<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Autocar India Ford Drive 2009
www.india.ford.com                                
Ford India and Autocar India are on an epic 20,000km drive across the country. The 'Ikon Cross Country Drive' will pass through 26 state capitals and three union territories of India and will take a total of 46 days to cover the entire distance.

The drive was flagged off from Ford’s manufacturing facility in Chennai on 22nd April 2009. A Ford Ikon with the new 1.4-litre DuraTorq, common-rail TDCi engine under its hood, is the chosen vehicle for this pan-India drive. The car is a standard Ikon diesel, without any modifications what-so-ever. The car will be undergoing service checks at stopovers at Ford's widespread authorized service centres en-route the 20000km run.
The journey will test both man and machine as it traverses through varied and extreme conditions. From the sapping heat of Rajasthan to the numbing chill of the Himalayas; from rutted mountain trails to smooth expressways; from the gridlock of Hosur Road to the runway-like Rajpath; the drive will encounter the complete tapestry of climatic, geographical and road conditions.
The car is manned by a two person crew from Autocar India who are rotated every six days. KPMG have been appointed as independent auditors to validate the proceedings and the end result of the drive program.

The team will monitor and log every parameter of the car’s performance including fuel consumption, tyre wear, and consumables like engine oil, brake fluid etc to establish its true-world fuel efficiency and cost of ownership after 20,000km.
The drive will end on 6th June 2009 at the Ford India's manufacturing plant in Chennai.
 
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Day 18 Chandigarh - Amritsar

Today we continued our journey from Chandigarh to Amritsar. As often, before leaving we asked the locals for the fastest way to reach Amritsar. So we were told to take the NH21 highway till Phugwara and then from there join the historical GT (Grant Trunk) road (NH 1) for Amritsar.

The road on NH 21 till Ropar was patchy and had some unfinished section. After Ropar the road was well paved and even though it is a two laner, the road is wide and overtaking is easy. As soon as we leave NH21 for the GT road we started covering distance quickly as it is a well paved highway.

On our way to Amritsar we crossed Jalander where we met our friend and an Autocar forum member BornFree. He treated us to lunch at a place called Haveli. The hotel is a brilliant place which captures the ambience of typical Punjabi villages (Pinds). Even though it was a pure veg joint the food was amazing and the hospitality was superb.

The Ikon with AC delivered 25.65kpl and without AC it gave an impressive 35.75kpl. There is a lot of difference between the efficiencies of the two cars, mainly because the AC car was stuck in traffic many times and it was always playing catch up with the non AC Ikon.