[Maxton07]

Prologue:

Hi and hello to all. It’s been a year since I made my first travelogue, https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ata-manza.html (Chennai to Kolkata in a Tata Manza). The itch for a road trip started ever since the last time we went, as it was the longest car journey I've ever had to reach a place. The same itch started again, but I didn't know where to plan for this time as my father got busy with his tight work schedule. Fortunately, he got moved to a new workplace in Pune on November ’22. I still remember the amount of excitement I had when my father told me about his new job, not because of his job per se(well...A little, I would say!) but the new workplace with which we could make it a road trip this year. And my dad, as usual, invited us to Pune as he knew that I'd wish for it. I had my semesters going on till mid-Jan, so I thought of planning it for the month's end. Well, since we made the Chennai-Kolkata road trip successfully after facing some conflicts within ourselves, the road is clear for this one. Had our car serviced at Tata ASS for the annual maintenance schedule and rectified a few complaints which we had. This road trip featured me and my mom, as my brother went for his higher studies to abroad last year. We decided to split the journey into two days to have a stress-free travel.

The day before travel was one hell of a day, as it had a lot of confusion and decisions at the last minute. I will try to explain the chaos as simple as possible at my best level. Our initial plan to start the trip was on the 24th(Tuesday) Jan, but my dad, on the 22nd(Sunday), abruptly asked us to plan for the 23rd(Monday) since we needed a day of rest after the two-day travel, so that, on the 26th Jan(national holiday) we would spend time visiting nearby places. I had my final year project review on the 23rd(Monday), so I told him that it wasn't possible for me to proceed with his plan. Then, a thought sparked while lying on the bed, what if we travel within a day to reach Pune if possible. Immediately took my phone to check our forum to see if anyone had done Chennai-Pune within a day. Saw a few who had made this trip within a day in 2012. On the 22nd(Sunday) night, I told my dad that we would start and decide the journey on the 24th(Tuesday) to be one or/two-day, based on the distance we covered by afternoon during the travel. The ETA displayed by google maps was 21hrs. I assumed that if we reach 600 km by noon, it would be a one-day journey. If not, then it's a two-day journey. After many arguments, my proposal was approved by the 23rd(Monday) noon. This led to some hurry-burry happenings on the day-before journey. Rushed home after college to buy essential things and car docs(RC, Insurance, PUC) which, just like that, disappeared while servicing the car. Anyways, got done with all the things and planned to start from Chennai on 24th Jan, 3.30 am. This time, I was more excited about the trip as I could enjoy the driving part to myself. .

The D-Day:


The route map!

Woke up at 2.30 am, and mom prepared the lunch, managing the time she got after last-minute chaos. So all set and flagged off the voyage by 3.45 am. Our initial ETA to reach Bangalore was 8 am, assuming trafficless roads and raking up as much distance as possible before sunlight comes. Took around an hour to reach Kanchipuram as there were lots of diversions and expansion of roads happening. The slow-moving trucks and low light conditions made me travel slowly.


Chennai-Bengaluru Highway


Toll #1

These conditions continued till the Chennasamudram toll plaza, which was the first toll. Though the roads were good compared to the previous ones, there were still few diversions long enough to cause setbacks in covering distances. Maintained an average between 80-90kph and reached Vellore within the next half hour.


Diversions


Morning Bliss

The most satisfying part of driving is when the sunrises, along with some good tunes on the stereo. And speaking about the infotainment system, we recently swapped the stock ones with aftermarket as the stock went kaput after nine long years. I'm not a great audiophile, but the stock Blaupunkt 8-speaker set up by Tata is excellent to date. To appreciate those audio speakers, we changed the infotainment system. The aftermarket system doesn't support android auto or car play, as I mostly prefer something akin to OG. It comes with stock-like UI with preloaded maps in an SD card(which has to be updated every year), and some updated features since both(stock and aftermarket) are manufactured and supported by mapmyindia. It cost us around 10k but nevertheless had a great time enjoying the tunes on our way.


stock vs new


Vellore to Vaniyambadi stretch

The Vellore to Krishnagiri stretch was fantastic, which helped us to catch up on the time we lost. Reached Krishnagiri by 7.30 am, then our tummies began to desire its fuel. So stopped by a hotel named "Saravana Bhavan" which was its doppelganger I guess. Initially thought of skipping that hotel, but the watchman kept waving at us where we didn't have any other choice since we were hungry. We kept our expectations very low, but the food was delicious; DOT! Due to travel, we had a light breakfast by having idlis and vadas each, which sufficed enough to back us till lunch.


Breakfast Halt

Reached electronic city by 9 am and got confused by google maps at the tollgate. Instead of taking the service road after the toll, ran above the flyover, which led to a subsequent delay in reaching the Nice road. Even Nice road had some diversions causing traffic which made us behind the schedule to catch the bypass.


Random Stop near Krishnagiri-Bengaluru stretch


Nice road


Diversions-Nice road


Finally took the exit to join the Tumkur bypass. At that moment, done 375kms from home in 6hrs 45mins(10.30 am). The remaining distance yet to be covered was around 900kms approximately. Thought we were way behind schedule, so made up my mind to look for a place to halt for the day, as we would anyways stop for a break every 250kms, which results in losing time. Also received inputs from the family side to split the travel journey. Then...there comes the NH48, Madras-Bombay trunk road as a guardian angel to aid our faith in reaching Pune within a day. The asphalt began with broad three-lane roads without any diversions as such. Felt slightly relieved after ending up on this road after the poor pace with which we sailed


About to take NH48


Madras-Bombay trunk road

While appreciating those beautiful roads, reached Chitradurga in no time by 12.45 pm. It's around 180 km from the place where I took the trunk road. Saw many windmills on the way and stopped for lunch at precisely 1 pm as I determined to have a break after completing at least half the distance of the journey. So the distance done till the lunch break was at 601kms. Parked at the leftmost service lane and gave the vehicle a much-needed break for 30mins after non-stop running.


Windmills near Chitradurga


At the halfway mark


Lunch Halt


Pulled over to refill fuel after wrapping up lunch to avoid unnecessary pauses for the forthcoming journey. My mom moved to the back seat after the meal, as she had barely slept the day before. Resumed the drive with the objective of reaching Kolhapur at most by evening. After the Bankapur toll, roads became two-way, which led to a slowing down in momentum. Amidst this hurdle, trucks joined the party by progressing at a slow pace among the sloping roads. The road condition was favorable, although construction works were happening at a few checkpoints. Would have arrived at Kolhapur by 6 pm if not for the traffic at the Hirebagewadi toll and two-way roads showing up on our way.


Bankapur-Hirebagewadi stretch

The time when I entered the Maharashtra border was at 6.30 pm, and I reached Kolhapur around 7 pm. I initially thought that I had arrived sooner than I expected by looking at the light outside, but after having a view at my watch realized my consciousness about being in the west as the sunset slower than usual. My mom woke after a good sleep and wondered to hear me saying we were just hours away from the destination.


Kolhapur @ 6.45pm

Mostly two-lane roads after Kolhapur city, and the road condition was fine, but the route carried some towns on its way. Crossed Satara by 8.30 pm and enjoyed my drive along the Khambatki Ghat. It had some nice twisties along the route, which I usually experience at the hill stations in Tamilnadu. The roads were excellent after the ghats, and I experienced my first tunnel encounter on the highway. Some heavy rumble strips were present on the pavement as they rattled the car very harshly. Exited the highway to enter Pune city by 10 pm. Noticed that after setting wheels on the trunk road, I didn't turn left/right until the exit to Pune city. So there was no diversion for roughly 800 km on this stretch. At last, arrived at the destination by 10.45 pm after meddling through the city traffic. The weather was breezy, and I later realized that Pune was above 550m from sea level after having a look at the infotainment system.



Khambatki Tunnel


CHENNAI-PUNE Distance


PUNE ALTITUDE


HOW WELL DID THE CAR FARE ON THIS TRIP:

To start with, have to appreciate Tata engineers for figuring out and managing the amount of spaciousness in this segment. It is a proper family sedan where five people can actually travel cozy without any fatigue or complaints, whereas the cars today in this segment fail to achieve. The engine is decently refined until 2000rpm, but once it moves up, it loses its NVH. Going over 100kph makes the engine spin at 2600rpm, and this is where I felt the need for a 6th cog for this motor. Spinning around 2600rpm is way beyond the threshold for a diesel engine. They(tata engineers) could have managed to bring it under 2200rpm at least to improve fuel efficiency and NVH while cruising at triple-digit speeds.

This was the moment where my audio system came to the rescue to filtrate NVH. The mileage would have been ideally 23-25kmpl if not for the lousy gear ratio with which tata exercised with this model. While roughly analyzing, I calculated that this 44-liter fuel tank could cover 1000 km without any refill. The gearbox is slick enough to operate only when it is authorized by me. Once it goes out of my hand (i.e) when driven by others, then the slickness gets vanished. This engine has ample power for overtaking, but before that, we must cross the turbo lag at the bottom end. Once it crosses 2k rpm, the turbo spools up and even holds up to enlighten a bit of spirited driving. The only feature which I regretted not having was the lack of cruise control. I sorely missed it at the Madras-Bombay trunk road, where I remember an instance when my feet got numbed after resting my leg on the gas pedal for a long time. Another thing that annoyed me was the soft suspension setup which wasn't helpful while cruising along highways. Body movements of the vehicle were a lot while passing over those undulations. So the maximum speed was restricted to 100kph by myself.

Received an ICD error on the instrument cluster after fueling up, don't know what action to be taken, but when I went over the manual, it denotes a malfunction of the entire instrument cluster. The error got faded away after driving a few km. But the same gets repeated, only when I filled the fuel tank. Hope it's a minor bug to sort out. I expected a lot of fatigue the following day after driving continuously, but nothing as such bothered me. Since I knew the route after reaching Pune, the return to Chennai was completed within 17hrs. Eventually, I would like to say that this car is a capable cruiser and an underrated gem that wasn't either celebrated or appreciated like others from the tata stable. Will try to post our ten long-year stint with this machine later.

STATS:

Distance covered: 1237km
Fuel Consumed:55 Liter
Fuel Expenses: 5000rs(approx.)
Toll Expenses: 1650rs
Mileage Report: 22.5kmpl

GLIMPSES DURING THE TRIP



GATEWAY OF INDIA


STREETS OF MUMBAI



AT MARINE DRIVE


SEA WORLI LINK



LONAVALA


PUNE-CHENNAI

[Kulvinder]

I have driven Manza for 9.5 years and 1,70,000 kms. "Wonderful car" that's all I want to say. Absolutely no fatigue after long drives, very easy to drive and comfortable for passengers. Had no major issue with the car in these 9.5 years. Was still serving very nicely but had to sell because of 10yr diesel rule in NCR.

[Tgo]

Nice thread. Two things I never gave the Manza credit for:

-Those gauges in the cluster (they look classy)
-This paint shade (quite unique)

Long back I was driving a Manza which belonged to my dad’s friend and I tripped the inertia switch. The car went dead and I had no clue what happened. Had to be towed to the Tata service Center and after along wait the senior mechanic there came over, long after all the newbies had had a go at it. He sat on the driver’s seat, slid it back, without even looking his hand went below the seat for a second and to the ignition, and the car immediately cranked up. He didn’t even look at anyone else and was back at work on a Safari Dicor whose engine was out and taken apart.

Man!! I learnt something that day. I’ve never tripped the inertia switch on any car after that. I don’t even know if cars have them anymore. It cuts out the fuel pump when it detects sudden g forces in order to prevent a fuel spill, assuming that the car has been in a rollover or and accident severe enough to warrant that.

Happy to see this old timer functioning as a daily. You hardly get to see them anymore. Nice travelogue.

[Viper21]

Our Manza has been doing daily duties without a sweat. regular servicing is what it needs. Sadly i have to let go of this in a year or two as we will need a small automatic car that my wife can drive. Good Travelogue. Thanks !!

[kosjam]

Excellent travelogue Maxton. The Bangalore Mumbai Highway is definitely an interesting road, comes across as something different to each and every traveller who drives/rides on it.
Tata cars have comfort as a feature just the way Maruti cars have their fuel efficiency. Having said that, a FE figure of 22 is quite impressive from a Tata. On top of that, the Manza was a highly underrated car from the Tata stables. The icing on the cake is the champagne colour which gives the vehicle a superbly premium feel.

I have just one concern, that it seems you have been clicking pictures while driving at 80-90 kmph, which on a highway, or for that matter, any road, is a dicey proposition. The way traffic behaves in India, this could spell trouble.

Remember there only needs to be 1 such incident and you can get into an accident.

Apart from that, I commend you on being able to maintain 90ish kmph on the superb highway in Karnataka. It was an excellent travelogue, do keep writing, we promise you we will keep reading...

[Neversaygbye]

Loved reading your TL and could relate to all the things you said about your car. I currently drive the hatchback version of the Manza and we also had a Manza that my better half's erstwhile employer had given her and these cars are underrated gems that deserved a lot more success than they got. The Manza in particular, was luxurious in terms of space. Also, two full size suitcases would easily fit into the boot. I completely agree on the lack of tiredness part - I have done Calcutta-Vizag in 16 hours and wasn't fatigued in the least. Like you mentioned, cruise control would have really helped though, with these mile munchers. It's great the way you have maintained the car - a long term ownership review would be interesting to read.

One question though - where and how did you change the infotainment system? I think I might need to do that with my car too in the near future. It acts up at times while playing music from a USB drive.

[Maxton07]

Originally Posted by Neversaygbye

One question though - where and how did you change the infotainment system? I think I might need to do that with my car too in the near future. It acts up at times while playing music from a USB drive.

Swapped at a nearby car accessories store, in Chennai. The model name is mapmyindia ICENAV 301-A. If it helps, I will share the product link which I found on amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/hNaTDxD. But as far as I know, this model has been stopped from production. You might try your luck by visiting local stores.