Need road trip suggestions for a low slung German sedan

With the ground clearance on the lower side, wanted to check if it would be a crazy idea to take it to the hills or would some of the places allow for such an adventure.

BHPian animeshc recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hey,

Wanted to take my new ride for a trip to the hills, preferably somewhere in Himachal (will drive from Jaipur). With the ground clearance on the lower side, wanted to check if it would be a crazy idea to take it to the hills or would some of the places allow for such an adventure. Some of the options I had in mind:

• Shimla, from what I know the road till Shimla is pretty good so that should be doable. However, I ideally wanted to go beyond Shimla to Kufri/Narkanda. How are the roads there?
• What about Manali? I had gone there about a decade back in an Innova so don't know the latest road conditions. Once in Manali, we could take some local cab to travel to nearby places.

Any other suggestions.

Here's what BHPian Turbanator had to say on the matter:

Road to Shimla and beyond to Kufri and even to Rampur is good. You should not have any problems taking most of the low GC cars. I will worry more about Jaipur- Delhi highway given the state of that

Other destination that can be considered is Dalhousie. The road to Manali is very bad and not recommended if you are concerned about low GC.

Here's what BHPian BunnyPunia had to say on the matter:

Shimla:

About 240-250km of highway driving. 95% nice apart from some diversions.

Last 90 km hill road - 60% is four lane now. Rest 40% is 50-50 in terms of smooth roads and potholes. But nothing that will be of an issue to your German sedan. Beyond Shimla also roads are very good. You can even think of Narkanda (60 km from Shimla, 8500 feet high, good properties in the radius of 5 km).

Manali:

Stay away. Mandi to Kullu remains a mess. Construction + water on road = muck. Not worth it. Kufri / Shimla / Narkanda better any day.

Mussoorie:

Excellent highway stretch from Delhi till Dehradun. Passing Dehradun is a mess though. Hill roads are good, but not as good as Shimla side.

Here's what BHPian PaddleShifter had to say on the matter:

As a permanent (not present) resident of Chandigarh, I can assure you that the roads till Narkanda are excellent. I haven't yet visited Rampur so not sure of the conditions beyond Narkanda.

Avoid Manali road with a low GC car.

Other options to consider:

• Dharamshala/McLeodganj route. Tip: Dont take car inside McLeodganj. Park in a small parking near the church that is located just 1-2km before McLeodganj.
• Uttarakhand: Take the Delhi-Saharanpur-Haridwar-Rishikesh highway. Make base at Rishikesh and visit the mountains in the District Pauri Garhwal. You can visit Devprayag and further visit Lansdowne etc. There is a direct road to Lansdowne as well.

Here's what BHPian RijuC had to say on the matter:

Animeshc, in June 2021 I went to Naggar and Keylong in my Swift, GC is 165 mm. The road stretch from Sundarnagar to Atal Tunnel +10~15 km was under construction. There was absolutely no touching in the underbody in the under-construction part. I did 1-2 mistakes in good areas and one loose rock hit the underbody (just behind the front wheel area) and that's all. Bhuntar to Kullu and then Manali, Atal Tunnel, Sissu, Keylong and upto Jispa was good except few small usual hilly area broken patches.

But it was 3rd week of June. And I drove in the daytime there. Being an inexperienced driver, I drove relatively slow and in a safe manner. We were two heavy weight passengers and car was full of luggage due to work from mountains.

Alternative route through Mandi IIT is narrow. My friend from Himachal asked me to follow the usual route only. In case of any landslide or road blockage due to monsoon etc. this narrow alternative route would be little problematic and cumbersome for the new drivers in hills.

We went to Kaudiyala on next day of Dipawali. Started at midnight and reached Haridwar within 4 hours, thanks to an empty Meerut expressway. We started at midnight to avoid fog. Upto Kaudiyala it was a smooth wide road, except 1-2 small narrow patches due to landslide debris. Warning: In daytime the road 20 km+/- of Rishikesh remains jam packed nowadays. We traveled in early morning. Return journey was about 3 hours to cross Rishikesh. Same vehicle, same passengers with very few luggage this time.

On 24th December, 2021 we went to Fagu- Theog. Road was absolutely fantastic except an under-construction strech near Solan. Didn't scrap anywhere. There was minor snowfall on 25th and 26th Dec. Snow clearing and soil spreading work started very early in the morning. Hence didn't face any trouble. This time we went upto Theog. Return journey was through the Shoghi bypass road. Some sections have broken patches. However I didn't face any serious trouble due to that. Same passengers, almost full luggage due to cold and expected snowfall.

I am from Gurgaon.

I am a relatively inexperienced driver, and my car is also a very small petrol hatchback with limited capabilities, NA engine hence no power, almost nil safety features and questionable build quality of old gen Swift. Hence I try to drive safe and slow. Never went more than 60 kmph in the winding NH from panchkula to Shimla. Also I try not to overtake unnecessarily in the hills, and follow the lane discipline.

German cars are very tempting and here people are mostly experienced and usually drive in triple digits. In my opinion if the low GC cars are driven little carefully, there shouldn't be any problem for these areas.

Kumaon hills usually have good roads. However I heard Nainital & Bhimtal roads are in bad shape. Today one of my friends is traveling to Mukteshwar in a Nissan Sunny. Can update further in next week.

I have posted some YouTube videos of the recent road travels (purpose was to discuss dashcam performance). You may have a look.

Here's what BHPian skhattar had to say on the matter:

If you are up for Uttarakhand, then I can recommend Mussoorie. I travel regularly here and use my G30 530D for this.

I have never scraped the underbody even with a fully loaded car. Two kids and boot full of stuff. Plus the twisties really bring about the best of these German sedans.

Happy motoring!

Here's what BHPian revvedup had to say on the matter:

If this is your first trip to the hills in a new and slightly unfamiliar car, then the easiest would be Kasauli. Fairly easy to reach from Delhi and pretty much the most well laid out set of twisty roads with four lanes and exceptional tarmac for the most part (discounting the small uneven stretch at the beginning from Chandigarh).

Stay at the beautiful HPTDC property there that dishes out great tandoor paranathas and other culinary delights. Make your way to Shimla from there and stay at an AirBNB in the area or go to Kathkoi if you are feeling adventurous and have the option to leave the low slung car behind.

Another great place to explore on the same route is the Taj Theog/ Zostel X that is located in a valley of coniferous trees. I would recommend the Taj over the Zostel purely owing to the access route of the former being more well laid out.

The entire trip can be done between 5-10 days depending on the degree of relaxation that you wish to exercise.

I really like Chakrata and it is fairly easy to reach from Dehradun, but it is fairly quiet and is for people who prefer solitude and just blissful roads. So, activities are limited to driving around and reading. There's also Landour :Mussorie's less known cousin that again offers spectacular views and natural scenery in spades.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.