<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Autocar India Ford Drive 2009
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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 8 Hampi - Hyderabad

No matter what we tried, we couldn’t leave the hotel in time. We still had a fillup to do and get the last leg’s figures. So off we went to the pump. After tanking up the cars, the lead Ikon managed 25.30kpl while the second Ikon returned 23.49kpl. Our support car gave 11.57kpl, We headed out finally at 4pm, much later than we had anticipated.

The road out of Hampi was a little patchy and truck traffic was heavy which was holding us back. The road conditions remained the same until we entered Andhra Pradesh. Here the roads were smoother, but four-laning work meant that there were plenty of diversions some of which were unmarked.

As we continued towards Kurnool (our scheduled dinner stop), the second Ikon hit a stray stone and suffered a puncture at around 8pm. Since we were a bit ahead, we turned back and headed to the stricken Ikon. A flat tyre was changed in five minutes flat much like an F1 pitstop. It was incredible that a flat tyre had generated so much excitement in the boys.

We stopped for dinner at Kurnool and after a sumptuous meal, we hit the road again and made our way to Hyderabad. As we got closer to Hyderabad, the roads got better and 200kms out, the road turned into a well marked four lane expressway. We finally entered Hyderabad at 3.30am. After tanking up, the figures looked like this. The lead Ikon clocked 26.26kpl, while the second Ikon returned 24.95kpl. The Fiesta managed 11.93kpl.