Team-BHP - Reclaiming life - My Tata Safari TCIC. 13 years, 1,23,000 kms and counting

Here is an overall summary of my vehicle after about 6 years (11 years total) and 50k of my usage.

Pros: Space, comfort, great for long dives, like little touches like hydraulic hinge for rear door & bonnet, door pads where I rest my hand during long drives etc.

Reliability: Have been stranded only twice in city. Third time there was a loose gearbox cover, although did not not take chance and called helpline, it would not have resulted in any problem whatsoever.

Otherwise, cannot question the reliability. I have taken this car to the remotest of the places, no issues.

Reason for problem: Initially it was the steering hose pipe. But service center should have noted it before the failure. Second time alternator belt which was replaced about 12 months back only failed. Probably the spare parts quality is an issue. Third time we would guess it was the fault of the service center as they did some work before we started for the long drive.

Maintenance cost: high.

Parts replaced: Fuel pump head, radiator, front grill, both bumpers, steering column and assembly, a number of hoses, timing belt, headlight assembly, headlights, horn.

Parts serviced: Alternator, Fuel pump, Brake system, Front hub

Periodic maintenance: Suspension, clutch, greasing, wheel bearings

Tires: Changed twice (second time it was an upgrade). Currently running Michelin LTX AT with nitrogen - excellent tires.

Experience with A.S.S.: Concorde is great. But most of the times they would not attend to minor details properly. For example, they did the steering work, but in high beam, left indicator switch is not getting into the slot.

Memories: Many. This was my first SUV. It brought us back safely from many remote places in the country. I have driven this car overnight continuously for 15-16 hours, never got tired or any other issues. Same goes for passengers as well. Nobody ever complained of tiredness. We were also chased by a wild elephant in the jungle, but nothing happened.

Build quality: Solid. Once a pickup rammed into my vehicle from front left. All I had to do is to pull the dent up to its original position in a local garage. Once an auto rammed from behind. There is a slight dent, hardly noticeable.

Availability of parts: Not an issue. Some parts may require advanced notice though. As long as you have good rapport with your service center, should not be a problem.

Power: Not inadequate unless you are a racer. May feel slightly underpowered at uphill drives. But then you have 4wd anyway. Very very powerful in 4wd low, can take any terrain up to 50 degrees I guess.

Need to keep the car in power band(more than 2000 rpm) to get the maximum out of it.

Mileage: About 7.5-8 kmpl in city with 100% AC. Highway, the maximum mileage I got was about 14.8 with 100% AC.

Conclusion: Inexpensive to maintain. A used one is a real value for money as a first car.

Current mileage: crossed 96k.

Engine oil top-up: rarely required. Oil change interval is about 5k. Using mobil delvac MX for now, which feels better than Castrol. Thanks to this forum for the recommendation.

Time-for-change: May be. Difficult to find another vehicle for the same space and comfort. Reluctant to buy another safari as there are many problems reported. Took a test drive of scorpio, did not like it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sumannandy (Post 2284305)

=Time-for-change: May be. Difficult to find another vehicle for the same space and comfort. Reluctant to buy another safari as there are many problems reported. Took a test drive of scorpio, did not like it.

Good reporting. Appreciate your time and effort here.

If you are willing to compromise on look [essentially on the spare wheel mount on tail-gate], it would be worth waiting for the Merlin to be launched [maximum a couple of months away] and of course, a lot of niggles are resolved it seems and a feature set is taken from ARIA [mostly]. We get a new interior as well.

If you are particular about the spare wheel mount on tail-gate, then, the current one is really a good one and there is a good improvement in every aspect in the new generation Safari [2.2 DICOR].

And btw, Merlin is ALSO going to 5 + 2 jump seats [no front row facing seats]. This is a confirmed news from Tata plant people.

Thanks, Good luck for your next finding and I am pretty sure, you will end up in another Safari :)

Some of the problems, like broken rubber hoses etc., are due to age I would guess. Some of the problems could be due to the negligence in maintenance by the driver, our driver 'maintained' the car for complete 3 years when the car was with my parents. I am sure if the car was maintained by us, we would not have faced so many issues. Fuel pump isuue could be because of usage of premium fuel all the time (I have stopped using premium fuel after the fuel pump change).

On the other hand, many of the components in my car are completely replaced with brand new components (for example, the fuel pump head or the steering column or the radiator, condenser etc.), and most of the other components are serviced. The only parts which were not serviced are starter motor, engine, gearbox, 4wd assembly and differentials. In fact I have invested close to Rs. 1.5 lakhs over the last 2 years on this car. So hopefully the maintenance will be low in the coming years.

2009 was bad in terms of maintenance. Last year I spent around Rs. 30k. This year the maintenance is about Rs. 10k so far.

A Tamilnadu long distance bus forced me to swerve right near Lalbagh at around 10.30p.m. yesterday, and my right wheels were on the divider for few seconds. I was trying to overtake the bus on a curve, and it could not maintain line.

My wife was like "I told you not to do so" for the rest of the journey.

It was scary, but lucky for us, the divider was not high enough. And the car continued its normal course as if nothing happened.

I also hit a huge pothole yesterday near GPO. They have dug up a thin strip on the road for some work and never bothered to fill it up, and I went over it at about 30-40kmph. Nothing happened.

These thin strips are coming over everywhere in Bangalore and they never bother to fill it properly after the work is done.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sumannandy (Post 1662875)

Yes, I did. I think experience with any Tata car is pretty involved. And as already pointed out, it also adds to your mechanical qualification.

I think we all want to avoid visiting service centers as much as possible. But with a Tata car, you may have to visit the service centers regularly, although the interval will depend on the quality of the service center and the vehicle.

For example, I gave my car to Concorde for checking the diesel leakage issues. When the car came back, there were rattles from the driver side door. Not sure how did they manage to do it.

hI suman.
did you ever have any problem related to the diesel draining down from the fuel pump filter assembly).
I am having this problem currently. Not related to FIP.
Only some valve springs inside the fuel filter body.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mercedised (Post 2305394)

@sumanandy:

I could not predict the reason but it seems that your Safari is giving you extraordinary problems? Some of them are the ones which I have never ever faced till now and I am surprised by the continuity of repairs that are going on. Could you predict the reason? :)

I BELIEVE all safari's give extraordinary problems , within warranty... after warranty. ... Luckily the spares are inexpensive considering the segment because of the DNA.
Your own safari experience keeping in mind the high mileage is probly one of the very few instances of a reliable safari.

I do hope you have the same luck with the new 3.0 l dicor you have acquired.
I am personally a stickler for preventive maintenance , but believe me no amount of care is enough. The safari shall find extraordinary ways to give you trouble once the trouble starts.
Nothing to predict here except that its an unreliably engineered vehicle.
And much as i love the seating position, i have no illusion that i or anybody can predict what'll conk of next.
You' ll find owners replacing one part after another to keep her running well , till you would have replaced most of the parts except wiring harness , body , shell ,chassis, drivetrain, engine block etc. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif

Quote:

Originally Posted by HIGHNOON (Post 2546870)

I had a problem of diesel leaking from the pump, not the filter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by condor (Post 2546888)

@Sumannandy, was the road curving to the right ? If yes, then it will not be the fault of the bus.

Also, what do you mean by the wheels were on the divider ? did the wheel climb the divider - or did it rub against the divider

The road was curving to the right. But the bus did not maintain line, it almost came to the right lane.

The wheels climbed the divider.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HIGHNOON (Post 2546931)

Well, I did not buy a dicor. I think it is mercedes who bought a dicor.

Just back from some quick trips to Nandi hills, Kolar and Kotilingeshwara temple. Safari performed amazingly well in some steep curves. On a trip to Nandi hill, I could take most of the hairpin bends (all going to right and one going to left) in 2nd gear, including bend no. 33, which is very very very steep. It also returned a mileage of 17kmpl+, when I followed the advice of not crossing 2000 rpm in any gear (except 2nd gear sometimes). It was hard to follow, but my wife and mother were really happy. On the way to Kolar it returned close to 18kmpl, but on the way back, the fuel consumption was around 12 kmpl.

The gearbox guard that I lost on my previous trip is not gearbox guard, it is bellhousing cover. It is still not there, not sure if it will cause any problems.

Got the car serviced at EMM motors. Service was good. The oil was changed to Mobil Super 1000TM, which seems to be a good oil. They also greased the wheel bearings for free. But the washing was not satisfactory. Well, the washing was not bad as such, but they messed up with the electricals, and half of the lights are not working, and the washing guy had no idea on how to put the reverse gear :Frustrati.

Spoke to Mahesh, who seems to be the owner. He promised to take care of all the problems when I get the car there. This is, by the way, one problem with most of the service centers. Bigger service centers send their vehicles to rectify the problem, smaller service centers require you to bring the vehicle. I faced this issue with many service centers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sumannandy (Post 2547052)

The road was curving to the right. But the bus did not maintain line, it almost came to the right lane.

The wheels climbed the divider.

Then I will definitely NOT blame the bus.

* It's a right curve
* You are overtaking the bus from the right.
* Since the bus is also taking a right curve, it will - like all vehicles - move inwards (towards the inner edge of this curve). This inward "drift" is a natural phenomenon, and will happen with every vehicle. With large vehicles, it is more pronounced.
* Due to this inward "drift", the space towards the inside of the curve will reduce.
* Due to this reduction in available space, you had to move more & more towards the divider -till you had no more space left, and you climbed the divider.

(as a corollary, the space on the outside will increase).

Lessons to be learnt from the incident:
* Never over take from the inside of the curve. In simpler words, Never overtake from the left on a left turn, and never overtake from the right on a right turn.
* While we may not overtake from the left, make sure that you dont have any one overtaking you from the right when you are taking a left turn.

This is a simple yet very important concept that most drivers - esp the two wheelers here miss. They dont follow it at all. I suggest to everyone to step out and observe how two-wheelers try to squeeze in through that small gap on at left turns, between that foot-path corner and the larger vehicle that is also taking the same left turn.

Interesting. While I have observed almost always with bigger vehicles, I never had any troubles with smaller vehicles or cars. not that I overtake on curve always. Since it was a city road, I was attempting it.

I had a number of bad experiences with two wheelers. How would you explain somebody parking his or her two wheeler right in front of your vehicle? After all, cars cannot move sideways. I had this happening to me a number of times, and I don't know why can't just they park parallel to the road. I also had an instance when somebody cut me from left lane to the rightmost lane and slow down to take right/U turn in a highway or squeezing through the gap in front of me from side etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sumannandy (Post 2547079)

Interesting. While I have observed almost always with bigger vehicles, I never had any troubles with smaller vehicles or cars.

Suman, like I mentioned- this phenomenon is more noticeable with bigger vehicles. Actually, even a two-wheeler will show this. Just try to take a turn very close to footpath corner and see how the footpath can/will come in the way of the turning two-wheeler.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sumannandy (Post 2547079)

I had a number of bad experiences with two wheelers.

let's not even start on that ! :Frustrati
More often than not, two wheelers are like that. The driver of the bigger vehicle has to look out for the safetey of even these characters.

They just dont realise that they are not small enough to get through those gaps, they are not fast enough to evade other vehicles, and they are definitely far more vulnerable than they think they are. They dont realise that if they try to squeeze in into gaps, they can simply be squeezed (in into smaller gaps). :Frustrati