hi Guys,
Having sold off the baleno for tax considerations, did a lot of searching for my company car and narrowed it down to the safari. Although I could have gone in for a higher segment car per my entitlement, but looking at the roads in hyd and the generaly moronic behaviour(not to mention suicidal-this must be a Hyd speciality) of people on the road, decided that sedans were not for me- I wanted an SUV and a true blue one at that. Drove the Scorpio and was not too impressed by the cramped interiors,the interior design and the handling. the engine was great though.
After much deliberations and coaxing the better half (a.k.a. grovelling
) convinced her for the safari- and so went ahead with the beast.
I have enumerated on the safari 2.2 thread as to why I went in forthe 3.0 and not the 2.2. some people think that I am mad, but to each his own, is what I say.
anyways, took delivery of the beast yesterday....a quartz black Safari 3.0 EX 4x2.
Have driven it about a 100 kms since last night. the car came with 24 kms on the odo. took the car from Autofin.
the delivery process was typically TATA- a mixture of the good and bad. The sales exec was a helpful guy, but woefully ineffective and it took the intervention of the Sr. manager, Mr. Ahmed, to get things going.
got the beast at 5 PM and promptly drove to the tyre shop in Bowenpally to swap the OE tyres for Bridgestone HT tubeless tyres.
the truck feels really tight and so far no niggles(touch wood!) except for a squeak in the steering wheel.
LOOOVED the driving position and the way sundry cab wallahs give you respect on the road. this has to be experienced to be believed and it took me by surprise on a couple of occassions.
need to upgrade the ICE and get a reverse parking mirror/camer(budget permitting) should get hte ICE when the truck goes for registration on Saturday.
will keep you posted as the time rollsby. planning to drive it to bangalore next month for a weekend break once the initial 1000 kms are done.
Cheers
Himanshu