Special Feature: Snow, Sand and Sea in Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara

The Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, which was launched in September last year and offers a choice of powertrain options, has many virtues. One of them in particular caught our eye. The Grand Vitara’s Intelligent Electric Hybrid powertrain boasted a staggering fuel efficiency of 27.97kpl. Now, that translates into a range of 1,258km, considering the SUV has a 45-litre fuel tank capacity. So, the question foremost on our minds was: by how much could that range be stretched? What were the possibilities? Our latest epic drive in the Grand Vitara Intelligent Electric Hybrid was an answer to these questions.  

After Google-Mapping numerous options, we arrived at an evocative route. We would start from the mountains, drive across the desert, and end our journey in the Grand Vitara by the sea. ‘Snow, Sand, Sea’ – it even had a nice ring to it. Our drive, we decided, would start from Narkanda, Himachal Pradesh, touch Pushkar, in Rajasthan, and finally end at Jamnagar, in Gujarat. The total distance was approximated by Google Maps at 1,578km. But doing so on a tankful of petrol appeared to be a daunting task, which, of course, is exactly why we decided to go ahead with it.

Mountain sledding

Before we got the Grand Vitara Intelligent Electric Hybrid to Narkanda, we kitted it out with a set of low-rolling-resistance tyres from Apollo in the form of the Apterra Cross. These tyres offer the best of both worlds by enhancing the ride quality as well as maximising grip over loose surfaces by employing a block-based tread pattern. We simply had to set the tyres at optimal tyre pressure and it was a go.

Hypermiling in icy conditions poses its own set of challenges. It requires you to anticipate braking points as well as modulate the throttle with precision. We topped up the fuel tank to the brim in Narkanda and began our drive downhill, just as the first snowfall of the season hit Shimla and the windscreen framed breathtaking views.

With 45 litres of petrol on board, the trip computer calculated a range of just 691km. However, as we headed downhill, the figure started to hit four-digits. Switching the air-conditioner (read heater) off further helped matters. The Grand Vitara proved itself on snow in more ways than one. The SUV is quite intelligent and detects icy surfaces, warning drivers of risks, but since we weren’t driving the AllGrip variant, we left the snow alone and pointed the Grand Vitara’s elegant nose towards Rajasthan.

The drive from Himachal Pradesh to Rajasthan saw the Grand Vitara glide over pothole-laden highways and deal with some tight twisties. Despite the conditions, the trip computer approximated a fuel efficiency of 50kpl, which is the maximum! Ensuring smooth flow and consistent speeds, we managed to reach Paota, in Rajasthan — about 550 kilometres from Shimla — before calling it a day.

Sand surfing

The weather conditions in Rajasthan were friendlier to the hybrid system, compared to Himachal Pradesh. Interestingly, the hybrid system starts functioning at full gas only after the engine heats up to optimal temperature. While hypermiling might appear to be an easy task, considering average speeds usually hover between 40 to 60kph, it’s anything but. You end up focusing more than you would while driving a sportscar, for instance. It is taxing, physically as well as mentally, but thankfully, the Grand Vitara makes life comfortable for the driver. The SUV’s seats are supremely comfortable. They are wide and just the right amount of firm, besides, of course, being ventilated. Then, there’s wireless charging, Apple CarPlay and the Head Up Display, which allows you to track the battery’s charge as well as the vehicle’s speed, without having to look away from the road. All of these features ensured a smooth drive on some lovely stretches of tarmac in Rajasthan.

As we headed towards Pushkar to show the Grand Vitara some sand, the fuel-efficiency figures dipped to 43kpl, which turned out to be the lowest number on the entire drive. There was zero margin for error, so we could never really take detours. But since the Grand Vitara is an SUV, we couldn’t help but indulge in some sand surfing before plunging back into our mission. By the end of Day 3, we had reached Abu Road on the Gujarat border.

Sight sea-ing

With the fuel gauge displaying more than half a tank of petrol available, we started the fourth day of our drive on a rather optimistic note. The weather had started to get warmer, which meant that the air conditioning needed to be switched on for this part of the drive. However, the silky smooth highways of Gujarat helped our cause and so did the Grand Vitara’s hybrid powertrain. With a combined output of 115hp, this Maruti Suzuki feels effortless on the highway. We weren’t really exercising our right foot, but the lowdown grunt in the Intelligent Electric Hybrid came in very handy.

The Grand Vitara’s mature road manners added to the driving pleasure as well. It’s a proper SUV with a flat ride over all kinds of surfaces, which meant we could carry steady speeds throughout our drive. And after spending almost 45 hours in the cabin of the Grand Vitara, we made it to Jamnagar at the end of Day 4. 

The beach at Jamnagar is, for various reasons, not very photo-friendly. So the next morning, we went along the coast looking for an appropriate and scenic place to document the end of our journey. Thankfully, the Grand Vitara still had a range of over 250km, despite clocking over 1,600km on the trip meter! When we finally made it to the scenic Shivrajpur Beach, near Dwarka, we noted, to our great satisfaction, that the trip meter had already crossed 1,771km with an approximate range of 104km. And when we finally reached the petrol station after driving for another 7km, the range stood at 101km. The Grand Vitara had delivered an astonishing fuel efficiency of 43.96kpl after clocking 1,779.3km. It still had more than 100km left in the tank, which could easily be stretched by another 100km. Could we attempt 2,000km on a tankful? Now that’s a story for another day.

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