[suryaj1990]

Just finished a 1800km Journey to Goa and Back with the Mammoth!
Started the Journey at around 8am from Mumbai via the Atal Setu! Tanked up at a Jio BP pump to full tank. Cruised through the expressway at 100kmph throughout achieving close to 11.5kmpl on the MID. We stopped for a short break at the Pune pitstop for a quick snack. By now, the efficiency feel to 10.5kmpl thanks to the uphill section of the Ghats we encountered and some mild traffic. The heat was unbearable with temperatures soaring to 38 degrees! Just 30 minutes break at the pit stop made Trailblazer into a Fireblazer! Thanks to the Assistance of the Tinted Glasses all around including a light one in front in addition to the 70% clarity glasses by the OEM, cooling picked up in 5 minutes odd making the cabin breathable again. The car has bottle holders smartly placed in front of the side air vents which do a good job in cooling drinks. Initially, I assumed it to be a gimmick but it really does help! Post the expressway, we continued our journey all the way to Hotel Fern, Karad which is marked as the centre point of our Journey. The temperatures continued a northward trend to 42 degrees. The vehicle maintained the same 10.5 kmpl which included random overtakes and spirited pulls upto triple digits and some mild high speeds upto 120kmph and sometimes over that too. The vehicle grips well and the drive was great apart from the body roll which will take sometime to get used to considering its humongous size. Steering inputs need to be rallied in higher compared to a Electronic Assisted Steering which needs to be kept in mind specially on winding roads. Post Karad, we entered the Anushkura Ghat route which included a two lane tarmac road with literally zero pot holes! The 160km run through these narrow winding roads which include a lot of steep uphills broke the efficiency on the MID to 10kmpl but it also included a lot of spirited driving and overtakes which meant the car was always in power and regular downshifts too!

One thing is certain, this car revs high on climbs. the gearbox is tuned to keep the car in power. Once we made it to Rajapur, we were greeted by lovely 6 lane roads throughout and speeds were at 120kmph. 50km on this route, we heard a thud sound and at first we assumed we hit a huge stone on the road. On closer inspection, not damage or stone found, we found the intercooler pipe had slipped out! Fixed it, tightened it nicely and continued the Journey ahead! Seems the workshop must have not tightened the Jubilee clips well. Journey till Goa was uneventful, the efficiency rose to 10.3kmpl and we made it to Madgaon where we finally retired after covering 640km. I had Quarter tank of fuel left which meant 20 liners balance and a consumption of 56 litres to cover 640km which means an overall efficiency of 11.4kmpl

The vehicle does well with mild throttle inputs and you seldom need to push all the horses out. I was able to do overtakes with 30-40% throttle inputs which included downshifts. I rarely used 100% throttle inputs for overtaking but when I did, the car just darted through. I felt if that is not planned or managed well, it can be alarming because the car really pics up fast! The Car is on the original set up for headlamps and the throw and reach are pretty good. Fog lamps in general are useless but in dark roads and tunnels, they help in illuminating a wide spectrum down below. The suspension is extremely well tuned! Even on bad patched of roads/non existence, you won't feel anything inside the cabin. the car runs super silent on high speeds. it maintains 1500rpm at 100kmph speeds on 6th gear. the engine grunt can be heard at times when the engine is revved hard but in normal driving or cruising, the car is super quiet!