Yes, there will be one dedicated lane for Fastag like the one posted in the below post,

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ml#post3698831

[agd19682]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Yes, there will be one dedicated lane for Fastag like the one posted in the below post,

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ml#post3698831

This is excellent news Arun. However, as "shyampsunder" mentioned in the next post in that thread, some idiots will start using it as a premium lane by paying double toll and defeat the whole purpose.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by agd19682

This is excellent news Arun. However, as "shyampsunder" mentioned in the next post in that thread, some idiots will start using it as a premium lane by paying double toll and defeat the whole purpose.

I am not sure about this information, but how many will be willing to pay double toll?!. If this is true, then it will be an issue during the long weekends at least.

[agd19682]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

I am not sure about this information, but how many will be willing to pay double toll?!

I am not too sure about the toll roads here in KA but in my homestate, MP, most people take pride in breaking the rules if it means that they can get ahead in a queue. They don't think twice about taking a short cut even though they know that it is wrong. "Educated Fools" I call them, you will find many such people here in Bangalore too.

[arun_josie]

A quick round trip to Mysore(Sat-Sun).

• Since we have done the standard 4-lane Mysore route multiple times, we decided to take a different route. Checked with Parag/Satya and decided to take the Mangalore highway - Shravanabelagola - Krishnarajpete -Srirangapatna - Mysore.
  
• I had some work on Saturday morning, so started late and got stuck with some mad traffic on the Bannerghata road. It took around 45 mins for 5 Kms to hit the NICE road.
  
• Stopped at Swati Delicacy for lunch and had some delicious food.

Also, met funkykar along with his Padmini here which did a 1000Kms Summer trip recently. (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ni-ertiga.html)

• After lunch, we continued on the Mangalore highway.
  
• After crossing Hirisave, we exited from the highway towards Shravanabelagola.
  
• The roads were really very good with lot of curves initially. And the traffic was very less as well. It was only during the last 10 Kms before Srirangapatna we encountered a bunch of speed-breakers.

Here are few pics,











Return Journey(Kanakapura Road):

• Today was the return and we reached Columbia Asia signal by 4:30 PM, and took left to take the standard route.
  
• Being Sunday, the traffic was already heavy and it started raining as well. So instead of getting stuck in this crazy sunday traffic, we took the 'U' turn at the first opportunity and joined the Outer ring road again to take the Kanakapura road.
  
• Except for around 3 Kms around Bannur, the roads are excellent throughout. And after Kanakapura, the traffic was heavy.

It took 2 hours and 45 minutes to reach NICE road. Overall, it was a nice drive.

Total Kms: 397.2
FE: 17.2 (Thanks to Bannerghatta road traffic and traffic after Kanakapura)

Fastag Update:

• Last week, I used it on the EC toll, but the money didn't get deducted.
• Yesterday, I crossed 3 tolls on the Managalore highway, but even though they have dedicated lanes, Fastag is not activated yet.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

A quick round trip to Mysore(Sat-Sun).

And I too drove to Mysore on the same day you did .

we decided to take a different route. Checked with Parag/Satya and decided to take the Mangalore highway - Shravanabelagola - Krishnarajpete -Srirangapatna - Mysore.

Well, I ended up taking Nelemangala - Nelligere - Nagamangala - Pandavapura - Srirangapatna route to reach Mysore. With a 8am start from home, that was perhaps the best option.
But yes, the route you took is fantastic. Something I have taken couple of times and loved it too. Hence recommended.

Also, met funkykar along with his Padmini here which did a 1000Kms Summer trip recently.

In fact I called him when I was driving from Mysore to Belur on the same noon as we would mostly cross paths between Hassan & Belur but realised that he has started very early from Chikmagalur and already reached Bangalore by 4PM.

[*]The roads were really very good with lot of curves initially. And the traffic was very less as well. It was only during the last 10 Kms before Srirangapatna we encountered a bunch of speed-breakers.

This is a similar case even with the Nelligere Pandavapura option. The last 6 kms before approaching Pandavapura has thick traffic and overtaking is almost impossible. If you are stuck behind a slow moving truck, that's the end of it.

But then, this option is any day better than taking the usual SH17 to Mysore at this time of the day.

[*]Yesterday, I crossed 3 tolls on the Managalore highway, but even though they have dedicated lanes, Fastag is not activated yet.[/list]

True. When I drove too, I noticed the same. They were instead using the FastTag lanes for regular purpose which was a shame

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

And I too drove to Mysore on the same day you did .

Yeah, just that we took different routes.

True. When I drove too, I noticed the same. They were instead using the FastTag lanes for regular purpose which was a shame

I really wonder on why this delay to activate fastag. It is at least two years since they announced about this facility.

[CarMaster]

Hello Arun, i have been following your thread religiously. Your car still looks straight out of the showroom even after clocking 80k odd kms.
My Punto 1.3 MJD active is now 5 years old and has done around 122k kms. Since you had a good experience at True sai Salem, even iam thinking of driving down to get the EGR and intake manifold cleaned. Till now it hasn't been done my car. I feel it might rejuvenate the engine a bit. So, please provide me their contact details and address for an appointment. Thanks
Also, would you recommend clutch replacement since the car is still on stock clutch?. It hasn't showed any signs of judder or other symptoms though.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by CarMaster

Hello Arun, i have been following your thread religiously. Your car still looks straight out of the showroom even after clocking 80k odd kms.
My Punto 1.3 MJD active is now 5 years old and has done around 122k kms. Since you had a good experience at True sai Salem, even iam thinking of driving down to get the EGR and intake manifold cleaned. Till now it hasn't been done my car. I feel it might rejuvenate the engine a bit. So, please provide me their contact details and address for an appointment. Thanks
Also, would you recommend clutch replacement since the car is still on stock clutch?. It hasn't showed any signs of judder or other symptoms though.

Thanks for your compliment CarMaster!

If EGR/intake manifold was never cleaned, then you definitely will experience the difference if quality work is done.

I could see that Crazy_Driver has provided you the route map, I will PM you the mobile number of the CRM. You can contact him for appointment and other details.

Regarding clutch, why replace when you are not seeing any symptoms of wear and tear?!

[arun_josie]

A Puncture after a long time. During my routine check-up before starting the car, I felt that air was less on the front left tyre. When I checked for nails, I was able to find the culprit. So took it to a puncture shop guy and it was a 2 min job for him to fix this.





Since I am maintaining a 15K interval for fuel filter, got it replaced at Vecto last week. Damages to the pocket was Rs. 2404.

Then couple of niggles which got resolved on its own,

1) One fine day the ODO started blinking, Blue&Me stopped working, USB port stopped working. This is the 3rd instance of this issue till date. As always, it started working the next day. The previous occurrence of this issue was around 45K on the ODO.

2) The right ORVM movement was little restricted. When I went for fuel filter change, I asked the technician to check this as well, but it started working fine then and made me a look like a crazy customer.

Fastag Update:

You can find my update here, post 281 and post 283
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ml#post3973551

During my last drive it rained for around 500Kms so the car was at it dirtiest. Here it is after a water wash,





Current ODO:

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Since I am maintaining a 15K interval for fuel filter, got it replaced at Vecto last week. Damages to the pocket was Rs. 2404.

I am planning to change it every 20k kms as I always ensure I refuel at Shell or COCO Bunks. I believe it should not be a problem. Planning to swith over to fully synthetic oil and maintain 10K oil change interval. Lets see how it goes

During my last drive it rained for around 500Kms so the car was at it dirtiest. Here it is after a water wash.

Looks neat, as good as new.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

I am planning to change it every 20k kms as I always ensure I refuel at Shell or COCO Bunks. I believe it should not be a problem. Planning to swith over to fully synthetic oil and maintain 10K oil change interval. Lets see how it goes

Initially I thought about it but then I didn't want to disturb the warranty conditions. So, I will stick to the standard replacement duration till warranty/extended warranty gets over.

Looks neat, as good as new.

Thanks krishna!

[arun_josie]

How many times have you cleaned the car, taken it out for a spin and it rained heavily undoing all your efforts?!

It has happened many times to me. But here is a slightly different version

Yesterday, I cleaned the car for couple of hours as there was a Fiatians meet today. After cleaning it, my wife wanted to go out for some shopping. Since it was cloudy and knowing my bad luck of clouds opening up when I have just cleaned the car, we decided to postpone the shopping trip.

And within few minutes, it started raining heavily and we were happy that we didn't go out. But unfortunately the drain water pipe joints above my parking gave way in the heavy rains and the water started pouring on my car.

I went by chance to check on my car and saw my clean car getting a dirty rain bath. My initial reaction was to move the car out as soon as possible and I didn't even think of taking a pic. Here is a pic taken after moving the car to a different parking slot.





So, did the second round of cleaning again. Murphy's law in action! what shouldn't happen will happen anyways!



Fiatians Meet(Team Fiat India):

Here are few pics from this meet,

On the way,



At the start point,



Plan was to have breakfast and then proceed for GoKarting @ Speedway, Mysore Road.

My elder one behind the wheels for the first time. He really did a good job.





Photo shoot, few cars left before the photo shoot.





Overall, it was a nice day out with fellow motor-heads.

[arun_josie]

Back on the highway after a long break!

Bangalore - Coimabatore - Bangalore:

Onward journey route: Bangalore -Kanakapura - Malavalli - Kollegal - Chamarajanagar - Hasanur - Dhimbham - Coimbatore
Return journey route: Coimbatore - Salem - Krishnagiri(a detour to Bargur) - Bangalore



This time we wanted to try a different route to coimbatore so decided to take the Kanakapura - Dhimbham route. Checked for the road conditions in the Bangalore - Coimbatore thread and the response was encouraging. So, we decided to take this route and it was scenic throughout with greenery all around. Icing on the cake was the monsoon rains during the second half of the journey, especially from Hasanur, Dhimbham till close to Coimbatore.

The road conditions were very good too; except few speedbreakers while crossing the towns. It took little less than 6 hours to reach coimbatore, speed maintained was around 80-90kmph. Good thing is you save around 400 INR in toll and this is 50Kms less as well when compared to the Salem route. However, Salem route will be quicker. But if you can spend an hour extra, then I would recommend this route.

But again, you need little luck as well because any truck accident on the Dhimbam ghats can cost you 2-3 hours.

Here are few pics,

We decided to have a picnic-on-the-go for breakfast and it was a lovely experience to stop the car under shades to have it. The 8yr old said that the food tastes better when on a picnic. Here is our picnic spread.































Return was through Salem as we planned to visit Bargur. Here is the total trip detail.

Total Kms: 710.4
FE: 20.1
Total Duration: 12H:41M
Avg Speed: 56