I think to cover the same distance in my Mahindra Thar petrol (now sold), the SUV would have consumed around 50L of fuel and cost me close to Rs 5200.
BHPian Shankar Balan recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
I seriously can’t appreciate the Kona more! It is a great car. I am right now on a second mid-long distance trip. I drove my Kona to Wayanad for a wedding.
Only me and my wife and usual luggage of 2 suitcases and two small bags. Had charged it on last Saturday to 96%. Statiq at Doubletree Hilton Sarjapura Road and the cost was Rs 408/-. Kms reading was 3572 kms. Car was idle after that.
Started yesterday morning with about 95% charge at 5.30am with the kms at 3576. Lights on. AC on. Music on. Wipers on. Eco Mode throughout (which is more than enough). Cruise at 97-98kmph. Used the Nice road to get out of Bangalore and the Mysore Highway after that. Reached Shell on the Nanjangud to Ooty Road – I was down to 37% so left the car to charge at Shell. The car was at 3744kms. 172kms covered since the last charge.
Went and ate breakfast with my friends and came back an hour later and it had reached 96%. Paid 723/- – Shell charging is somewhat more expensive. Drove to Wyanaad after taking one wrong turn by following the road naturally towards Chamarajnagar. I never normally do things like that but yesterday instead of taking the lower left road I just followed the road contours to the upper right on to the bridge towards Chamarajnagar.
Anyway, then I had to drive much faster than normal to catch up with my friends. Met them after the Gundlupet turn off. And drove through Muthanga and Kalpetta and Sulthan Bathery and Banasura Dam and all that to reach the destination. Beautiful forests and lovely curvy roads. (I saw one Grey and Black Kona inside the Wyanaad Sanctuary going towards Gundlupet. But did not take a photo though I did flash my headlamps as an acknowledgement of the ‘same-brand-car’. No answer though!).
I’ve not been to the Wayanad region in 27-plus years. And it was nice to re-visit. Love the Kona and its behaviour on these roads. Loved using the paddle shifter-like regen-controls to leverage braking and brake-retardation. Feels really good and being an active user of the paddles on my Cooper, it comes naturally on the Kona too.
Went and parked at the Tata Power charger at Taj Wayanad. The km reading at the Destination is 3899kms. Covered 155kms on undulating terrain and at higher than normal speeds.
Started charging but the charger would not work. So had to get it reset by the ‘base’. Found I was at 40%. So charged back up to 97% in an hour and a half. Paid Rs 563/-. Now the car is idle.
Let’s see how far I can get with this on the way back. Spent so far Rs 1694/- on this trip.
Distance covered between Bangalore and Mysore via Nice Road etc between the two charges was 172kms. Distance covered after that is 155kms. Total kms travelled is 327kms. The cost has been Rs 5.18 per Km.
To cover the same distance in my Petrol Thar (now sold) I would have used probably 50 litres of petrol and spent Rs 5200/- Any day the Kona offers a good saving apart from being more comfortable, silent and totally fatigue-free. I am thoroughly enjoying the ownership and my wife is greatly appreciating the comfort of this car.
Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
