Team-BHP - Tata Safari Storme : Test Drive and Review. More pics: pg 47

:) again size factor is mostly a perception, i had kept Safari as my last option just because of the size factor, but once i drew it i felt it was very easy to maneuver, now that turning radius thing is taken care in Storme it should make it much easier to handle it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rajshenoy (Post 2936600)

Exactly. My reasons are different btw. cramped Bangalore roads, lack of parking etc. May be if i can reclaim my life by driving this beast in Bangalore city .. makes sense. but for that i would wait for ownership feedbacks

Also you own/owned, Adventure, RE,RX, Shogan. A person like you will always love Safari

And i come from Maruti, TVS, Hero honda background, so it takes courage to come out of the shell sometimes.

I continue to aspire and drool at Safari and hope to own it some day.

TML, you give a reliable and niggle free car that lets me go to service center of my choice just once a year. i am your fan and will stand in queue to buy one beast.

It's a nice SUV and we all agree on that. However, when someone wants to see it, its never in the showroom. Be it the old one or even Storme; I am unable to find them at any of the TAMO showrooms near my area (Balaji Motors; Fortune cars) on the other hand, Global Gallery is proudly displaying a Rexton along with a test car!

When I looked at their parking lot, to me it looked like - Tall, Taller, Tallest!:D

Quote:

Originally Posted by lohithrao (Post 2936727)

again size factor is mostly a perception, i had kept Safari as my last option just because of the size factor, but once i drew it i felt it was very easy to maneuver, now that turning radius thing is taken care in Storme it should make it much easier to handle it.

Man dont tempt me any further :uncontrol

I am on the hunt for a new car next year and by then if things look rosy for Storme why not ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by apachelongbow (Post 2936509)

Disclaimer: I am writing the below with absolutely no intention of offending any Mahindra owners please

Tata vs Mahindra seems more class vs mass to me. Product by product a Tata product seems more targeted at the class audience vs rural folks, small time politicos, musclemen, etc etc who seem to be the majority of Mahindra users.

Which class you are talking about? Man, the Indica (The whole range) is not a class by any means. Safari was the only saving grace for TATA that too more into looks than the product quality. I don't see XUV is merely a rural car anymore. Your assumption of it being a mass car seems totally out of place. Safari also has its share of niggles and looking at all TATA new launches, the first batch of Storme customers is surely going to be beta customers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lurker (Post 2936632)

But Toyota does have an ace up it's sleeve in terms of lifecycle costs specifically with regards to the Fortuner. Member after member have mentioned very low service costs sometimes as low as 350 to sometimes at the level of a swift when engine/gear oil change etc is involved. So Toyota does charge a premium, and a rather hefty premium, initially but rewards the customer gradually with lower service costs. Also just regular visit to the Service Centre. The Storme needs to replicate that for the above statement to run true. So only time can tell whether Storme is 90% of what the Fortuner is.

There is a big IF, but if (:D) the Storme turns out to be generally consistently reliable, then the Storme will also have low lifecycle costs.

That the Safari had/has varying degrees of reliability was/is well known. I owned a Safari (till Aug 2012) which sat on one extreme - of being highly reliable. And I had astonishingly low costs of servicing. So the point is, if the Storme is adequately reliable, the servicing & maintenance costs will be low.
I just hope that this time, for once this Safari, in the new avtar is reliable. A 1 lac/3 year warranty - extendable to 4.5 years/ 1.5 lac kms - gives me good vibes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb (Post 2935944)

VX and VXp have 2 columns each - one for the 4x2 and the other for the 4x4 variant. If you check the difference in weights, that'll illustrate my point. That's why there are 7 columns.

Cheers,
Vikram

The e-brochure from the same official website doesn't mention about VXp, its just got LX EX and VX(4x2 and 4x4)

Tata Safari Storme : Test Drive and Review. More pics: pg 47-tbhp4.png

Quote:

Originally Posted by apachelongbow (Post 2936000)

A lot of members I observe only need to write something or the other, may be just to vent. Are they potential buyers? No, Are they current SUV owners? No. So what is the requirement to discuss the haves and have nots of a newly launched product, based on some xyz idea of what an ideal SUV must be, what must be the ideal price, what would be the percieved quality, how it is overpriced and so on and so forth.

Most of the rant seems to be of this order. Oh the Safari xyz version doesnt have this, doesnt have that, is grossly overpriced and a/b/c/d SUV from x/y/z manufacturer is so much better. However if Safari sold at 7lac ex showroom for the top end with all bells and whistles I would def buy!!!
And the rant about how at 10lac ex showroom Safari will sell only 1000 pieces a month and so on.

Come on folks. If you are so interested in the Safari, wait for the reports, test drive it and then decide and comment. After all the EMI difference btwn a loan of 10lac or 15 lac is about 3k per month!!!

I agree with you completely. However, the difference in EMI for a loan of 10 and 15 lakhs is not 3K per month, its 10K per month.
Per lakh loan EMI is approx 2K per month.

Quote:

Originally Posted by diwa (Post 2936869)

I think TATA made a blunder by having variants Lx,Ex,Vx for Storme and dropping the Gx.

Instead if they had variants Ex,Gx,Vx, then people wouldn't be complaining about the price comparing with existing Safari Lx price.

I think GX will come over time. As in the last Safari, GX was never the part of the launch, it came in after several years. So when Tata feels they can plug a gap regarding price/features, they will launch the GX.

Interesting to see if Tata retain the current Safari, even in the LX/EX form. If they do, in a while we will see the Storme interiors in the older Safari too. After all the cabin is the same.

I am interested in two things for now
1) Team BHP test report
2) Monthly sales data for 3 months after Storm has started selling nation wide

Note from Team-bhp support: Please use the EDIT or MULTI-QUOTE buttons instead of typing one post after another on the same thread!

Well, I for one found the pricing as per my expectations and it held no surprise when announced. Now, people might want "this and that" in a particular variant, but let us give the manufacturer some credit, all the "want" factors and at "what price" must have been considered before packaging the product, so to me it seems like Tata has now offered a large range of SUVs from Safari LX to Storme VXp across price ranges and features.
So, it is a simple "get what you pay for" methodology is what I think of the product.
All those who waited for this, please check out the TD in person and I'm sure a lot of opinions will change :).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lukeskywalker (Post 2936923)

Likewise well summed up Lukeskywalker :) . For that matter i would definetly wait for 6 months down the line and check out 4x4 for the price they offer now is very competitive given the market conditions.

eg. in base 2.2 lx if we plonk in ABS + EBD + Immobilizer + seat height adjustments.. its already costs upwards of 80k. So all in all old 2.2 at 8.x + 1.x approx with new chassis and gizmos it approximating the new LX price demanded by storme lx. Nice aint it ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by diwa (Post 2936869)

I agree, all the features added and badging it as LX is not a clever move. People buying Safari for status will still say its base model or not the top variant.

May be OT but I actually liked the specs for the Safari Storme GS 800 that is being developed for the armed forces. :D
If only i had the cash and TML would sell it to me stupid:

The description of these vehicles as per the press release dated March 29, 2012 (http://www.tatamotors.com/media/pres...ses.php?id=741) is -
Tata Safari Storme GS 800 4x4: The Indian Armed Forces are currently looking at procuring a 4-wheel drive, high mobility platform, for induction into the Defence Services as a General Service vehicle; to be used for transporting officers during peacetime, as well as during conflicts, across locations in India. Tata Motors has designed and developed the Safari Storme GS 800, in-house, in line with the requirements of the forces.

Tata Safari Storme Armoured: With the strong resurgence of threat perceptions amongst high profile dignitaries, trade delegates, etc., the need arises for a mode of transport, which is very safe, but at the same time comfortable and stylish enough for this segment of people. Tata Motors offers the Tata Armored Safari Storme, equipped with latest state-of-art technology, for catering to VVIP movements. The Armored Safari Storme inculcates a strengthened chassis & suspension system, enhanced braking efficiency of the vehicle, to take care of the additional armoring weight, so that the performance of vehicle remains similar, to that of the unarmored Safari. Such a vehicle carries a CMVR certificate and is legal to run on road as per CMVR. The vehicle has internal Up-Armoring and to the untrained eye, the look is "innocent".

Total Specs can be seen in the pdf, it is simlar to the newly launched storme except for the added defence features - http://www.tatamotors.com/pdf/defenc...round-note.pdf
(See pages 10 to 12)