Perfect recipe. A Tata Zest, a rainy weekend and a city to get away from. All that’s needed is a place not too close so you can avoid mad throngs of annoying tourists, and not too far so you can get back recharged and ready for the next week. Luckily, there is such a place. It usually passes under the radar and is just a morning’s drive away. It’s touted as Gujarat’s only hill station and is walking distance from the Maharashtra border. It’s called Saputara, the abode of serpents.
So began the 250km drive from Mumbai. The usual rules apply. Leave early to beat traffic and get as far out of the city as possible before people wake up. Driving out in the Zest is easy. Empty streets are perfect for a bit of fun. The Multi-drive makes the experience even better. Switch to Sport mode and the car gets even livelier than it is in the normal City mode. And the Revotron 1.2T — a 1.2-litre turbocharged MPFi petrol engine — feels like it loves to be pushed. The Sport mode livens up acceleration and makes getting out of the city that’s just waking up, so much fun.
The highway arrives in no time. Time to put the Zest in its maximum efficiency Eco mode and settle into a comfortable cruise. There’s no chance of getting lost, of course. The navigation feature on the state-of-the-art ConnectNext touchscreen infotainment system by HARMAN™ makes driving anywhere simple. But what is a good drive without some tunes? With seamless smartphone connectivity, 8 speakers for that brilliant surround sound effect and speed sensitive volume control, the mood is always going to be upbeat.
Highway driving is fun. You enjoy the view, the road and the car. It gives you time to appreciate every single detail of the car being driven. The pleasantly designed dual-tone dashboard, the intuitively placed controls on the steering wheel. Then there’s the Fully Automatic Temperature Control that keeps the inside of the car cool and comfortable. Of course, every once in a while, it’s nice to roll down those large windows and feel a bit of the rain. The comfortable seats with a tonne of shoulder, head and leg room make the inside of the Zest a nice place to be in.
Adding to the driving pleasure is the balanced suspension, brilliant stability and the Mumbai-Nashik highway. Arriving at Nashik, though, means facing some traffic. This is the perfect time to switch to City mode on the Multi-drive system. It smartly combines power and economy so you can overtake when you need to and save fuel in case there’s stop and go traffic. Once you pass Nashik, the road clears out and driving is an absolute pleasure. The road throughout is in fantastic condition and the 100km between Nashik and Saputara can be covered in just two hours.