[condor]

@DicKy,Check the Sumo 4x4 thread for more details

[NiTviN]

Wow... finally some inside news from Pal. Thanks for that.

Looks like from mechanical, handling, interiors, overall quality and drivability point of view Merlin has improved substantially.

On the exterior front, TATAs have tried to retain the old Safari look with some modifications. I think this is not too bad an idea considering the best part of old Safari was its looks. They may have blunted the punch though. It is similar to what Maruti did with their Swift. The new Swift looks almost similar to old one, though internally its an all new swift. That worked very well for Maruti. I hope it works well for Safari too.

Couple of grunts...
- Why not give 7 seater option? The jump seats are of no use. Scorpio and Innova give various seating configurations. Why not Safari, although being longest of the 3? At least 2 front facing, foldable 3rd row seats like Aria would have been nice. Its not that everyone will use those seats on every drive. But during that one drive where you need to carry more than 5 people, it fails to do the job. I hope TATA incorporates this feature.
- Now a days even small Cars come with Driver Side air bags in lower varients. Why not in a luxury vehicle like Safari?

And yes, pricing is important. Need not be lower than Scorpio though. Safari is much better designed and better looking car than Scorpio. Also it has a premium feel to it. Just needs to be in the ball park IMHO.

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by shortbread

It will not do the Scorpio numbers as its only a proper 5 seater thus only brought by private buyers. Taxi/fleet operators do not see Safari as a practical option and in a way thats a good thing.

@shortbread

Taxi operators avoid the Safari, not becasue it is a 5 seater, but because the two most important things for Taxi operators are:

1) Low cost of maintenance
2) Less time in the Shop

Why don't you call all the major taxi operators in your area and ask for a Scorpio. Hardly anyone will have one for you. Scorpio is way down the pecking order for Taxi operators too.

In Tamil Nadu the price goes to Innova followed by Tavera depending.

[VeluM]

From history (of the past two days) I was expecting a third bomb today in the form of Pal's third post. No such luck?

I wonder why there have been a number of BHPians quoting "reliable" sources claiming that the Merlin is not the All New Safari and it is Not based on the Aria chassis and the changes are not major, mainly cosmetic and to improve reliability.

What Pal has stated is diametrically opposite (except for Merlin not being the All New Safari - s/he hasn't commented on that at all). If Merlin is not, then will the All New Safari have the underpinnings of Merlin with a new body on top?

And yes, Pal - When's the launch? You said so close, but an ETA would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Our appreciation can be gauged from Posts: 2 & Thanked: 34!

[kdeepakk]

after seeing Mahindra XUV 500, will not keep any expectation from any companies till we see the vehicle.

[Sparks]

Originally Posted by VeluM

From history (of the past two days) I was expecting a third bomb today in the form of Pal's third post. No such luck?

What Pal has stated is diametrically opposite (except for Merlin not being the All New Safari - s/he hasn't commented on that at all). If Merlin is not, then will the All New Safari have the underpinnings of Merlin with a new body on top?

And yes, Pal - When's the launch? You said so close, but an ETA would be greatly appreciated.

IMHO, the design team for tata's will goto sleep with a smirk on their faces. The new launch from mahindra has come and most probably will move on with the wind. As It turns out the boffins at tata's have nothing to fear. After today's unveiling of the xuv 500, even the current gen safari is a better looker. Iam shocked, with mahindra's decision to go with the present front look of the car.

When the competition commits harakiri, the pressure is off tata's .

Merlin with low ratio gearbox and all the mechanical upgrades will hold it's ground until the all new safari makes its debut. The low ratio GB is now A unique selling point of the safari. Tata phantoms trolling this board please take notice of this.

[AlphaKilo]

Well well, I would any day put my money on Ratan Tata than on Anand Mahindra. Nothing against his competence, but sorry Mr. Mahindra, you should immediately sack your chief designer and get rid of that saber tooth grill! I am a very very satisfied customer of their Tata indicom and Docomo services and the way they treat their long standing customers is what only Tata can do!
On the other hand, Pal, going by your words,
1. Merlin is a extended/improved safari based on Aria chassis
2. Better Handling
3. Original safari styling retained with some minor design changes?

[architect]

^^ M&M's effort at the XUV 500 has been about building a new vehicle totally from ground-up. There's no taking away the credit from them on that front. I agree the design head should get over his walrus fixation, though. The Scorpio was not known for great ride or handling qualities and M&M has recognised that probably tried to fix it by trying to design a completely new chassis.

Tata, on the other hand, seems to have tried a mix / match of what they have in the Safari and what they seem to have developed from the Aria. Right from the days of shrinking the Tata 407 / 207 engine block to create the Indica, Tata have been doing this. I am sad that the Safari's legendary ride quality through the worst of roads seems to be traded in for a soft-roader type suspension.

[ACM]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

@shortbread

Taxi operators avoid the Safari, not becasue it is a 5 seater, but because the two most important things for Taxi operators are:

1) Low cost of maintenance
2) Less time in the Shop

Why don't you call all the major taxi operators in your area and ask for a Scorpio. Hardly anyone will have one for you. Scorpio is way down the pecking order for Taxi operators too.

In Tamil Nadu the price goes to Innova followed by Tavera depending.

Agree yes low cost of maintenance and less time in shop is impt, and hence, Innova, Tavera and Xylo are come trumps on these counts and the Safari and Scorpio loose out, but then the Safari also looses out further due to the jump seats or it would have atleast sold in as many numbers as the Scorpio. Besides of course model to model the Safari is priced higher.

[HappyRoadie]

I just checked out the Tata Safari website and the prices of all the models have been reduced. Earlier the Safari LX here in Lucknow was for Rs. 8,24000 but now it is available for Rs. 8,00751. Is this because of Merlin?

[throttleking]

Pricing of M&M XUV is out. Now if Merlin is priced over and above current Safari, then take my words, its going to be super-flop. Even Aria is going to face lot of music now.

Merlin, you better be priced at par with current Safari, or even less.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by throttleking

Pricing of M&M XUV is out. Now if Merlin is priced over and above current Safari, then take my words, its going to be super-flop. Even Aria is going to face lot of music now.

Merlin, you better be priced at par with current Safari, or even less.

I agree, but suddenly I see the Grande(Sumo) moving up in price too! Mid variant is somewhere around the 8.3 mark. Wonder whats cooking at TML.

Why would they want all their vehicles to overlap, pricewise?

[sahakar]

Pricing will decide the success or failure of Merlin. Tatas better get back to basics on the pricing. No way anybody is going to pay more than the XUV for the Merlin.

Actually, Aria needs at least a couple of lakhs shave right away, if they want to sell any.

Cheers

[rajchetan]

One way or the Other, We the buyers are the lucky ones.

Merlin perceived to being a much better product compared to Safari, will now have to be better priced in competition to XUV 500. Hence we could expect the top of line Merlin to be around 11Lac or 11.5Lac.

Now wont that be a rocker of a pricing, considering its going to be a True Blue SUV compared to XUV. Without being Weird and wacky to look at.

Fingers crossed, seems like TATA were holding off Merlin just to see the pricing and response of the XUV. Now that they have the bench mark.
Fingers crossed hoping they don't S***W up the pricing.

TATA we Bhpians respect you and love you, please don't let us down.
Trust us this is your last chance, before you end up being a FIAT.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by rajchetan

Hence we could expect the top of line Merlin to be around 11Lac or 11.5Lac.

Now wont that be a rocker of a pricing, considering its going to be a True Blue SUV compared to XUV. Without being Weird and wacky to look at.

How we wish TATA did that. But with the Lx and Ex still around, don't think Merlin top end will be that low. Even the XUV top end is around 12.8. Tata will put the Merlin around the same range, if not more!

What I am worried about, is the low ratio gearbox. Heard its gonna be a AWD and won't have one.