Gujarat-Karnataka in old Mitsubishi Pajero Sport: Detailed travelogue

Since I had done the same route in my Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara less than 5 weeks ago, I wanted to do things differently this time.

BHPian vigsom recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Introduction

Life throws challenges at us much later in life, and it is up to us to take these head-on. My challenge here was to undertake another cross-country drive on the same sector that I did in my Fifteen year young Grand Vitara; the catch was to do it less than five weeks after the first drive. As I’ve mentioned earlier, this drive may not be anywhere as challenging or beautiful as many featured on the forum, but for me, this was going to be putting my endurance to the test yet again. This time, the machine was my foe turned friend – a 2012 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport.

Safety

At the cost of sounding repetitive, here are a few points that I followed:
Continued to drive only as long as I felt alert
Dawn to dusk driving, with a little stretch on the final day
Checked the vitals of the car at periodic intervals
Kept a bottle of water, and a towel handy at all times; the towel is primarily to wipe sweat off one’s palms
Followed speed limits to the T
Never allowed the low fuel warning light to come on; refuelled well before that

Acknowledgement

I’d like to thank Almighty for having brought me to my destination safe n sound, and bhpian @sridhar-v for his support en route. Bhpian @paragsachania had already given me enough info on rest stops and fuel top-up places during my earlier drive, so I was armed with all that information.

Background

Here is some quick info on my longish highway drives thus far:

Driving since 1994 but never did a highway drive until 2002
2017 : Drives between Chennai and Madurai, Chennai and Vellore
2018 – 2022 : Vadodara to Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Surat
2022 : Vadodara to Bengaluru

What did I do differently this time?

Learning from my earlier experience on the same sector, and taking a cue from members’ advice after my earlier drive, this is what I did differently:

Used the main route as much as possible and not trust GMaps blindly
Windows up and AC on most of the drive
Carried a Power Bank
Stopped every 3-4 hours just to stretch and hit the loo
Used the phone only to help me navigateT
he sector between Vesu and the National Highway via Sachin, Maroli and Vesma (will mention why I took this route)
Vasai to Kalamboli
Inside Pune

Preparations and planning

From past experience, I carried the following:

Car’s papers – Original RC, PUC Certificate, Insurance (had all these on my parivahan app but still)
Spare bulbs, some wiring
Some engine oil, some Servo Kool Plus Coolant
A full tool kit, two spare 5 liter cans

Maintenance

Fuel Filter (Mitsubishi Original sourced from UAE) : Since I’ve never taken a diesel car this far, and wanted the diesel supply path to face no hiccups, I had the fuel filter replaced
Engine Oil and Oil Filter : I had a Mitsubishi original filter in stock plus the engine oil had already seen approx 5,500kms, I decided to change these as well
Got the car’s interiors cleaned – after approx. 3 years

Fuel and Oil Filters

Fuel Filter that was removed; there was no fuel supply issue with this filter in place but I just wanted to be sure and hence replaced it

New engine oil filter in place – the turbo discharge hose, plus the top half of the air filter assembly needs to be removed to change the oil filter

The engine oil that was used – DO NOT fill more than 6.2 liters in the Pajero Sport; top up a little more if required. General tendency of technicians is to dump 7 liters like they do for the old Fortuner