Driving on Hills - Do's and Don'ts!!


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Thanks guys for the tips. As suggested by members here, i took help from a elderly driver and did a 120 kms hill trip with him in passenger seat. It was a great experience and i'm already feeling confident about my driving. Like someone mentioned above, the brakes on Grand i10 is too sharp but on a positive note , it also inspires confidence. I'm not particularly happy with Grand i10 clutch adjustment though, there is lot of play.
 
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Hyundai has habit of adjusting the clutch for almost first 1-2 services. So don't worry about the play, it will be adjusted.
 
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Very nice article TSIVipul. You almost covered up everything in interesting way.

Almost all well trained drivers sometimes miss on a point. i.e. "Know your car".

I had been to Karla caves sometime ago. A Honda City ZXi (a decade old model) was in front of me. I can bet that driver was amazing and had experience. I observed him from last 2 KMs and they way he was driving, he was good in his job.

The hill road to Karla caves is always narrow due to car parked all the way. They just leave the space that only one vehicle can pass. God knows when people will learn some civic sense.

When were halfway through the hill, a tight situation on incline occurred and he had stopped his car. Again when he tried to move further, can didn't move an inch. Then he unloaded 4 guys from car and tried again. The car moved little further but engine stopped.

He instructed one of guy to place a stone behind rear tyre and tried again, car again moved forward little bit but came back again and jumped over stone which was placed to stop the car. Everyone in my car was very scared because of two things.
1. The one side of hill was chasm.
2. Looking at all this we were frightened that this fellow can come back and hit our car.

Considering the situation, I reversed little bit and placed my car on one side of road. Considering this as an opportunity an oversmart uncle with Maruti EECO overtook me and placed his van right behind Honda City (hereafter referred as HC).

The other guys in that HC were dumb ass and they were not even pushing the car from behind. One of the smartie, placed a big rock (really big) behind the rear tyre.

HC driver again tried but again failed and came back with force and his rear bumper hit the rock, rock rolled back and hit back over smart uncle's EECO. (LOL moment for us).

As long queue was built up on both side, so some people came and pushed car from behind and helped HC driver to park his car sideway.

Idiots didn't even care that they have left a huge stone on mid road and it's their duty to remove it.

In this case, I feel driver was not aware of his car. I know HC can climb such inclines but may be that car was 2-3 lakh KM driven and engine was on it's last stage.
 

bhvm

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Dicor,
That Points me to One of The Simple thing that Most of Indians Overlook-
Have a POWERFUL Car! We are so damm obessed with "Kitna Deti hai" and India has become a Mass Market for really crappy underpowered cars!

It could be that HC Engine was On its last legs.
It could also be that Clutch was worn out.
But it could also be that its simply lack of Torque needed to make an uphill start.

Check the HC (Civic) sold in US and Other countries. The difference is Night and day!
 
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bhvm

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Your move was correct but bikers were tailing the bus too close. if Bus would've braked hard, They would've smashed into it.

Also why is the bus coming from wrong lane?
 
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Your move was correct but bikers were tailing the bus too close. if Bus would've braked hard, They would've smashed into it.
Thank you.
Also why is the bus coming from wrong lane?
Bus needs the wider edge of the road to attack hair pin bend so he should be technically on the wrong lane just before it. I think that's why he honked longer to let me know his intentions.
 

bhvm

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there are some ghats on MP-mah border, where climbing truckers can take larger apex on the curve (wrong lane) to help climb. sometimes there's a board saying so. sometimes boards are removed. extremely confusing.
 
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Its monsoon season right now. Most of the ghats which doesn't falls on National Highway have developed potholes exactly on the pin bends. Rains are torrential in ghat sections, there are thin streams of water flow on bends which makes friction worst. Fog is another thing in ghats hence keep your windshield clean as you approach pin bends, otherwise it may end into disaster.

Taking all these things into consideration be alert enough to drive through ghats wisely.
 
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Guys, Is it my fault of giving right of way to the bus on a hair pin bend?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ2wHJ5q6_M&feature=youtu.be
Nobody's fault, but when he was honking you could've stopped before taking the bend.

Also why is the bus coming from wrong lane?
Sir, buses are lengthy and it's in us to give them the right of way for uphill vehicles to take the bend in one shot instead of stopping reversing and going again, so when you have space you go through it.
 

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