Under the Volcano: Road Trip in Chile with 1M

[ozinaldo]

Finally, I had the chance of having a week-long decent road trip in Chile with my family (wife and 2 kids, 3 and 5 year olds) in the 1M which is momentarily our only car. Picking the 1M for the vacation became obligatory when we sold our family car (an ultra practical and comfortable Skoda Yeti) just a week before this voyage and I decided to let it happen despite risks (1M size tires are not easily available here, not even in Santiago and much less so in further South that we've travelled). The car was so flawless and docile I was very impressed; it handled everything well from a virtually truck load of luggages to absurdly steep unpaved hill climbs at practically 1000 rpm and occasional smooth off-roading too, in order to reach places that we wanted to go.

Santiago to Pucon and back with stop over nights in both ways; 1600 something km. on the highway alone and a few hundred more visiting around from our Pucon Hotel, a total of 2000 to 2500 km. during which the car consumed another half a liter engine oil (I was prepared to this with a 1 litre Mobil 1 0-40 bottle in the trunk). One or two almost invisible size stone chips on the hood (unavoidable) and that's it, not even a scratch on the wheels from all the smooth off-roading we dared.

I did not keep records but car was averaging approx. 10 litre per 100 km. on the highway with a virtual range of around 500 kms, remember that it was loaded and I was not trying to break any records....which is practically double of my usually very short downtown home-work routine. On the highway, I stayed at sixth between 120 to 150 km/h which corresponds to 2500 to 3000 rpm, as long as I could.

The place that we visited is named as Lake District, marked by numerous emerald lakes (the one we stayed nearby was Lake Villarrica), some active volcanos (Villarrica Volcano that you will see from photos was within reach...or should I say we were in his reach!), rivers, canyons, forests etc. Very impressive landscape and an abundant range of tourism facilities indeed.

1M is really up for anything as long as you prepare it and yourself, a wonderful car which made our journey really fun and safe. I hope you'll like the few photos we took with the car.

[ozinaldo]

Some photos here and a few more will follow right after:

[Dackelone]

^^AWESOME road trip photos! Love the vulcano shot and the three co-drivers screaming!!

[ozinaldo]

Some of the highlights of the trip in pictures:

[ozinaldo]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

^^AWESOME road trip photos! Love the vulcano shot and the three co-drivers screaming!!

Thanks Dack!

[ozinaldo]

And a few last ones:

[ThumpersM3]

Don't post much here but wanted to say simply stunning ,beautiful pictures and hands down to bravery taking your 1M on such trip

[ozinaldo]

Originally Posted by Thumpers1M

Don't post much here but wanted to say simply stunning ,beautiful pictures and hands down to bravery taking your 1M on such trip

Thanks man, I appreciate the kind words!

[Stu1M]

Looks like a great trip, thanks for sharing. Great to see a 1M being properly used.

[eeghie]

Great pics and inspiring that you had such a fabulous trip with your gorgeous family in the 1M. Thx for sharing. It'll surely help convince my family to take the 1M on a summer roadtrip.

[Dee Pee]

Quiero visitar Chile!

Great shots. Tiny desserts. LOL.

That definitely showcases how versatile the 1M is in the real world.

[1M SUSI]

absolutely gorgeous!

[1M SUSI]

My personal favorite pic. And gorgeous kids. Do "car" people freak out when they see your car?

Susi

[Robin_NL]

Fotos maravillosas de paisajes excelentes, oz, y tus hijas muy bonitas con todo respeto.

Mi mujer vas a Barranquilla este marzo para visitar su familla.

I need to go(back) to South America . I love it.

Fantastic pics , beautiful scenery, cute kids. And I almost forgot your wife and dog

Thanks hombre


And lol @ peor es nada.

Cheers
Robin

[ozinaldo]

Thanks a lot everyone! Was really great taking the 1M "out" a bit, I was inspired by many wonderful road trips that was posted here in our Forum.

I can say that 1M can do this kind of job in a pretty decent fashion; I could say a few nasty moments on the highway involving unpredictable and reckless (mostly truck) drivers were happily avoided by the good brakes or ever present torque of the 1M, that made me say to myself that a really good and potent car is indeed the car that you should put your family in, not necessarily an economic or spacious one! 1M took good care of us in conditions that were not necessarily its "forte".

Robin! The dog (Raco) was belonging to the hosts of our family run boutique hotel near Pucon. If you google it from trip advisor or its own web site (Caso Establo) you may see his baby photos too; despite its pony size, it was just 2 years old and was the most kind and friendly dog I've ever seen. Funny thing is he is not aware of its size and thinking that it can fit certain spaces which he can't (anymore) and acting like a oversize baby

South America is a wonderland and Chile is like an open Atlas to discover with all its diversity. In fact, I was hoping Ian could post some photos from his Patagonia motorbike trip he had a few months ago, those would be great to see as well.

[ozinaldo]

Originally Posted by 1M SUSI

My personal favorite pic. And gorgeous kids. Do "car" people freak out when they see your car?

Susi

Thanks Susi; 1M was regarded as a rock star wherever we have passed or stopped by, no doubts about that. It was a land of 4x4 trucks, SUVs and crossovers and almost everytime we returned back to the car the windows were marked by (mostly little) hands or there were some people taking pictures of it...and that (as you can see from some pictures) is not a poor region at all which never sees some luxury cars. I give it at least 70% to the VO color which is just head turning under that kind of sun and other 30 are probably due to flared fenders and other gothic details of this car.

You will notice one shot with my car parked in between two bizarre (and modded) cars; that was a place named Panguipulli, equally bizarre name and the owners of those cars and a few others next to them who were chatting just got dead silent when we arrived with all family in (I guess kids were singing or giving a hard time to my wife at that moment so they did not get out of the car, I did to take a few pictures of a German Capuchine Church); and after a minute or two they all got in their cars and just left! It was funny, I found it not a coincidence at all and hillarious.

[Grey Dove]

Thanks for sharing this Ozi

[Slats]

Those pics made my day. You are one lucky guy. Good to see a 1M being used for, as Jeremy Clarkson would say, "A family saloon".

I think he also praised it for having "room in the back for two children and room in the boot for two more". I take it those are your only two children and that there were not another two in the boot.

[burnsniper]

Awesome trip, family, car and write up!

[Jay-K]

nice, love to see people out there doing trips with their 1M

[Chapman1977]

Awesome pics Oz. Great car that you have, lovely kids and your wife knows what to wear as a watch..;o)

Best Regards

[ozinaldo]

Originally Posted by Slats

Those pics made my day. You are one lucky guy. Good to see a 1M being used for, as Jeremy Clarkson would say, "A family saloon".

I think he also praised it for having "room in the back for two children and room in the boot for two more". I take it those are your only two children and that there were not another two in the boot.

Let me put it this way: trunk was really useful and had room for a surprising amount of load; 2 mid size luggage plus 6 smaller size bags, total of eight, sometimes nine pieces; every square inch was used and my wife was shocked to see that they all fit in; she was saying we would never ever fit in 1M with all those luggage. I was not that surprised since in the past I managed to carry loads like 4 tires with space left; a full exhaust with mid pipes and muffler (installed, not separated)...so I knew it had good space that outside looks of the car would not give a clue about.