First off - Thanks for Team-BHP for being of such a source of help and advise for all things automotive (and increasingly on other topics too).
The fatty is home. Finally.
My Safari story is much older, see the first post of my other thread dated 2010 -
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...onda-jazz.html
The Jazz was the epitome of reliability and joy - not a bulb fused in 7.5 years of ownership and took us to all over south India. We hated selling it away, but its a great consolation that it found a loving new home. What a lovely car it is.
So, here we go, a new car story.
Vehicle, Variant, Colour
Tata Safari Storme VX 4x2 (400 Nm)
Colour is Pearl White
Booking and Delivery Experience
Went to KHT in Brookefield. Helpful guys.
Booking to delivery took 2 weeks. Vehicle is April 2018 manufactured, took delivery within a few days of it reaching Bangalore from the plant at Pune.
At the time of delivery the Odo reading was 38km.
Delivery Date – 20 May. Reached the dealer at about 1115 hrs, and drive away at about 1215 hrs. Documents signed, and all provided in a neat folder.
Car was spic and span, features (hardly any!!) were explained briefly and handed over.
Current reading is 200 km.
The delivery experience wasn’t special or bad, just ok. It’s surprising how ones expectations are automatically normalized when dealing with Tata Motors.
There was no in-house (or in-dealer) panditji (priest). There was none when I took delivery of my Nano from Concorde either. Though, Magnum Honda showroom had one when we took Jazz in 2010.
Price & Discounts
Unfortunately, Tata Motors increased the ex-showroom prices on 1st April from 13.85 L to 14.22 L.
While the dealer had given me a heads-up, I wasn’t able to close the deal earlier and ended up paying the extra amount.
Overall, got a corporate discount of 3K, and the month’s offer was Insurance free worth 55K. So total discount of 58K.
Love:
1. Drive feel - smooth power, lots of grunt, commanding driving position, visibility,
2. Quality - very good quality plastics, everything feels solid (nothing flimsy),
3. Looks - well-proportioned body style (no bulbous stuff, proper protruding bumpers etc), clean body lines (no unnecessary creases and style elements),
4. Space – acres of space everywhere,
5. Audio - very good stock audio,
6. AC – for a vehicle this size, the twin ACs do a fabulous job of cooling.
7. Others - solid car feel, heavy metal all around.
Dislike:
1. Gear shifts are notchy esp shifting into 1st isn’t smooth/easy – this is my biggest grouse,
2. No dead pedal,
3. No grab handles for A pillars, these are missed,
4. No AT variant,
5. No reversing camera even in top trim,
6. Old fashioned wipers (my 2010 Jazz has much better wipers),
7. Instrument cluster doesn’t have MID with DTE, Instantaneous mileage, Average Trip Mileage etc. I miss this.
8. Audio controls on the steering wheel don’t have button to change radio channels.
Exterior Style & Design
The Storme has an old-school design – boxy, straight body lines, large windows – exactly what we liked. And also exactly many don’t like.
To me, it appears to be the poor cousin of the LR Freelander 2.
The styling is non-fussy, clean and its almost completely function over form. The stance is an upright and a firm one.
Interior design & quality
The same non-fussy and clean design language finds its way into the cabin as well.
Simple and functional interiors, quality is better than similarly priced competitors. Almost all plastics are soft touch and very lightly textured, no fingerprint glossy anywhere.
The inside door handles are good quality chrome.
The fuel lid opener is badly placed with window switches, can open the lid by mistake.
Switchgear is of decent quality and should hold itself through the years. Not as good as my 1st gen Jazz, must admit.
The 2nd row roof mounted AC isn’t very pleasing to the eye, it is effective however.
Interior Space & Comfort
Nothing much to say here – for 5 passengers, Storme is the most comfortable amongst all options considered.
The old school arm rests on front row, while not modern looking like the single slab over a cooled storage box found in other vehicles, is properly comfortable due to its length.
The side facing last row seats are strictly for short distances only, say to a nearby restaurant or movie or local outing etc.
Driving position, Ergonomics, Controls, Visibility
And driving position is probably one of the primary reasons to love the Storme.
It make the driver feel like the king of the road – high, super visibility all around, height adjustable seat, lumbar support.
Given my height (5’8”), I find the Euro style headlamp switch a bit far, but otherwise, the ergonomics are spot on.
Visibility & Mirrors
Visibility from the driver’s seat is like a top-of-tree view. One sees everything, and this helps maneuver the traffic better.
One is literally seeing off the top of most other vehicles on the road. Coming from low slung car that the Jazz was, I enjoy the view a lot.
This also helps in comparatively stress free driving since I am seeing obstacles much further and earlier, so one can slow down or speed up appropriately and optimizes brakes usage leading to a smoother drive.
The side mirrors are like elephant ears, no kidding, they are huge and provide excellent visibility of the surroundings.
MID
The display is only for Odo and two trip meters.
A proper MID is missed with DTE, mileage, and more visual representation of door ajar, etc.
This certainly is a sore miss in the Storme against its peer group.
One of those easy to fix things that Tata Motors doesn’t bother to do.
Overall build quality, fit & finish, paint quality and panel gaps
Coming from a Honda, there’s lot of things to note from Build quality perspective. Eg, the panel gaps appear large and rubber beading on doors and windows could have been better.
When compared with similarly priced competing products from Mahindra, things are at par. Hexa feels premium compared to Storme. Innova more so.
Have no doubt, however, this is a solidly built car. Overall, the vehicle has a very well made feel to it.
Paint quality is really good, the Pearl White looks particularly good in the sun.
Wheels & Tyres
The size is 235/70 R16.
The tyres could be bigger, probably R18, would have done wonders for the exterior looks.
Sometimes one wonders, why Tata doesn’t even incorporate such minor enhancements into the Storme, these are simple edits.
Air conditioner cooling & effectiveness
Storme VX has dual air conditioning – front is regular dash mounted and the rear is roof mounted.
The cooling is adequate with only the front unit working.
With dual units, the entire car gets cooled within a few minutes (within 5 minutes).
No ACC is present, and neither is any digital display for the air conditioning. None of these was important for me.
Audio system & sound quality
The Harman head unit with 6 speakers setup is good and sounds better than the one I had in Jazz (hardly a benchmark, I must add).
Sound quality is good for me, and fills up the cabin with distortion less music.
Truth be told, I drive without music most of the time – I love the engine growl.
In my Jazz, I’d wait for the V-Tec to scream, and with Storme I simply love the raw powerful note that the engine gives.
There’s USB, AUX, Bluetooth, so that’s too many connectivity options already (for me).
Engine Performance & Drivability in the city & Highway
The V400 is a monster. The engine sounds like one and moves the behemoth likewise.
Power delivery is smooth and the car picks up speed quickly. But one doesn’t feel the rush like in the XUV.
In city driving is best done in 2nd and 3rd – minimize gear shift and keep up with the city traffic.
In my limited highway run (to Hoskote), the engine loves to be driven and has the potential to be the fastest one on the road barring the high end Germans.
But given that one isn’t slowing down for the bad patches, one can easily be catching up the faster car sooner or later.
NVH – Engine and Others
While picking up speed, the engine can sound course to many, esp compared to Compass, Creta and even XUV.
Once the vehicle catches speed, then the sound is smooth and muted.
However, what may be course to others, is music to me, it is actually a growl. It sounds lovely.
Have driven upto speeds of 100 kmph so far.
At this speed the cabin is silent, no wind noise, some tyre noise and you hear the engine thrumming.
But I have read that at 120 kmph, wind noise becomes noticeable, will have to check that next time on the highway.
Suspension & Ride Quality
This is the best part of the Storme.
Nothing but praises on this front – all kinds of small and medium rough patches and potholes are almost made non-noticeable.
This rides like a soft sprung car, but on sudden braking the nose doesn’t dive. And neither there is top-down (pitch) movement on undulating but smooth roads.
Tata engineers have done a fabulous job on the suspension setup.
I do suspect that I should reserve my judgement regarding pitch movement until I have driven the Storme at 120 kmph on slightly undulating roads.
Handling, Stability, Body roll & Turning radius
Steering control and feel is surprisingly direct, I had expected it to be a bit vague, but it isn’t. It is wonderfully direct for a vehicle this size.
Body roll exists, but it is expected for a vehicle this size and height.
Storme doesn’t like being thrown about, not that it get unsettled or feels dangerous, but the passengers start complaining before the car does.
Turning radius is 5.4 meters, it is amazing, I tell you.
This Safari can handle all city roads easily, go into those little side roads without hesitation, this elephant is nimble. A little blind though, since it has no reversing camera !!
Gearshift & Clutch
Okay, this is my primary grouse – the gear shift into 1st is notchy and not smooth at all. I almost hate it.
Other gates are okay. Nowhere close to Creta and the likes, which are superb.
Clutch, on the other hand, is better than sedans. Extremely light and not a long drive either.
Usage pattern
Weekdays is about 15 km (round trip) of work commute in regular city traffic (not too dense). Weekends is general in-city driving.
We do about once in 3-4 months outstation trips to nearby holiday spots (Ooty, Bandipur etc)
Typical usage should be approx. 8000 km per year.
Alternatives Considered:
We did check out and also TD'ed a lot of cars over the past year - the new Elantra, just launched XUV, latest Scorpio, Compass, Hexa, Innova, Creta.
Except the Elantra and Hexa none of the alternatives presented any dilemma.
1. Elantra – in that Blue, is simply too gorgeous a car to ignore. But a back-to-basics analysis on what I really want to drive and where, solved that too.
2. Hexa – is a great car, but appears too van’ish. Even after booking the Storme, the dealership kept insisting that we buy the Hexa.
3. XUV – what an engine and smooth planted drive. But rejected because we found the design too loud, interior is cluttered, claw handles, wavy pattern on dashboard.
4. Scorpio – took the TD just because it’s the chief competitor to Safari. It is still cramped and the windshield to too close to the front passenger head.
5. Innova – TDed because everyone in my circle loves it and buys it. From inside is the best of the entire lot, but it just doesn’t make you look back at it. Excellent buy from a financial perspective, but pulls no heart strings.
6. Creta – very well put together car. Rejected because the top end (Diesel) was coming pretty close to Safari price, and size much smaller.
Extended Warranties & AMC
Will take the EW when I go for 1st service.
Based on recommendations from T-BHPians, I will not take the AMC.
Safety Equipment
Storme scores low on safety features, no doubts about that. It has:
Twin Airbags
ABS with EBD (there was a sticker on the rear saying “ABS 9.1”, anyone knows what that means?)
This vehicle sorely misses the Hill Assist and ESP. Its dimensions and weight certainly demand these features.
Fuel Efficiency:
Have hardly run to be able to provide any numbers here. Keep watching this thread.
Tanked up just after delivery, and was shocked to see that the tank took in 57 liters. (my Jazz would take probably 32 max)
Interior storage, practicality & boot space
Coming from Jazz, which had class leading count of cubby holes everywhere, Storme falls short of interior storage.
There aren’t many, and one misses them.
Primary misses are between front seat storage (cooled), upper dash storage and near center rear view mirror for sunglasses.
I don’t miss the third one, coz I wear prescription glasses so don’t wear sunglasses. Ha.
Boot space is large enough to move a house. Fold up the side facing seats and two adults can play Bridge there.
Conclusion
Its probably obvious already, that for us a car is a Heart buy.
If a car doesn't tug your heart, forget it, despite whatever your analysis and excel sheets say.
So, here we did it again - heart over mind. Prayers that this proves to be a good move again.
Thanks for reading.
cheers
lazy