Why I chose the Maruti Invicto to replace my 10-year-old Safari Storme

So we wanted a vehicle which would double up as a holiday vehicle. Thus a good cruiser was essential.

BHPian chinkara recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Some of you may know that I have been a proud owner of a Storme VX 4x4 for 10 years now. But with the 10-year rule in NCR, I have also been an enthusiastic participant in the What Car threads for some time, and also discussing the dilemma in the Storme thread (Tata Safari Storme : Official Review).

So I thought I'll finally create a thread to discuss the options and the decision process. I will not go through detailed pros and cons but highlight what made us put a car in / drop a car from the shortlist.

Choices:

• XUV 700
• Scorpio-N
• Jeep Compass
• Jeep Meridian
• Skoda Kodiaq
• VW Tiguan
• Toyota Fortuner
• New Safari
• Innova Hycross
• Invicto

Then, the decision criteria. We already have a Tiago EV which is used mainly as a regular office commute by my wife, although I too use it for meetings within Gurgaon when she works from home. So we wanted a vehicle that would double up as a holiday vehicle. Thus a good cruiser was essential.

Do we need a 5-seater or a 7-seater? We used the 7-seat facility in the Storme well. We have gone on trips with my parents, in-laws, and SIL and her family as well. But now, with both our parents 70+, it is unlikely they would join us for long tours. A 7-seater is good to have but not essential.

Do we need a 4x4? As I have said in other threads, we have probably used the 4x4 thrice in 10 years, but those 3 times were fantastic. Also, my long pending Ladakh trip (which I and a friend who is currently in the UK promised to do together) would welcome a 4x4. Thus I would prefer 4x4 but not essential (hence the last 2 were added to the list).

Waiting for Godot redux... Last time I waited and waited for the Duster and delayed the Storme purchase by 2 years, only to conclude after the test drive that I liked the Storme more. (probably better as I got a more sorted, niggle free vehicle). This time I really wanted to look at the X-trail. I have driven my friend's vehicle in Dubai and wanted to snap it up if it was available around 40L.

But in spite of waiting for 2 years still no sign of it.

Now my vehicle was completing 10 years in 2024, so I could not risk further delays and impounding, as happened to a colleague of mine. So started the test drives from Oct 2023.

• XUV 700: We took a test drive and felt the suspension to be a problem - much like why we rejected the 500 10 years back. It simply did not have the handling, particularly in curves, that we were used to in the Storme.
• Scorpio N: I was really keen on this (the guy next to me in the parking lot has one, and I have taken it out for a spin). But ruled out by the home office. Scorpio has a bad image problem in the North with politico vehicles having Pradhan ji stickers all around. She felt the same would be the case with the ScorpioN and she refused to drive or ride such a car.
• Compass: A good friend was buying the compass. I took a test drive and liked it overall, but there was a small doubt about the turbo lag and overtaking from dead slow. Also, a colleague owned a Compass and had horror stories about both fuel efficiency and maintenance after 3 years. However, I overlooked such stories with the Storme and decided to stick the Compass in the list for now.
• Merdian: We had a good test drive. Kids liked the last row. Wife liked the suspension. I liked the driving ergonomics but gained the nagging doubt about the turbo lag and the overtaking power. We also loved the green colour and decided to stick it on the shortlist.
• Kodiaq: I have used the Kodiaq a bit in Europe last year and loved the car. The reported transmission problems were ok with me. It is a good car with good suspension as well. However, I had hesitation plonking 50 L plus on a car, similar to Poloman (Want to buy a 45 - 50 lakh SUV | How to get rid of the middle-class guilt?) -so decided to put it on the waitlist.
• Tiguan: Loved the drive. It is such a smooth car. No turbo lag as well. But we felt it is effectively a 4 seater and overpriced at around 40L. So dropped from the list.
• Fortuner: It was considered for being a 4x4, but the price, waitlist, and the fact that currently only white and black are available made us drop it
• New Safari: Now here comes a rant. Tata completely changed the Safari DNA. Just after they got it right with Storme and Hexa, they decided to vacate the 4x4 space. The new Safari is simply not there for old Safari owners. However, we decided to give it a shot as we were really happy with the Storme, and we decided that we would do without 4x4 if needed (there were no reasonable options except the Jeep duo).

So we took the test drive (actually it was the first test drive). And ended up with more frustration. Storme was a brilliant ergonomic car. I have done non-stop 16-hour drives with 2 kids, done Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Kolkata, Delhi-Ahmedabad etc. several times. And drove extensively in hills, forests everywhere. Here, after 20 min, we all felt a lack of under-thigh support and I had a knee fouling problem. So we rejected it.

Then the 2023 edition was launched. I sat in the vehicle in the yard, and spent 30 min to find a comfortable driving position, but no luck. So with a heavy heart, dropped it.

• Innova Hycross: We were thinking of looking at the Thar or the Jimny when my wife spotted the Hycross and wanted to take a test drive. But they have been refusing to take bookings for the variants we wanted.
• Invicto As soon as it was launched, we wanted to explore the Suzuki twin. So we took a test drive and we liked it, including the space in the last row.

Then the decision. It effectively boiled down to Compass / Meridian vs. Invicto.

Invicto was the cerebral choice, but I was not getting the thrill in the heart that I had while buying the Storme.

Between the Compass and the Meridian, the Meridian was more refined, but it was also 8L extra. Additionally, I had nagging doubts about the pick-up and turbo lag. This, coupled with the FE were the doubts.

We spent a few agonizing days undecided. Both of us agreed that if we had a BS6 Storme available with comparable FE (I get 11-12 in the city, 15-16 on highways) for around 30L, we would simply buy it with our eyes closed. Also, we cursed the NGT ruling - our steed (solely driven by me, well maintained at Arya Tata) was good enough for another 3 years if not more.

Finally, we decided to go with the Invicto. The doubts were too much for the Jeep twins and we did not have the unanimity of heart we had with the Storme. Completed the payment on the 31st (year-end billing incentive) and will take delivery on our new year in mid-April.

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