Travelogue : Chasing the elusive Gangetic Dolphins in the Ford Figo Aspire

For most of those who would be reading this, a perfect Sunday is the one spent on the road, driving to a new place with good music with a good car or a bike. I was planning a breakfast ride with a friend for a Sunday morning when I got a call from Ford asking if I wanted to to take the Ford Figo Aspire for a spin. We had already done the review of the compact sedan, so this time, I decided to make it more of an experiential feature. So, decided to reserve the next Sunday for a drive rather than a breakfast ride. With my friend Deepak in tow I set off for a very different drive on the said day.

Ford Figo Aspire Petrol (1.2L Ti-VCT)/Diesel (1.5 L TDCi) Review: Compact Aspirations

I had liked the Figo Aspire when I covered its launch event, so I was kind of looking forward to the drive. We decided to head to Narora, a Small town, about 160 km from Delhi. Narora is known for one of the rare few places where one can spot Gangetic Dolphins. There is a nuclear power plant as well but we knew, without proper permissions, we won’t be able to see that. The route would comprise of city driving, driving on Noida-Greater Noida Expressway and driving through country roads of UP. The route sounded great, giving us a chance to experience the car in various driving conditions.

I set off from my place at 6:00 AM, enjoyed the wide and empty roads of Delhi to get to Noida, where I picked up Deepak. On our way, while Deepak had a bona fide North Indian breakfast of tea and floating in oil parathas I preferred an omelette. Soon we were barrelling down the Greater Noida Expressway with the Aspire showing its fantastic poise even at speed. Personally, I am not a big diesel engine fan. Give me a free-revving petrol engine over a low-end torque diesel any time. But things here were different. With its 100 bhp and215 NM the Aspire’s diesel mill feels surprisingly punchy through the entire rev range with no noticeable turbo lag, and before you know it, you are in triple digits. The Aspire is deceptively fast and dynamically able for its class and size. We enjoyed our high-speed run on the expressway to the bits.

With the latest EDM playing on the crisp sounding music system, we wafted through the roads of Greater Noida and were now on narrow concrete roads littered with dangerously indisciplined drivers, bullock carts, and the country riders bursting at the seams with Kamikaze passion. We had the advantage of a compact sedan and a nice comfy ride. We passed through a couple of small towns and villages. A couple of years ago, all one could see in these remote villages was agricultural equipment doubling up as people movers, along with the good old REs; the scene has changed considerably. Seeing a long-ish car costing two million Indian bucks outside a time frozen house is not a rare sight any more. We even saw a couple of cheap Indian SUVs modified to look like the G-Wagens. In all honesty, it was a decent enough modification for the place where it belonged and looked rather neat.

Soon we left the congested town and village roads and were on the six lane NH 91 till Bulandshahar. It was a perfect sight with low traffic, lush green farms on both the sides and the controls for a surprisingly accomplished car at our disposal. While most people would speed through such a route, I put on John Denver’s “Country Roads” and started cruising at 60 kmph! Blissful!

We stopped for a photo shoot in the green fields. Although a compact sedan is not what comes to mind when you envisage a fun-filled day of motoring, I was really enjoying the drive. I did not bother too much about photographing the details of the car (as we have it covered in great detail in our review), I did like the view of a beautiful red car in lush green fields. We hit the road again. Six-lane highway was now gone as we were on a dual carriageway. Luckily there wasn’t much traffic. With a leisurely pace and laid back driving, we were in Narora by Noon. We missed the turn towards Narora barrage and reached the construction site of a new road. The setting was great for another shoot and Deepak got busy with the camera as I drove the car on the dirt road next to a sprouting from the Ganges. Initially, I was sceptical of taking a 2WD drive car down the muddy slope but the car did not break a sweat tackling the obstacles.

With two long stops it was time to head back but not before we went to Narora Barrage to see if we could still spot the Gangetic Dolphins. It took us another 30 minutes to get to the other side of the barrage with traffic and what not. When we enquired, we realised while we could take a boat into the river, seeing Dolphins was almost impossible with the hot sun out. We should’ve been there early morning. Having spent some good time driving, having listened to some good music, I was not ready to head home but had to in interest of time.

We then we got a call from another friend – Nitin. He was in his hometown, Bulandshahar. The town offers some great delicacies for carnivores like me. I was famishing, not having eaten anything since breakfast. With Bulandshahr more than an hour away, we decided to get some ‘CholeyKulche’ from one of the numerous thelas that abound the North Indian streets. We discussed how good the car felt and raised an earthen tea toast to the car.

One plate of CholeyKulche barely did anything for my hunger. Luckily we did not get much traffic till Bulandshahr and soon I was gorging on Mutton Seekh Kebabs, tikkas and Chicken Biryani. Being a vegetarian, Deepak stuffed his face with some light snacks. We reached Noida by 5:30, where I dropped Deepak  and drove back with a satisfied smile on my face. It was a day well spent in company of friends and a surprisingly capable car. We did miss out on spotting the Gangetic Dolphins, but we’ll catch them sometime soon on a cool breezy morning.

Check out some more images from the drive in the gallery below