[kdeepakk]

Dadu congrats....

Finally u have made it with the beauty....Post some pics.

[dadu]

Thanks Smsrini, themag & deepak fo rthe wishes but after my journey to Mysore, here are few more findings.

- Driving is effortless although I did not drive beyond 100km/hr @ 2k rpm.

- Steering is too responsive, you feel scared, slight shake in the steer and the safari responds

- First gear should be used as a push only and change to 2nd immediately, as ballpark figure as soon as you see speed at 10km/h on the speedo.

- Clutch noise has reduced although some is still there along with vibration.

- Great pickup and pull at 3rd and 4th.

- In overdrive (5th) if you are between 60-80km/h, it gives slight misses(hicups) till it crosses 80.

- Saw a small screw on the carpet of middle seat back, probably something from the seat assembly, need to check.

- Sometimes I can hear "clunks" from the rear right wheel, donno what the noise coming from.

- Could hear rubber grinding noise if you turn completely to the right (U-Turn) but didnt hear it on loose mud, hope its from the tyre-road friction and not the wheel touching something, checked for marks inside but didnt find any.

Odometer reads 450 km at present (6 days).

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by dadu

- Sometimes I can hear "clunks" from the rear right wheel, donno what the noise coming from.

If this happens only at gear shifts, this is your universal joint. Nothing to worry about - if the noise annoys you, get your dealer to look into it and fix it.

[Kapil_Arora]

Dadu, Thanks for waking me up. I had for all purpose given up on Safari but based on your and other folks feedback I had to reconsider my decision and booked the test drive second time.
This time I went for one and half hour test drive, the sales person from Manipal Motors Jagadish knows you . I was confident about Safari's Highway capabilities but I really want to test the city maneuvering capabilities. I test drove the truck through back of the Airport (off road test) to Whitefield and returned back to Inner Ring road via Old Madras road. At the end of the test drive I concluded that there is not other car which can come even close to Safari. Except for turning radius (I am used to Esteem) every thing else was amazing in the truck.
I have made up my mind I am going for Safari EX or VX. Can you advice whether ABS and SRS are worth the money. I felt that rear camera is must have for the truck, since you cannot see bikes and others from the second floor

Finally for the first time I was not scared of bikes hovering around me

Cheers,
Kapil.

From the support team: Do not use font/colour tag.

Originally Posted by dadu

Buying Experience

Negotiated with all dealers, got best offer from Manipal Motors, their Sales person/manager spoke to me in a very courteous way and committed on the phone itself, for the others everytime they would call me and then sleep for 2-3 days to wake up again.

Got the following along with the Safari.
- Seat covers(fabric)
- 3M Sunfilm with warranty
- Body wax polish
- Basic accessories (Floor mats, flaps, perfume and Idol)
- Offered Bull bar -> I converted to Reverse sensors, not confident with their fitment again to Original Safari body cover, finally.

All commitments were met without any ifs/buts, contrary to stories of false promises.

I would recommend Manipal Motors, K.R. Road to others too, sales person Jagadeesh S.

Have to collect, Number plate, Seat covers and Extended warranty in 2-3 days.

Delivery

Went on the 26th late evening to check the vehicle, except for Seat cover, others were done, reason: fabric covers of 3.0 were not fitting well, need 2 days for 2.2 covers, fine, no problem.

Went on the 27th,I checked the safari as per T-BHP delivery list, paperwork was already done and kept ready, few signatures and ready to takeoff, vehicle was cleaned in the meantime. Warranty for tyres/PUC was not present, as per them its as per delivery date. All other documents (battery warranty, Immobilizer/ICE remote/vehicle manual was given). Service periods explained. They were out of stock for Extended warranty booklet.



Jagadeesh, explained all the features including the hidden fuel flap opener at the back, how to fold seats, console button, ICE operations, engine oil checking, double checked the chasis number and engine number on insurance, jack usage etc. reminded me to fill fuel first, Vehicle was at 18Kms on running.



This is Jagadeesh. Couldnt help the Sun.

Temple Experience

Drove on to the the Fuel pump, filled the diesel to the brim, moved onto the temple.



Pandit did a good pooja and then asked me to put lemons under the wheel and drive a bit forward. This is where the fun began.




Crank, no start, only a click. Crank again, no start, am confused look at the ICE and door light for power(loose battery cable, turbanmans experience), no they were running.

Get out close the door, open again and get inside.

In the meantime, both the pandit and my wife look stunned, pandit asks "not starting" I reply in a faint demotivated voice, no, try the other key, no luck.

Suddenly I press the "Unlock" button on the remote and twist the key, roar....it starts.

Realize that it locks itself even if the door is left open and no key activity after sometime.

Wait for the driving experiences post after few days.

[djbobo]

Originally Posted by dadu

Could hear rubber grinding noise if you turn completely to the right (U-Turn) but didnt hear it on loose mud, hope its from the tyre-road friction and not the wheel touching something, checked for marks inside but didnt find any.

This seems to be a problem on all Safari's. Its not the tyre - its to do with the steering.

[dadu]

Kapil, if you have the budget go for the VX, these safety features are worth it.

If not you can get the Camera fitted from their OEM ,
I have asked for the pricing.

You get used to the turning radius, you just have to make a keyhole maneuver (along the lines) for the U-turn.

Originally Posted by Kapil_Arora

Dadu, Thanks for waking me up. I had for all purpose given up on Safari but based on your and other folks feedback I had to reconsider my decision and booked the test drive second time.

This time I went for one and half hour test drive, the sales person from Manipal Motors Jagadish knows you . I was confident about Safari's Highway capabilities but I really want to test the city maneuvering capabilities. I test drove the truck through back of the Airport (off road test) to Whitefield and returned back to Inner Ring road via Old Madras road. At the end of the test drive I concluded that there is not other car which can come even close to Safari. Except for turning radius (I am used to Esteem) every thing else was amazing in the truck.

I have made up my mind I am going for Safari EX or VX. Can you advice whether ABS and SRS are worth the money. I felt that rear camera is must have for the truck, since you cannot see bikes and others from the second floor

Finally for the first time I was not scared of bikes hovering around me

Cheers,
Kapil.

[dadu]

I still am not convinced on what is the noise about, as if its from the steering it should come in muddly surfaces too.

The hissing noise from the steering(if thats what you are referring to) is about the releasing the air pressure from the power steering which is perfectly fine.

Originally Posted by djbobo

This seems to be a problem on all Safari's. Its not the tyre - its to do with the steering.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by dadu

Could hear rubber grinding noise if you turn completely to the right (U-Turn) but didnt hear it on loose mud, hope its from the tyre-road friction and not the wheel touching something, checked for marks inside but didnt find any..

That would be the sound of your 235 section tyres squeaking against smooth tarmac or concrete. Thats why you dont hear it in mud/sand. The sound is worse with the OE tyres - they really squeal when you turn the steering while stationary.

[dadu]

Oh! I also forgot to mention that I got a call from TATA motors call centre, they took 5 min survey on the buying experience etc.

I also found that the :

- The back door is rubbing against the bumper and has eaten away a 3-4 inch straight line of paint on it.

[m3_07]

Hi...I spoke to the "other branch" of Manipal & got the same offer as well. I have a question to ask - I am looking for a "swap offer" on the regular wheels to alloy wheels. The showroom quotes 25K. I thought it is quite expensive/ high & also can you please help me understand what benefits would one have with alloy wheels vis-a-vis the conventional ones?? I have decided to settle down for Lx model.

Also address of better negotiated dealers would help.

[NVM]

Originally Posted by smsrini

Agree... the remote's a help. plan to buy a iPod adapter, and a steering remote from blaupunkt, if one's available.

Both are available from Blau, what model do you have?

[dadu]

Okay, I found the culprit, it was inside and not outside.

The toolkit, the tools were causing those metal noises as they were vertically stacked beneath the carpet on the middle seat.

Also got prices for reverse camera, posted here.

Originally Posted by Steeroid

If this happens only at gear shifts, this is your universal joint. Nothing to worry about - if the noise annoys you, get your dealer to look into it and fix it.

[vividisha]

Hi Guys,

I am a newbie to team-bhp. Thanks to the reviews from you folks I had gone ahead and booked the new BEAST, and last week I got the delivery of my truck - cycus grey LX - from manipal motors ( the sankey road - showroom ). Did a few installations over the weekend - reverse camera , keyless entry, etc and did a first worthwhile drive on this Sunday. It sure moves like a dream. I think quite a lot of credit goes to you folks ( and also bm-log in a separate blog ). Congrats to all you guys also with the new BEASTs. BTW, I couldnt ressist asking this, hoping that I am not being too skeptical here, but when I rev up, I hear this knocking kind of growling sound at lower gears which goes away in a few seconds. Is this usual ?

Rightly said - now I am no longer afraid of 2 wheelers and Auto ricks :-)

PS: Just as a side note - Dadu - what exactly is 'keyhole maneuver' for an U-Turn ?

[dadu]

Congrats vivid, which brand of reverse camera did you install and the details.

Originally Posted by vividisha

Did a few installations over the weekend - reverse camera , keyless entry, etc and did a first worthwhile drive on this Sunday. It sure moves like a dream.

I have already mentioned it in my posts, its usually between gear shifts 1st-2nd on higher rpms but gets lesser after a few 100 km run.

Originally Posted by vividisha

I hear this knocking kind of growling sound at lower gears which goes away in a few seconds. Is this usual ?

Its difficult to explain so I decided to use a picture, assuming the center one as the divider, the keyhole maneuver can gives you a single shot turn as opposed to turning from close to the divider(depends upon available road width).



I hope you can make out the keyhole

Originally Posted by vividisha

PS: Just as a side note - Dadu - what exactly is 'keyhole maneuver' for an U-Turn ?

[vividisha]

Thanks for the sketch on the keyhole. Makes logical sense :-)

Its a red-soul reverse camera...the standard fittment - I guess you have talked about this is a different thread or so - 4 sensors - 2 on the bumper and 2 by the sides. I got an overall discount of around 10K on a package of Reverse Cam + keyless entry + body cover - so its kinda difficult to distribute it across. The guys at Manipal installed this, it did not seem much of an hassle though.