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Old 29th February 2012, 18:27   #301
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Re: Tata Safari VX 4X4 - 2010 variant

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Originally Posted by jealousdiamond View Post
Thanks Prem . Would be of help if you can check with Tata folks about the availability of the Tata OEM . How does the Tata one look like , something similar to Carryboy ? I am looking for something more compact than a Carryboy and something bigger than a HIKER Light bar to install Hella 700 .
Very much like Carryboy in physical dimension.
I dont know about HELLA 700. But, if you are planning to fix those lights within the nudge guard, it would be very close and you may not get the light throw and visibility coverage.

Prem.
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Old 5th March 2012, 06:35   #302
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Re: Tata Safari VX 4X4 - 2010 variant

Hi All, Any suggestion on this ?

Air Compressor 12V Electric tyre inflator -Air Pump | eBay

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Old 2nd May 2012, 07:14   #303
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Bangalore - Udupi/Malpe beach

Onward
Bangalore - Hassan - Shakeshpura - Dharmasthala - Belthangandy - Manipal - Udupi - Malpe Beach

Left home @ 8:00AM, reached Malpe Beach around 6:00PM. Rediculously slow since I went through Dharmasthala unnecessarily. Thanks to one of the guy who suggested this route ! Also, stopped at several places to ask for driving directions.

Return
The best route was on return - all clean & faster roads.
Malpe Beach - Mangalore [outer] - NH 48 ghat - Shakleshpura - Hassan - Bangalore

Left the resort @ 7:30AM, reached home @ 4:30PM. Few stops were unnecessary, just for switching places, baggages, rearranging the seats, etc ... Meanwhile, the DVD didnt work. But, yeah, cant help while travelling with 2 kids

Drive was simply awesome. While returning, I clearly felt that I wasted 2 years of my Safari ownership without going through these kind of roads. More than the Madras highway, Safari suits the best these kind of GHAT sections.
Excellent feel on the wheel, very stable all through the bends, ramps [both up and down] and did it in a decent speed through'out the ghat section of about 160+ KMs.
My wife shot some video while returning through the ghat section. I will share after some editing.

This beach trip is so special to me !
For the first time in my 4X4 ownership, I took my Safari to the beach [not exactly to the water though], just around the beach sand where I tried the 4L mode. Initially, I started with 2H itself and I thought, it pulls nicely in 2H itself.
Once I am in middle of the sand, I switched to 4L, then started driving. Wow ! It was so nice and could feel the difference immediately b/w the 2H and the 4L in terms of vehicle strain [not sure, if I am putting this right].
In 4L mode, from the moment I left the clutch in 1st gear, vehicle started moving smooth, then, the 2nd gear, had good power. I didnt try for a long stretch since the resort guys were kind of telling "if you get stuck, there is none to pull it out" though I did see a couple of tractors, etc ... Anyway, didnt take a chance, thanks to my family
But, yes, I did it after 2 years of Safari ownership.
Again, have a video clip, will share it after a simple edit. I am planning to add the Safari music to it. Lets see how it comes out.

Few observation
1) In few up-ramps in ghat section, I went past a little beyond 3K RPM in 3rd gear. Oh My GOD, Safari pulls like anything ! I never did that before.

2) Usually, in 4th gear, I dont go beyond 85/90KMPH post which, I will change it to 5th just to keep the RPM around 2K. In few stretch around Hassan where there are a couple of ramps, I went till 100 KMPH in 4th gear. Again, the same feel of pull.

3) Maximum speed I reached was 140 KMPH [as per ODO] and it was in 5th gear where it just touched 3K RPM. I am not sure if I remember this right. I somewhere thought 3K in RPM would reach around 150+KMPH. Can any Safari buddy confirm this ?

Overall, the drive was very satisfactory, comfortable and no complains from anyone inside the safari !

More importantly, moment I reached home @ 4:30 yesterday, me and my wife felt like returning from office, but not like a 9 hours travel. We were right on time for the "May day" special Tamil movie [NANBAN, remake of 3 IDIOTS] in "Vijay TV" and settled well.

I rest.

Prem.
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Old 2nd May 2012, 09:58   #304
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Re: Tata Safari VX 4X4 - 2010 variant

Nice drive Kavi. Could please post more details about the place you visited with some photographs please?

Driving Safari on ghat or road it never disappointing with 140 BHP on pedal. I did numerous trips with my 1.5 year old Safari, all drives are quite refreshing and enjoying from most of the places of Down South, Central and Western India to North India I did recently (5000 Kms), in which almost 700 Kms I had driven in virtually no roads (MP, Jharkhand).
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Old 2nd May 2012, 19:26   #305
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Re: Bangalore - Udupi/Malpe beach

A nice read. Await photos/videos.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kaviprem View Post
3) Maximum speed I reached was 140 KMPH [as per ODO] and it was in 5th gear
where it just touched 3K RPM. I am not sure if I remember this right. I
somewhere thought 3K in RPM would reach around 150+KMPH. Can any Safari
buddy confirm this ?
I had touched 3k+ in 5th gear for a brief while @170. But sorry, do not
remember precise speed when it touched 3k. Difficult to keep a watch on dials
at that speed!


Quote:
Originally Posted by kaviprem View Post
More importantly, moment I reached home @ 4:30 yesterday, me and my wife felt
like returning from office, but not like a 9 hours travel.
Same here. Just returned from a trip of Kokan region. Did a break onward
journey though traveled for 8 hours with a couple of breaks on the return
journey. We were still quite fresh on return... Plan to write a travelogue.

I have been to ghat regions in different parts of Kokan in Safari before. I
think this time I managed to achieve greater comfort for everyone in the car -
that's what they said in comparison with any of our previous outings on such
roads. Don't know what I did differently. Probably kept it simple. Did not
juggle too much with gears. For most of the tough stretches it was in 3rd
gear. For brief stretches where speed increase was possible, I allowed the rpm
to rise instead of switching to higher gear for a matter of a few seconds.

Besides ghats, there were too many rough roads that were just cruised past with
ease without much drop in the speed. Felt amazing. In prior such outings, I
used to drop to dead slow speeds which was my hatch habit.

Mayuresh.
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Old 2nd May 2012, 20:20   #306
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Re: Tata Safari VX 4X4 - 2010 variant

Guys, Dont beat me up
I had this video captured with the infrastructure I had and tried to edit with what I know of ! I couldnt think of better BGM than its own !

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Old 2nd May 2012, 20:45   #307
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Re: Tata Safari VX 4X4 - 2010 variant

Quote:
Originally Posted by kaviprem View Post
Guys, Dont beat me up
I had this video captured with the infrastructure I had and tried to edit with what I know of ! I couldnt think of better BGM than its own !
NKAP with Safari ! - YouTube[/url]

Nice effort Prem But it looks like James May driving Version for a Jeremy Clarkson Music

Try something like this next time.


Last edited by PAVAN KADAM : 2nd May 2012 at 20:48.
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Old 2nd May 2012, 22:55   #308
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Re: Tata Safari VX 4X4 - 2010 variant

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Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM View Post
Nice effort Prem But it looks like James May driving Version for a Jeremy Clarkson Music
PK, Nice comparison. Sure, am planning to try little more than this. But, this is the first time I am trying the 4L. So, wanted to be really safe. Also, family was around. So, didnt want to scare them !
Will I match what you put in above ? No, I cant unless thats my primary job

Prem.
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Old 4th May 2012, 15:38   #309
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Re: Bangalore - Udupi/Malpe beach

Quote:
Originally Posted by kaviprem View Post
Onward

Drive was simply awesome. While returning, I clearly felt that I wasted 2 years of my Safari ownership without going through these kind of roads. More than the Madras highway, Safari suits the best these kind of GHAT sections.
Excellent feel on the wheel, very stable all through the bends, ramps [both up and down] and did it in a decent speed through'out the ghat section of about 160+ KMs.
My wife shot some video while returning through the ghat section. I will share after some editing.


Few observation
1) In few up-ramps in ghat section, I went past a little beyond 3K RPM in 3rd gear. Oh My GOD, Safari pulls like anything ! I never did that before.

2) Usually, in 4th gear, I dont go beyond 85/90KMPH post which, I will change it to 5th just to keep the RPM around 2K. In few stretch around Hassan where there are a couple of ramps, I went till 100 KMPH in 4th gear. Again, the same feel of pull.

3) Maximum speed I reached was 140 KMPH [as per ODO] and it was in 5th gear where it just touched 3K RPM. I am not sure if I remember this right. I somewhere thought 3K in RPM would reach around 150+KMPH. Can any Safari buddy confirm this ?

Overall, the drive was very satisfactory, comfortable and no complains from anyone inside the safari !

Prem.
Dear Kavi - beautiful trip, nice brief travelogue.

I was a little surprised to see that you dont rev too much and 3K rpm is occasional. With a Safari I feel it is hard to keep her bogged down. Her beauty and strength lies from 2K rpm to 3k rpm in 3rd, 4th and 5th gears.

Yes, 140kmph at 3K rpm is about right. I think it is a little beyond 3K to get to 150 and 160kmph; not much of a difference.

I routinely put Bulgy through her paces in this range, and she flies. My home - office -home route has couple of 5km open stretches (Varthur - Attibele) and daily get to move her around 100kmph.

With Safari, all drives are beautiful. No pain. No stress. Only pleasure. SUVs Rule!
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Old 7th May 2012, 06:53   #310
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Re: Bangalore - Udupi/Malpe beach

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Originally Posted by verditer View Post
Dear Kavi - beautiful trip, nice brief travelogue.

I was a little surprised to see that you dont rev too much and 3K rpm is occasional. With a Safari I feel it is hard to keep her bogged down. Her beauty and strength lies from 2K rpm to 3k rpm in 3rd, 4th and 5th gears.
...
Verditer, yes - I always keep the RPM around 2.8K max in my regular drive. Moment, I see the raise in RPM gauge, I will up-gear.
But, yes, it was a pleasant surprise to me while I crossed 3K RPM several times in 3rd gear in the ghat section this time.

I am going to Ooty by this month end. I am hoping, I will get more chances to do the same

Prem.
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Old 13th May 2012, 19:53   #311
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Re: Bangalore - Udupi/Malpe beach

Quote:
Originally Posted by kaviprem View Post
3) Maximum speed I reached was 140 KMPH [as per ODO] and it was in 5th gear where it just touched 3K RPM. I am not sure if I remember this right. I somewhere thought 3K in RPM would reach around 150+KMPH. Can any Safari buddy confirm this ?
Yes I had a chance in a day tour of Pune-Mumbai-Pune to get the exact reading. It was exactly 3k at 140kmph.
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Old 13th May 2012, 22:41   #312
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Re: Tata Safari VX 4X4 - 2010 variant

Kavi, good report!

Good to know you enjoyed your trip to the coast, had known would have caught up with you somewhere on the road

meanwhile my truck is doing its running in on ghats/semi-ghat kimd f roads for last 2k kms and yes for sure its fun

Liked the bullbar on your truck, which one is it and how much did it cost?

OT, Anuj have you put up your logue yet on the recent trip?
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Old 14th May 2012, 06:39   #313
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Re: Tata Safari VX 4X4 - 2010 variant

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Yes I had a chance in a day tour of Pune-Mumbai-Pune to get the exact reading. It was exactly 3k at 140kmph.
Thanks Mayuresh for confirming.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lohithrao View Post
Kavi, good report!

Good to know you enjoyed your trip to the coast, had known would have caught up with you somewhere on the road

meanwhile my truck is doing its running in on ghats/semi-ghat kimd f roads for last 2k kms and yes for sure its fun

Liked the bullbar on your truck, which one is it and how much did it cost?

OT, Anuj have you put up your logue yet on the recent trip?
Yeah, could have met. But, we have decided to come that side at least twice an year [one pre rain and one post rain]. I will let you know in advance when I am coming that side next.

Bullbar - 12K, but I feel its not worth since the light is just another pair of lights. No real use with the light. Its better to go for a simple nudge guard and a pair of HELLAs for more practical lighting.

Prem.
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Old 14th May 2012, 13:48   #314
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Re: Bangalore - Udupi/Malpe beach

Kavi/Sures/Anuj,

Sorry for the OT guys, my truck makes a weired noise, something like a tappet kind of noise at 4th gear, in the rpm's between 1600 to 2200, now the noise gets louder or prominent only when i accelerate hard on 4th. esp when their is slight incline but on flat th sound is very low.

What i have gathered speaking to few safari owners that the sound should mellow down as the kms gets added but the TASS felt we may need to check the "clutch release bearing"

Wanted to know if you guys faced something similar when the truck was new??


thanks


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Old 12th November 2012, 16:06   #315
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Re: Tata Safari VX 4X4 - 2010 variant

Last week, while I was going to Chennai [rained and was raining heavily then], accidentally, I was into a water splash, not at a great speed though. Then, I heard a scratching sound from down under the vehicle [almost the centre]. The vehicle was moving fine, no other issues.

I pulled over and tried to sneak under the vehicle and I could see the cover [technically, called the "Shield"] was hanging around there, all around rusted badly. May be, it was just hanging and greatly disturbed by the water logged in the highway.

I did my best to fold it over to the top so that it didn't touch the ground. Somehow, successful then

Photos attached for reference.

Reaching Chennai, found a shop where I could mount the vehicle and went under it to see what exactly was the problem. Took a couple of shots. Then, called up my service manager [in Concorde Motors, Begur gate]. He said, nothing to worry, remove the "shield" completely, Avoid big pot holes, Come back to Bangalore, will see then.

Current condition - Running without the "shield" and being very careful and avoiding bad pot holes and water logged areas !

Looks like a bad timing - festival time, sourcing the part is delayed by a week or so, but, heard, it is already billed and coming this week, need to follow up again.

Did anyone else had this "rusting" problem and is it so normal ?

Prem.
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Tata Safari VX 4X4 - 2010 variant-16102012001.jpg  

Tata Safari VX 4X4 - 2010 variant-16102012002.jpg  

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