Indian Ocean Drive normally (anything up to 1/2 hr difference), however depending on what time of the year you go i.e. school holidays etc - there may be a lot of caravan traffic on that road which will slow things down. All in all though, a much nicer drive than the brand Hwy IMO. I persnally would go that way every time.  Remember the Ocean Drive will only get you to Dongara/Geraldton from Perth. If you are going to travel at night it may be safer on the Brand as far as kangaroos go.     

Indian ocean drive is 15km shorter for me from my house in perth to dongra,But by the time you slow down to go through leeman and jurien it works out the same time wise.As paully said it also depends on the time of day as it quite easy to get caught behind caravans for long periods of time which will also make the trip longer.

Certainly a quicker way to go as far as Cervantes....any further than that and it does work out the same roughly. But it is an extremely nice drive and if you have never done it I would recommend it. Great scenery along the coast...but yes if driving at night probably avoid it as the roos will be around.

Cheers,

Buschy

 depends on where you live in perth, I live in the eastern suburbs so it is easier for me to go brand. please no caravaners or tourists. just semis doing the speed limit.

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semis doing the limit until they hit a hill - must be unlucky but I reckon out of 8 trips to Exxy in the past 4 years all but one I have been caught on the brand behind trucks carrying houses/mining equipment etc. I actually used to pencil in Geraldton as a 5 hour drive. Went Ocean road in Feb, pulled into Gero in under 4 hours so same distance but no trucks. too hot for nomads in Feb.

I came back that way yesterday, there is road works that slowed us down and I found the road too windy in some sections.

I agree with just about all comments above. Heading to Kalbarri in a couple of weeks and will take Ocean Drive because the missus hasn't been up that way and we are not in a hurry. Once you get up to Cervantes etc the road isn't really that crash hot and traffic can be a problem as it's not always that easy to pass. The drive does however offer some nice scenery and it's nice to know you are sticking right on the WA coast. We live in Carramar so for us it makes sense to follow a straight line.

if you haven't driven on it yet it does make a nice drive with better scenery, but as simo said they are doing road works at the moment and you can get caught there for a while.