I do travel a lot, both for work and for fun. Even though I love road trips, work requires me to move quickly and get back as soon as possible. The only way to do that is to take a plane, which I also love.

If you’re wondering why I said that, it’s because I try to get a car and travel as much as I can every year. To give you an idea of how crazy my travel plans are, I drove almost all of India in a small car last year. I took a Tata Nano from Kochi to Kardungla via Kanyakumari, and the year before that, I drove 1500 kilometers in my Ford Aspire.

My plan for this year was simple. A 1,000-kilometer drive in three days is a combination of a weekend and a holiday, since it would be a family trip and I can’t ask my kid to skip school. One of my friends is going with me on this trip for the same reason—it’s a holiday weekend.

Since this is a road trip, my friend and I will be driving different cars. Neither of us wants to miss out on the fun of driving. The date has been set, and the routes and locations are known. I’m leaving from Kochi, and he’s coming from Cherthala. The first stop will be Trivandrum, then Kanyakumari, Rameswaram, Dhanush Kodi, and then Theni and Pooppara to get back to Kochi.

No, you guessed wrong. We’re not going on a pilgrimage and visiting religious institutions. This will be a vacation, and the only reason we’re going is to see the sunrise at Kanyakumari and Dhanush Kodi the next day. So the plan was clear. Hotels have been booked, and the times are set. We’re all set to go!

My friend was driving a 2016 Ford EcoSport Trend Plus Diesel with 125k on the odometer. The last service was done days before the trip and the bill was 35k with the suspension replacement. I told you this to give you an idea of how much it costs to own a Ford EcoSport after driving it for almost 7 years and 125K kilometers. Now, back to the trip.

The one who asked me which car I was taking was my friend. So, I told him, “I have three cars at home, and they all have one thing in common.” All three of these cars have 1.5-liter engines with more than 100 horsepower. One is a high-revving i-VTEC with a manual gear, and the other is a fast diesel that has a connection to the EcoSport. The old Ford Figo Aspire Titanium Diesel with 69k on the odometer and a Maruti Brezza with an automatic transmission.

I had already driven the Ford Aspire for almost 70k miles, and I took that car almost everywhere. The Honda City or the Brezza were also options, but I chose the Brezza for this trip for two reasons. First, this was a media fleet car, so I have to drive it as much as possible. Second, I’ll have the other two for a long time, and I can take them with me on any kind of trip at any time.

Since the Brezza is an automatic car, I can relax on the long drive. The only problem is that it has less power, and I’m not sure I can keep up with a TDCi. But that’s not a problem, he can wait.

I left Kochi at midnight, and the plan was to drive until 3 a.m. and then take a nap until 5 a.m. My friend met me in Cherthala, and we started driving on a busy single-lane highway. We were going slowly, and I was right behind him. If the driver in front of you is slow and calm, it’s easy to keep up with Brezza.

We stopped for tea at Kayamkulam at 1 a.m., had black tea, and then kept going. The fuel economy of our Brezza was shown to be 20.1 KMPL. Since I was in front after the tea break and EcoSport was behind me, something happened in front of me. All over Kerala, people are working on roads at night. One tipper was dumping sand or metal when its bucket got caught on an electric line. This caused a pole to break and the power line to fall on the road. The truck driver stopped just in time, so there were no crashes, but the road was blocked and cars were piling up behind us.

We found an alternative route with the help of Google Maps. I turned around the car, and my friend followed. We got out of the traffic jam and kept driving. On the way, we saw fire trucks coming, and I’m sure that the post breaks would cause a huge traffic jam that would take hours to clear.

At 2.30 a.m., we decided to stop somewhere, and when we got to Attingal at 2.55 a.m., we stopped at a big Bharat Petrolium Petrol Station, parked safely near the EV charging station, opened the sunroof and windows a bit, and went to sleep. I don’t drive between 3 and 5 a.m. if I can help it, because it’s dangerous to do so.

We didn’t sleep well, and when we woke up at 5, we washed our faces, drank tea from the flask, and got back on the road. The Trivandrum to Thiruvallam Road was very good, and the road was unobstructed. We got to the edge of Kanyakumari right at 7 a.m. I went to a veggie hotel for breakfast, and did my morning chores. After having some idlis and tea, we just called the hotel to confirm our arrival.

When we did, they told us that check-in time was at 12 p.m. I was starting to feel sleepy, so we stopped at a place with shade and shops so I could get a little more sleep. Then, at 10 a.m., we began to drive again. When we got to Kanyakumari, we paid a local toll of 100 rupees per car and entered the city.

We still had a few hours to kill before we could check in, so we chose to go to the Vattakottai Fort. It was on the coast and had a nice view of the sea. I took a few pictures and drank a tender coconut. “Vattakottai is a wonderful place to go. The view of the sea was great.”

We stayed there for almost an hour. Back at the hotel, we checked in. I took a quick shower, then went to the TTDC restaurant for lunch. The food was nothing special, and the biriyani was awful. The next thing to do was wait in line to get on the boat to Vivekanada Rock. The line was very long. We were in the queue for several hours before we finally got to the boat. Since the sea wasn’t too rough, the sail was easy.

We stayed there until almost the last boat, then went back to the hotel to rest. After a few hours of rest, we went for a walk and got thandoori fish and chicken for dinner from a food court. The food was good, and the kids were happy because there was a small play area and a “I love Kanyakumari” sign, but there wasn’t any light on that.

I waited a few hours for the comet shower since it was announced on the same day, But sleep was not really ready to wait. So no luck this time!

The next morning, I woke up at 5:45 since sunrise was at 6. We hurried to the beach and watched the sun come up over the water. It made me feel happy and calm. After a hearty breakfast at TTDC, we began our journey to Rameshwaram at 8:45 in the morning. The roads were really nice, and we stopped for tender coconuts and tea along the way. We found a good hotel where we had lunch.

After lunch, the drive started up again, and the Brezza really shines on the highway. Now it’s time to talk about the most important things to know about the Maruti Suzuki Brezza on a long drive.

To start with, the Brezza is a comfortable long cruiser in a relaxed manner. It drives well, and you are sitting on top, as you can clearly see the bonnet and the road ahead without any hindrance. Still, there is a small blind spot. Headlights are bright and light up the whole road without blinding oncoming traffic, seats are comfortable, and the driver has height adjustment as well. With rear AC vents and arm rests, 4 can travel very comfortably, or 5 can travel without any issue.

On this trip, my kid was sitting in the backseat. There is a lap belt for the middle seat, but I prefer a proper seat belt like in the Fronx, since he likes to sit in the middle seat all the time so he can get a better view of the road. I was driving an automatic top-end Brezza hence, the car got a sunroof.

I open the sunshade all the time except in the afternoon because it will make the car hot even with the AC working at 20 degrees all the time. I rate the automatic AC of the Brezza 3.5 out of 5.

The engine is barely audible at cruising speeds, but for overtaking, you should plan in advance and use the paddles to downshift, and even if you do so, the progress is very slow; hence, you can’t do point-and-shoot with the Brezza; you will end up stopping in between.

The K15B engine is smooth and refined but lacks power. Even though it seems adequate on paper, while driving it, you can feel the lesser power. A 6-speed torque converter shifts well, the shift points are well calibrated, and downshifts are quick for a torque converter. There is a pure manual mode on the shifter, so you can hold the RPM at the redline forever, but I don’t recommend doing so. Power delivery is linear; the low range is fine as you shift to drive the car to start moving; there is a rush from the gearbox; and the mid range felt weak, but the top end is good as it can do 3 digit speeds without any issues if you push hard; the only issue is the progress is slow. To cut a long story short, I had to work hard on the throttle to keep up with the Ford EcoSport Diesel.

The Brezza has exceptional ride quality, and there is no fatigue as I have driven this car non-stop for hours. If you are looking for a comfortable family SUV with a proper automatic transmission, this one is for you. The only issue is that you will miss the so-called fun.

We got to Rameshwaram at 3:30, and the Pampan Bridge was clogged with cars because people had parked there without authorization The block looks busy, but traffic was moving slowly, so we didn’t have to stop on the bridge. Because traffic was moving slowly, we had plenty of time to look at the deep blue sea and the boats that were parked everywhere.

There was a 100-rupee fee after the bridge, but there was no receipt. I continued to drive, and it was hard to get to the hotel. I wanted to say that you should never trust hotel booking websites or pictures that have been altered. Our hotel was terrible, and there was no proper road to get there. The cars were parked on an empty piece of land with a gate across from the hotel. I felt a little better and went to my room to freshen up. I decided not to spend time in my room except to sleep. (I think you got the idea about the hotel, which was really, really bad.)

We went to the beach and walked around for an hour. Then we found a TTDC in Rameshwaram and ate dinner there. It was a good vegetarian dinner that didn’t cost too much.

I got to the hotel at 10 p.m. After driving all day, I was tired and went to sleep right away.

We got up at 4:30 and got ready. We checked out of the hotel since we didn’t want to come back here no matter what. We were driven straight to Dhanushkody. Even though it was early in the morning, there was a lot of traffic, and we met a few riders along the way.

We reached Dhanushkodi in an hour, and since we drove fast and overtook most of the vehicles, we got a parking spot at the end of the road, and we went to the beach straight away. The sun rising from Dhanushkodi was one of the most beautiful things on earth to watch.

We were surprised to see a few army planes flying around with the Indian flag since Independence Day was the next day.

We spent a lot of time there and took a lot of pictures. We took the car to the nearby attractions like railway station, the ghost church, etc.

At 9.00 AM, we started our drive back home. The drive was via Madhurai, Theni, Pooppara, and Kochi. I reached home at midnight, and the trip meter was showing 1189km.

The Maruti Suzuki Brezza has taken care of us well. And got 15.4 KMPL overall fuel efficiency while filling twice the tankful.

and the parting shot.