[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by navpreet318

I suppose no one knows of a very nice feature in the wash wiper of the 400. Once you clean the windscreen with the spray and wiper, it gives an additional wipe after a few seconds. I don't know how many cars do that now a days. I remember Skoda used to have this feature on the Laura.
Also I was pleasantly please with the lane change indicator to be present. Owing the 3L, these small features were a nice surprise coming from Tata.

Don't know if you have noted this additional feature regarding the wipers too, in-case your front wiper is on (raining etc), and you reverse the car, the rear wiper comes on automatically. Plus its one of the few cars I know which comes with dimmiable interior lights, which includes backlit switches, the clock and the HU too. Also all interior lights are white LED which look and feel far better than standard yellow lights. And finally all four doors have red puddle lights which are very helpful in dark areas. There are lot of such thoughtful features which are simply not advertised.

[mayank0782]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

Also all interior lights are white LED which look and feel far better than standard yellow lights. And finally all four doors have red puddle lights which are very helpful in dark areas. There are lot of such thoughtful features which are simply not advertised.

True, in the world where even fog lamp surrounds or chrome door handles are advertised to the core, TATA should pull up their socks and go for a kill !! I am sure they are not short of the weapons !

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

Storme's great cross country touring ability is reflected on such roads only. My average speeds on the bad stretch was about 70kmph compared to 90kmph on 4 laned roads. I would choose this ability and ride comfort any day over tyre pressure monitors or rain sensing wipers.

I appreciate the company making steady improvements, but if you need sales you need to advertise as well.

Very nice experience you shared there apachelongbow !! These are the things which matter the most. I can imagine how stress free the drive would have been.

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by mayank0782

Very nice experience you shared there apachelongbow !! These are the things which matter the most. I can imagine how stress free the drive would have been.

Thanks!! The driving experience in the Safari/Storme/Aria is indeed stress free. A friend who sat in my Storme for the first time asked if it was an automatic, since she couldn't see me changing gears often. And its true on the highways the car is always in 5th gear with the left foot firmly on the floor, and since the engine can stay in 5th happily from 60kmph till top end, it indeed doesn't need a slush box.

[Rahulk76]

Originally Posted by mayank0782

Firstly lets not even compare Storme and Innova. Two very different vehicles for different purposes.

Coming to Fortuner, is it really fair to compare it with the Storme just on the service experience?

I can understand the difference but why do we forget how much bang for buck Storme gives. You save more than 40%. With that there would definitely be some trade offs.

People are buying Fortuners because they can. Its not just about the service experience.

Can I buy a 50L SUV instead of Fortuner just because they offer me a superior service experience?

Defintiely not, there would be many more factors and obviously my ability to spend.

If you compare between Storme and say Scorpio/XUV and make your decision based on the service experience then it makes sense but Fortuner, I dont think so.

Hence it all comes down to what you can trade off as a deal and for me, if I save that much money I can trade off a not so good service experience. ( that too the owners have commented umpteen number of times to have been improved.)

You are right in your view, no question about it. Please dont take it personally.

But it seems you have missed the point which was being tried to make about the customer experience of TATA which isnt upto mark still and the costs time and efforts.

Having said so to each his own.

[mayank0782]

Originally Posted by Rahulk76

But it seems you have missed the point which was being tried to make about the customer experience of TATA which isnt upto mark still and the costs time and efforts.

Having said so to each his own.

Agreed ! And I did not miss the point you made. I am still debating the fact that the decision making cannot be made based on the service experience alone 'IF' the cars do not fall in same price bracket.

Though I am an avid fan of the Safari, I do love the Fortuner too !! Hence nothing taken personally.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

Don't know if you have noted this additional feature regarding the wipers too, in-case your front wiper is on (raining etc), and you reverse the car, the rear wiper comes on automatically. Plus its one of the few cars I know which comes with dimmiable interior lights, which includes backlit switches, the clock and the HU too.

These features are present even in Indica Vista in 2008 also. In addition it has speed sensitive central locking also. Only TATA never advertises these things.
Safari and ARIA have heated OVRM's even in base models. But no mention about the same anywhere by TATA. ARIA base model comes with rear fog lamps but with out connection to switch it on.

[1100D]

Originally Posted by navpreet318

I suppose no one knows of a very nice feature in the wash wiper of the 400. Once you clean the windscreen with the spray and wiper, it gives an additional wipe after a few seconds. I don't know how many cars do that now a days.

Also I was pleasantly please with the lane change indicator to be present.

Originally Posted by navpreet318

Congratulations! swift, civic, safari and other cars like Scorpio, innova, Fortuner, pajero do not. Hence my surprise at it. It's indeed a rare feature.

Scorpio certainly has it, since years.

[navpreet318]

Originally Posted by 1100D

Scorpio certainly has it, since years.

The extra wipe after a few seconds? Wonderful! Surprisingly even cars like civic and others as listed don't.

Surprisingly it was not present in the Scorpio TD vehicle which came over. Maybe it was not activated during PDI. Infact I was discussing this with Sheel as well.

[raj_5004]

Originally Posted by navpreet318

The extra wipe after a few seconds? Wonderful! Surprisingly even cars like civic and others as listed don't.

Surprisingly it was not present in the Scorpio TD vehicle which came over. Maybe it was not activated during PDI. Infact I was discussing this with Sheel as well.

I do vaguely remember the Scorpio having that extra wipe feature. The XUV5OO surely has that feature, since it's launch.

Also, the automatic activation of the rear wiper when the reverse gear is engaged with front wipers ON.

[searacer932]

I am unable to find a single review of the Safari 400 on the net. Are we going to get a teambhp review and are there any other reviews on the net?

[1100D]

Originally Posted by navpreet318

Surprisingly it was not present in the Scorpio TD vehicle which came over. Maybe it was not activated during PDI. Infact I was discussing this with Sheel as well.

Maybe this has already stopped working on his Scorpio!!

Scorpio was always feature rich with features that work based on planetary alignment.

(Hiding to take cover)!

[jaysmokesleaves]

Originally Posted by mayank0782

Agreed ! And I did not miss the point you made. I am still debating the fact that the decision making cannot be made based on the service experience alone 'IF' the cars do not fall in same price bracket.

Though I am an avid fan of the Safari, I do love the Fortuner too !! Hence nothing taken personally.

You could'nt be more wrong. Customer service has nothing to do whith the price bracket of the car.

My Maruti Wagon R service experience is better than what i experienced with my Tata Safari. Customer service and after sales is as important if not more important than the product itself. This is especially true when dealing with a product / company producing products prone to niggles.
Customer & vehicle downtime is extremely important.

Let me quote 2 personal episodes:
I recently took delivery of a pre owned Fortuner.
Prior to purchase i took the vehicle for a detailed inspection which was completed in 3 hours total and delivered with a wash within the promised time.
Few days later i took the vehicle in for a scheduled service (to another dealership closer to home) including all oil changes and a part replacement diagnosed in the earlier inspection.
The service was the best ive experienced till date and my first experience with Toyota India. Car was delivered in under 4 hours flat.
The service experience was the same at both the dealerships.

A close friend who recently took delivery of a preowned Safari Dicor 4wd has been struggling at the TASS for 3 days (3 whole days) just to get alignment sorted after installing new tires. And this is an extremely well maintained , low mileage car previously owned by a Tata corporate employee. I know this Tata dealership personally and know how they operate. Trust me, Its a joke.

If Tata has managed to sort the niggles in its cars , then it must make very serious efforts to sort out the service experience. Its absolutely pathetic to say the least. I can quote, personal experiences of yet more people, some of which i have witnessed personally, including those who own Storme's.

Before opting for a preowned Fortuner, I did take a good look at the Storme. But sorry to say. Too little too late and yet the pudding is half cooked, considering the poor after sales service experience.

Having said that, Tata does provide some class leading features which it somehow does not seem to advertise properly.
Heated ORVMs is something seen on very high end cars and this is being provided from the time the Safari Dicor was launched. This is a very good safety feature.

[rajneeesh]

+1 to Jaysmokesleaves,
The biggest negative with respect to a Tata Motors Product is the Sales and the Service experience. Service is something you will have to visit a dealership for atleast twice a year. In case the same is not done well, the visits will be more which will further aggravate the customer.

While there has been a great deal of improvement in the recent Tata Motors products, the service experience is still way behind the industry leaders. TML should put a lot of focus on getting this right. This will be a tougher battle as it concerns people and their attitudes which are tougher to improve than vehicles/ machines. Once this starts to happen, the second challange will be to get the people to believe that the things have changed and the old habits and attitudes will not creep in again.

[ISO]

Originally Posted by searacer932

I am unable to find a single review of the Safari 400 on the net.

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/fo...ve-review.html

[mayank0782]

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

You could'nt be more wrong. Customer service has nothing to do whith the price bracket of the car.

Well I would say that in a way you have supported whatever I mentioned in my previous post with the two examples you quoted.

I will first take a look at my wallet, decide the category I want to go into and then start looking for options thereafter. May be new, may be used. If customer service is my priority then I will lookout for a brand which provide me a better experience.

But the point which you missed here was that a person wont deviate too much or jump one or two segments because he needs a better service exp.

That said, he will try to look for best options as per his budget.

Let me give you another example, if Someone has decided to buy a 3L car, can he always go and buy a 6L car just because the latter brand offers him a better service exp?

No, he will try to look for the options in the 3L bracket and see which brand provides him the best experience and if service exp is his topmost priority then he might look for used ones too to include more brand in the bracket and to his choice.

Thats the only point here. In no way the price is the determining factor behind service experience. That was the wrong inference of my statement.