[Sheel]

MG Motor India invited Team-BHP for a 4-day drive to Himachal Pradesh, with Chitkul being the highlight as the destination to go to. I packed my woollens and was off to Delhi. Reached on 25th June and was at MG Motor dealership located in Moti Nagar, Najafgarh. We were supposed to leave by 07:00 hrs, but some delays later, we finally managed to push off by 08:00 hours. I had to kill time so shot a few pictures of the display area of the showroom.



Interestingly, found this cut section of the shock absorber of the MG Hector:



Also on display was one panel to showcase the structural strength of sheet metal:





With some chatter with other journos while the cars were being ready, almost an hour passed, and we were ready to roll. Delhi’s humidity level was apparent as once you exited the climate-controlled areas, you could sense the spike in sweltering. I was glad that by late evening today, I would be hitting the curvy roads, which would also mean a dip in temperature and a respite from the heat and humidity.

All the MG Hectors lined up:





I was allotted car number 5 on a sharing basis with another publication:



The boot accommodated our luggage with ease:



Once I got inside the MG Hector, the massive 14-inch screen (too large for my liking) greeted me. The absence of physical buttons to control AC is irritating:

Day 1: NCR - Jibhi

Delhi’s traffic was kind towards us and we reached the famous Amrik Sukhdev Dhaba at around 9 AM. Despite the heritage and everything, IMO the food’s taste was bland:





Other food items were either average or just above average. Later learnt and tasted (some other day, Gulshan dhaba just nearby had better food).

Approximately an hour later and, to be precise, at 10:21 hours, we left the dhaba for our destination of the day. Jibhi, located in Tirthan Valley, the distance from the start point to our destination was 466 kilometers, which took us close to 10 hours. The roads from Sonipat to Ambala were wide, had good surfaces and one could maintain 90 km/h (the speed limit) without much hassle. Have to appreciate the Hector’s ride quality at slow speeds and highway speeds as well. It’s only the big potholes and uneven bridge approaches that unsettle it. Traffic was thick though, but still, we were averaging ~50 kilometres an hour. Considering traffic and speed limits, it was fair.

Highway driving can get monotonous and sometimes irritating especially with high traffic and queues at toll booths sap your energy out. Approximately 2 hours later, took a small break for black coffee at Regenta Central City Vilas Palace, Ambala for ~20 minutes. From there, Google diverted us towards Heritage Haveli, Roopnagar for that day’s lunch stop. Route had guided us via Aerocity road, Zirakpur to Roopnagar, and the wide open roads and the infrastructure development taking place impressed us all. I was in the passenger seat during this stint and the front seats were quite comfortable. All in all, the ergonomics seem sorted and the large sunroof helped bring in plenty of light in the cabin. The seat ventilation though, felt quite meek. I could barely feel it.





Almost everyone was hungry by the time we reached our lunch stop, Heritage Haveli. Everyone placed their orders and we waited. Food was coming as per orders, so everyone tasted whatever everyone ordered and all the ordered items were good. Especially, the North Indian food items such as dal, shahi paneer and Indian bread items. By now, the camaraderie had become good and we all were having a good time. The food was good, and service was okay, messing up orders, making faces / not being proactive if someone requested a kulfi. If they did everything with courtesy (at least as a payback), the experience would have been great.

The Heritage Haveli, Roopnagar:



The food spread out :



The Team (media people & the MG team):



Post lunch, which lasted just over an hour, we resumed our journey. We had put the coordinates for Bradhi - Echor Riverside Resort Jibhi (Ghiyagi, Himachal Pradesh 175123) in Hector’s massive infotainment screen. Some distance later, we all were asked to visit the (only) MG dealership at Mandi for a general check-up of all the Hectors.

Some pictures of us entering the hills:







We crossed into Himachal from Punjab and seeing the hilly roads; I requested for the wheels of the Hector. A 2.0 diesel engine with a 6-speed MT and with revs playing between 1,800 to 3,000 revs, the Hector was quite fun. The ESP kept a tight leash on the Hector in the rains which started as soon as we crossed the Sutlej river. One annoying bit about the Hector that I found was the auto-turn indicator function. It got activated on the hills and the indicator noise was annoying as well which kept ruining the music played over the nice system.

We covered the distance of 111 kilometres from our lunch stop to the MG dealership at Mandi in 2 hours and 13 minutes. It was still daylight when we reached the MG dealership Mandi at 18:42 hours.

Mandi in Himachal Pradesh is a nice sleepy town. As is the norm in the hills, half of the town had downed their shutter post 18:00 hours. Essential services were functional though. The town had dealerships for major brands (VW, Toyota & of course MG Motors) and you can go to any scenic place in an hour and rejuvenate. I love this part.

The MG Dealership in Mandi:



Clicked some pictures of our red Hector:



Massive front grille covers almost the entire face:





We started from Mandi at 19:33 hours. We still did not need to switch on the headlamps, as there was still daylight. After a brief fuel stop at Sambal, Pandoh at 20:14 hours we resumed the drive. It had gotten sufficiently dark for Hector’s LEDs to show us the way.

Roads continued to be good till Aut tunnel, Kullu gate, post which we had to take a right turn for Tirthan alongside river Beas and Sainj and follow Tirthan river. The roads were very narrow post the turn and the sides had stones. We had to be careful here and watch out for sharp stones. MG’s Gloster might have been a more apt SUV for this kind of terrain, nevertheless, Hector kept us comfortable, guiding us via Google Maps and streaming music from our phone. Since it had gotten dark, we were on the hills, the roads were bad and narrow, couldn’t click any more photos.

A distance of 56 kilometres took 2 hours and 10 minutes (the road was that bad) and we arrived at the destination Bradhi - Echor Riverside Resort Jibhi, at 22:34 hours. A quick dinner later, I retired for the night.

Some random pictures of the day:

[Sheel]

Day 2: Jibhi - Narkanda

You have a wonderfully sound sleep, you wake up fresh, make your coffee, you are sipping on the balcony with hills in the background, a water stream just below the resort and cars parked in your view, why will the coffee not taste better?

Since it was 07:00 hours, I decided to explore the stream which was visible nearby. Some pictures of the resort in the morning on my way to the water:








Pictures of this place suggest that it snows in winter and I was not very comfortable seeing this, as part of infrastructure development or global warming, sigh!


The trail leading to the water body below was steep and not evenly surfaced. It's good to have a shoe with grippy tread. Made my way below to see and hear the soothing sounds of water:


I sat there for some time and caught up with family and friends over the phone with my feet in cold water. Wish I had the luxury to sip my morning caffeine and have my breakfast like this. But time does not stop and my watch was asking me to make my way up and be ready for today's drive, so gingerly, I made my way up the trail for my room.

Appears a group had a barbeque party last night, must be amazing with the sound of water gushing downstream:


Found the OG where it should be, on the top. The Maruti Gypsy had nice wheels with Geolander ATs slapped on. It appeared purposeful and had nice subtle modifications, a picture of whatever my camera could capture:


Since the convoy had 20+ people and everyone had to wake up & repeat the process, we could start at 10:21 hours. But barely 5 minutes later we found a trail that was inviting and we went ahead for some photography and views. The bridge that we crossed, a right would take us to Jalori pass (which we would later go) and a left here took us to the unexplored area:




The washed-away road bits because of landslides, and a few trails going to unknown and unchartered places did not disappoint me. I wish I had time to explore all this and a device to guide me back to civilization. Maybe some other day:








Now, the road to Jalori pass from here involved steep hairpins, and narrow roads and surprisingly apart from regular cars, a truck and a bus too were coming our way. Since I stay pretty close to Darjeeling, Sikkim & Nepal hills, it was not much of a bother and the Hector's 2.0 multijet diesel proved efficient here. It took us approximately an hour to cover this distance:




Everyone took their sweet time to unwind here, while we could not go to the POI there (selfie point) as the weather was inclement and the surface was slushy. There was this all-terrain vehicle but fearing mud splash and not having proper rain gear, I decided to skip:


We did hang around the tapris for tea, Maggi, rajma / kadhi and chawal. I still haven't figured as to why they taste so much better up on the hills. Maybe because I had Maggi (say after 4 or maybe 5 years):


A friendly Himalayan woman selling woollen clothing, it was cold at Jalori at that point:


Local fruit shopping and tasting:


This cow was trying to prove it could beat the mountain goat, amazing how it was managing at the cliffs, just like HP bus / Alto drivers:


We departed from there by 13:00 hours and some time later, I came across a path leading us to a small water body. I wanted to take the Hector to the water bank and soon, almost everyone made a stop. Everyone had a nice time there, clicking pictures, making time-lapse videos, selfies and the best part was sitting on the rock with your feet in the cold water. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:








A group picture of a few who were present then:


Another hour later, we left and started driving. Traffic density increased and somehow we got hungry. We kept scouting for places and had to stop at multiple places to ask and be greeted with a negative answer. Some more agonizing moments later, we came across a bus stop and a road bifurcation and stopped there, there was food available just for the 3 of us:


From here, roads started to get wide, with increased traffic density. The MG Hector was going along river Sutlej now. Since progress was good with wider roads aiding good speeds, we reached a T point where we took a right towards our destination of the day, Narkanda.

Stopped there for a local ice cream:


The junction where we took a break:


Roughly 15 minutes later, we started and the roads improved from here on with good surface and nice curves. Unfortunately, I was soaking all this as a passenger and was restless. It was a short journey from here of approximately 35 kilometres and we reached our destination Piyush Residency, Main Bazaar, Narkanda (Himachal Pradesh 171213):




After changing into comfortable & some warm clothing, most of them were watching cricket (there was some major match on that day and since I don't follow, I don't recall). I had my dinner of trout & rice, went for a stroll for ~30 mins and went to sleep as we were driving back to NCR the next morning.

[Sheel]

Day 3: Narkanda - NCR

Was up by 07:00 hours, and sipped my coffee (somehow, I misjudged the time to heat water in the kettle, hence the white foam) but with views like this, all is forgotten:


Post coffee and freshening up, went for a morning stroll, while the sun was out, it was cold, and you required some sort of warm clothing. But, what a beautiful morning it was, thin traffic, glorious roads and lots of dogs, and cows just wandering around with plenty of birds giving them company.

The main attraction / POI / Chowk of Narkanda, the temple:


Our stay hotel in the morning sun:


I took a small road going uphill. It was a bitumen road but was narrow and steep. I wanted to see where it led me. Some 30 minutes later from the hotel, I was greeted with this:


This is the circuit house of Narkanda. What an absolute beauty of a building, location and everything, true luxury in my opinion:


I retreated to the hotel, and the breakfast was ready, since I already had a heavy dinner last night (I usually skip dinners), I took a bowl of fruit and sambhar. Some views from the breakfast area:




Apricot farming some distance away:


Shortly after, I went to my room, checked my phone and discovered that all cars were reshuffled. I was supposed to give up the diesel MT for the petrol CVT. Since we would be driving back to NCR today, it was a blessing in disguise. We started from Narkanda at 09:51 hours and were driving towards NCR. We had to pass Shimla today and lunch was planned at Dharampur. Roads from Narkanda to Shimla via Theog, Fagu, and Kufri, were absolutely beautiful. On the surface, the views were breathtaking:




The 1.5L Petrol CVT Hector, my drive for the day. There's no comparison in the power delivery of the diesel and the turbo-petrol. The petrol CVT is purely meant for sedate driving and the way it delivers power is very linear. You need to plan your overtaking manoeuvers as the petrol CVT takes its sweet time to build up speed:


Shimla, as usual, was choc-a-bloc and took some time to navigate. The kind lady in Google Maps suggested an orange-colored route which was bypassing a red colored route which we promptly steered towards. Had it not been the case, we might have been stuck in proper traffic congestion (we later came to know about this from other journos). Just the convenience of the smooth CVT automatic was appreciated here.

Post Shimla, it started raining and continued till Dharampur. We were the first vehicle in our group to reach and order food. Whatever we ordered was finger-licking good and portion size is X 2. I mean, if there are 2 people, one plate of your choice of lentils and vegetables would be enough:


One of the best Shahi paneer I have had:


We had to wait some more time post finishing our meal for other cars to start arriving. Once some guys arrived, we started from Dharampur at 13:43 hours. ETA was close to 21:00 hours, I was hoping to reach by then.

We encountered some slides, road disruptions thanks to incessant rains and maybe too much construction...?






Some 30 minutes later, the hilly roads began to give way to straight roads. While the average speed would go up, I became grumpy and sad. Had this lump in the throat feeling. Love the hills too much.

Seeing us so content with our food at Dharampur Haveli, Hector could not take it anymore and started demanding food (fuel). We had reached Rattewali at 17:05 hours then.

Somewhere near Karnal, Google Maps suggested we take an alternate route via Nilokheri as there was some diversion ahead. I took a right turn (apparently as per Google Maps from old GT road) towards a small non-descript place, some traffic later, roads opened up and approximately 30 minutes later, joined the main highway which would take us to Delhi, NCR.

At 19:32 we took a break between Panipat and Gharaunda. The need for a tea break cropped as the roads were monotonous and traffic began to increase. A kadak chai later, the Hector CVT was back on the road and Google Maps guided me towards the destination via Panipat.

When I visited Panipat last time, flyovers were not present, now, there is a flyover which completely bypasses Panipat town and Panipat has become a good town with decent hotels and shops.

The ETA was almost spot on and I reached my destination at 20:55 hours.

Disclaimer: MG Motor India invited Team-BHP for the Drive. They covered all the expenses for this driving event.

[Omkar]

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[Sudey]

Thanks for sharing. Was following this journey on the MG Instagram page. Nice to know the story behind those images.

[nimbus1]

Thanks for sharing, IMO Hector is a VFM car which is underrated and don't know why MG cannot introduce a Hybrid Hector with CVT and Diesel with CVT. Will definitely help sell in good numbers.

Its like making a capable product handicapped.

[Raaj*]

A great read :-) Thanks for sharing nice pictures. How about Petro CVT mileage? (theoretically 12-13 kmpl)

[TheVegabond]

Thanks for sharing- great pictures

I have been driving the Hector CVT for more than 2 years and I must say that it's an awesome car for long distance cruising. I have done a few trips to the mountains - rohtang pass, Kedarnath, kasol and recently Mashobra. The car has been a great companion and never let me down on tough roads. It’s a no off-roader but can hold it's own in some really tricky situations.

When it comes to the mileage, I consistently get 9-10kmpl in Delhi peak traffic and 12-13kmpl on highways.

Here is a pic from my recent trip to Mashobra