The Tata Safari is a good car. It could be a lot better, especially if quality issues were addressed, and it gained some power (or lost some weight!) It most definitely is NOT a competitor for the Likes of Land Cruiser or Pajero. It simply doesn’t come close in power, quality and pedigree.
I bought my Tata because it was cheap, large, and a diesel. I also like the looks. The seats are comfortable, it is very economical, and handles and cruises satisfactorily. I have a perverse desire to be different, and have owned some pretty weird makes over the years.
The plastic parts are dreadful. Simply awful. Fit to be thrown away. The pedals are poorly placed. The car needs the option of an automatic gearbox (please import one though, the Indian made manual box is pretty ordinary, and mine had to be rebuilt at 30, 000km). A fuse box on a 4wd should be enclosed. The airconditioning and power steering should work all the time. On mine the steering, air and driveline compete for miserly power when driving in sand. It often stalls.
As I’ve said, I like my Tata, despite its faults. It has character, is reasonably easy to work on, it’s different to the usual run of Japanese 4wds (common where I live) and the parts seem cheap. It could be a really great car given attention to the details.
Update at 50, 000 km:
I’ve had major problems with my air conditioning (which, as I live in the tropics, is used all the time). Very costly, too, and that’s using non-Tata parts. Tata parts were incredibly expensive, in line with Japanese spares. It still doesn’t work very well, I suspect the compressor is poor quality. In addition to my comments on Indian plastics (they would have to be the worst in the world), I can add the quality of Indian rubber and steel. My door seals are all perishing, and several suspension bushes are on the way out. Some are moulded into the draglink, which has to be replaced as a unit! My lower balljoints also went at a ridiculously low mileage and were expensive.
I’ve had my sump guard welded four times. A new one from Tata is ridiculously expensive, I could have a custom-made aluminium alloy guard made for half the price.
Tata themselves don’t respond to contact from owners, it appears, and don’t respond to criticisms, as the current models are tarted up with fancy seats and DVDs (adding to an already hefty weight) while ignoring the lack of power, rubbish plastics, rubber and steel, overall poor finish, poor air conditioning, gearbox and power steering. It is this overall quality and power (lack of) image which contributes to abysmal resale values in Australia. On top of that there are too many stories of engines blowing up at stupidly low mileages, and dealers giving up on Tata because the backup is so poor. Unless Tata deals with these issues in a hurry (and I don’t think they will, despite the endless ’’self back patting’’ they do on their website) Tata will become an orphan brand in Australia, labellled a joke in the same way the Russian Ladas were.
I still like my car, it’s comfortable and economical, but I’m growing tired of endless expensive visits to the car repairers and bits falling off all the time!