This review is with inputs from my husband as the beast belongs to him and I am mostly a highway driver for him:)
From the time, Tata had launched Safari, way back in 1990s, he had a dream of buying one. It was a big car and hence big money. We waited for long, almost 15 years! Finally, we made up all that was required to buy this beast and when we were about to buy it, news about it’s new version, Storme getting launched, was out!
Many suggested to wait for this model to get launched as the earlier version of Safari had served the market for real long time and Tata would eventually phase it out. So, we waited for another year, until - all tests were passed, vehicle showcased at the annual Auto Expo in Delhi and finally made available with dealers.
There wasn’t a mad rush or those long wait time for this vehicle, because not everybody goes to buy this SUV, only a select few die-hard fans of Safari would only understand what it means to own this monster.
Buying experience was smooth, we were in no hurry and had plenty of time to wait, it was delivered on time.
Ours is an EX model, the mid variant. The only major aspect of this variant(as compared to the base one) was the rear AC. We always wanted to go for it because it helps a lot since this is a 7 seater vehicle. The front AC vents are not enough to reach to the last row seats. The top model offered many other things including Air bags(it’s really shame and sad thing that a car costing 10+ lakhs does not offer Air bags in all of its model, that goes to show how much Indian auto industry cares for passenger safety - they want to charge a premium for this facility).
Anyways, the top end model also comes with a 4x4 model - which again, many feel that should be part of all the variants.
The biggest change Storme has done is - they have got rid of the spare wheel on its rear-door, which anyways many owners complained caused rattling of the door, after few years - a problem Tata could never fix! They fixed it in the newer launch, by taking it off the door:)
Second change is - they have changed the look of it from the front. The current front is supposedly inspired by the Range rover look, a more box type and kind of mild. Many believe, they have killed the original masculine looks of the Safari. Rest everything almost remains the same, few improvements in the interior, side profile is exact that of Safari, AC knobs, vents, boot space, seats - all of it remains same.
We brought this vehicle in 2013 and since then they have launched few more variants with couple of minor enhancements.
While you can get a list of specs online, the vehicle, as always is great performance wise, gives about 12KMPL efficiency.
While it is a strong vehicle with good engine performance, pickup, power etc, what my husband usually don’t feel confident about is it’s other aspects like niggles, electric work, fuses, knobs, AC and so on.
For instance, soon after we brought the vehicle all electrical equipment stopped working, cabin lights, indicators, wipers, central locking - after lot of trial and error method Tata Service Center, identified it as Body Computer Module failure(BCM) costing about 80K - we were shocked, how did the vehicle passed QA testing that within a month of purchase, this happened.
Even now, some minor electric failures keep happening like - wiper has stopped working in 1st speed, indicators did not come on once but have started working automatically. Out of the two keys provided by the dealer, one does not work and needs to be paired. We also had the problem of the anti-theft alarm going off suddenly - which has stopped
somehow. So, in short it can surprise you with these minor issues.
Otherwise, Safari has always been the king of the road!