Yes, the Cretas and Seltoses and Thars and XUVs and Scorpios and Skodas and all will overtake the Jimny.
BHPian shankar.balan recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Yesterday I came back from Madras but via the Chittoor – Palamaner road instead of the Krishnagiri stretch.
I have not travelled on this road for a while (June 2023 coming back from Madras and October 2023 while going to Madras).
I was in my Jimny and wasn’t really looking to be setting a cracking pace, because I was in absolutely no hurry.
So I left Madras at 930am and was toodling along the main highway enjoyably at 90-95kmph in my Manual Transmission vehicle in 5th gear and cruise control on, for the most part.
There wasn’t much traffic to speak of and what there was, was quite disciplined.
The tragedy of course is that large stretches of road from Chennai upto Vellore are still under construction 4 years on. This is criminal, considering that they charge toll. And that this is a big road between two big cities.
Anyway I got to Vellore and on to the Chittoor stretch, stopped for some coconut water at about 12 ish.
There was a beautiful rare honey coloured Chippiparai Hound (one of our vanishing Indian dog breeds) and his name was Guru and he belonged to the nice local person who was selling the tender coconut water.
The road was lovely. It was a sunny day.
I was driving a much loved, little, go anywhere, manual transmission machine, enjoying the revs and the gearbox whine; the nice feel of my little Jimny and changing gears and taking it up the rev band in each gear is fun!
I was also revelling in the beautiful landscape and the curves on the parts which were the old two lane highway. (Like the forgotten old road (Route66) in the Disney movie Cars).
Then I merged back with the big concrete stretch which has blasted through some of the hillsides, in a bid to widen the highway.
Yet, not all of the feel of this road is lost. My friends and I used to motor down this road in our Maruti 800’s and Gypsys and Zens and even once or twice on my friends’ Rajdoot Yamaha RD350 in the late 1980’s and through the 1990’s and even in the early 2000’s.
We used to use this road to Tirupati and all even up until the 2010’s. Then for a long time owing to road works and the fact that the main Hosur route is much more convenient for where I live in Bangalore, we just fell out of the habit and stopped using the Palamaner route.
The roadworks are still on. There are a number of bridges being built and road surfaces can at times be iffy.
But it is all in a days work for the Jimny.
This hilly road through rural TN and AP and KA, via Mulbagal and Kolar and all, is a joy in its own way.
Nowadays it is not as lonely as before. And there are plenty of nice eating places too.
However I stopped only at Woodys, which has been the landmark stop since the 1990’s. And it is still nice, thank heavens.
The rest of drive is still nice. We motor along some lovely tarmac all the way to the big new STRR exits.
Then we hit Kolar Town and pass through some road works and then the great sidewinder – the infamous Hosakote rumbler strips.
After passing the Hosakote Toll and then the final toll at the KR Puram – Bangalore entry, we fall into the absolute misery of traffic with those four long signals and the usual unruliness and jamming, wedging, bullying and honking.
But its fine. We have to live with it. Luckily it was not a rainy day with water logging and all.
So I muddled through and struggled along via Old Madras Road, Indira Nagar, Inner Ring Road, Koramangala and finally Home.
Truth be told I thoroughly enjoyed the drive.
I really enjoy my manual Jimny with its nice little naturally aspirated 1.5 litre engine, which is frankly more than enough for the average speeds we are able to achieve on our highway drives (which hover between 40-60kmph) and the general unpredictability of our roads and terrain and sudden speed breakers and potholes even on the highways.
Despite all this, I had passed the great KR Puram hanging bridge at 1536hours. Which is in my view, pretty good going.
My little Jimny makes me feel like Im in an old fighter plane ; ok, a slightly more modern fighter plane than my Gypsy was.
And I love that feeling. As I have said before, this is an excellent vehicle and well suited to our situation.
Yes, the Cretas and Seltoses and Thars and XUVs and Scorpios and Skodas and all will overtake the Jimny.
But with Hard Acceleration also comes Hard Braking.
It is fine, in my book to be overtaken.
Because in India, the road itself and its imperfections and toll gates and rest stops even things out nicely, just like the immigration queues and luggage conveyor belts even things out at the Airport too!
Maybe I am guilty of too much fantasising.
Or I may be an eccentric, but I really don’t care what the world thinks.
I just love my old school motoring experiences just as much as I like driving on a fast and smooth highway.
It is not about huge bulk and mad power and millions of BHP and Torque.
It is about how well the engine and gearbox mesh and how light and responsive the vehicle is.
It is about the sound and the feel and the engine note and gearbox whine and the ‘Soul’ if I may.
As many erudite folks around the world have said, there is an incomparable joy which one should enjoy in this fast paced, digitally distracted and impatient world, in driving a slower car faster.
If we miss this now, it will be too late!
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