The Auto Expo 2025 provided the car&bike team with a unique opportunity, one that we hadn’t exercised before - the team from our Mumbai office would drive down to join our Delhi colleagues to attend the Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025. This year's event was notably larger than the first edition of the show and car&bike team was in attendance at the venue in full strength.
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Our original brief was quite straightforward: take two seven-seaters and make our way to Delhi and back by road. However, given the amount of work required beforehand to prepare for the Expo, another condition was added: get to Delhi as fast as possible which meant driving to our destination through the night, get a day’s rest in Delhi and be at the Mobility Expo venue bright and early on the opening day.
Two big seven-seaters, a crew of eight people and a 2,400 km+ road trip to attend the Bharat Mobility Global Expo in Delhi.
Our vehicles of choice for the trip were the Toyota Innova Hycross hybrid and the Kia Carens turbo-petrol. Yes, a diesel as the second car would have made more sense but in choosing between a diesel manual or a petrol automatic, we selected the latter for its greater ease of driving.
The trip started with a 2:30-3 am wake-up time as each car had to complete a circuit to pick up the team - four individuals per car - before meeting up at The Fountain Hotel near Vasai Creek at close to 5 am. The route out of Mumbai entailed using the notorious NH48 and encountering its numerous stretches of roadworks. Even at 5:45 am (yes we were 45 minutes late), we faced our first traffic jam of the day as the concretisation work of the road meant that traffic was diverted due to lane closures.
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5 am meet-up at Hotel Fountain on Ghodbundar road near Vasai creek.
Our first stop of the day came at close to 9 am at Hotel Ahura near Ambivali, Dahanu for breakfast and a restroom break before carrying onwards on NH48 into Gujarat and onwards towards Vadodara, passing Navsari, Surat and Bharuch along the way. The road conditions too seemed to change as did the traffic inside Gujarat with relatively smoother roads but a lot of heavy commercial vehicles on the road slowing progress.
The Carens was the first to stop for fuel, making a halt near Surat to top up the tank while the Hycross’s larger fuel tank and strong hybrid system entailed that it only required fueling when we stopped for lunch close to 3:30 pm (520 km covered) after having crossed Vadodara and Godhra. Passing Vadodara we got off the national highway onto state highways making our way east and North past Dahod and onto Thandla where we joined the new and still under-construction Delhi-Vadodara-Mumbai expressway as the clock reached 9 pm.
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NH 48 a lot smoother in Gujarat though a lot of morning traffic to negotiate as well.
The Delhi-Vadodara-Mumbai expressway has been completed in three main sections between Delhi and Thandla and required the occasional diversion onto state highways before connecting to the next stretch. Both cars really got to stretch their legs on the expressway with the speed limit increasing from the 60s and 80s to 120 kmph and flat four-lane roads with barely a hint of other cars present outside of the occasional truck or private car or taxi once in a while. Both cars did stop for a second tank up prior to hitting the expressway, the Carens burning through the fuel while for the Hycross the measure was more precautionary - a lot of the rest stops on the new expressway are yet to be completed and lack functional fuel stations - as we’d come to realise at an unplanned restroom break on the expressway.
Maps guided us along the Narmada Irrigation Canal en route to Delhi.
Dinner time came at a roadside dhaba close to midnight a few kilometres outside of Kota as we made our way around an unprepared section of the expressway. From near Kota, the expressway was smooth sailing with little to talk about as both cars raced to Delhi - reached the city outskirts near first light and our designated hotel by 8 am.
In the dead of night, the Delhi-Vadodara expressway (NE4) is deserted, not like it was any better during the day on our return to Mumbai with sparse traffic after Jaipur.
The return journey followed much the same route, exiting Delhi and going onto one of its peripheral highways before catching the same expressway to head back to Mumbai. The return trip had a much more relaxed departure hour - closer to 9 am. The expressway saw some traffic till we hit the Jaipur exit after which the roads opened out again with only the occasional cars and trucks.
The return trip had a lot easier schedule with a more relaxed departure; we stopped at one of the functioning rest halts on the Delhi-Vadodara expressway.
Our first stop of the day came near Alwar at an expressway rest halt - stopping at the McDonalds for breakfast and coffee. The return trip was also smooth sailing - stopping for lunch at a dhaba after crossing Kota before heading onwards and leaving the completed section of the expressway behind a little after nightfall - stopping for dinner - and crossing Bharuch close to midnight. A slight detour to the original plan came crossing Surat with the drivers at the time pulling off at a fuel station for a quick 20-minute power nap sometime around 4 am but ended up sleeping for a good 3 hours.
The team enjoying a hot breakfast at McDonald's en route to Delhi
From there it was onwards back to Hotel Ahura for a late breakfast before moving on to deal with the worst part of NH48 - the entry into Mumbai. Minutes out of Ahura traffic slowed to a crawl and for large sections - till both cars parted ways at the Ghodbunder road junction and up till the turn-off towards Versova - choked with traffic from a mix of people arriving into Mumbai, Mumbai’s usual traffic and the extensive roadworks being undertaken. By the time the last people arrived home, it was close to 5 pm marking the end of a near 40-hour return trip.
The sun set while we were still on the expressway; our Mumbai arrival was not till noon the next day.
While both the Hycross and Carens are sizable and comfy seven-seaters, the cars we had were in two different configurations. The Hycross came with captain seats in the second row replete with power adjustment and ottomans while the Carens had a bench seat. The Hycross’ rear seats were inevitably turned into mini beds, reclining as far as they could go and pushed as far back as possible without being impeded by the suitcases in the back to act as rest bunks for the off-duty pair. The ottoman was also raised for greater comfort. The Carens wasn't nearly as comfortable at the back, though it didn't stop people from dozing off at the back.
(L-R) Relaxing in the Hycross' second row vs the Carens' second row.
The length and duration of the trip implied driving in relay with one pair sleeping/resting in the back of both cars while the second sat up front wide awake. Each driver spent between 4-5 hours at the wheels at a stretch covering up to 10 hours in total before the next pair swapped into the front seats to take over.
The Delhi-Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway will one day be the fastest route to Delhi by road though it currently;y doesn't see much traffic.
Of the two cars, the Hycross came across as the more comfortable with its heavier weight and longer wheelbase, making it feel more stable and planted, though the Carens felt a little more involving to drive and also had the legs on the larger Toyota. Having turned both cars into mobile rest and workstations also meant that often a majority of the USB ports were occupied by cables charging phones or simply being used to pair the phone with the infotainment system to access navigation and music.
We’d also prepped the cars beforehand for the trip, folding down the third rows, making sure there were working FASTags and the cars were devoid of any punctures and mechanically sound - the latter achieved by taking the cars for a short drive to make sure everything was performing adequately. We also carried a tyre patch kit and a tyre inflator in the Hycross for unforeseen circumstances as well as emergency lights.
Do keep in mind that these are important steps to take before any long journey for your own safety. Make sure to inspect the tyres for defects, fill the tyres to the recommended pressures, check the spare wheel as well, check the engine bay for all lubricant and fluid levels, make sure the lights are working and take the vehicle for a spin to listen for any unwanted noises that could allude to something being wrong. It’s also nice to carry a puncture repair kit or a tyre inflator or both with you in case the road you use could be passing through areas with minimal footfall or the trip involves driving in the dead of night.
