Back from India - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

kerry · #1 04-01-2010, 03:29 PM

A few short automotive impressions:
Traffic is unbelievable. It takes a very high level of skill and attention to drive there. In the city, roads are filled with cars, bicycles, cng/auto-rickshaws, pedicabs, buses etc. Millimeters separate the vehicles.
Intercity roads are filled with almost all Tata trucks. A few Eichners (?). Tata has a medium duty truck whose cab seems to be borrowed from the MB 408d vans/trucks. Force Travellers are used by most of the tourist transportation companies. They are the early 80's MB vans that were the precursors of the current Sprinter and use the OM616 (I think) but turbo'd and intercooled. Engine sounds a little different. India must have heavy tariffs on imported trucks because I saw no Toyotas, Mitsubishi, Isuzu or MB trucks. I saw a few Matadors which are Indian built versions of the old Hanomag/MB 206d front wheel drive vans/trucks. Cars are mostly small Suzukis. A few Toyotas and Tatas. Tons of Mahindra jeeps and a modicum of Force 4wd suv's.
Driving under all conditions in the city or intercity is bizarre. Driving on a divided 4 lane highway, one might run across a truck in the left lane with its differential on the ground being rebuilt while trucks whiz by at high speed. For no apparent reason, people would drive the wrong way on a 4 lane divided highway at full speed with their headlights flashing. It didn't phase anyone. The oncoming vehicles simply swerved out of the way and kept going. I saw vehicles going around roundabouts the wrong way. Nobody thinks twice about backing up on a 4 lane intercity highway. Workers simply put up a couple of cones blocking a lane, stand in the middle of the lane doing work while traffic swerves madly around them. It is amazing that half the population of India is not killed in auto accidents every day. Saw a few truck accidents. In one case, the driver's involved where brawling in the middle of the highway.

cscmc1 · #2 04-01-2010, 03:48 PM

So you made your ORD connection, eh?

And here I get my knickers in a twist when someone camps out in the left lane on the interstate...

kerry · #3 04-01-2010, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cscmc1

So you made your ORD connection, eh?

Yep. We had decided that if our flight to ORD from DEN was delayed by more than 15 minutes we wouldn't get on since the connection was so tight. It pulled away from the gate on time, then the pilot announced bad winds at ORD would delay our departure by 17 minutes. When we got to ORD we ran to the gate and made it to the Delhi plane with about 10 minutes to spare. But luck was good, the departure for Delhi was delayed for an hour so our bags made the flight too.

cscmc1 · #4 04-01-2010, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerry

Yep.

Cool -- glad to hear it. Got pics to share?

kerry · #5 04-01-2010, 04:28 PM

Need to upload some pictures from the camera.
Another surprising automotive feature of India was the existence of Royal Enfield motorcycles there. You could hear the deep throated crack of the 500cc single cylinders from blocks away. Not a better sounding motorcycle around. Apparently been made in India for years:
http://www.royalenfield.com/Motorcycles/classic-500.aspx
At one hotel it appeared a group of German men had rented Royal Enfield's to tour India. The sound of those bikes circling the hotel entrance was music to any classic biker enthusiast.
Needless to say the millions of Honda Hero riders were in need of Viagra when the Enfields showed up on the scene.

Not uncommon to see whole Indian families riding on a single motorcycle, mom, dad and two kids.

cscmc1 · #6 04-01-2010, 04:38 PM

Yep, a fellow who lives on my jogging route has an Indian Enfield. Neat bikes. If I had the cash and time to enjoy one, I'd enjoy tinkering with one. From the testimonials I've heard, they are finicky, but having owned MG's, Triumphs, Vespas, Lambrettas, etc... I'd be up for the challenge. Maybe someday!

JEBalles · #7 04-01-2010, 07:17 PM

Commuting in India is supposed to be terrible. Walking and biking are death sentences with all those maniacs on the road, so you're forced to brave the roads surrounded by a steel box, mainly for protection.

layback40 · #8 04-02-2010, 07:50 AM

Welcome back.
We didnt hear of the Bosch factory being blown up so do we assume you never got there?
I doubt that you would have bothered trying to source any "cheap" injector tips while you were there. Chances are the Indian made ones are for export only.
Its interesting to hear that driving on Indian roads is still Russian Roulette for commuters!
It reminds me of a very old, some what sick joke. " Who has killed more Indians than John Wayne? Ans~ Union Carbide" Thats one town you would not want to have visited!!

kerry · #9 04-02-2010, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by layback40

It reminds me of a very old, some what sick joke. " Who has killed more Indians than John Wayne? Ans~ Union Carbide" Thats one town you would not want to have visited!!

I was curious while we were over there and looked up Bhopal in the guidebook. No mention at all of that event.

Not even sure how one would even go about purchasing injectors in India. Almost all the stores and repair shops were tiny little things about 8x10. Even the repair shops for big trucks were that size and they simply worked on the trucks on the dirt outside the shop. I did see one car on an outside lift behind the largest automobile dealer/repair facility we drove by. There was nothing that resembled anything like an auto parts store. There were signs for NBC(?) Bearings all over the place so Indian trucks must eat up bearings like crazy.
90% of the intercity traffic was truck or bus. I assume most individuals travel long distance by train or bus.

dannym · #10 04-02-2010, 09:07 AM

Welcome back. Glad you made it back safely!

chilcutt · #11 04-02-2010, 09:15 AM

Did you try any Brianni rice...or Curry...both are plentifull here...and i cant get enough of the stuff.

jcyuhn · #12 04-02-2010, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerry

Need to upload some pictures from the camera.
Another surprising automotive feature of India was the existence of Royal Enfield motorcycles there. You could hear the deep throated crack of the 500cc single cylinders from blocks away. Not a better sounding motorcycle around. Apparently been made in India for years:
http://www.royalenfield.com/Motorcycles/classic-500.aspx
At one hotel it appeared a group of German men had rented Royal Enfield's to tour India. The sound of those bikes circling the hotel entrance was music to any classic biker enthusiast.
Needless to say the millions of Honda Hero riders were in need of Viagra when the Enfields showed up on the scene.

Not uncommon to see whole Indian families riding on a single motorcycle, mom, dad and two kids.

The Royal Enfield is actually on sale in the US. The bike was just updated. It was reviewed in last month's Motorcyle Consumer News - http://www.mcnews.com/mcn/home.aspx - though the Enfield review is not on the website.

My Bangalore based colleague drives to work every day. Less than 10 miles each way. It takes him 90 minutes.

Kuan · #13 04-02-2010, 09:34 AM

I'm surprised you didn't make plans to bring home one of those.

Mark DiSilvestro · #14 04-04-2010, 01:12 AM

Suprised there was no mention of the Hindustan Ambassador - basically the 1955 British Morris Oxford/Austin Cambridge - manufactured in India for decades.

Happy Motoring, Mark

kerry · #15 04-04-2010, 02:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark DiSilvestro

Suprised there was no mention of the Hindustan Ambassador - basically the 1955 British Morris Oxford/Austin Cambridge - manufactured in India for decades.

Happy Motoring, Mark

That was a serious oversight. I thought it had Austin roots but I wasn't sure of the details. It seems to be the vehicle of choice for the political class since it was the only kind of vehicle parked around government buildings. And virtually every single one had curtains on the windows.