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-   -   Tata Safari 2.2 A Detailied TD Report (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/29878-tata-safari-2-2-detailied-td-report-28.html)

Congrats 'Country Road'. Welcome to the club :Cheering:

Is the registration open in Gurgaon? Delhi RTO is not registering the 2.2 right now.

For those wanting to register the 2.2 in Delhi -
I mailed Tata Motors today and got a prompt reply.

Congrats !! Country Road - My only suggestion here is do not take the beast beyond 100 km/h during the running in period - atleast till it clocks 1800 Kms. Also, do not rev the engine too much. Enjoy the beast and learn to tame it !!

Hey Country Road, congrats on your new acquisition, wish you happy motoring with the beast. As Power Ranger mentioned, take it easy till you cross 1500 kms or so - follow the instructions in the Owners Manual & you'll be good to go!

Not sure if those statistics are correct, at least in their workshop. If you walk in on a weekend, the bulk of the vehicles are private cars.

Must share an anecdote on my experience (non-sales of course) with Sanya. In the initial stages, I had a couple of incidents where the cam sensor played up & the truck didn't start (cam sensor was subsequently replaced under warranty).

Incident 1: Happened at home, called up the Dhingra Motors helpline, service vehicle arrived in half an hour, fixed in less than 5 minutes & we were good to go

Incident 2: Happened when I was leaving Office (Okhla Phase 3) in the evening, obviously Dhingra's were at the other end of town. However, called up the Dhingra Sr WM, he gave me Sanya's helpline & asked me to call them (they are in Okhla Phase 1). I did - first reaction of the driver was, "can't come now, please call the workshop". Called the workshop, was told that they would send a TOW TRUCKlol: to take the vehicle to their workshop & would attend to it the next day. I tried to coax them & cajole them, telling them it was a two minute job so could they please come but it was all to no avail! So I called up the Dhingra Sr WM again & asked for help. Now hear this - he called them up, blasted the hell out of them, told them what the problem was & how to fix it & asked them to send their service vehicle immediately. The buggers still didn't call me back, so I called them again. Reluctantly, oh so reluctantly, they said they would make their way to my Office "shortly".

They did arrive half an hour later - they were not so clued on & it took them a good twenty minutes to get the truck going. I thanked them profusely but swore - no Sanya again if I could help it!

But of course, this is on the technical side whereas yours was on the sales & marketing side (and I know that some of the better & decent salesmen at Dhingra's have moved on) so - good to hear that Sanya did well!

Hey thanks. The LX 2.2 that you see in those pictures is as stock as it can come, nothing changed/added. I would like to change the Bridgestone tube tyres to tubeless, but fund wise right now I may be the poorest Safari owner around!!! I had just about a budget for Indica/Wagon R/Palio which I extended to the 2.2 anyhow [I was determined to own a Safari], so everything is going to remain stock for some time to come. So if anything you have to change, change to tubeless, even to the same size at least.

LX Cycus Grey does look good. The test vehicles majority came as Cycus grey and I was very much put off at first by that colour. However, when I later saw the production car in the showroom realized that there is a huge difference in the colour quality and must be for that reason the fade coloured Cycus Grey has been designated as the test vehicle. Thus in summary, it does look very nice, more particularly since it is LX, it goes very well with the grey cladding.


I will be putting up more pictures, may be over the weekend.


Anyway as for me, go for the 2.2, it drives great and is fun to drive. No hassles TILL NOW.

Thanks buddy, every note from you makes me more comfortable to go for 2.2 LX. I guess Cycus Grey is done now, though I like light golden, but grey cladding does not gels with golden very well. And I do not want to get it painted.

Now need to work on finances, year end I have to work on the tax saving investments as well. So will be the poorest year end for me as well.

Eagerly waiting for more pics.

I was also facing the similar problem.
Booked with A-One motors on 19/10/2007 promised a car within a week by 26/10. Called them on the D-Day they said that there is some problem with the transportation and will get definately in 3-4 days i.e. 31/10. Thought it was OK
on 30/10 I get a call from their GM and first he apologized and then said that they still had some problem and the car would be available maybe by Diwali. I dint say anything to him but dint cancel the booking.

Got myself a list of Tata Dealers the next day and started calling all of them and asking for their stock cars. I had booked Artic White. None had artic white. two dealers had pearl white (my second choice) and one of them had 3 pearl white.
Went to that dealer who had three and gave him the advance on 31/10. I had already made my demand draft so went to the bank for the change in name. Once done I became the proud owner of a DICOR 2.2 on 01/11/2007

So when I got the delivery went to the first dealer and gave him the booking cancellation letter.
So I should say
Advance at the 1st dealer 50000
total payment at the second dealer 939000
look on the salesman face when you cancel the booking PRICELESS


Welcome to the Safari club. The beast sure is awesome. The feeling is simply amazing. Cant describe it in words.
One has to experience it to know it. And I believe it as time passes it the bond keeps on getting stronger.



Hey Guys I was thinking it it safe to take the beast upto 100 Km/H. I am driving only upto 60-70KM/h as the service guy told me to drive at that max speed only untill I complete the first service. I have clocked about 400 KMS till now.
Secondly what is the optimal gear changing speed. What I am doing now is take the RPM upto 3K and change the gears and when in 4th keep it upto a speed of 60 Km/h. If I put it in the 5th @ 60 Km/h it starts to make some weird vibrations (though only very mild) and they vanish above 70Km/h.
Please advise.

Keep her sounding happy/comfortable.

During the highway trip while going, I was keeping it within the recommended levels as per the manual [with the max being 100-110 in 5th gear] and also took regular breaks.

I am changing gears at 2 mostly to 2.5 K rarely. That mild rumbling kind of vibration is there in the 5th at around 60 or below. The rpm at that time is around 1.5 k. To minimize it, I slowly and gradually increase the speed and then the vibrations are not there or very minimal in the 5th or go down to the 4th.

Do post your FE figures and what brand of diesel you are using.

It seems for me that I was getting better FE figures with REliance than with the BPCL High speed diesel - though the final calculation will be done once I refill again.

Sure I also very much liked the Light Gold EX that was there in the showroom and it looked fabulous but definitely with grey cladding, and I have seen one light gold 3.0 on the road, it does not match at all.

Well in a sort of way, the dark grey interior will not get dirty like that of a beige interior and also with scratches inevitable in the city, the grey cladding will have less visible marks than that of a full body coloured one. But do get the tubeless tires - apart for all the benefits of having tubeless, changing tires of a Safari is the most ardous thing - I did a dummy practice before going for the trip and it really sweats you out.

Also do check out the Mountain Green colour, that also should be good though I have not seen one.

About the interior quality, fit and finish, the less the better. All switches and panel looks misaligned. Why cannot/will not improve puzzles me, may be with the 2.2 Mahindra coming may be they will improve.

Anyway I have stopped looking at the interiors and just enjoying my ride. Ride is superb, no question about it - that is the money's worth.

Its my third day with my Silver 2.2 EX 4X4. Even in such a short span this experience is rendering me incapable of driving any other vehicle. I find it hard to drive my Ikon now. The clutch on my Ikon feels nonexistent (though this should be a good thing) and secondly i keep driving over potholes as if my Ikon has 2 ft ground clearance:confused:. I need to find a way to get a mental task switch for the 2 vehicles quickly.

Couple of questions for the current 2.2/3.0 owners --
1) Do you use Premium or Regular fuel (The book says use Premium, though my Dealer advised me against using Premuim)?
2) Have you locked the spare tyre? If so is there any special type of lock for this purpose?
3) Beyond the one rule that you should drive within the 2500rpm boundary, is there any other specific precaution i should be taking?

jatin, you forgot the 1 minute idling on cold start and before switching off rule ! :)

Good to see that you are getting into the Safari mode- yes, driving another car after the safari can feel a bit odd!

60 kmph is way too low in 5th gear for this beast - it wallows happily in 5th post 80-90 kmph; if you use 5th at lower speeds, you will get that vibration.

Till 1500 kms, you can go up to (but shouldn't exceed) 100 kmph. Gear changing at around 2.5-3k is good.

Have fun mate

Suman, its 2.2 and supposedly better in-gear, so 5th gear at 60 wont be that much of a problem, relatively speaking. The 3.0 would almost be at idle rpm in 5th gear, dead as a dodo :D

I am also on the look out for such information.


The running in period speeds are there in the manual on page 77, with the top speed being 65 in 3rd, 90 in 4th, and 110 in 5th.

For the turbocharger care, instruction in on page 133 - "Idle engine for a while [30 secs] after starting the engine and before stoping the engine to ensure adequate lubricating oil supply to the turbocharger." Also on page 76 - "Do not press accelerator while starting engine"

For catalytic converter, on page 132 - "Should be flushed ----".

Also "periodically check tthe engine's radiator and AC condensor for leaves, insects and dirts" on page 134.

I am slightly confused right now...I have to go in for a SUV. Suzuki GV though slightly out of budget is my favourite (Automatic) but wife is not happy with it and would rather prefer Safari. I took test drive of Safari 2.2 VX and I really liked ABS at 90KMPH.

If Safari I would prefer 4x2 LX (no EX) but ABS is must which Tata is not offering right now. Would be happy to have team's comment.

By the way while researching I read on Mouthshut that current 2.2 CRDI engine in Safari is sourced from Fiat...how true is that?