Safari Dicor 2.2 VX – Updated 7,500 kms

[Highway Star]

It was around the middle of 2008 that I started feeling the need to get something ‘different’ from the Accent 1.6 GLS that I had been driving since 2003. The Accent was my first car, which my parents bought for me when I was 21, and I am very emotionally attached to the car. The new car was going to be an addition to the garage, not a replacement for the 5 year old 75,000 kms run accent.

A budget of around 10 big ones was fixed for the new car. That put sedans like the Optra Magnum, Civic & Corolla in the fray, along with SUVs like Safari & Scorpio. I was strongly seduced by the Civic, but finally couldn’t convince myself to go in for another petrol sedan in spite of the brilliance of the Civic, already having a petrol Accent and Ikon in the garage. Having crossed out the sedan options, the only SUV options were the Safari & Scorpio. I had kept an eye on the Safari’s evolution, especially after the launch of the 2.2 engine in end 2007. Had been reading the Safari threads on this forum and the positive experiences of Steeroid, Suman, adc, bite the bullet were very encouraging, while the experiences of tsk and a few others who experienced the “Safari niggles” were a little scary. However, as has been mentioned often, buying a Safari is a heart decision, and the heart was pretty set on the Safari. The initial plan was to pick up the car around Diwali, but got delayed to Dec 2008 due to some work and travel issues. Went through a 2 weeks yo-yo period where I couldn’t decide between the EX & VX, but finally the safety features of the VX were the clincher. Went through a Cycus Grey – Black – pearl white color decision too, before finally settling on the color I thought makes the safari look its best, pearl white.

Finally a pearl white VX was picked up from A-one motors barakhamba road on Dec 26, 2008. The purchase process took a little long, and I would rate the dealership as being average as far as the entire buying process is concerned. Took the team-bhp pre-delivery check list along and finally drove out of the dealership at 7:00pm after re-assuring myself that everything was in order.

The First Night: Took the car out for a spin on the Del-Gurgaon expressway the first night. Did take care to not exceed 2500 rpm and generally treated her with kids gloves the first night. However, the drive on the highway was turning out to be a lot of fun and didn’t feel like turning back towards Delhi, so kept on driving and finally took a u-turn back for the city at Behror, half way down to Jaipur. A quick tea-break and drove back to the city, enjoying the stability and composure of the car on the highway. When I switched off the ignition in my driveway at 1 o’clock on the first night, she already had more than 300 kms on the clock. I was very impressed by the power, refinement, high speed stability, and comfort of the car, while not so enamoured by the headlights, and the interior plastics & switches.

Since then, its been 3 months and 5,500 kms and the ownership has been a positive experience. The highlights in this time have been a 700 km Del-Chandigarh-Del round trip, 2 Del-Behror-Del runs, and an off-roading experience in a construction site in Gurgaon. The highway runs really brought the speed, comfort and stability of the truck to the fore, while kicking up the dust in the construction site showed the off-roading potential of even a 2 wheel drive safari.

The positives of the car:

• Looks and road presence
• Super-comfy seats and driving experience
• Flexibility of the engine
• Space
• Stability at high speeds, generally the handling characteristics of the truck have exceeded my expectations
• ABS makes a big difference to the braking confidence of the truck

The niggles/negatives:

• Ride quality hasn’t been upto my expectations. Maybe reading so much about the legendary ride quality of the safari had set my expectations unrealistically high, but the car bounces all over the place on a broken road. Bumps and broken bits get transmitted to the cabin more than I think they should and the truck "thuds" badly through them.
• Headlights on the open road totally suck and are completely useless
• Squeaking from the seats, rattling doors and windows
• Recently the service light came on 2-3 times, need to get that looked into
• In the initial 3000 kms, the ABS light used to come on randomly while driving. Got that looked into in the first service at 1500 kms, but TASS couldn’t find anything wrong. Hasn’t happened in the last month or so though.
• The seat belt warning light has been refusing to go off even when buckled in since I took delivery of the truck

Service Experience: The 1500 kms service was done at A-one workshop at Mathura Road where they couldn’t fix the mystery of the moody ABS light, the always on seatbelt warning light, so I am not very impressed by their work. Need to take the truck to a better TASS next time around.

Overall, I am happy with the truck and the ownership experience till now has been positive and good fun. The Safari has been pretty much lived up to the expectations that I had from the truck. She has been a machine which makes me take the longer route home after a long tiring day, a car which makes me go out for drives at night just to enjoy the empty roads. Driving the Safari is definitely an ego massage, and a good stress-buster.

Oh, and since this is my first post on team-bhp, a big hi to everyone!

[phamilyman]

Nice experience. Please post some pics as well.

And visit Autolinks in gurgaon

[adc]

A big congrats and hi to you too. A safari 2.2 thread without pics???

Need to take the truck to a better TASS next time around.

Absolutely do that first, may be Autolinks

• Ride quality hasn’t been upto my expectations. Maybe reading so much about the legendary ride quality of the safari had set my expectations unrealistically high, but the car bounces all over the place on a broken road. Bumps and broken bits get transmitted to the cabin more than I think they should and the truck "thuds" badly through them.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post1067345 (The Tata Safari 2.2L technical/Other problems/solutions Thread)

See if this helps, and post these queries also in the techinical thread and you will have some good advice from other users.

Originally Posted by Country Road

Since the day I got the beast I have had this steering problem. The problems were as follows -

1) Could feel the potholes on the steering wheel/ Could feel the movement/vibration of steering each time I went over even the smallest of potholes or ramblers.
2) There was noise associated with the above. Gathank.
3) Felt it coming from the steering and the right front wheel.

The steering rod/pipe/assembly (the right term keeps eluding me) was changes thrice at no cost. But each time the vehicle was kept at TASS for at least for 3/4 days at a streatch. Once they kepy it for a whole week. The last time I went to Dhingra Motors in Gurgaon, I had a hard talk with Mr.Grover (who has joined them recently). He called in the guys from Sona Steerings. In 1 1/2 days the problem was resolved.

What I got to know from the guys from Sona was that the parts were been replaced each time, but was not been put together the right way. Since this would have been the 4th time, the guys at Sona wanted to investigate. That's when they realised that parts in the steering was not been put back/together the way it should have been.

The vehicle does not have any noice or vibration coming from the steering any more. I get a feeling that it has now been resolved. But would wait for a month to be doubly sure.

Hope this will be of some help to you guys out there who are having the same problem.

Whoooosh!

Headlights on the open road totally suck and are completely useless

For course stock lamps suck on open highways, and if you are on a tight budget then like me go for the philips xtreme lamps, they fit as they are of the same wattage - but surely many options if you go for extra head lamps or powerful bulbs

Squeaking from the seats, rattling doors and windows

These are easily fixed by any TASS, you got to change this SS you use now.

Recently the service light came on 2-3 times, need to get that looked into

Well the diagnosis should come up easily on the laptop. Of course remember to use good quality fuel.

[tsk1979]

For the headlights do not go for 100/90 unless a TASC is willing to fix a relay and wires. For 60/55W Osram Silverstar are decent.
I recently got tie rod end changed(at 13K) kms and the thud clang in potholes and the clang on speadbreakers is gone for now.

As for service light, was the vehicle stuck and you were trying to extract it? Or we you reversing on a very steep incline?

[himanshugoswami]

Congrats H S on your beast.

there is certainly a difference in the ride quality of the 2.2 compared to the 3.0- the springs in the 3.0 (esp. teh 4x2 version) are set on a softer setting and while this gives a great ride in city, it can get a bit wallowy on the highway at high speeds.

on the 2.2, TML has stiffened up the suspension a bit and IMHO, this is a very good balance between a good (as opposed to brilliant earlier) city/low speed ride and better composure on the highway.

[rrsteer]

Originally Posted by Highway Star

The niggles/negatives:

• Ride quality hasn’t been upto my expectations. Maybe reading so much about the legendary ride quality of the safari had set my expectations unrealistically high, but the car bounces all over the place on a broken road. Bumps and broken bits get transmitted to the cabin more than I think they should and the truck "thuds" badly through them.

The car bounces on broken roads because I think that is a characteristic of any SUV as it has a high center of gravity.

Do let us know what solution you propose for the headlights issue. As even I share that grouse.

Meanwhile, keep on enjoying your Car!

[dadu]

Congrats like Tsk already quoted, change to 60/55 Osram Silverstar and do the headlamp leveling properly, most of the times they are way above the road.

[suman]

Congrats on a great buy. And on your first post

Welcome to the forum & wish you thousands of kms of passionate reclaiming

About the headlamp bulbs, go for the Osram Silverstar +50% as suggested by Tsk - I've been very happy with them.

[Highway Star]

The Diet: The truck is fed a diet of BP normal diesel with a supplement of system D. The truck is filled up from a known and trusted pump and the additive system D has been used in every fill.

The Driving Style: After the initial running in for the first 1500-1800 kms, the truck has been driven hard. Gearchanges typically are done in the range of 3000-3500 rpm, and acceleration is usually pedal to the metal ishtyle. The surge in the 2nd and 3rd gears between 1700 ~ 3200 rpm is awesome & pretty addictive . Impressive for a 2+ ton truck to move so smartly!

Speedbreakers, potholes, broken roads are driven through and over without slowing down and a "after all, its a safari" attitude. The driving style becomes more sedate with passengers in the truck (best way to make enemies out of friends - have them sit at the back and drive through MG road at 80+), but when I'm driving alone (which is atleast 50% of the time) minor obstacles like rocks, potholes, BRT corridor dividers (shhhh!) are ignored and just powered over.

Mileage: The truck is giving me 10-10.5 kmpl, which is pretty impressive given my heavy right foot and its weight and aerodynamic characteristics. The maximum mileage I got was 10.75, while the minimum was around 10.

[Highway Star]

Was looking at the truck resting happily in the driveway on a lazy sunday afternoon and thought to myself - sure it has the show, but does it have the go to match the show.

Drive down to Gurgaon to this construction site beyond sushant lok III and put the truck through a moderate "mud, sand and rocks" test. 2 hours later, must say was pretty impressed by the off road ability of this 2wd Safari.

Here are some pics of the truck from that day:

[loving_alaap]

Congrats.

Can anybody explain, why there is a bit lower ride quality?

the "Thud" is felt inside the cabin?

Also why the ride is so bumpy?

[gowda79]

Originally Posted by Highway Star

oh, and since this is my first post on team-bhp, a big hi to everyone!

Congrats 1st of all.

1st Post and posted a nice review of your new Safari that's good.

Get the vehicle checked at a different TASS and get the ABS and the belt light checked properly.

Post more and more pictures of your Safari.

[Highway Star]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Nice experience. Please post some pics as well.

And visit Autolinks in gurgaon

Thanks Phamilyman. Will check out Autolinks Gurgaon next time around. Is that the best TASS in NCR?

Originally Posted by adc

A big congrats and hi to you too. A safari 2.2 thread without pics???

Absolutely do that first, may be Autolinks
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post1067345 (The Tata Safari 2.2L technical/Other problems/solutions Thread)

See if this helps, and post these queries also in the techinical thread and you will have some good advice from other users.

For course stock lamps suck on open highways, and if you are on a tight budget then like me go for the philips xtreme lamps, they fit as they are of the same wattage - but surely many options if you go for extra head lamps or powerful bulbs

These are easily fixed by any TASS, you got to change this SS you use now.

Well the diagnosis should come up easily on the laptop. Of course remember to use good quality fuel.

Thanks adc. I have posted a few pics now.

The safari 2.2 technical discussion thread is a great resource for Safari owners, especially the ones who like to get completely involved in any issues and their resolutions.

Fuel used is BP normal diesel with System D. I don't think the service light came on because of bad fuel. I guess TASS should be able to resolve it in the 7500 km service.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

For the headlights do not go for 100/90 unless a TASC is willing to fix a relay and wires. For 60/55W Osram Silverstar are decent.
I recently got tie rod end changed(at 13K) kms and the thud clang in potholes and the clang on speadbreakers is gone for now.

As for service light, was the vehicle stuck and you were trying to extract it? Or we you reversing on a very steep incline?

Thanks for the headlamps suggestion tsk. Will check out the Silverstar. The service light came on when the truck was out for a nocturnal spin after a 3 day break. It came on 2-3 times while coasting in 4th and 5th gears. For the next 10 mins, I went back to my normal driving style of changing gears at 3500 rpm and generally gunning the engine, and the service light hasnt come on again. Maybe its the truck's way of telling me that it doesnt like to be driven sedately

[Highway Star]

Originally Posted by himanshugoswami

Congrats H S on your beast.

there is certainly a difference in the ride quality of the 2.2 compared to the 3.0- the springs in the 3.0 (esp. teh 4x2 version) are set on a softer setting and while this gives a great ride in city, it can get a bit wallowy on the highway at high speeds.

on the 2.2, TML has stiffened up the suspension a bit and IMHO, this is a very good balance between a good (as opposed to brilliant earlier) city/low speed ride and better composure on the highway.

I have hardly driven the 3L Safari much, so don't know how different the 2.2 suspension is from the older version. But just talking about the 2.2 in isolation, even this version is pretty wallowy on undulating roads. There is quite a bit of swaying and bobbing at moderate and high speeds.

Originally Posted by rrsteer

Do let us know what solution you propose for the headlights issue. As even I share that grouse.

Meanwhile, keep on enjoying your Car!

Thanks rrsteer. Will check out the Silverstar this weekend and update here.

Originally Posted by dadu

Congrats like Tsk already quoted, change to 60/55 Osram Silverstar and do the headlamp leveling properly, most of the times they are way above the road.

Yeah, the high beam is set really high. Switching to the high beam on a highway causes the beam to go straight up towards the overhead signboards!

[Highway Star]

Originally Posted by suman

Congrats on a great buy. And on your first post

Welcome to the forum & wish you thousands of kms of passionate reclaiming

About the headlamp bulbs, go for the Osram Silverstar +50% as suggested by Tsk - I've been very happy with them.

Thanks Suman. What has been your experince with the TASS suggested by the others on this thread, Autolinks Gurgaon?