Day 7 – The Renault Kwids cut through the 11th state
West vs east in the Renault Kwid
It has been a whole week of driving madness now on the Renault Kwid 29 States 29 Days Challenge so far. What kicked off from Delhi as an FMSCI national record attempt has become an endurance event of sorts with roads having deteriorated along the way. Traffic too has become worse. And roadside infrastructure, read dhabas, have also reduced. In a sense the adventure has been growing with each passing day and kilometre.
The seventh day in the Renault Kwid
Thankfully today was a relaxed day of sorts. The driving distance wasn’t astronomical and neither was the driving time. Also it being Sunday, we could chill out a bit, have breakfast at the hotel and then set off straight for Bhalukpong, Arunachal Pradesh. We were sailing smooth for nearly the entire day up until we reached the state border. It was just a single shade of grey surrounded by a million shades of green.
Our boys knew a couple of spots to shoot the cars having been here a few months ago. Also, our friend Lakhpa Tsering had hooked us up with a few of the locales who enabled our brief trip through the state. A quick round of chicken momos later (unfortunately they had run out of pork ones) we were back trundling the same way to Tezpur for the night.
The Renault Kwid story so far
So after seven grueling days on Indian roads of all kinds, the Renault Kwid has shone brightly through it all. Each odo is now close to 3,500km but despite the distance and the difficulties, the Kwids are sipping HP petrol, returning a great fuel efficiency of 17.5kmpl. The Ceat Milaze tyres are doing great too. Even when cornering hard around the hillock areas of Bhalukpong, they never squealed or showed signs of giving up.
The drive to Kohima, Nagaland proves to be similarly challenging. While we will cross into state number 12, the driving time of 7 hours for just 280km is foreshadowing the day’s proceedings.
Click here to read the previous blogs on the 29 States 29 Days challenge.
