As the miles seemed to melt away and we settled into a steady rhythm, I realised there was another kind of rhythm missing from the scenario. You can’t be ‘driving down a highway’ without some AC/DC to keep you company, so I plugged in my pen drive (another connectivity option is Bluetooth, and there’s an Aux input available too – for those of you who like kicking it old school) used the touch console to quickly locate some of Brian Johnson’s best work, and turned the volume up. The sound system in the Santa Fe is banging, although I turned off the virtual surround sound and the bass boost because I like my music to sound unadulterated.
With the music thumping and a flat, empty expanse of road undulating ahead of us, we started pushing the Santa Fe again, testing its mettle. While the car handled adequately at high speeds, it felt like there was slight room for improvement, and the suspension while great on rougher terrain (more on that later) could have done with a slight stiffening up on the highway too.
Soon enough, we crossed State borders into Kerala. The road narrowed, the shrubbery hedging the road evolved into full-blown trees, and the Santa Fe puttered on without a single hitch. We crossed Nagercoil, Nedumangad, and Punalur in this stretch, and entered the extremely scenic Thenmala Reserve Forest for the latter part of the drive. Kerela is famous for its tropical temperature, and outside the car, the afternoon was sweltering. Sit inside, however, and the air-con with climate control made sure the heat didn’t bother us one bit, and individual vents for all three rows, plus the option to adjust the temperature of the driver’s side and passenger’s side separately meant we never argued about the car being too hot or too cold; instead we only ever fought about what music to play! The area is flush with foliage and the roads were proper black-top for the most part, except for one exceedingly rough patch. The Santa Fe, however, wasn’t fazed by off-roading situations, and absorbed the bumps and troughs with aplomb. The suspension really came into its own when asked to tackle an unconventional path.
