Audi Accident - bad driving by others

 I would like to share an unpleasant incident that happened with me. On 16th December 2020 my car met an unfortunate accident for no fault of mine. 

The car in front of me applied sudden brakes and I acknowledged my braking on-time and for the first time i actually checked on the effectiveness of the brakes on my Audi A4. I was driving at speed of about 50-60 km/h when this happened. It was not about the speed, it was about how much distance you keep in between yourself and the vehicle upfront, is what decides the braking effectiveness. 

Well, in India people don't care when they hit you from the back, as if it was my fault that i had to apply the brakes and the person behind could not do it and behaves as if he was not guilty on any count. 

There were few good and few bad experiences concerning this entire episode, which i will list below. 

Good Experiences: 

• Smooth insurance claim settlement by HDFC ERGO 
• I have zero-dep insurance and it helped me in claiming 100% of the amount that was required to repair the car. 
• Audi workshop executive did all the Insurance documentation and followup, I had to worry about nothing. 
• Total bill generated for the repair was 2.05 Lakhs, however the Insurance company paid in full 

Bad Experiences: 

• The repair took too long - 32 days exact. 
• Audi, alongwith all other German luxury brands have this issue. Stocks and spares are not always available, and since the parts are all imported from Germany, so it always takes time to receive them for the repair work to be completed. 
• Solution to the above problem is - have atleast 2 cars with you. If one goes for repair, atleast you have a backup. 

Here is the dashcam video, from both front dashcam and back dashcam, where you can see the entire incident. 

Drive from Hyderabad to Nagarjuna Sagar

Drive from Hyderabad to Nagarjuna Sagar Dam

Covid took away all the liberty that we had regarding traveling. In the year 2019 we made outstation trips every month, such was the state of affair when it came to us and traveling. Our suitcases were always packed and most of the times we came to Hyderabad only to wash our laundry, so that we could head back again to some birding destination.

The world has opened-up and people have started traveling, but we are still not brave enough to take that plunge. Precisely the reason why we are still trying to find the trips that we can make in a single day. It has been 12 years since I came to Hyderabad and somehow never got the opportunity to visit Nagarjuna Sagar Dam. So we decided to drive down and see that location for the first time in our life. The water gates were closed and the real beauty of the Dam wasn’t there to be cherished, but who cares. Atleast I got to go out of the house and I got to drive this fantastic car once again.

Here is the dashcam video for some special parts of the trip.

 

 

Drive from Hyderabad to Krishna River

 A part of the plan to drive within the state perimeter, brought us to this location. We used to pass-by this location every time we drove to Bangalore, this was the first time we decided to pay a visit. Rangapur ghat, as it is know, has access to the Krishna river from both the banks. One bank is primarily used for cremation pooja and the other has a temple. 

The view from the ghat was beautiful, unfortunately the fowl smell of carcass was too much to handle. The cleanliness was another problem at the Rangapur Ghat too. Comparatively the other bank with the temple was still better.

View of Krishna River from Rangapur Ghat

View from the temple bank 

This dashcam video compiles the view from the two ghats and the short drive thereafter with a lunch break under the clouded sky. 

The drive was mostly very comfortable, owing to the Hyderabad - Bangalore Highway which is by far in very good condition. The onward journey stats for comparison is here below. As always the Audi app shows the fuel consumption of 22.4 km/l and car display shows it as 18.1 km/l. Regardless to say the tank-fill to tank-fill figure was 17 km/l. Not bad at all, considering it is a petrol Audi A4. 

Screenshot from the My Audi App

Image from the car display

There were two dashcam incidents that I recorded during this trip and I would like to share those in this page. The first incident was about a Maruti 800 car which looked like an Audi with proper 4 ring signage and the second incident was about an XUV 500 road rage which crashed in front of my eyes owing to its negligent driving. 

Have a look at both the videos here below. 

This one is about the road rage by XUV 500. 

And this one below is about the Audi branded Maruti. 

Drive from Hyderabad to Pakhal Lake Warangal

 

In this Covid-era, the only long drives that I can think off, are the ones where I can come back home the same day. The maximum single day driving that I can manage these days is around 9-10 hours, which means one way of 4-5 hours to reach the destination. Also need to take into account that I am not crossing the state borders of Telangana, owing to the inter-state travel restrictions. 

Taking into account all the above conditions, I found that Pakhal Lake (Warangal) could be one such destination. Since I already covered Laknawaram Lake once before, so this time the plan was to drive to Pakhal Lake, have lunch, do some casual birding and drive back to Hyderabad. 

We were almost near Pakhal Lake (just another 1 km) when our journey was curtailed by the flooded caved-in approach road. We had no other option but to find a good flooded field view spot and have our lunch before heading back to Hyderabad.  YES, we had great fun during the 8 hours drive and YES, we enjoyed the farmland view during our lunch although with a little bit of disappointment for not reaching the shores of the lake. 

Flooded Pakhal Lake

Our Lunch spot

Car Display view for the onward journey

This was the first time I captured the proof to compare the difference between Car Display figures, Audi App figure and the actual tank-to-tank figures. I know that the fuel economy figures displayed in the car dashview comes from the on-board computer. I also know that the actual tank-to-tank figure is always lesser than that. But I am still not certain that from where and how the Audi App pulls out the numbers that it shows in the app as below. 

Apparently, the Audi App is most generous when it comes to show the fuel economy figures. Here are the actual comparative fuel economy figures below, 

Audi App: 22.3 km/l (image below)

Car Display: 18.2 km/l (image above) 

Tank fill -to- tank fill: 16 km/l 

Audi App summary for onward journey 

So, here's the summary of the entire day's trip. Total km, Fuel economy, Average Speed and Total Time as per the car dash display. 

Car display view at the end of the trip

Also, enjoy the time-lapse video of the return journey of 250 KM (4 hours drive) compressed in 15 minutes duration. 

Key happening points in the video,

1st accident avoided: 05:45 min 2nd accident avoided: 12:10 min ORR drive: from 14:15 min

Here are the compiled videos specifically about the mishaps which I managed to avoid during this trip.

The first one is about a 2-wheeler driver who has no clue of the directions he should be looking into before crossing over.  

And here is the second one, that was one of the most dangerous ones. This 2-wheeler would definitely meet their worst fate if it was not me on the wheels. 

Drive to Konda Pochamma Sagar Reservoir

A fantastic scenic location on the outer edge of Hyderabad finally brings some respite to the humans stuck in Covid situation with nowhere to go. A quick getaway of 1.5 hours drive, brings you to this serene location. 

Add to it the beautiful sunset and the beauty multiplies manifold. 

As always, I love to throw out the stats from the My AUDI App as below. 

Onward Journey: 

Return Journey: 

Enjoy the timelapse video of the drive here below, 

Bird Watching in Nilgiris – Ooty and Conoor

Bird Watching in Nilgiris – Ooty and Conoor

This was the first time I was going to take the Audi A4 to the ghats section and I was super excited to see how it performs. The moment I took the first hair-pin bend out of the 36 hair-pins of Ooty, my love affair with the new car just got reinforced. The ease with which the fully loaded car climbed up the hair-pin from a speed of less than 5 kmph, I could immediately feel the difference from the earlier Ford Fiesta. There was absolutely no effort what-so-ever and the car just eased into those hilly terrains with utmost comfort and with no dearth of power when it was needed. Amongst all this, if I tell you the fuel economy which the car returned driving through those hills, I can bet the german competition is going to start hiding its face somewhere. Audi A4 35 TFSI Petrol returned a mileage of 11.5 km/litre in those ghat sections. This was not what the car display was showing, this was the actual tank-to-tank figure. NOW BEAT THAT!

Vorsprung durch Technik

Below are the Trip Reports downloaded from MY AUDI app.
TRIP SUMMARY: K Gudi - Ooty - Conoor - Bandipur
Total Distance: 240 km

K Gudi to Ooty (1st leg)

K Gudi to Ooty (2nd leg)

Ooty to Conoor

Conoor to Bandipur (1st leg)

Conoor to Bandipur (2nd leg)

So, all-in-all the drive was fantastic and bird watching in Nilgiris was the added bonus. Enjoy the video and pics below.

Black and Orange Flycatcher female

Black and Orange Flycatcher female

Besra

Common Rosefinch male

Common Rosefinch male

Common Rosefinch male

Common Rosefinch female

House Sparrow male

Pied Bushchat male

Sykes's Warbler

Indian Scimitar Babbler

Greenish Warbler

Greenish Warbler

Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher

White-cheeked Barbet

Common Hoopoe

Oriental White-eye

Grey Wagtail

Black Redstart Female

Red-whiskered Bulbul

Great Tit

Also, enjoy the video that I downloaded from my car dashcam. We really enjoyed zooming past the fastag tolls with such ease, considering what was happening to the cash queue.

Bird Watching in K Gudi

Bird Watching in K Gudi

The idea was to go on a long drive coupled with some casual birding. When you combine it with JLR and a quest to visit a new JLR location, K Gudi came in the picture. And so the plan was developed to drive the following route Hyderabad – Bangalore – K Gudi – Ooty – Conoor – Bandipur – Bangalore – Hyderabad. A perfect way to spend the whole week with some amazing driving opportunity and relaxed birding prospect.

Below are the Trip Report downloaded from MY AUDI app.

TRIP SUMMARY: Hyderabad to Bangalore
Total Distance: 680 km
Total Time: 8 hours 30 minutes

Hyderabad to Bangalore (1st leg)

 The 2nd leg of the journey of about 100 km, i wasn't able to download from the MY AUDI app.

Hyderabad to Bangalore (3rd leg)

TRIP SUMMARY: Bangalore to K Gudi
Total Distance: 260 km
Total Time: 4 Hours 15 Min

Bangalore to K Gudi (1st leg)

Bangalore to K Gudi (2nd leg)

K Gudi is a lesser known JLR property but one of the closest ones from Bangalore. The drive was also good except for a few diversions on the highway because of road repair. K Gudi is mostly a hilly jungle and you won't find any flat terrain during the safari. Maybe that's why the sighting was also not so encouraging as compared to Bandipur. But then again, we spotted two lifers (Painted Bush Quail and Rufous Babbler) and for us that is more than enough to get our share of the joy.

Enjoy the video here, followed by the pics.

Painted Bush Quail male (lifer)

Painted Bush Quail Female (lifer)

Indian Scops Owl

Common Hawk Cuckoo

Oriental Magpie Robin

Brown Fish Owl

Rufous Babbler (lifer)

Grey Junglefowl male

Plum-headed Parakeet male

Malabar Parakeet male

Orange Minivet male

Vernal Hanging Parrot

Small Minivet male

Jungle Owlet

Great Tit

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Bronzed Drongo

Yellow Wagtail

White-cheeked Barbet

Small Minivet Female

Blue-capped Rock Thrush

Turtle

Spotted Deer

Stripe-necked Mongoose

Barking Deer / Muntjac Deer

Sambhar Deer

Malabar Giant Squirrel