[jaysmokesleaves]

Originally Posted by yogeshnaik

My friend wants to buy a Safari, can you please let me know how much mileage do you get in City and Highway for this BS4?
Thanks.

A suggestion for your friend.
Do not buy a Safari if 'mileage' figures as your primary requirement for the ownership of this suv. While the mileage isnt at all disappointing for this 2.5 ton suv, the pleasure of ownership w.r.t the capablities of this suv goes way beyond any mileage figure that you hear from anyone, anywhere.

Cheers,

Jay

[kaviprem]

Originally Posted by yogeshnaik

Congrats on your BS4 Tata Safari. Great SUV. Its also my favorite. Make your own road!
My friend wants to buy a Safari, can you please let me know how much mileage do you get in City and Highway for this BS4?
Thanks.

Thanks Yogesh.
On mileage part, my [ONLY] test so far was a combination of highway (40%) + city (60%) that got me 10.9kmpl and it was prior to 1st service.
I am sure, it should stay around 10-11 kmpl for 100% city drive with 50% A/C.

It takes almost a month time for me to fill up this 65 litre huge tank !!! But, yeah, there are tanks like Fortuner that takes 75 ltr too

I should be able to answer you with precise data in a week's time.
But, it wont be way out of other SUV's including Fortuner or Pajero or Scorpio (I think so).

Like Jay pointed out, if mileage is your/your friend's ONLY concern, no need to worry or re-think about it. Try getting one prior to price hike. you still have 1 full day (March 31, 2010)

Prem.

[yogeshnaik]

Originally Posted by kaviprem

Thanks Yogesh.
On mileage part, my [ONLY] test so far was a combination of highway (40%) + city (60%) that got me 10.9kmpl and it was prior to 1st service.
I am sure, it should stay around 10-11 kmpl for 100% city drive with 50% A/C.

It takes almost a month time for me to fill up this 65 litre huge tank !!! But, yeah, there are tanks like Fortuner that takes 75 ltr too

I should be able to answer you with precise data in a week's time.
But, it wont be way out of other SUV's including Fortuner or Pajero or Scorpio (I think so).

Like Jay pointed out, if mileage is your/your friend's ONLY concern, no need to worry or re-think about it. Try getting one prior to price hike. you still have 1 full day (March 31, 2010)

Prem.

Thanks for the info. My friend is really comparing Safari to Scorpio. But I told him there is no comparison between the two vehicles. Safari is true SUV and is faar ahead. The DiCOR engine seems to be an joint venture between Tata and Autrian design, but I am not sure. Had a talk with Concorde guys, there will be a hike in price in April 2010. I personally own a Vista purchased from Concorde Motors, Dairy Circle. Much satisfied with their service till today.

[bj96]

OT: I feel obligated to post this.

Originally Posted by bj96

I had a silver coin (Lord Ganesha idol) stuck on a dummy switch on the center console. It went missing after second visit to TASS...

I was cleaning the internals and out of curiosity just pulled the ash tray (no one smokes in my family) and guess what I found:



So, I was grossly wrong in assuming someone at TASS had flicked it- not everyone is dishonest .

-BJ

[kaviprem]

Had a nice very Tirupathi trip and first of all, had a good Darshan, collected all laddus though the Darshan waiting was really horrible and [in my personal/humble opinion] its totally unorganized and am sure, TTD can do a lot better for the benefit of devotees and tourists.

Now, Lets talk more on the road-trip now.

Road-feel NH4 (under construction)
Good feel, No complaints on driving, Jerks, bad patch, pot-holes, bumps all negotiated very nice at comfortable speeds where I could really feel how other cars & MPV's had to cut down the speed for various reasons.

Up-hill (Tirupathi to Thirumala)
Just awesome, All of 20 KMs done in 3rd gear in around ~60 KMPH speed.
No power lag at all through out the drive. comfortable over-taking of bus, lorry and other cars even in up-hill.
Never felt out of control. Excellent road grips including all the hair-pin bends.
I felt very satisfied with the vehicle performance.

Down-hill (Thirumala to Tiurpathi)
Super smooth, Mostly done in 3rd gear and all the pin bends in 2nd gear since there were too speed breakers as it was down-hill and steep is also higher than the up-hill. I think, its the design purposefully done. Very nice.
Same here too - Felt very satisfied with the vehicle performance and completely in control through out the down-hill drive.

Tirupati town-drive
Good and surprisingly easy to negotiate the town-traffic and to me, it was easy to maneuver and even in Bangalore city traffic, I dont feel its very difficult to do so. I am fine with it.
NOTE: This is my very first Tirupati visit and in couple of places, I had to enquire on the driving directions (inside town).

ABS
Someone was asking about ABS testing/usage and YES, it came in handy when a scooter appeared before my vehicle suddenly from the cross road and though I was in the speed of 20's, I had to do panic-braking and drive away a bit from the scooter.
I heard some tuk-tuk-tuk sound (with a good vibration feel on both body & heart) and noticed that the scooter (chetak) had projecting-out rear foot-rest. So, I was clearly prepared to have some scratch on my polished bumper as I connected the tuk sound with that of foot-rest.
Came home and surprise, no scratch at all. Then, I cleared up my mind that tuk sound was my ABS !!! Happy then.

Over-all road trip
260 KMs end to end. I did it in 4.5 hours and this NH4 is in pathetic shape now till Kolar (Bangalore to Kolar stretch). Its being converted to 4 lane (2+2 with a median).
So, a lot of diversion and patchy stretches all over.
Considering this, I believe, its a good and safe speed where I topped upto 120 KMPH and man, the vehicle is so stable there and I didnt hear any complaints about the top speed from other passengers, especially, my wife !!!

Over-taking
Its so easy in all kinds of road since Bangalore-Chittor highway itself has climbing up/down section. In either direction, I never felt loss of power and mostly passed other slower vehicles in either 4th or 5th gear comfortably.
Infact, I liked better to drive on up-hill than the plain roads now I can really feel the vehicle power in 3rd and 4th in up-hill. Just awesome.

All of this road-tip is on two way roads (NH or SH). So, anytime, when a vehicle from the opposite direction trying to over-take another and the moment I flash the high-beam, those vehicles just disapper back to its track except some buses who dont care (anyways).
All the other vehicles (car, MPV, other SUVs) do honor Safari for its size and power (hopefully).
I am sure, this should happen for other SUV owners that they dont want to mess with their counter parts though its of different brand !

Safari's close relative
The rear door "minor" squeals are back now after driving through the patchy roads for few KMs. Need to check/fix it up.
After completing the full drive, back home and just had a look at the bottom and found a little water dripping and stopped in few seconds.
I checked up the floors inside and no water found. Should it be A/C water ? Any suggestion or guess here please ?

Mileage
Just prior to this trip, I filled up the tank so that I could get the perfect 100% city mileage (50% AC on) that came upto 9.75 KMPL. I am perfectly satisfied with it as my Marina (Petrol) used to give me 10-10.5 KMPL in the same roads/traffic conditions (Home-Office drive).
Based on the current fuel guage marker and the KMs I drove in this trip, I think, it should be 13-14 KMPL with 100% AC on. I will check it up and update the thread ASAP.

Prem.

[Bose]

Prem,
I let my wife drive today and sat in the passenger seat to get a feel. The rear door squeal is prominent from the middle row with the stereo OFF. I really cannot hear it from up front. Need to figure out some DIY for this.

[kaviprem]

Originally Posted by Bose

Prem,
I let my wife drive today and sat in the passenger seat to get a feel. The rear door squeal is prominent from the middle row with the stereo OFF. I really cannot hear it from up front. Need to figure out some DIY for this.

So soon, you are thinking/talking about "DIY". Welcome to Safari club
Just kidding, its good idea to find something like this definitely.

Btw, if you havent already, please read through the Safari manual and we will know a lot of information about the vehicle and good/best practice to keep up the vehicle in good shape, atleast, I got to know a lot of such things.

Prem.

[HappyWheels]

KaviPrem,

The water would be from the condensor. Nothing to worry about.

Apart from that, seems like you have done most of the run-downs required.

Waiting for the mileage figures.

[kaviprem]

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

KaviPrem,

The water would be from the condensor. Nothing to worry about.

Apart from that, seems like you have done most of the run-downs required.

Waiting for the mileage figures.

HW, Water from condenser is a normal thing ?
Run-in's - YES, I myself was surprised to complete 2000 KMs in exactly 45 days ! 1st month - 1020 and the next 1000 in next 15 days time - really surprising to myself
Mileage - Should be up here tomorrow (April 5, 2010).

Prem.

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by kaviprem

HW, Water from condenser is a normal thing ?...

Condensation on A/c usage is normal. Normal occurrence.

[kaviprem]

HW, Let me get this right.
Water from condenser coming OUTSIDE (below) the vehicle is a normal occurrence.
But, getting flooded inside (like you got sometime back ?) the vehicle is due to some pipe leakage.
Right ?

Prem.

[harendra]

Congrats Kaviprem
Where did you take your testdrive of the safari and did you decide on the safari based on the test drive, if not what other factors drove you to the Safari.
I had a test drive of the safari in Concorde Motors, Dairy Circle and I don't think I can decide not to buy the safari based on just one test drive which was also just 2 kms around Forum mall. The interiors were pretty dirty, Clutch was very hard, gear shifting was pretty hard especially after you are used to driving the Honda City, also the Safari variant was not 2010.
Any Recommendations?

[kaviprem]

Harendra, I decided on Safari based on following reasons.

1. Look and Road presence
2. Seating comfort - on all seats including the rear (2 side/jump seats meant for kids/small adults - my 4 yr old daughter really liked it).
3. Features list like all safety, security, entertainment, etc ... (referring to VX only).
4. Above all, I already had a Tata Indigo Marina (Petrol version) for the last 5 years and am highly convinced with that (Dairy circle) Concorde Motors sales & service folks. I always had good experience with them.

I am not sure with whom (sales rep) you are in touch with. Call Mr. Shrinivas (sales lead focusing only on Safari) who would be able to explain everything, both + & -. Also, insist on 2010 VX test drive that arrived on Feb 19 or 20, 2010. Its a 4X2 version of VX model.

I had 3 rounds of test drive - 1 on outer ring road (KR Puram to Malgudi stretch) where I topped 100/110. It was a brand new EX (I took it from KHT motors). 2 on Whitefield road (Hoody to Big Bazaar stretch) where I reached 90, but I had a chance to check out its turning radius since one side of the road was dug up. It was comfortable to me then. 3 on where you went (around Forum mall) which was a stupid for Safari
2 & 3 was using the Black/Earth GX version of Safari and I think, thats what you would have also taken.

Prem.

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by kaviprem

HW, Let me get this right.
Water from condenser coming OUTSIDE (below) the vehicle is a normal occurrence.
But, getting flooded inside (like you got sometime back ?) the vehicle is due to some pipe leakage.
Right ?..

missed out the "on the inside" part!

This should not happen, but then it does with extended usage of the A/c. I get few drops dipping on my feet when I make a sharp turn, but apart from that, I have not found a constant drip inside the cabin.

I did, however, notice a damping of the side B-pillar due to water from the roof top a/c console.

Not much worried about the drip from the front, but going to check the B-pillar damping.

@Harendra: Would recommend you follow Kavi suggestion for the TD.

[gowda79]

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

I get few drops dipping on my feet when I make a sharp turn, but apart from that, I have not found a constant drip inside the cabin.

This happens and observed even in our old Esteem while using the AC for a longtime.

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

I did, however, notice a damping of the side B-pillar due to water from the roof top a/c console.

Never happened to us in our King and should get it checked immediately.