[lazybrain]

Originally Posted by narayan

The Storme actually has a slight ergonomic problem on the driver side. For average 5'10" guys the stock driving position is good ( a bit of a twist to get in though ). I feel for most people the height adjustment is redundant ( so is the height adjust for the steering wheel which remains best at the top most position )

@narayan agree with you both the features are redundant and more of an option!. let me back this up a little bit - i am 6 feet tall and a very broad guy as well. if we can call it that way i set the the steering wheel adjustment to max. height and seat height adjustment to say, midway! i was driving my storme with the same settings and fabric seats until....

I ordered leather seat cover with great cushion support. Cushion support means at least 4 inches foam stuffed in between! Once the seat covers were ready and installed i tried to get in to driver's seat. To my surprise i was not able to get in to the cockpit (though this is a temporary issue and will resolve once the foam within seat covers settle down). i felt this is where steering wheel height adjustment and seat height adjustment kicks in!

Overall to sum up - steering wheel and seat height adjustment is good to have and not must have but rates much better than roof mounted AC/rear wipers for storme!

[YGarg]

Originally Posted by lazybrain

Overall to sum up - steering wheel and seat height adjustment is good to have and not must have but rates much better than roof mounted AC/rear wipers for storme!

I'd like to differ on this issue slightly..
I'm 6'8'' and bought Ex primarily due to Seat height adjustment feature. However (after using the car for few months), now I find myself more comfortable driving with intermediate seat position, much like in Lx. (Steering adjustment is standard across all variants, moreover everybody keeps it at max position so no need to discuss further.)
But the Roof mounted AC has really proved its worth, because when I fold the rear seats (to make a small bed for kids over long trips) the floor mounted AC gets obstructed and no longer remains usable for those special passengers.
Other (Ex vs Lx) features IMHO-
Arm rests - must for long drives
Fog lamps - desirable
Rear wiper - desirable

[narayan]

Completed 17000kms.

Door rattling is back - in fact came back 1 week after the service. Tried the insulation tape thing on the rear hatch and the 2nd row doors but hasnt helped. Not sure how much thickness I should keep because the door doesnt close easily once you put the tape. Really need to figure out where this sound is coming from.


Also the doors somehow need regular lubrication ( noticed this in my Vista as well ).

Otherwise the beast is doing fine.

This year I have plans for a Chennai - Leh trip ( not sure whether it will happen ) but definetly I want to try it out -- Lets see

[narayan]

A little over 1 year of ownership and the ODO stands at ~19000kms. The ownership experience has largely been uneventful without any significant hiccups. The only lingering issue of door squeaking looks more or less addressed with some insulation tape.

The beast is delivering on what it was purchased for and am expecting to add another 2000kms in the coming month.

Haven't checked FE for a long time but need to do that to see if there is any improvement on those figures

[storme'd]

Good going mate! Even I ended the 1st year at roughly around the same figure. Good to know that you are enjoying the beast. I guess amongst all owners the only major problem I have heard is changing the turbo. Else everything seems to be holding up. Wish you many more happy miles.

[ortho_surgeon]

Nice write up. Good to see that the Safari storme is giving a niggle free experience to its owners.
You guys are really bold to buy a Tata product. I had a Tata vehicle before and decided long back that it was my last Tata.

You did a very sensible decision by buying the LX version, as it will depreciate the least. A Tata vehicle depreciates the minute you drive out from the showroom. One advice to you, get all your niggles fixed in the warranty period, and done preferably in your supervision. Once the warranty expires it burns a hole in the pocket.

[narayan]

Originally Posted by ortho_surgeon

You guys are really bold to buy a Tata product. I had a Tata vehicle before and decided long back that it was my last Tata.

Actually 2 Tata products and mind you I was not too happy with the Vista but still went ahead and bought the Storme. To an extent lack of choice also plays a part. with around 10-12 lakhs budget and the need for an SUV, the only other vehicle you get is a Scorpio ( not that comfortable ) or stretch for the XUV ( did not like it ). Its such a lost opportunity for Tata that they are not able to bring away so many buyers in this price band to this competent SUV

[rohansachar]

Originally Posted by narayan

Actually 2 Tata products and mind you I was not too happy with the Vista but still went ahead and bought the Storme. To an extent lack of choice also plays a part. with around 10-12 lakhs budget and the need for an SUV, the only other vehicle you get is a Scorpio ( not that comfortable ) or stretch for the XUV ( did not like it ).

I too am of your opinion. I had the old Indica with which I was absolutely unhappy, but the Manza has been a nice experience.

Hence I am considering the Storme now. 3rd consecutive TM car

[wildsdi5530]

I'm from Bangalore, but will be doing many trips to chennai and tirunelveli. Since you are in Chennai, wanted to ask you about the effectiveness of AC blower near the foot in second row in LX. I am thinking between LX and EX. LX do not have the roof mounted AC, so will the small blower near the floor enough to keep the second row passengers in comfort during Chennai heat?

On road price difference between LX and EX is INR 1,80,000/-
In that we get:
1. Roof mounted rear AC
2. Front and rear fogs
3. Rear glass wash and wiper
4. Height adjustable driver seat
5. B pillar styling tape

Rear mounted AC is the only thing that is making me think about EX, but paying up 180K for this seems a high price.
Also please post interior pics. Esp of dash and rear view mirror.

[narayan]

21600KMS - Update


Did a 1500kms round trip to a few places in Kerala last week and some comments from the above trip


1) Places visited were Coimbatore, Palakkad, Thrissur and Vagamon
2) The beast went through a mix of smooth NH roads, completely broken down/non existent roads in Kerala, smooth twisties on route to Vagamon, steep inclines and finally a typical off road stretch of around 1km within the estate where we stayed at Vagamon
3) Enough has been said about the Storme's composure and comfort in NH roads but this trip was a revealation on the other surfaces the Storme handled with aplomb
4) On the smooth twisties on route Vagamon, I was able to keep very good speeds even on the curves without any pitching or sideways movement and was infact keeping pace with fast sedans. Of course my forearms got a really good exercise in the process
5) Driving up to Vagamon involves quite a few steep inclines because the approach roads are not built over a longer distance with a lower gradient. At a few places the gradient was quite high. I did not face much of a turbo lag issue and was able to overtake comfortably other vehicles even on the inclines.

After driving over broken stretches, a few rattles have cropped up. Will spend next weekend to identify these and try to do some damping using insulation tape.

Prior to the trip I had also noticed that the left rear shock absorber was leaking. It was dirty with dust due to the oil leakage. Will be taking the beast to the TASS to get this replaced under warranty/AMC

FE was in the region of 13.5-14.5kmpl for this trip with speeds in the region of 90-110kmph and a/c used most of the time.

[narayan]

Some pictures of the route within the estate:

Some parts of this route were full of large stones and on an incline. The 2wd Storme did just fine with the right amount of throttle input

[narayan]

This picture was taken around 630-7pm with a heavy mist passing across the place where we were staying. The paint colour kind of greyish under these lighting conditions and the simple yet elegant lines of the Storme comes out well

[narayan]

Some other random pics taken at Vagamon

[lazybrain]

Beautiful pics there @Narayan. Did you not consider installing a Hella (or some other brand) HID driving lights? I am yet to see any storme with HID lights installed. On Bangalore roads in Koramangala area i saw at least 5 different stormes till date (excluding mine) and none have installed any HID's as of now! Even in Team-BHP IIRC only 1 guy had installed HID on his storme.

Since you have munched so many miles on highway stretches with your storme, did you feel stock headlights had enough throw during night drives? I took out my storme for the first time at night during my Bangalore to Shirdi drive recently and i felt the throw was not sufficient even at high beam. May be its subjective only applicable to me since in my previous car Wagon R i had installed aftermarket 100/80 Oshram bulbs with ceramic holders and i felt in comparison to my Wagon R the throw was not sufficient in my storme.

During my last service when i was discussing this with my SA at TASC he discouraged me saying rattles may surface in your storme during long run! If it was dicor i would have confidently asked you to go ahead!

Let us all know what you think!

[narayan]

Originally Posted by lazybrain

B Did you not consider installing a Hella (or some other brand) HID driving lights?

Since you have munched so many miles on highway stretches with your storme, did you feel stock headlights had enough throw during night drives?

During my last service when i was discussing this with my SA at TASC he discouraged me saying rattles may surface in your storme during long run!

LB: apart from rattles, I feel it could be because people dont want to mess up on the warranty part due to such installations. Also even in minor frontal collisions the aux lamps can get damaged.

I rarely do night driving and hence not the right person to comment on the stock lighting but from my experience of driving in the 4am - 6am time range ( which I regularly do to avoid driving in the night ), I have found the stock illumination sufficient.