1,500 km South India road trip in a Force Urbania

I always felt that the Urbania is a handsome vehicle from the photos. And the design only grew over me when I saw it in real.

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What do an Air India Boeing 787 dream liner, Vande Bharat, and Force Urbania have in common? Well, nothing other than the fact that these were my primary means of transport during the recent South Indian road trip (South Tamilnadu to be accurate).

Amsterdam to Kochi (via Delhi) - Air India

We flew Air India from Amsterdam to Kochi via Delhi in July 2024 (Summer vacation in Europe). We heard so many horror stories about delays and bad service of Air India in the proceeding months of our travel that we went with a rather low set of expectations. Maybe because of that, we came out more or less satisfied.

Ready to board at Amsterdam airport. No matter what, the sight of an Air India airplane on foreign soil always evokes an emotional feeling in most Indians' hearts.

The Delhi to Amsterdam stretch was done by Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This fleet of Air India is about 7 years old and the interior has never been refurbished. That means you get broken seats, a non-working infotainment system, broken mirrors in toilets, etc. The only saving grace was the legroom which was good for an economy class seat along with a generous luggage allowance.

The cabin crew was also quite unenthusiastic about the service. Most of them looked grumpy without a tint of a smile on their face.

The seats are old and worn out. Waiting for the delayed and much-needed refurbishment. But the leg space is good

Infotainment didn't work, there were 3M tapes all over the place

Delhi to Kochi was a much better experience. It was a younger Airbus A320 which was well maintained and most importantly the staff was young and friendly. Most had an energetic smile on them like they were genuinely happy to be doing their job.

Inside the A320, it is much more cheerful and cleaner

A single ticket, thanks to the laws of India, requires a passenger arriving from outside India to complete the immigration, collect the checked-in luggage at the first port of entry, and re-check-in for the second leg of the journey. Thankfully Delhi airport was not very crowded and the transfer process took less than 30 minutes. Middle Eastern airlines provided a far more seamless experience. While this is not in the control of Air India, the Indian government should really consider doing something to make this more seamless if we intend to make India an aviation hub for connecting traffic and competing with the Middle Eastern carriers

Overall I would say the experience was just about acceptable. We and our bags arrived on time at our destination which is the single most important factor. While I understand the problems with the age of airplanes and that the Tata's are doing their best to get newer ones in the air as well as refurbish the existing ones, I don’t understand why things like staff attitudes or day-to-day operational details like hand soap in toilets (that was 90% water) or cleanliness cannot be improved. In the current circumstances, the only reason I would choose Air India over Middle Eastern careers is if there was a substantial difference in the cost of tickets (as was the case this time). I hope in a few years' time, Air India will improve with newer aircraft (or refurbished ones) joining their fleet. Once we landed in Kochi, India we had 4 days to relax before we embark on a 7-day long road trip across Tamilnadu.

The road trip

A friend had invited us for his son’s first birthday in Chennai and the dates overlapped with the dates we were in India. So we decided to go.My FIL expressed his desire to visit the famous Madurai Meenakshi temple. We thought it might be a good idea to make it a road trip so we can do both in one go. I was also interested because I haven’t visited south Tamil Nadu at all despite having lived in Coimbatore + Chennai for almost 7 years for college as well as early career.

And the planning started. And as with most plans, it quickly snowballed. Palani as well as Tanjavur was added to the list. Then I added Chettinadu region as well as Trichy. Chettinadu as I’m a big of the cuisine as well as curious about Chettiars community. This came from when the time I lived in Singapore and Chettiars featured prominently in their early history as the financiers of the nascent trading post established by the British back then. Trichy was added as I wanted to try the Vande Bharat train and there was one connecting Trichy to Chennai. Trichy was close to Tanjavur. Now we are 8 people and a 1500+ kms trip.

The next question was the choice of transport. Initially, I wanted to do it by train as I was concerned about the safety aspect of a long road trip with my kid. Soon it became apparent that while the Indian railway works well for a point-to-point journey, it’s ill-suited for a multi-hop journey. Travel times were too long and timings were simply inconvenient. The only other option was to go by road and I wanted a safe comfortable vehicle. Turns out there is a large gap in the Indian market for people carriers below the 15+ seater minibusses. Innova and Likes according at least to me is not a comfortable long-distance tourer for groups. It can either carry 5 people and their luggage on a long distance or 7 people without any luggage for small to medium distances. Wish we had options like the VW Transporter, Mercedes V class or Ford Transit in the market. Real small space space-efficient vans. And then someone suggested Force Urbania. I’ve had seen and read about it in various auto forums and has always been keen about it. It’s quite an improvement over the regular traveler and reminded me of the Mercedes Sprinter vans popular in Europe. It can seat 18 if I remember correctly so obviously, it was a bit of an overkill for us. But again due to the aforementioned gap as well as me being super conservative about safety (becoming a dad really turns your perspective around), We decided to choose it. And I also wanted to experience the vehicle.

The plan was set, the vehicle is ready and the itinerary looked as below

• Day 1- Thrissur To Palani drive, roam around in the town in the evening
• Day 2- Visit Palani temple in the morning, drive to Madurai, and visit places of interest in Madurai
• Day 3- Visit Madurai Meenakshi temple, drive to Kanadukathan in Chettinadu region, stay in a Chettinadu mansion
• Day 4- Walk around the heritage town, see soe palaces, weaver, etc. Drive to Thanjavur, visit Brihadeshwara temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Day 5- Drive to Trichy. No specific plans there.Day 6- In-laws and parents travel back to Kerala / Me and family proceed to Chennai by Vande Bharat
• Day 6- In laws and parents travel back to Kerala / Me and family proceed to Chennai by Vande Bharat
• Day 7- Visit friends in Chennai, Indigo back to Kochi

The vehicle - Force Urbania

I always felt that the Urbania was a handsome vehicle from the photos. And the design only grew over me when I saw it in real.

And boy was he such a head turner especially in Tamilnadu. We had countless times when people came over to check on the vehicle and youngsters on bikes gave us thumbs up. We were given royal treatment in almost every restaurant and hotel we visited. Maybe its the handsome face or maybe its the fake 3-pointer star on its nose. I would like to believe it's the looks.

Handsome looks vehicle with a very smart-looking front and side. This was brand new and had clocked just over 6000KMS.

The rear looks a bit plain compared to the front, nevertheless it's clean and attractive

Excellent ingress with wide-opening sliding doors for the passenger section. I always hated the tilting front seats of the old force travellers. Floor height is low enough to be not a big inconvenience to the elders

Dash is molded plastic and quite hard-wearing. Appropriate for this vehicle. The infotainment system has wired Apple car play/android auto, although it did not work very reliably. Sometimes the system went to screensaver mode while navigation was on. And the tiny screen was not the easiest to look at on sunny days. Had a reverse camera, which is a must-have.

Front passenger seat

Interiors - spacious and well-designed. Large windows are great and add to the sense of airiness.

The single seats on the left side felt a tad bit narrower. I'm not sure if it's the perception or they are actually narrow.

Every passenger gets adjustable vents and reading lights

My girl getting comfortable in the rides. I would have preferred for her to sit in any other seat that had another seat in front of it, but you can't argue beyond a limit with a toddler.

Every seat had lap belts and we were evidently the first ones to use it since it was still neatly plastic-wrapped from the factory. One major flaw is that these belts are not retractable. That means they all gonna dangle down on the floor once the wrapping is removed

The last row is used as our luggage space

The chosen vehicle is configured to be a people carrier, not a long-distance tourer. It had seats till the last row. Another option had the last row removed and converted as luggage space, but that one quoted a much higher cost. It was not a problem for us as we were only 8 and the last row was used as our luggage space. It also gave us flexibility by giving us access to luggage while on the road.

The vehicle was driven by a very experienced chap. He had proved his mettle by driving the cutthroat and dangerous Thrissur-calicut private buses of Kerala. In his own words, those days were hugely stressful. He had also worked as a driver for executives in Middle Eastern countries driving the likes of Toyota Alphard. So I believe he can be a good judge of the vehicle. In his own words, Urbania is effortless to drive, almost car-like. He compared it to the regular traveller which according to him had the issues of brake fade in ghat roads as well as the vehicle nose diving at sudden breaks. Urbania had none of those issues.

Overall it was an excellent ride. I feel the Urbania is among the best (if not the best) tourer vans currently on sale in India. NVH is brilliant with barely any engine or suspension noise filtering in. The ride was quite sorted. It never felt harsh at slow speeds nor wavy at high speeds. Speed is limited from the factory to 80KMPH. I feel it is a bit too conservative especially considering the vastly improving highways in India. A 100KMPH limit would have been more appropriate, especially on highways like these that are abundant in Tamilnadu.

Places worth mentioning

Palani and Madurai were typical temple towns. Very crowded and not the cleanest of streets. I didn't click any pictures in both place. Madurai Meenakshi temple as expected was stunning inside, but it was located quite deep inside a bustling old city. That means it's impossible to experience the full grandeur of the complex from the ground. Excellent drone shot videos available on Youtube are the best way to fully visualize the massive complex. We also gulped down on the Madurai special Jigarthanda and I loved it

It's the Chettinadu region that was the highlight for me in the whole trip. We stayed at Chettinadu Mansion in Kanadukathan, a Town Panchayat in the Karaikudi. It was built in 1902 and well preserved in all its glory.

You can see the industriousness and vision of the Chettiar community just from the fact that these villages were well planned in a perfect grid format 100+ years ago. Something we still struggle to do in India.

We had to visit a doctor for a minor thing and we checked out the government hospital of Kanadukathan. It was built and donated by the famous Annamalai Chettiar and we can see how it was built as a statement.

As I've always come to expect from Tamilnadu, the reception and service in the government hospital were warm and efficient. We were quickly attended to and properly cared for.

The whole village also stands as a testament to the famous words "Change is the only constant". Many of the huge mansions are in an abandoned state and the whole village lives in the shadow of its glorious past.

Statue of a Chettiar on the banks of the Singapore River, in front of the Asian Civilisations Museum

The Brihadeshwara temple of Thanjavur is another highlight. It's stunning and beautiful.

Lighting at night has been executed quite beautifully. It really highlights the marvelous architecture. Overall the whole complex is maintained tastefully (which sadly cannot be said about a lot of equally grand and old temple complexes we visited on the trip)

Another notable place was the Maratha palace in Thanjavur. I was not even aware of the fact of this part of the history where a kingdom from Deccan ruled a part of Tamilnadu. The palace itself is not very well maintained but one can clearly see the strange mix of architecture.

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