[4Runner]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

Thank you! Storme Varicor has better interior quality than the XUV in my opinion. Not as appealing visually, but it feels better put together and the quality of materials is very good.

XUV might perform better and overall better equipped. But for my usage, the car needs to be abuse friendly(rural roads are never kind) and last long. Safari lasted brilliantly for 6 years with even more life in it but we decided to sell it away. Hence, from experience, we went with the storme.

Hi Prasanna, So happy for your purchase. Makes me feel good that there are Storme lovers even in 2018. I have a 2015 Sumo Gold GX which has run about 50K kms. I was hoping to drive it for another couple of years as it is absolutely niggle free and has just got a fresh coat of paint on a few panels.I am getting an offer of close to 6L from a fellow auto enthusiast ( I got it for about 9L on road and spent a bit upgrading the seat covers etc.) I am really tempted to upgrade to a Storme. All your cars seem to have run for atleast 5 years which tells me maybe I should wait around a bit. Would love to hear from you. Congrats on the purchase again!

[rajneeesh]

Originally Posted by vasant.guru@gma

Hi Prasanna, So happy for your purchase. Makes me feel good that there are Storme lovers even in 2018. I have a 2015 Sumo Gold GX which has run about 50K kms. I was hoping to drive it for another couple of years as it is absolutely niggle free and has just got a fresh coat of paint on a few panels.I am getting an offer of close to 6L from a fellow auto enthusiast ( I got it for about 9L on road and spent a bit upgrading the seat covers etc.) I am really tempted to upgrade to a Storme. All your cars seem to have run for atleast 5 years which tells me maybe I should wait around a bit. Would love to hear from you. Congrats on the purchase again!

Vasant,

My Safari Storme is close to 3 years old. It has been a great 3 years and the vehicle is pretty reliable. The Odo is at 52.6 K Km and my expenditure on maintenance has been less than 35K (including 2 oil changes and brake pad change). While it lacks a rear view / reversing camera, the small screen on the ICE front plate is pretty effective. I find it very easy to drive and reverse the vehicle. My SX4 on the otherhand is a pain to reverse with its high boot.

I will be going on a road trip to Bhutan in a few weeks time and will update the thread then.

The Safari design is ageless and it still is the King of the Road.

[PrasannaDhana]

Thank you Vasant!

BTW I took my storme to its first ever long drive(not really long, just 330 km to and fro).

Trichy to Vailanganni via mannargudi
Returned through usual route
Vailankanni - Thiruvarur - Ammapettai -Tanjavur - Tricky
Return journey would have been a torture if it was in any other car. Absolutely pathetic roads!

Storme returned a very respectable 12.5 kmpl. Those who know me understand I am not a sedate driver by any stretches of imagination. I did do good speeds on good roads. Rpm hovering around 2750-3000 rpm in the 6th. As always Safari was as comfortable as my couch!
And the Varicor 400 pulls strongly. It becomes very evident during overtaking maneuvers, it just leaps past unlike the DICOR which takes time.

Odo: 2271 km

Not being used regularly as I have been pretty busy with work and I find it lazy to take the storme out of the garage(parked at the last). Moreover I am pretty comfortable with Ciaz for everything. Primary user is my dad who does not like it being driven by driver for now. So all that 2271 km was either me solo or me and dad riding together.

[PrasannaDhana]

First service up!

Perhaps the first car of mine which reached the time period of service rather than the km.

3 months/ 5000 km for the first service

I have completed barely half of that. Ciaz kwid and Celerio doing full time duties for the family. Safari so far has been sparingly used.

[lazy]

Looks like we two are the only 2018 Storme owners here!!

Does your Gear#1 a bit difficult to slot into too? I have that issue in my Storme.
And how come 0/- service, isn't oil change charged ?

cheers
lazy

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by lazy

Looks like we two are the only 2018 Storme owners here!!

Does your Gear#1 a bit difficult to slot into too? I have that issue in my Storme.
And how come 0/- service, isn't oil change charged ?

cheers
lazy

I was surprised that I found another 2018 storme owner here

First gear is pretty OK to me. Or I am used to my Safari Dicor for so long that it doesn't stand out to me.

Oil service is at 15000 km only IIRC.

[PrasannaDhana]

Storme clocking kilometers embarrassingly slowly. Blame my ciaz which is so light on my pocket. I have driven 3000 km on ciaz in June alone. But the big boy has reached 3000km, only after 4 months of usage!

[krish3]

Light on pocket and easier to drive around? A jealous storm might be brewing inside the Storme for not being used as much as the Ciaz.

Nice ownership thread though.

[gururajrv]

Do you plan on decorating the mighty elephant? I meant any mods you’ve lined up for it, Prasanna?

Perhaps it requires a good set of alloys and tires that should further enhance its stance

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by krish3

Light on pocket and easier to drive around? A jealous storm might be brewing inside the Storme for not being used as much as the Ciaz.

Nice ownership thread though.

Thanks!

I drive 150 km a day, of which 120 is solo. Driving Safari for solo rides is not as easy as driving the ciaz. I have accustomed to ciaz so well with 61k km relationship in 3 years.

Originally Posted by gururajrv

Do you plan on decorating the mighty elephant? I meant any mods you’ve lined up for it, Prasanna?

Perhaps it requires a good set of alloys and tires that should further enhance its stance

I am a stock guy Guru I somehow can't convince myself to spend 40k for aesthetics.

[Prateek19]

Originally Posted by lazy

Looks like we two are the only 2018 Storme owners here!!

Does your Gear#1 a bit difficult to slot into too? I have that issue in my Storme.
cheers
lazy

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

I was surprised that I found another 2018 storme owner here



First gear is pretty OK to me. Or I am used to my Safari Dicor for so long that it doesn't stand out to me.



Oil service is at 15000 km only IIRC.

Hi guys, I got mine in Dec"17. Count me the third owner. I just love the vehicle.

The slotting of 1st gear in VX is a bit annoying when the vehicle is cold. I am facing it since day 1.

I want to ask you guys that are the gear shifts hard in VX 400 compared to EX. My friends EX has very smooth shifts, we can shift with one finger but in VX the shifts are hard. Can you guys comment on this issue?

For oil change, the change interval is 20k kms or 1 year as per service manual.

Thanks

[PrasannaDhana]

An update after a while.

Odo : 4450 km

I was away for a couple of months and the Storme was idle the entire time.

[BulZire]

I own a 2015 Storme EX now and owned a 2008 Dicor EX before that. Can vouch for every bit of your happiness in owning a safari.Wish you many more happy miles ahead in your Varicor.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by BulZire

I own a 2015 Storme EX now and owned a 2008 Dicor EX before that. Can vouch for every bit of your happiness in owning a safari.Wish you many more happy miles ahead in your Varicor.

Thank you!


Update:
Odo : 4900 km
I took some time to enjoy the pleasant climate and shot a few pics of the storme.






And I can't help but compare the storme with my beloved dicor.

[Vhruday]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

An update after a while.

Odo : 4450 km

I was away for a couple of months and the Storme was idle the entire time.

Hi Prasanna, updates to a thread are important, but probably not in your and other road users best interest to click a picture while your speedo is hovering at 120kph. No offence meant but please do not be so irresponsible next time. Safe driving!