Finally upgraded from M800...To Safari 2.2

[DaiusPitar]

This thread has been a month in coming, that's for sure. I have been planning to write this but have been putting it off due to work pressures. Apologies in advance for what is going to be a real longish post.

Well, there was this time in September '07 when I kind of realised that my 4.5 yrs old warhorse, my faithful M800 was being abused too much and needed a break. I had done around 20,000kms in 12 months in it and had this reckoning when I was almost hit by a truck around Hosur while returning from Pondicherry. And I felt unsafe.

Talking of perspectives, one does rarely lift his head far beyond where he is presently. As was my case too. So as a next step, I looked a bit above the M800 bracket and ruled out the Santros/Altos and reached the Palio Stile 1.6 / Swift DDiS segment. The Getz was ruled out since my parents already had one in Bombay. My wife ruled out the Swift saying she felt too claustrophobic in it. So we head out to Concorde Motors to check out the Stile, start talking discounts et al. Then we turn and notice the Safari. Well, that was a thought that had not entered our minds, at all, ever. And it actually didnt last for long.

Then followed what I am calling my personal 'Eureka' moment. One September morning, I notice a very small article on the launch of the new 2.2 in the ToI motoring supplement. So the following weekend I take my wife and we check out the safari. She is impressed. However, I am not entirely convinced because of previous experiences, although very dated, with Tata Motors. The thing is, we had a Sierra and this was before the Turbo version was launched. We loved it but I cannot complain enough about the problems we had with it. I believe there wasnt a month without me or my dad spending a day at the United Motors workshop at Deonar sorting some glitch or the other with it. But love it we did. We even did a Bombay-Chennai round trip in it in the 80s. You think we would have enjoyed that more in any other vehicle? Not a chance.

But the 2.2 bug had bitten me. Cursory search on google threw up Steeroid's thread and I discovered TBHP. That thread was confidence boosting. Then the first ownership reports began to pour in. ADC, Dadu, Harjeev, djbobo etc. etc. I was hooked. I broached the topic officially. My family was dead against it.

OK, I says. Having raised my head that far, I was now ready to consider other options for their sake. So with the mental filter open, in poured other options like the fiesta, verna, fusion and the cedia. Out went the Stile/Swift. For some reason didnt consider the City or Civic at all. You think this helped? Fat chance. I only realised my mind was made up and kept that to myself.

Studied them all. Weighed the options. Considered my usage. Decided I actually had reached a stage in life where I also needed storage space. I needed safety from other maniacs on the highways (A thought that was reinforced after driving on TN roads. Please dont mistake me but TN highway manners scare me for some reason; think white politico SUVs). And I preferably needed diesel. These reasons and criteria are self-fulfilling you think?

After all this, my final decision was split between the cedia and the safari. At the final call I voted for the Safari to my dad's disappointment.

The next choice was on the version. In any case I didnt see any use of a 4x4 for me (euphemism for beyond my budget?). I was really keen on the LX but finally settled for the EX purely for the rear O/H AC.

Colour was also decided in advance before the purchase. This was handled by my wife who got the sales guy to take us to the stockyard on Hosur road to show all the colours physically. Mountain Green it was going to be.

Financing was very surprisingly a breeze with SBI. Very few documents required. I received the flexibility for partial repayments with no restrictions on minimum amount or frequency of partial repayments. SBI said they charge only in the case of complete foreclosure of the loan midway. And with partial repayments I was offered the flexbility to either reduce the EMI or to reduce the tenure of the loan. I expect to repay the loan within the next 2-3 years, so I took a 7 year loan so that I also have a lower EMI burden till then. While they did take 7 working days to process the loan, I was very impressed with their attitude and the flexibilities their package offered. Especially for a lower interest rate than private banks. FYI, my loan was arranged with the Indiranagar branch of SBI. Anybody interested can contact Mr. Chandrashekar. Very efficient bloke that guy.

So, to end the long story, I finally took delivery of my truck on the night of Friday, 4th July, after work. Drove back from Dairy Circle at a snails pace; and was I afraid of getting a nick or knocking somebody down...

And i thought to myself that night, amongst other things, THANK YOU TBHP.
cheers:

On 5th we went and got ourselves some alloys. On 6th we left bangalore
and returned just shy of a week later with the odo at 2100 kms. Thats another story. For the next post in this thread.

[PatienceWins]

Congrats!!

What a majestic upgrade.

The alloy looks great on the Safari.

Looking forward to detailed review and report of your maiden outing in Safari.

[JayD]

Congrats on your new buy dude! Great colour too. Its a good thing that u took the EX version, the Lx with its single Ac would be a pain in the summers.

Originally Posted by DaiusPitar

The thing is, we had a Sierra and We even did a Bombay-Chennai round trip in it in the 80s. You think we would have enjoyed that more in any other vehicle? Not a chance.

Errrr... U had a sierra in the 80s??

[PAVAN KADAM]

Ahoy,

One more to Bangalore in 2 days time, Welcome onboard Mr.

Congrats on the new ride. Enjoy maadi.

Wanna join some T-Bhp safari owners this sunday over coffee.

We are having a small meet.

Which part of Bangalore are your in?

[sumeethaldankar]

Hey congratulations bud.. great choice of car.On the funny side (no offence meant in any way) i guess moving from a 800 to a Safari is like
riding a elephant after riding a horse :-)

If you don't mind me asking ,what does your EMI every month comes to ???

[aaggoswami]

Congratulations!

Grand upgrade, it is.

The alloys are great looking.

I am suprised by the number of Safari's on T-BHP.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Congratulations!


I am suprised by the number of Safari's on T-BHP.

Why guru?

There are 40 Safari's so far that i've counted and have pics of, compared to 15 Scorpio's.(no offences meant to anyone)

[DaiusPitar]

Originally Posted by PatienceWins

Congrats!!

What a majestic upgrade.

The alloy looks great on the Safari.

Looking forward to detailed review and report of your maiden outing in Safari.

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Congratulations!

Grand upgrade, it is.

The alloys are great looking.

I am suprised by the number of Safari's on T-BHP.

Thanks guys, actually the alloys too were my wife's choice. I initially decided either on BiteTheBullet's alloys or the OEM alloys. But she was really not keen on them for the mountain green colour. This is a new design launched by Aura. 3 dealers quoted around 27500 and managed to bring this down only to 24800 with wheel balancing. Guess i couldnt get it down further because it was a new design.

Time time.... Will get back with my experience on the maiden outing soon, with further pics.

Originally Posted by JayD

Congrats on your new buy dude! Great colour too. Its a good thing that u took the EX version, the Lx with its single Ac would be a pain in the summers.




Errrr... U had a sierra in the 80s??

Yup, realised the worth of the AC in the first trip we took itself. There were 5 people in the truck, with the rear stuffed with luggage and we were travelling through the Kumbakonam belt in TN. Especially with no sunfilm on the front windshield, the people in the middle row would have really suffered if not for the rear AC.

Actually, that's a typo.

Thanks. It ought to have been 90s. MODS: can that be edited?

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

Ahoy,

One more to Bangalore in 2 days time, Welcome onboard Mr.

Congrats on the new ride. Enjoy maadi.

Wanna join some T-Bhp safari owners this sunday over coffee.

We are having a small meet.

Which part of Bangalore are your in?

Thanks Pavan, I have been following your posts. Especially your safari pics thread.

I stay in east bangalore.

When and where is this meet? But frankly, my coming this weekend looks unlikely. Now that I got my truck and took it on a long drive, work load has taken off big time to compensate for my reclaiming my life.
I tell you, at the end of it all, its a zero sum game.
I expect to be working through the next few weekends till mid September.@#$

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Hey congratulations bud.. great choice of car.On the funny side (no offence meant in any way) i guess moving from a 800 to a Safari is like
riding a elephant after riding a horse :-)

Thanks. But actually, its a breeze in city traffic too. Most people give way.
My office is on MG Road and I dont feel particularly inconvenienced by the size of the elephant as you call it :-)

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

If you don't mind me asking ,what does your EMI every month comes to ???

SBI's EMI at the time of purchase was Rs 1792 per lac for tenure of 7 years. I expect this is revised now.

[musicmanaman]

Congrat's, that's one grand upgrade from M 800 to Safari, enjoy the beast and keep us posted on the ownership experience as you munch miles with the beast.

[dadu]

Congrats and a very well written IOR, please post your travelogue for the first trip. Hope you got your first service done too.

[HappyWheels]

A nice narration of the buying experiece (or rather, decision experience). A great choice too.

It was very smart of you to go down and check the color physically before committing. The difference between the book color and on road color can be sometimes misleading.

Have a great time! :-)

[CtrlAltDel]

congrats on the great purchase!

and its a very good "promotion" from your M800 too - almost like becoming a Project Manager immediately after working as a Jr Engineer

[benbsb29]

Daius, congrats on your new vehicle. Must say its one massive upgrade decision!
Great choice on the alloy design as well!

[Strangerintown]

Congrats. Mountain green is a lovely colour for the Safari. And the alloys look great too. Do keep us posted about your ownership experience. Did you face any of the initial niggles? Does your truck have that "krrr" sound on acceleration? I believe tsk's truck does not have this sound and so Tata Motors may have finally got around to dealing with it. BTW I will be joining the club soon - should be taking delivery of my truck early next week

[bIte tHe bulLet]

hey daius,

congrats dude. that is one stonking ride and a really *big* upgrade!!!

i also need to congratulate your wife - she not only has good taste in men (you!!) but also knows what looks good on a car (colour AND wheels!!)

i hope you have a really happy ownership experience with the safari and like i said on another thread, the safari does shrink around you in city traffic.... people seem to magically get the h@ll out of your way eh???