The Suzuki Swift is a good car for Indian roads. Having purchased it in July '06, I was eager to take a long drive in it. But my fear of Indian highways(being deathtraps between dawn and dusk), and beloved Raji's admonitions kept me from the expedition. But as they say, the ocean cannot be dammed. Meaning, I set off on a trip to Chennai, with Raji and Amma in tow, during the Christmas weekend of Dec '06. As a salve to our fears, all driving was planned in daylight's benign presence. And what fun it was! A 362 k.m. drive was accomplished in about 4 hours, not including rest stops. There were hardly any other vehicles on the road, both during onward and return journeys. Only local people from the numerous small(and sometimes nameless) towns that dot the way. In some cases, those locals had the unfortunate compulsion to use the wrong side of the road, which I admit did throw us off gear more than once. Especially Raji, who did take to driving a 30 km stretch(and sent the needle scurrying past the 100 kmph mark, I must say). And the speed fiend who drove the remaining part crossed 140 kmph on a number of occasions.

The great road trip has finally arrived in India, my friends! Only, I feel that night driving is still for the brave-of-heart, since I was able to sample some of it on the return journey, where the Hosur-Bangalore leg gave some close scares.

There's a very nice video floating around that shows how traffic "self-regulation" happens on Indian roads. Just search for "traffic india video" on youtube or google.

And yes, the Swift, powered by a(perhaps 3-valve) 1300 c.c Petrol engine, gave us approx 17 kmpl of efficiency. Pretty good, aint it? That's about 37.6 miles/gallon, folks!