[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by arunpn

That is because Scorpio engines were developed by Bosch Germany whereas Tata Engines are from its own stable.

Both 2.2 engines are developed by AVL. M&M uses a Bosch Common Rail pump and Tata uses Lucas/Delphi unit. Block is the same but the valves/timing mechanism etc are different. It is not a Tata developed engine.

[fiat_tarun]

My vote goes to TATA. The growth this company has made since the indica is commendable. M&M vehicles stand out for their reliability.

[indianvirus]

Well, i have nothing against mahindra, in fact i love scorpio. But it has long long way to cover in matching magnitude of tata. Mahindras are more reliable today but tatas can overtake them anyday as it is getting its hands on foreign brands and will surely learn things to make its products better. Where mahindras are doing JV with foreign brands for CVs and cars, tatas are buying them. That's the difference.

[SumitBahl]

I own a scorpio (infact, bought a 2nd scorpio after using first one for 6 years). And, i drove a safari before buying the scoripio.

Safari does look good, but in terms of overall package, i found scorpio better. Its easier to drive in cities. Has better low end than safari.

With safari, many U-Turns are 3 point turns.

Only product that i like from tata is Vista. Its an overall good product.

My vote goes to M&M.

[ACM]

I guess now with the Vista, Manza and the soon to come Aria as part of the Family TATA has to get the vote.

Yep Scorpios are more reliable than Safaris in general, but then while on the road the Safari is much more stable and hence safer, so even on that could the vote would go to the Safari.

This is a dated thread and the products in 2006 are widely different from the ones available now, so it would make sense to count the votes from 2009 onwards only.

[shankar.balan]

family assocation for over 30 years with some kind of Mahindra - prefer buying Mahindra Jeep type vehicles
However, my dad owns a Tata Indica V2 Turbo DLG - good car so far.

While I appreciate the Tatas greatly for bringing real value to consumers, I feel they may have a few too many variants hanging around in the market.
Also, somehow the Tata vehicles re-sale values dont seem to hold up very well.

[n.devdath]

Simple definition from my point of view:
As an organisation, TATA is way ahead of M&M. Bigger pockets, bigger vision, bigger strengths and a far wider range of products, institutions and values. Kinda pulls at the heat types.

But, in the automotive sector, M&M is a much better company which tries to make not "many products" but "good products".
One good product,the Scorpio is beating the Safari black and blue for years now in terms of numbers. There is still no significant competition to the Bolero, the Maxx, the Major and other UVs that M&M makes.

Tata is more theory and less implementation, M&M is more implementation and less theory.

[vivekgk]

I'd say that Tata is the company that I'm more proud of. Tata has never made an automobile that didn't break new grounds in some way. I admire them because of their courage to take the plunge. Their intentions are honourable, but the execution leaves much to be desired.

Let's look at the UV situation. The Sumo vs the Bolero. The Bolero is practically an extended WWII jeep. It is an evolution, and has never tried to be innovative in any way. The commander hardtop followed the softtop, which became the Armada with no change in tech and some plastic bits by DC Design. On the other hand, the 207 platform itself is decades newer. At the introduction itself, in the 207, it had front IFS, a smooth, modern IDI diesel and contemporary styling in and out. Yes, I can hear the 'benz-copy' shouts already, but there's no arguing the point that this was a contemporary design from the ground up. IMO, Tata has taken less time to civilize the platform (less than 15 years) than Mahindra (40 years+).

Let's look at the first passenger cars made by both manufacturers. The Tata Estate/Sierra were the most advanced diesel cars made in India at the time of introduction. The same goes for the Indica and the Safari. The Armada, M&M's first foray into the passenger car market, came with an already antiquated Peugeot engine and the horrible Kia gearbox, both agricultural. It wasn't until the Bolero 2.5 XDP3 that Mahindra got a decent engine/gearbox. To think that they had this tech with the from the late 80s, and never introduced it to the public for 20 years. Sure, the Estate and Sierra had more than their share of problems, but they were unlike anything that the market had ever seen in terms of features and performance.

Tata has consistently tried to offer the best and latest technology to its customers at affordable prices, while M&M's policy is to watch and wait. They will wait until eternity if the products are selling. Let me put it this way. If M&M had decided to build an ultra low cost car, it would probably be a CJ340 with the DI engine and no frills, not the Nano.

[CARDEEP]

I voted for TATA, primarily because of personal experience.

My cousin has a Safari (& also a Honda City), who have driven it more than 50K in 2 years. I have driven it on a couple of occasions & found the ride & the engine good, despite the below average interiors.

There has not been a single problem in the car despite thm participating in rallies, going for long drives (over 1K in one way) & ripping the car like anything. Also, worth mentioning is the fact that their faily once owned Tata Indica (V2). It may be because they had previous experience of owing a deisel car, but so called quality problems from Tata's stable aren't dependent on whether you have owned a deisel car in the past.

Mahindra cars, as per my experience (& also my cousin's observation) suffer from bad ride quality, though the interiors are better appointed (but not as spacious as Tata).

Tata have a better & cheap service network & wider portfolio (segment) of cars on offer. They need to improve on Quality control & pricing of Safari.

Mahindra are yet to prove better business alliance with disasters like MRPL & Pegeot to their (dis-) credit & improve upon thier ride quality. But, at present they have bigger engines in Taxi segment (2.6l CRDE in Bolero Vrs 2l TCIC in Sumo); Scorpio is cheaper than Safari (when the difference between the two is negeligible) & Grande MkI was a dud, which explains their better performance in Sales.

[Santy]

Tata as they have led the path as an Indian Auto Brand

Tata Motors has shown its metal in every 4 wheeler segement possible
Trucks they are leader, Passenger Cars they were No 2 and UVs also they were are No 2, they also exist in Defence vehicles etc

Tata Motors is have capability to innovate the new products and for non existing segements The ACE truck, Nano are few examples

To my opinion on quality front both the companies are equally good or bad