Drove down to Kochi over the weekend. The onward journey was a disaster, all thanks to weekend traffic, uncountable road jams, pile-ups and bloody mis-directions.
There were not one but multiple instances of:
1. me entering a toll plaza and following a bus only to realize that the bus(es) were not in any line but bullying their way into a lane at the front. Embarrassing as it was, I had to follow suit.
2. Google diverting us through "short-cuts" where roads were closed due to maintenance or too small for a car to go.
3. KM long jams on the highway which I thought to be accidents or toll-plaza. They turned out to traffic signals and speed barricades put up by the cops on the highway.
4. Google directing us to restaurants' location where there was nothing. With our schedule going haywire, we had to look for places impromptu. For example, we were targetting Rice Bowl, Walayar to lunch and had expected to reach the place by 1PM. But we crossed it only at 5:20PM.
What should have been a 540 km, 10 hr journey including breaks, was eventually a 14 hr journey for the 2 of us. On the return leg, with very sedate driving, detour to Malampuzha dam, lunch and dinner breaks, I did the 555 km drive in 11.5 hrs.
All that said, the car continues to be a joy to drive on such long trips. Keep cruising at 80-100 and when the need comes, just a dab on the accelerator is enough to overtake anything in front. Even the ghat section near Krishnagiri was happily dismissed in the 5th gear without needing a downshift. Single lane narrow KL roads and short window to overtake? No worries. Just point and shoot!
The Continentals have done 9k kms so far. While returning from Ethirapilly falls, we got some very heavy rains. The tyres and brakes continue to do a very commendable job on wet as well as dry conditions, good 6 lane roads, bad roads or ghats. The passenger side wiper is leaving some streaks of water and would need a replacement.
Coyote would complete 3 years in another 4 days time. Odo stands at 49.3k kms. I will take it for the next service over the next 2-3 weeks. Apart from the wiper, the stock brake pads might be due for replacement.
Current odo reading after a rather sedate drive back from Kochi
Happy companions! While I had got the car washed, polished the body and wheels myself, thanks to Google taking us through some God forsaken roads/fields, those alloys were muddied almost as soon as we had crossed E-City!
Arduous onward trip. Out of the 30 odd kms, the first 20 kms took 30 mins and the next 16 hrs took 2 hrs
Saravana bhawan near Krishnagiri was packed. So stopped by roadside stall for a hearty breakfast while enjoying the cool breeze
Some free space after crossing Palakkad. The traffic remained super dense until we entered KL. Thereafter, some junctions in KL had long jams. Given I had had a long day, I took service roads, off road shoulders and even slush to get ahead
On Sunday afternoons, most places were closed and wore a deserted look. So the store front was used up as parking
On the way to Kuzhupilly beach
Through the Sholayar reserve forest to reach Athirapilly, Charpa and Vazhachal waterfalls
The 49k mark
The Kuthiran tunnel
![Ownership Review | My Kia Seltos HTK+ 1.5L Diesel MT (Coyote) | EDIT: 4 years, 70,000 kms up!-img_5849.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/long-term-ownership-reviews/2372140d1687017282t-ownership-review-my-kia-seltos-htk-1-5l-diesel-mt-coyote-edit-4-years-70-000-kms-up-img_5849.jpg)