OD garage: Nissan Evalia after 27,428km
I finally managed to do what I've wanted to do since the Evalia keys landed in my lap. I finally took her for a driving trip over a long weekend. After our June issue closing, the wife and I managed to take a Monday off and headed for the sea for some much needed RnR. We knew this had to be a seaside vacation but had no clue where to head to at the drop of a hat. With the monsoon already setting in there was little chance of any lazing around on a beach and that ruled Goa out. But since we wanted a nice quiet weekend without any fuss we set our sights on somewhere along the Maharashtra coast. These places tend to be quieter and off the beaten track so we finalised on a small home stay that had a room free at our extremely short notice.
We set off on Saturday morning and headed out on to NH17 making our way down the coastal road towards Ratnagiri. After 300km we turned off the national highway and after bypassing the city we headed further south on the interior coastal roads towards the tiny town of Nate. We completed the 400km journey in a comfortable 9 hours. The Evalia was great out on the highway and makes for a great cruising vehicle. It runs for a massive 750km between tank fills and its light controls mean that you feel less fatigue on long stints. After the last service it's been returning a consistent 15-16kmpl in my combined cycle that is more or less a 50/50 split between highway and city driving. It's a really useful motor to have around and while its boxy looks are not quite pleasing to the eye, its practicality far outweighs this and I could actually imagine myself owning one some day. In fact Sheena, my wife, drove it a bit and was surprised at how car like it is to drive so I have her approval too. Some day after I've spent my money on the motorcycles on my shopping list, I just might consider buying one to transport my bikes across the country to the south where the fun racetracks are.
Total mileage: 27,428km Date acquired: Dec'13 This month: Mileage 1745km Fuel: 110 litres Efficiency: 15.86kmpl
