Exploring Tropical Paradise In Karnataka And Kerala In A Band Of Honda Sedans

To a northerner like myself, the south seems mysterious, almost exotic. It’s a tropical landscape that until now, I’d only seen in pictures and short work trips. That’s why this year’s edition of the Honda Drive to Discover was special to me – a road trip is the best way to explore and experience a new place. And I couldn’t have picked a better way to do it than a series of spacious, comfortable sedans with a perpetually open sunroof. 

What is Honda Drive to Discover? 

Honda Car India conducts the Drive to Discover road trip annually across different parts of the country (and occasionally even outside the country) to give auto journalists a bit more time behind the wheel of their cars. There’s no better way to test the durability of a car than to give it a bit of a thrashing around the country’s roads and highways. Although we were much more gentle with the cars we got to drive, it was nonetheless pleasant to see how well they held up to the conditions. 

This year was the eleventh edition of the Honda Drive to Discover, themed ‘Sedan and Stunning’. It included the Amaze, City and City hybrid sedans in all available powertrain combinations. 

The itinerary 

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This edition of the Honda Drive to Discover was divided into three days, beginning in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The first day’s drive was to Medikari, the next day to Wayanad and finally, to Kochi, and then back home.

Day 1:  

I landed at Bengaluru later than scheduled, but thanks to the trip’s organisers, there was already a gleaming, newly washed Honda City waiting for me at the airport with my teammate Rohit from CarDekho at the wheel. My trip had begun sans breakfast and in a hurry, but I soon settled down in the comfy leather seats and beige interiors of the sedan we had been assigned on the trip. 

Leaving the airport, we circumnavigated Bengaluru’s notorious city traffic. The city had been ravaged by floods just a week prior, but on its outskirts on this sunny first day of the trip, we couldn’t complain too much, in spite of the occasional traffic jam. 

After driving on a few of the many highways that intersect this city, we finally turned onto one on which Google maps finally quoted a two-digit number – this was the road to Madikeri! 

It was a divided six-lane highway that did have intersections and gaps in the divider, but we soon entered its long stretches where civilisation thinned down enough to where we could stretch the City’s legs. Indeed, this is a sedan that can handle triple-digit speeds with aplomb. On the perfect tarmac of this road and with the benefit of a sixth gear, we could really fly. 

By lunch time, we had already caught up with the tail end of the ‘convoy’ of Honda Drive to Discover-marked cars that stretched tens of kilometres. 

After a hearty meal (my first since waking up at 5 am), we set off again, this time on narrower two-lane highways that weren’t so perfect. Nevertheless, the evening sun cast dark shadows on the road, so we slowed down, opened the sunroof and took in our surroundings until we reached our night stop, a picturesque resort in Coorg. 

Day 2: 

By the second day, I had already assumed a healthier, progressive outlook on life. This had to be the best day of the drive since we had the best car of the lot, the City e:HEV hybrid. To be honest, after experiencing the joys of driving a manual i-VTEC City I wasn’t sure how an automatic-only hybrid car could be better. But the City hybrid is an entirely different machine that defied my expectations both as a passenger and driver. 

We left Madikeri after a hearty breakfast and hit the roads on the rolling hills of Karnataka. Two-lane highways and sweeping corners set the rhythm for the day’s progress. Despite spotty cell reception, Google Maps was a blessing on these stretches since we were unable to read most of the road signs. 

Presently we passed through a wildlife sanctuary as it started raining. Thick forests lay on both sides of the road on this scenic route. It was impossible to speed here since we had to watch out for wild animals straying onto the road. 

On one occasion we had to slow down to a crawl at a place where an entire band of monkeys, mostly babies, were squatting on the road. Here the City’s silent EV mode prevented the animals from getting startled as we slowly edged past them and onto emptier stretches. 

Later, we turned onto a road that seemed nothing like a state highway (it wasn’t) that took us on a badly potholed road with broken surfaces. I was overly cautious with the City to avoid scraping the underbelly, but even the hybrid version of the sedan has adequate ground clearance to tackle bad roads. 

Eventually the forest thinned out and turned into a heavenly landscape that seems straight out of a movie. Lush green fields with rippling paddy stretched as far as the eye could see, punctuated by green belts of palm and coconut trees. 

Towards the evening, we reached the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary where we clambered into a rickey old Mahindra MM540 Jeep and went on a 10km drive through the forest, witnessing giant termite hills, massive beehives and even a full-grown elephant! 

The mystical forest of the wildlife sanctuary was hard to leave behind, but the sun was setting, so we resumed the drive to our night stop, managing to reach the plush resort just before nighttime. 

Day 3: 

On the morning of the last day, it was a spectacle in the hotel driveway where all the Drive to Discover cars were lined up. The team took a few pictures of us and we set off in a tight convoy to fill up fuel. We had to cover more distance than any of the previous days and we had the petrol-powered City CVT to drive. 

We soon reached pretty tea gardens on the way to properly twisty Ghat roads teeming with traffic, including large buses and trucks that blocked both lanes of traffic on the numerous hairpin turns. But thankfully, the road was wide enough and we made quick progress while heading downhill after setting off from the summit where the above picture is taken. 

The towns we passed by were pretty crowded on a Sunday morning as people went about in their best clothes, some on their way to Church and others riding or driving slowly and getting in the way of our fast-paced group of Hondas. Driving in this part of the country is quite different from the cities – traffic is more orderly and people seem to be fairly careful, stopping for pedestrians to cross the street. However, not clearing the way for faster traffic is indeed a nationwide problem. 

We soon found out the minor downside of covering miles in Kerala – there’s a dearth of long, straight multi-lane highways that connect the different cities. So, although you’ll certainly enjoy the twisty two-lane highways and fairly sparse traffic, it can be tiring to cover long distances when your only option is a narrow state highway with ever-changing elevation.  

Nevertheless, the City automatic’s CVT doesn’t hesitate to push the engine to its loud but substantial torque band, making overtakes a breeze. All you have to do is stab at the accelerator and the car takes care of the rest. Progress isn’t as quick as the torquey hybrid or diesel versions, but we couldn’t find a reason to complain. 

After losing our way a couple of times, our trust in Google Maps waned a bit as the sun started setting. Here, the City’s splendid LED headlights came to our rescue, lighting up the roads well despite the occasional drizzle. 

We missed the mythical coastal road entirely, never seeing or even smelling the sea on this leg of the trip, but even Kerala’s cities are beautiful and full of kind, polite people. We reached our final stop, the Mariott in Kochi, at 10pm, exhausted but full of gratitude. 

Also read: 

• Exploring Arunachal Pradesh And Its Breathtaking Landscapes On The Road Trip Of A Lifetime

• Honda Drive To Discover 10: Country Roads To Beachy Trails

In conclusion, the 11th Edition of the Honda Drive to Discover once again proved how solid and capable Honda sedans are. The cars shined with their superior handling on good roads and held their own on the badly paved and potholed stretches. 

 

 

 

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I’m fortunate to have been invited for the trip and would gladly go on another adventure in a Honda.