[parsh]

Originally Posted by sushantr5

Lucky to catch Merlin stopped on highway. Despite strong oppose from driver I could manage two photos of exterior. Saw interior of Merlin. Definitely Leap ahead current gen safari. Interior is slick, does not have huge car feel inside. Lot of Vinyl Textures over dashboard. Few observations like Automatic Climate control was not present and no music system. I could not manage photo of interiors, but had very good look of it despite very strong oppose from driver.

I had to flee the scene because five drivers gathered by the time.

Enjoy the pics.

Waw, what a catch man. Thats the spot while coming back to Mumbai. The profile does confirm the rear door spare wheel is gone and probably with it one prominent aspect of the outstanding Safari. Also is the roofline a bit different, probably.

[condor]

@Sushant, good catch.

Is the wind-shield angle different from that on the the current Safari ?

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

One of the clearest shots of the head lamps yet.

@Aravind.anand, where /how are you able to make out the head-lamps in these pics ? The vehicle is camouflaged - hence cannot make out the correct shape. The vehicle is too far to make out if it has projectors or not.

[DicKy]

@sushantr5- the most clearest daylight shot of the new Safari.
Am thinking the new Safari is going to be like american SUVs in the style aspect,especially the front end reminds me of the prev gen Ford Explorer (not the current xover tingy) and the current Ford Expedition SUVs.
"Interior is slick, does not have huge car feel inside." sigh, that big car feel of the Safari was one thing i loved, but more than glad that it will be high quality than present Safari.

[sushantr5]

Unfortunately, excitement of catching a safari made me so dumb that I forgot to notice Projector headlamps, disc brakes, other minute details, wind shield angle. Or it was drivers argument which distracted my attention while watching it. Headlamp shape is same as we saw it before. Last week also I spotted safari but I could not stop as I was in the bus. This time I was in car so I could stop and take photos. One can see lot of Merlin Testing on Pune - Bangluru highway. Next time I will be prepared for this encounter...

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by sushantr5

Unfortunately, excitement of catching a safari made me so dumb that I forgot to notice Projector headlamps, disc brakes, other minute details, wind shield angle. Or it was drivers argument which distracted my attention while watching it. Headlamp shape is same as we saw it before. Last week also I spotted safari but I could not stop as I was in the bus. This time I was in car so I could stop and take photos. One can see lot of Merlin Testing on Pune - Bangluru highway. Next time I will be prepared for this encounter...

Thanks for the shots Sushant! Please dont get into arguments in these scenarios ! Try and be nice to them, they might let you sit inside as well - you never know. Its sure that no one will allow you to take pics of a car under testing - so why dont you try to extract the max info from these drivers? That might pay better dividends ! And yeah, if you hit a friendly chat, you will have much more relaxed time for a detailed look at the car too !

[dinar]

Nice Pics Sushant.
All wheel disc will make the vehicle much easy t drive and keep the drives from getting Heart attack every time there's an emergency braking situation.
Hope the pricing is right for this one and not like the Xenon.

[AyAn!]

It clearly looks like a face-lift,a bit exhaustive one at that.But the Safari is really getting a bit long in the tooth now!

[aravind.anand]

The Safari is really getting pretty long in the tooth and an extensive facelift is welcome. But I personally would love to see the Xenon's SUV version being launched as the next Safari with better interiors than in the Xenon. It would win a lot more hearts then.

[gshanky]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

The Safari is really getting pretty long in the tooth and an extensive facelift is welcome. But I personally would love to see the Xenon's SUV version being launched as the next Safari with better interiors than in the Xenon. It would win a lot more hearts then.

xenon's suv/muv version is called Sumo Grande.

[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by kaviprem

There are few inconsistent information as compared to first hand information that was gained from TML plant people.

"But, unlike the Safari, the Merlin is based on the Tata Aria platform. The new Safari Merlin rides on the same 16-inch rims of the Aria."

Both are not true. Merlin is NOT on ARIA platform and it hosts 17" alloys [could be the top end variant]

Digged out the Fact :
Safari Merlin shares the ARIA platform. Different versions have different combinations. 17" Alloys are most likey for export only, Indian market will get 16" and the design may be different from ARIA ones. ARIA also has both 16" & 17" (steel or alloy) wheels depending upon variants.

All disc brakes can be expected on all variant like ARIA, but the platform has flexibility to accomodate the rear axles with drum brakes as well. Initially Safari was tested with rear drum brakes also. So, we have to wait for the final configuration.

[kaviprem]

^^ No buddy, The information I got from the plant team who works on Safari & Merlin were the one's who shared with me and few other Safari owners in Bangalore that the Merlin does NOT share the X1/2 platform. Also, the same team confirmed that its 17".

Of course, most of us will be very happy if part of your information and part of my information is true - ARIA platform and 17" alloys

Fingers crossed !
Prem.

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by gshanky

xenon's suv/muv version is called Sumo Grande.

I don't think so, I think the desigh of the Sumo Grande was inspired by the xenon at best. If you look closely, they have a similar face, but not the same face

[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

I don't think so, I think the desigh of the Sumo Grande was inspired by the xenon at best. If you look closely, they have a similar face, but not the same face

I'll say, gshanky is almost correct. The word is "almsot", rest is for your imagination.

[gshanky]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

I don't think so, I think the desigh of the Sumo Grande was inspired by the xenon at best. If you look closely, they have a similar face, but not the same face

Originally Posted by AutoNoob

I'll say, gshanky is almost correct. The word is "almsot", rest is for your imagination.

Is there any reason why you guys think that sumo grande is not an off-shoot of xenon?

Here is an excerpt from wiki

Tata Xenon is a pickup truck manufactured by Tata Motors. It was debuted as redesigned Tata TL at the 2006 Bologna Motor Show. Released in late 2007 as the Tata Xenon. The Xenon is powered by newly developed 2.2L common rail turbodiesel 140 PS (103 kW) engine (DICOR)[i.e. Direct injection Common Rail]. This also featured the extended cab (X-Tend cab) for the first time but to the selected markets. The new Xenon will be launched in many countries around the world, whereas in India its platform also gives rise to the Tata Sumo Grande, a passenger variant from Tata.

the wiki page is here - Tata Xenon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[shypals]

Dear Tushar, see if u can get some infor on the gearshift quality on this one. Heard that Safari had a bad one.