Just around the corner

Yesterday, just had my real taste of drifting while was I was heading back to Bangalore on Shiradi Ghats. In this case, the maneuver was not intentional. I had to come down a slope and had to take a hairpin left turn to proceed with a steep climb. I was on third gear and was confident that my car would make it on third gear, only to realize(no road sign) that it was not just a left turn with gentle slope but a hairpin bend with a steep up-hill incline. A Renault duster was tailgating my car and I felt it would not be safe to slow down to a manageable speed. I was over confident that my car would manage the climb on 3rd gear. I had to over-steer causing loss of traction in the rear wheel. The rear wheel started to drift right while I was in control from entry to exit of a corner. This are time when you realize how important a sedan is over SUVs. As my previous article was about the review of Honda Amaze, I just wanted to add this experience so people looking for firt hand experience about drivability can understand what an amaze is capable of. My car and the boot was loaded and with this load the car is capable of handling most of the curves on 2nd gear. Existing 165mm with stiff suspension is an excellent combination. I recommend a tire upgrade to Michelin Energy XM2. In summary, 120 kmph on highway should not be a problem. Touched 150 kmph for a brief 10 secs. But for a car without ABS, I strongly recommend 90 kmph for a good mileage and better control on highway. In city have the tire pressure set to 30 psi for better mileage. For hilly terrain from now on i'll reduce the pressure to 28 to 29psi. In rains, on highway, 60 kmph would be an ideal speed for a car without ABS.