TAKING GOA BY STORME

It was more than 7 months since I was part of the Storme Drive and Feedback by Tata Motors Limited at Pune, a lot of discussions, a lot of posts on online forums and finally it was launched.

The launch at Bangalore was scheduled for January, just before Christmas, I get a call from Mr. Premanand Shenoy, MD of Prerana Motors Bangalore. He wanted me to get along a few friends to have a sneak preview of the Storme and drive it a bit. Again, it was strictly non obligatory, he had really liked the quality of people who had attended the Aria Experience and wanted the same lot to now experience the Safari Storme.

We fixed the date for the first week of January and the invites started going out, most people were excited to be a part of it, seeing the response, Mr. Shenoy got TML involved in the event and so an interactive session with TML folks was also included. The event was held at a resort close to the BIAL and was a grand success, a few members have also written about their experiences and their observations on the Safari Storme in the review thread on Team-Bhp.

Now, there were conflicting reports on the vehicle, some liked it, others not so much, but then everybody has a right to express their observations, but after my initial drive in the pre launch version, I had really not driven it all that much to actually get a feel of the vehicle myself.

On the day of the pre launch event, Arvind had invited Lalu and Maheshwaran Jothi home for tea as he lives on BIAL road, so over that cup of tea, they discussed the feasibility of going on a drive for the long weekend ahead, they decided on Goa as a destination. I get a call in the evening by Arvind (Starvegabond) asking if I could join, had a talk later with Lalu and he had to back out due to family commitments. Since my wife also had a holiday on Monday (14th Jan) we decided to join as well.

Now, Black Storm (My Safari GX 4X4) had completed 72k kms and had just been to Rameshwaram and back, suddenly the idea of checking out the Storme on a long drive struck me, I knew there were 2 brand new vehicles obtained by Prerana Motors as TD vehicles, the official TDs had not yet started and I called Mr. Shenoy once again to request him to lend me a Storme for the drive to Goa, magnanimous that he is, he agreed instantly. I really can't thank him enough.

The idea that I will be driving a Storme was kept under wraps till the day of the drive itself, we did a search for accomodation and finalised on a villa at Candolim for the three families. Dinar, a friend and fellow member from Goa even had somebody check out the place before we booked and gave it an all clear.

The dates of the journey were 12th, 13th and 14th, that meant we had just 2 nights and a day at Goa, it was going to be one short holiday.

The car arrived at home on the 11th afternoon with some 400 odd kilometres on the odo. It was a top end 4x2, the VX. I did a check on the functioning of switches, tools and their placement and importantly how to remove and refit the spare wheel. The car came with a complimentary full tank of diesel.

The Urban Bronze Storme at home

I had initially planned to do a side by side comparision of the Storme and my Safari along with a photoshoot, but work and a lack of another person to drive one car meant that the idea had to be shelved.

The idea was to start early, really early, 2am !!

Day 1. 12th January 2013

Woke up and checked with Arvind and Mjothi, both were on schedule, I told them I'd meet them at the toll booths at Nelamangala as I had to drop our nanny at her relatives near Peenya. So, as agreed we locked the house at 2am and put in our bags into the Storme
Our luggage

The baby seat fixed in the middle row

 We started and I had ensured that all my regular stuff from my car was transferred to the Storme so I'd feel comfortable in a new car, comfortable it was.
We reached the Nelamangala toll and surprised Arvind and Mjothi who were waiting. This was the beginning of the Storme drive and I was enjoying it, yeah!!
We started and I had ensured that all my regular stuff from my car was transferred to the Storme so I'd feel comfortable in a new car, comfortable it was.
We reached the Nelamangala toll and surprised Arvind and Mjothi who were waiting. This was the beginning of the Storme drive and I was enjoying it, yeah!!

We decided to drive non stop till Hubli and stop there for breakfast, I've always advocated Clarks Inn at Hubli for stay as well as breakfast as it has comfortable rooms, clean bathrooms and good food. The time we left Nelamangala was 3 am.

NH4 from Tumkur to Chitradurga and beyond has a lot of diversions due to lane expansion work, but that really did not slow us down, I had told the others that we will not be in a convoy in the dark as it is difficult to distinguish one's car by the headlights, also we wanted to drive at speeds each of us was comfortable with. It was some 380 kms to Clarks Inn Hubli, the Storme made it in 4 hours flat.

Daybreak somewhere near Ranebennur

Initial driving experience

The seating seems slightly higher, but subsequently I realised the position is the same if I increase seat height to maximum in my Safari as well.
The steering wheel feels smaller, as in looks like the dia is less, but it may be my perception.
The view from the driver's seat seems much better, no idea how that is achieved, maybe the slight change in hood design gives it that feel.
The front seats are definitely lesser in size under thigh, I found it disconcerting initially, but over the entire drive, I actually found that it was easier to move my legs to use the pedals, absolutely no fatigue over a long drive because of that.
Seats are firmer than my safari, I like it that way, again over a long drive this means lesser fatigue as the body does not slouch.
The headlamp switch took some time to get used to, but then it feels very nice to operate, twist for headlamp, pull for fog lamp, further pull and the rear fog lamp is switched on. The stalks are of much better quality and felt very easy to use while overtaking by flashing lights ( I almost never ever use the horn after sundown).
The headlamps for once do their job brilliantly, all those buying a Storme can now not talk about headlamp upgrade.
The switches on the driver door have the fuel opener also and the window switches are placed further back, not very comfortable to use, I opened the fuel tank flap instead of the window at least 3 times on the trip. Lazy guy that I am, always asked someone on the road to close it for me.
The view of the speedo dials were blocked by the steering wheel, finally I found a defect, but then in Goa Nachiket (nc1bad) showed that the wheel was not adjusted to the topmost position, once it was raised up, the view became very clear.
The car had Bridgestone Dueler HT tyres, they did their job adequately.

What blew me away was the handling, the steering felt so precise, braking perfect and body roll? What Body roll?
My wife sat with our daughter in the middle row and she too concurred that the vehicle hardly threw them around like our safari did and at those speeds. Proof of the ride quality was our daughter who is all of 19 months old would generally throw up a couple of times on long drives, here she slept most of the time we were on the road and even in the ghats she did not even retch.
The car inspires one to do higher speeds than one is accustomed to in an SUV, it is like giving you confidence to go a little faster.

More on the car later, now getting back to our drive.

 We reached Hubli by 7.15 am and freshened up at Clarks Inn and called Arvind and Mjothi, they were some half an hour behind, so we started on the breakfast.

The Storme resting after it's dash to Hubli

Once Arvind and Mjothi reached, all of us sat around relaxing and decided on the next part of the drive. I fuelled up at Hubli, yes, another thing about the Storme, the fuel tank seems awfully inadequate, my Safari shows slightly under or is at half way mark on a full tank by the time I reach Hubli, but in the Storme, the low fuel warning light was already blinking .

A full tank took about 40 litres. After fuelling I left it to Google maps on my iPhone to guide us out of Hubli, it took us about half an hour to exit Hubli and reach Yellapur road.
Once we were on Yellapur road we drove in a convoy, the urge to just take off was overwhelming, but I literally held on to my horses.

Some pictures from the road between Hubli-Yellapur

 The cornering ability of the Storme is something to be experienced rather than described, I had seen it in action in the Terrapod event, the 360 degrees drifts etc. but in a real time on road experience, the vehicle just sticks to the road, in fact Arvind came up to me during one of the halts and said he was amazed at the way the vehicle was taking the curves, he said he was having a tough time trying to keep up in his ANHC, I could never take curves in ghats at the speeds I was doing in my Safari. And, no, I was nowhere near to pushing the car to it's limits.

The Yellapur section is awesome in terms of scenic beauty as well as good winding roads,

We finally left the winding roads and reached Ankola, then a right turn and we were soon near Karwar. As we entered Karwar, the first view of the sea mesmerised us.

Lovely blue waters

Colourful fishing village

Storme by the sea

It was lunch time by then, we decided to have lunch at Karwar before proceeding onwards, I messaged Suhaas307 about a restaurant he had told me in Karwar, he gave the name as Amrut and suggested we try the King Fish curry, so went looking for Amrut and found it quite easily inside Karwar town, as I parked a gentleman came enquiring about the car, he was asking me about it's ride quality and road manners, he then ushered us into the restaurant saying he owned it and saw the Storme from inside, so came to check, we were given a large table inspite of the rush and orders were placed, I am not a sea food person, but decided to take Suhaas's word and ordered the special King Fish Curry with rice, it was just too good, so was all the other delicacies we had ordered, a big shout of thanks from all of us to Suhaas307.

at Amrut Restaurant Karwar

After a heavy lunch, we stepped out into the afternoon heat to continue our journey, it was close to 3pm and we were still at least 3 hours away from our destination.
We enter Goa

The last leg took quite a while as we were tired and the road was narrow, overtaking was difficult and the early start was showing on our nerves. finally we navigated our way with Googlemaps till Candolim and found that the Villa we had booked was indeed very nice.

Villa Candolim at Humble Rock

A view of the Yellow Villa

These are twin Villas with their own pool and jacuzzi, each Villa accommodates 6 adults in 3 airconditioned bedrooms, the villas are tastefully furnished and have all facilities like a serviced apartment, there even is a cook who at a cost will prepare food of one's choice.

The kids and some of us adults just jumped into the pool and decided that we will just relax and call it a day.

Dinar called and joined us later in the evening and we all walked out to the nearby Fort Aguada road for dinner in a nearby restaurant, Nachiket too came later and we spent a good couple of hours catching up over some nice Goan cuisine.

Day 2. 13th January 2013

The plan was to wake up early and hit the beach, well it was Goa, but still early meant 7 am and by Goa standards that was early, came out at 7.30 to find some of the kids running around all excited, I stood admiring the Storme covered in water droplets of the early morning dew, I noticed a piece of what looked like hay stuck to the wheel, I remembered Arvind or Mjothi pointing it out at Hubli as well, I went to have a closer look, it wasn't hay but a thorn buried deep into the soft portion between the buttons on the tyre.
I pulled it out and a "hisssss" started. Oh, darn, a puncture early in the morning.

Lately, I always carry a portable trolley jack in the car along with the air inflator. Arvind and Mjothi joined me and I pointed out the puncture, so between the three of us, we jacked up the car, removed the wheel and I used the puncture kit I had to repair the puncture, it took us about 15 minutes to do it.

The puncture repair DIY

Reinflating the tyre to the correct pressure (the charging point in the luggage bay of the storme proved handy)

By the time we were done repairing the puncture, the ladies and kids were ready, so off we went, destination Baga beach.

We drove past a Goa that was yet to wake up, going early meant we had no issues in finding parking, we parked with the beach behind us.

Now, were our eyes playing tricks on us?

We trooped to an almost empty beach, a few snaps and then the cameras were stowed away and we all ran into the water, it was a lot of fun, there was little to distinguish the kids from the adults.

Baga beach

Now why am I on shore?

The river joining the sea at Baga

We played in the water till our stomachs complained and the water sporting activities started on the beach, the time was almost 10 am. Grudgingly we trooped out of the water and decided to head out for breakfast. Dinar had told us to try out Infantaria for breakfast and we set out find it.

A Fresco at Infantaria

We had some of the freshest bread and buns for breakfast

Breakfast saw us sitting at Infantaria well past 11.30, Dinar called to check and we told him that we will meet for a late lunch. Once the heavy breakfast was polished off, nobody was in the mood to roam around, but some of us did not want to waste time, so it was decided that we head back to the villa for a quick shower and the enthusiastic folks would explore more of North Goa, I just wanted to sleep some more, so we all headed back to the Villa.

I took a nap and woke up by 1.30 only to hear the others still moving around, so much for heading out, had a quick shower and Dinar called saying he's reached our villa, I went out to meet him and discovered that the others had left by then, I called them and asked about their plans, they said they were enroute Panjim, Dinar too said we are to meet Nachiket for lunch at Panjim, so told Arvind and Mjothi that we too will be in Panjim and maybe we all can regroup over lunch.

Dinar drove as he knew the roads and he too wanted to check out the Storme, we reached Panjim only to discover the others were across the street from us. Some pictures of Panjim, some of these pictures are borrowed from Arvind as I did not click many pics in Panjim.

We regrouped and then Mjothi said since the breakfast was very heavy they were not keen on lunch and his family wanted to make the best use of the little time we had left, so they decided to move on and explore Goa on their own.

Dinar and Nachiket then took us to this place

The lunch was amazing, apparently it is a regular hangout for these guys so they knew exactly what would tickle our palates and ordered dishes accordingly, this again was added to our “must visit next time too”  list.

The Decor at Upper House

 The Dessert

After a fantastic lunch we decided to do a bit of shopping for the sake of it, the ladies went off to check out shops whereas we guys checked out Nachiket’s Ride,

The Storme on the streets of Panjim 

Once the ladies returned they asked us to drop them off to any cafe near a beach while we decided to drive the Storme around a bit, so off we went to Miramar beach, the ladies were dropped off at a Cafe Coffee Day outlet and we piled into the Storme and Nachiket took the wheel and took us to some lovely roads, I think it was in the vicinity of the University of Goa, here we took some more snaps against the setting sun

Watch the “ghost” holding the white placard

Myself, Nachiket and Dinar

By the time we were through, I was feeling very feverish, I just wanted to get back, thankfully Dinar was there to drive the car and we headed back to Miramar, Nachiket dropped off on the way and we went in search of the ladies and kids on the beach. As we walked on the beach, we saw the sun setting in an almost perfect sunset one can find

By now I was feeling completely drained out and managed to walk back to the CCD outlet where everyone rested for a while.

I was in no position to step out anywhere, so I asked to just sleep and on reaching our villa I just crashed after eating some Maggi and popping a few pills. The day ended thus, with me running a high temperature and the prospect of driving back home the next morning.

Day 3. 14th January 2013

The plan made the previous day was to start on the return journey by 7.30 am, but I had a bad night with the fever coming in bouts, by morning I was wrung dry and weak, but thankfully the fever had subsided, my wife suggested that we hire the services of a driver and send the car back and we could either stay back or try to fly back if possible, but I felt that I could probably do the return leg in stages, in the worst case scenario we could halt in one of the major towns enroute.

I had a shower and felt much better, another cup of steaming Maggi (it turned out to be quite a life saver to me) and I was fit enough to drive back.

Dinar had suggested that we take the following route on the return
Candolim-Mapusa-Chorla-Belgaum-Hubli-Davangere-Bangalore. So we decided to try it out.

Once again Googlemaps led us and only a small confusion where the other two did not see me turn into a small road led to a slight delay.

We stopped for breakfast at a small village before we entered the Chorla ghats, the owner of the hotel enthusiastically welcomed us to taste his wares

We tasted almost everything Hotel Aaram had to offer, the food was really good for a remote place, it was fresh and the place was quite clean.
Breakfast done, we were looking into the ghats

The drive along the ghat roads was very scenic, we passed by the gate of Anjunem Dam and little further on the view of the dam was breathtaking

The roads inside the ghats was excellent and we kept stopping every now and then to take some pictures

Once we came out of the ghats we regrouped and then drove into Belgaum together

The winding roads which lead to Belgaum

Once again we navigated through Belgaum town with the aid of Googlemaps to reach Hotel Sankam Residency for lunch.

Sankam Residency is quite well known among regular travellers on the Bangalore- Pune highway, it is just off the highway as one enters Belgaum from the Bangalore side. The food and ambience is really nice and we spent a leisurely two hours there. My fever had subsided but was still in a lot of pain and could not eat anything, I just had a soup and relaxed for the drive ahead.

Post lunch, we turned on to the NH4 which is a four laned beauty. We had decided to stop at Davangere for some "Davangere Benne Dosas" for tea or for dinner depending on the time we reach Davangere.
Once again on the highway, I sped off and left the others to follow more leisurely.

The Suvarna Soudha in Belgaum

The NH4 between Belgaum and Hubli is in very good shape, only as we get closer to Hubli, it is a double carriageway, so we have to be wary of oncoming traffic.
Some pics of the Storme shot by Arvind  on NH4

I reached Davangere by 5.15 pm and called Arvind, he said they were getting close to Bankapur, so I knew they would reach me in an hour's time at the speed they were driving. So, 5 kms outside Davangere we were parked on the highway and watched the sun set for the day. Anvitha was very cheerful after a long nap and was happily playing with her mom

By the time the others joined, I had waited close to an hour and fifteen minutes and was getting restless, so suggested that instead of driving into Davangere town for the dosas which I could not anyway eat, we go all the way to Tumkur where we could have dosas as well as idlys for proper dinner. The others also agreed and we set off once again, since it was getting dark, we more or less stayed together and this last stretch was the most tiring one. On reaching Kyathsandra just after Tumkur we discovered to our dismay that the hotel was shut, the time was 9.30 pm and it was Sankranti, so it could have been the festival or the time for closure we did not know.
The only other option that came to mind was Kamat Upachar after Dobbspet town, so we reached Kamat by 10 pm and were met by large crowds, the place was chaotic but we managed to find a few seats and ordered what ever could be given the fastest. by the time we finished dinner it was close to 10.30 pm and the long day on the road was showing. We decided that we will go our respective ways after dinner as all the three of us had to drive to different places in Bangalore, so a tired goodbyes to everyone and we started on the last leg home.
The fuel indicator was again blinking so I had to stop for a last refuelling at Nelamangala, after that it was another short ride into Peenya to pick our nanny and then we finally reached home close to midnight.

Trip Statistics

Onward Route : Bangalore-Tumkur-Davangere-Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola-Karwar-Goa
Return Route : Candolim-Mapusa-Chorla-Belgaum-Hubli-Davangere-Tumkur-Bangalore
Total distance covered :1490 kms
Road Conditions: Almost the entire trip was done on excellent roads, only the stretch between Tumkur and Davangere has a lot of diversions due to expansion work in progress
Fuel Consumption : The Storme returned an average of  11.5 km to a litre


Food and Fuel Options

Onward Journey - depending on the starting time, there are good hotels at Tumkur, Davangere, Hubli and Karwar respectively, these towns have good fuel stations as well.

Return Journey : The stretch between Goa and Belgaum is barren, it is advised to start from Goa after breakfast/lunch and the next major town is Belgaum, after Belgaum it is the same route as above. Bankapur has a Bharat Petroleum pump with an Apna Ghar outlet for snacks along the highway.

Credits:
First and foremost to Mr. Premanand Shenoy and Mr. Ranganath of Prerana Motors for having given me the Storme almost straight off the factory.
Arvind and his family for a lovely time on the drive as well as at Goa
Maheshwaran Jothi and family again for a good time on the trip
Dinar and Nachiket for having taken time off from their schedules and being with us at Goa and spending a memorable time with us.
Arvind once again for some of the photos shared in this writeup.

All the people who find time to go through my travelogue, a big thank you for your patience.

Regards,
Srihari.