So after trying to get a TD for some time, me and my wife could drive a Storme.
Truck: Tata Storme VX 4X2 - done 24XX kms, Pearl White body color.
Dealer: Concorde Motors, Guindy, Chennai
Date: 11.12.13 5PM
Area: Palavakkam, ECR
Preface: - A bit longish one.
My current car is a 2007 Petrol Swift completed 62xxx kms. It has served me well and i have had tremendous fun traveling to many parts of the country (shifted jobs between Noida, Bangalore and Chennai). States visited are RJ, DL, HR, UP, UK, MH, GJ, AP, KA, TN, KL including a 2500 Kms journey in 2009 Dec from Noida to Bangalore. I have always driven cars with relatively higher seating positions Amby (dad's), Maruti Omni. WagonR and now Swift. Some how i don't feel comfortable driving very low slung cars like Polo, Esteem.
Recently on a trip to Rameshwaram i met with an accident, where a dumper truck smashed the driver side of my Swift
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ml#post3192727. Luckily no one was hurt since front passengers were wearing seatbelts.
I am currently looking at Storme EX and XUV W4, since my budget is 14 lacs OTR. I dont like the (all due respect to owners) overgrown hatches EcoSport, Duster etc. Like the Yeti but that is out of my budget.
TD Experience:
Storme has very good road presence and the new Land Rover inspired front look nice. I went over the features and other things first. Looked at the new system (in Storme) of keeping the 5th wheel. Although this system steals the beastie look of the Dicor, but it is better for my back.
The Stereo has iPoD/Aux and USB. I didn't try any media, but the SA put on some FM channel. The speakers are crappy. However, not sure if the head unit will perform good with good quality speakers.
Rear AC was a boon. Recently hired a Innova which did not have rear AC and family had a tough time coping with Chennai heat (which is not at its peak now). AC is a chiller, but again the weather gods are quite bountiful on Chennai nowadays. But i am sure after reading other posts that AC will be good.
Started the truck and started rolling out. Noticed the clutch was quite hard. SA mentioned because i was graduating from a petrol hatch and also it is a new car. Combination of both resulted me in feeling that clutch was hard. I disagree though. I had TD'd the XUV 2 months back and its clutch was not as hard as the Storme. That XUV had done 17xxx kms.
I didn't feel much lag, obviously Storme is more than double the weight of Swift and the swiftness will not be there, but otherwise it was quick and body roll has reduced a lot from Dicor, which i TD'd atleast 2 years back (with a friend who purchased it).
Flies and Wasps (Autos and Indicas) were giving way without blowing the horn and even rental Innovas showed respect. Ride was super comfortable and plush and real estate was not an issue at all. Tried through some broken patched near the beach roads in Palavakkam and Storme took everything aplomb.
Overall i liked the Storme. It is now a mind vs heart game. Mind says XUV, heart says Storme.
Some fights mind and heart is having:
Heart: Storme can be serviced anywhere, XUV has to be taken to specific dealers and trained technicians only
Mind: XUV W4 has airbags, which Storme EX does not
Heart: Storme has a old world charm and in Indian roads for 12 (?) years. Had proved itself
Mind: XUV is a new, radical design
Heart: Storme has stereo (HU), front and rear fog lights which W4 doesnt have
Heart: XUVs are dime and dozen in the roads now, Storme is still exclusive
I leave this discussion here for the time being. I will TD both cars again back to back to check again on the performance (inside city) and comfort. I am in no hurry. I will buy around Feb/Mar 2014.
Storme EX was quoted at INR 13,83,640 by Concorde. This includes extended warranty and AMC.
Ex-Showroom: 1139406
LTT: 172411
Logistics: 7500
Insurance: 46250 (Not bumper to bumper). I can take my own insurance
Extended Warranty: 4th year and additional 50,000 Kms: 7980
AMC: 10093
Price of TML cars will increase by 1% from 01 Jan 2014.
There is only a cash discount of 20,000 right now. No other offers. He said he will check whether my company is listed in their database. If yes, there will be a corporate discount, not a major amount. He didn't disclose the amount. I didn't speak about freebies. Will take them up after i make a decision.