Road trip: Mersing

The Odyssey delivered as expected on the two and a half hour drive to the destination. Due to the full load on board, the suspension held up well even on severe or continuous bumps on the undulating B-roads towards Mersing. Overall comfort is great for those seated in the first two rows but third row passengers may get their heads hitting the roof when traversing over bumpy stretches at higher speeds. Despite the full load, the Odyssey gives its driver enough performance and confidence to overtake slower Kancils and Kelisas on the undulating, narrower trunk roads.

The sat nav unit performed without a hitch when "Mersing Jetty" was punched in the search field. The route plotted was the one planned for our trip up to Mersing with an estimated time of 2hrs 50mins from the causeway to Mersing. From the Causeway the GPS unit instructed us to continue down Jalan Wong Ah Fook to make a timely announcement for us to take left-hand side exit leading to the flyover towards Kota Tinggi. We continued east on the Tebrau highway following the signs to the busy town of Kota Tinggi. From Kota Tinggi, it is all the way north-east towards Mersing which is clearly signposted along the roads if not for the sat nav's urging to keep in lane and of a safe speed.

Having set off at about 6am in the morning, we arrived only two and a half hours after later without much traffic and parked where both locals and Singaporeans usually park their cars en route to Tioman at the Mersing Jetty. There the Odyssey was parked in a secure and fenced up jetty car park for the next two days.

The return drive back to Singapore was an uneventful one along the same road which we came up by. Upon return to Singapore, the Odyssey was returned to Avis with a full tank of fuel as required and was handed over to the friendly staff after it was inspected for any minor scrapes or damages to the bodywork. Overall, the Oneshift's team's verdict of the Avis car was a positive one and one of us even remarked that we could do this again next time round with another Avis car which keeps cars in its fleet.

For those who aren’t willing to drive their own cars into Malaysia, Avis makes it a breeze for one to rent a car for that driving holiday across the causeway or around 174 other worldwide locations. Contact Avis today.

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