Re: Tata Safari Storme : Official Review For a quick comparison between my 2012 Safari GX 2.2 and the 2014 Storme VX, firstly both the cars are 4x2 versions and the GX was driven about 25000 kms in 2 years before it was sold and the current VX is done about 14000 kms in about 10 months.
1) The Storme feels tighter all around. It is a general perception of look and feel,rather than concrete points. If I may use a lay man example it is how a body on frame bus from Tata or Ashok Leyland feels versus a Volvo bus. In the Safari everything felt as if it was put together but the last tightening of the screw was left aside. Not that anything fell apart or something, but a general perception
2) Sound deadening. There is a significant noise reduction in terms of in cabin noise and engine noise. I have concrete data on this since I used an android phone sound pressure monitor to measure both cars. In the GX the engine sound externally was bout 75 decibels in idling and in cabin noise (windows rolled up) at idling was about 60-70 decibels. At cruise between 100-120kmph in the GX the sound rose to about 90 decibels at peak.
Comparing the above with the Storme the idling decibel engine sound is about 50 and in cabin at idling is about 50 decibels again, and in cruise at similar speeds is about 70 decibels. The Storme engine definitely is much quieter both at idling and in cruise as well as full chat. There is good amount of thought process in cabin sound deadening and it shows, the Storme is a much quieter car to drive and overall stress levels reduce.
3) Rattles and creaks. The Safari as we all know used to make lot of funny little sounds, which when sounding together made an impression that it was not a nicely built vehicle. The tailgate used to rattle and squeak even after it was tightened periodically by the service center, typically every 3000kms or so the sound used to re appear. The dashboard, steering column, seats, seatbelts all used to make periodic rattles or squeaks especially on bumpy roads.
The Storme on the other hand is a revelation in this aspect. For all my 10 months of ownership I have not faced a single squeak or rattle, yes the explorer edition leather upholstery makes some leather squeaks here and there, but the car is fully silent. Thankfully I have not faced the dreaded tail gate rattle as posted by some other members in this forum, may be Tata have improved the design in the 2014 models. It is as silent as any Toyota model in this respect, as the low cabin decibels reflect.
4) Performance. My Safari GX had the Mark 2 gearbox hence the gear ratios were the same. Hence 100, 120, 140 and 160kmph comes in at the same rpm in similar gears. Engine wise the Storme has gotten much smoother and refined, from the truck like to a car like in behavior. However the turbo surge and the kick felt in the Safari is kind of missing in the Storme, so a little bit of that hooligan behavior is lost.
I believe some gear ratios may have been altered in the Storme, because I observed poor response from my Storme when climbing the Ooty hairpin bends, I had to choose 1st gear because the car wouldn't climb in second and there was wheel-spin in first. The Dicor could climb the same ghats in 2nd and sometimes in 3rd.
The Dicor (at least mine) had an over optimistic speedometer, because the top speed I touched in the Dicor was at least 15 kmph more than the Storme. However when comparing the speeds with the phone gps speeds, the Storme speedometer is within 8kmph, so i am sure the Dicor was over reading at higher speeds.
5) Fuel economy. The Dicor I feel returned a marginally higher fuel economy than the Storme. It could be the result of the revised gear ratios not suiting my driving style but, the Dicor used to consistently return 13kmpl even in the city where in the Storme barely manages 13-14 on highways and in the city it returns about 11kmpl
6) Interiors No comparison here, the Storme wins hands down. The soft touch plastics, the quality of the plastics and the fit and finish is way way better than the Dicor. The Dicor felt adequate in the world of qualis and the Scorpio and the Storme can hold its own among Ventos and the likes.
7) Look and feel. Both have their own charms, the Storme has several land rover inspired elements which look good and stand out in light colors such as pearl white, the Dicor is the macho SUV, which can look good covered with dirt. As for me, I like both.
Lastly, I am extremely happy with my Storme and I believe it is a logical upgrade to the GX. It has all the strong elements and carries forward the Safari DNA without losing anything but adding stuff like reliability, modern touches and much improved interiors and look and feel.
I have not compared the Aria chassis, the rack and pinion steering wheel, the all wheel disk brakes, the airbags and Abs etc, since these have been reviewed in detail earlier.
Last edited by apachelongbow : 20th March 2015 at 14:28.
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