Finally a decent home grown SUV

 

I have been driving this beauty since last June, It was a dream come true for me, when i drove home a Black TATA SAFARI 2.2 VTT EX. I live in Pune, the city of two wheelers, small congested roads and crossed lanes, and I had mixed feelings about this decision just as i drove the first couple of kilometers on to the main road.

But it was really surprising how fast you get used to this beast, and by the time i reached home, most of the butterflies were settled. Tiny irritants like the shabby interiors (trademark TATA), bad quality fittings, the death rattle at slow speeds (although it is not consistant) were still killing me. Add to that, thick black smoke bursting out of the exhaust during instant throttle.

Interiors and fitting quality 3/5

Driving on City Roads 4/5 (Finding parkings on roadsides can be tricky too)

But all this was immaterial the following weekend, the day i hit the highway :) I travel to Mumbai, almost every weekend and the moment i hit the express highway, this beast makes you forget all my worries. The responsiveness, handling, comfort was just out of the world. Negotiating tricky overtaking maneuvers on single way highways was easy too when you have beef loads of power on your disposal.

Power 5/5

Handeling 5/5

The ability of the safari to accommodate people also is outstanding, specially if your outing with friends or family. The small seats at the rare, might look small, but believe me, if i can sit on them, ANYONE can be comfortable there. The air conditioning too is strong, never had to set it to more than 2, ever.

Seating 5/5

A/C 4.5/5 (i'll explain the missing .5 later)

Negotiating long drives on the Safari too is a breeze; i once took a road trip to Goa, with one stop on both ways, and never felt I was pushing myself. Driving comfort is a straightforward A+

Driving Comfort 5/5

Couple of things you need to be absolutly sure before and when you buy the Safari:

§          You are buying a TATA Car, so don’t bet in the interior quality and an absolutely silent drive :)

§          You'll need to quickly adapt to couple of issues, like the thick black smoke i mentioned, or the A/C fuse that might short if your not careful. Workarounds are, don’t throttle like a maniac, its VTT anyways, you'll get used to it. And DO NOT switch the A/C on before you crank up the engine, the fuse WILL short if your don’t take care.

§          DO NOT compare the Safari to some foreign guzzler SUV's coz they are NOT in the same segment. People have to shell out atleast twice the amount to buy and maintain them, and YET the safari can give them a run for their money in terms of the power and comfort. If you don’t believe me, do your own homework by comparing the safari to those guzzlers, even carwale.com would help you do it.

§          SAFARI IS DEISEL, most of the other SUV's aren’t.

§          Try to get the speed to gear ratio right, this will help you keep the car silent.

§          And FINALLY……VTT, something I can talk about for hour’s together, or even you can lookup on the internet, but nobody can explain you this technology better than the Safari itself. Don’t believe me? Take a test drive, preferably the highway, notice the behavior of this beast once it crosses 2200 RMP

 

Performance and Comfortinteriors not upto the mark