Tata Safari Storme or Honda City Petrol MT?


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Hi Friends

I know these two cars are completely from different segment. One is SUV meant for off roading and other is luxury sedan. Both are my dream cars.

Tata Safari
+
1. Tall sitting position
2. Comfort and space
3. Off road capability
-
1. Not so encouraging sales performance
2. Fear of getting obsolete
3. Spare part and service issues
4. Lot of small problems as per different forums

Honda City (Petrol MT)
+
1. Good mileage
2. Sharp steering response
3. Sharp Breaks
4. Smooth and responsive engine
5. Honda reliability

-
1. Low seating position
2. Don't know whether it will be comfortable for long hours of continuous driving
3. Paper thin sheet metal body
4. Low ground clearance for indian road condition and speed breakers

I would like to invite your views especially for the point of comfort for long driving hours

Note: Dear Mods move this thread to correct section if it is not correct section.
 

Akash1886

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Re: Tata Safari storme or Honda City petrol MT

Hi Friends
Honda City (Petrol MT)
+
1. Good mileage
2. Sharp steering response
3. Sharp Breaks
4. Smooth and responsive engine
5. Honda reliability
[cheers][cheers]Speaking with 4 years of ownership experience, I agree to your above points. Indeed as an owner I vouch for them.

-
1. Low seating position
2. Don't know whether it will be comfortable for long hours of continuous driving
3. Paper thin sheet metal body
4. Low ground clearance for indian road condition and speed breakers
Sir, If I compare the seating of CITY to my Esteem, I would say CITY is far superior in terms of seating and egress-ingress. Esteem is a low seater. As for the long journey, I have 2 days back completed a 550 km trip in my CITY, no fatigue, no pain, only comfort and stress free experience. I have sat as passenger majority of times in long highway trips lasting for 2-7 hours and believe me at the end, no real discomfort I can point out. As of metal sheet, yes, I agree it is indeed thin and can't bear a pebble dent. As of ground clearance, rest assured, the model of CITY that came after mine i.e after 2011, had increased GC by 5mm which helped them to pass over speed breakers without rubbing. Mine was 160 mm and it hit many breakers initially but then out of curiosity I sliced the front mud-flaps and since then the rubbing on speed breakers has reduced by 90%.

Regards

Akash
 
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I have done several day trip where i have covered around 600-700 kms single driving and so have many fellow storme/safari owners. You donot get fatigued. You remain fresh even the next day and can carry out regular routine like any other day. you dont have hangover of the driving at all.

I have no experience on City.

Rear seats in Storme are also great and passengers are very relaxed in storme. Compared to City the storme passengers may experience a bit of body roll but the major upside that storme has is there is not under body scrapping which is abundant in City.

Small bump and fully occupied City has to scrap it. In storme you dont have to bother about uneven roads. In india you dont have great roads. Yes some roads are good but when they get bad they are really bad.

so I would suggest you Storme over City. Well Storme is also easy to ride in city too. Parking may be a problem but once used to it (it takes very small time to get used to Storme) its very manageble.
 
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Hi Friends

Honda City (Petrol MT)
+
1. Good mileage
2. Sharp steering response
3. Sharp Breaks
4. Smooth and responsive engine
5. Honda reliability

-
1. Low seating position
2. Don't know whether it will be comfortable for long hours of continuous driving
3. Paper thin sheet metal body
4. Low ground clearance for indian road condition and speed breakers


I would like to invite your views especially for the point of comfort for long driving hours

Note: Dear Mods move this thread to correct section if it is not correct section.
Let me give my perspective as new gen City owner.
1. Seating is indeed low but ingress/egress isn't such a problem. I m 6.1 and its fine for me.
2. I did a 780 km highway drive last month in a single day comprising of 15 hours and it was extremely comfortable. Cruise control is a big help.
3. Agree on thin metal sheet body.
4. Never scraped any speed breaker till today in 25000 km of driving. And mine is often with 5 on board with 100-150kg stuff in the boot.
 
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I have done several day trip where i have covered around 600-700 kms single driving and so have many fellow storme/safari owners. You donot get fatigued. You remain fresh even the next day and can carry out regular routine like any other day. you dont have hangover of the driving at all.

I have no experience on City.

Rear seats in Storme are also great and passengers are very relaxed in storme. Compared to City the storme passengers may experience a bit of body roll but the major upside that storme has is there is not under body scrapping which is abundant in City.

Small bump and fully occupied City has to scrap it. In storme you dont have to bother about uneven roads. In india you dont have great roads. Yes some roads are good but when they get bad they are really bad.

so I would suggest you Storme over City. Well Storme is also easy to ride in city too. Parking may be a problem but once used to it (it takes very small time to get used to Storme) its very manageble.
Let me give my perspective as new gen City owner.
1. Seating is indeed low but ingress/egress isn't such a problem. I m 6.1 and its fine for me.
2. I did a 780 km highway drive last month in a single day comprising of 15 hours and it was extremely comfortable. Cruise control is a big help.
3. Agree on thin metal sheet body.
4. Never scraped any speed breaker till today in 25000 km of driving. And mine is often with 5 on board with 100-150kg stuff in the boot.
Being the 4th Gen City owner, I agree with harry10.

I also do frequent long highway trips, I never felt any tiredness after driving for 900KM with 16 hours of continuous drives. Cruise Control, responsive steering makes easy to drive.

But I also drove Vikyjoshi Storme, I love to drive the storme too. It's a different league. If you need command on Road, go for a Storme. I felt the clutch and steering bit hard while driving the Storme. I'm spoiled by the City [;)].
 
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As a person who has owned sedans (Dzire, Fiat Linea TJet) and driven them on long distances before, and now switched to (compact) SUV (Duster) , I can weigh in on this.

First of all, your driving perspectives matter. If I was driving a sedan like Linea, then I was assured of its ability to carve corners at high speeds. The lateral stability was like a solid ROCK.
Second, the low seating position of the sedan provided a direct connect with the road. The advantage was a feel of the surface. The disadvantage also was the same-ie, the bumps, potholes etc were felt, although the Linea absorbed them in a formidable manner. But, during some truly rough road/craters/no road sections, the Linea (and surely the City) will make its occupants uncomfortable with the stiff suspension. The City will have slightly more issues with its 165mm GC vs Linea 190mm GC.
Coming to Duster, the first advantage is the huge GC of 205mm. The second advantage of Duster (and other SUVs) is the long travel suspension that makes it comfortable for occupants at low speeds over rough surfaces.
The slight disadvantage for SUVs is the perceived lack of stability at very high speeds, ie. exceeding 120 kph.
But I have come to the firm conclusion that people should buy high ground clearance vehicles for Indian conditions as long as they keep under 120 kph. I never exceeded that speed in my sedans. So I am extremely comfortable with the Duster in the Indian context.
 
Thread Starter #9
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Oh! So many nice replies of real life experiences. These are all valuable to me. Let them coming.

Thank You friends. TAI really rocks...

After Safari I really liked exterior of Duster. But being 5.11 my head was too close to windshield, that I did not like. Otherwise it has perfect handling.
 
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Strome and City are of two different segments. If you are a high commander in road feel it in Safari.City is a sedan with low in seating and you get that crusing on highways. So you need to decide first which segment you want to go with. I recently TD Safari Strome it was really good Indian beast. It was stron fly built while you compare City it has gone worst than Maruti cars[cry]. Now Japanese car makers are only concentrating on ARAI figures so they are making super thin sheet metals[clap]
 
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Strome and City are of two different segments. If you are a high commander in road feel it in Safari.City is a sedan with low in seating and you get that crusing on highways. So you need to decide first which segment you want to go with. I recently TD Safari Strome it was really good Indian beast. It was stron fly built while you compare City it has gone worst than Maruti cars[cry]. Now Japanese car makers are only concentrating on ARAI figures so they are making super thin sheet metals[clap]
The Honda City has atleast been tested internationally by NCAP. The Storme hasnt even been through that process. So I will defer the observations on safety. With regards sheet metal, the advantage of the storme , esp in a collision with a smaller car is its sheer mass, which will absorb the impact. But at high speed, the lateral stability may be questionable. Hence the occupants may experience injuries if the vehicle rolls over, inspite of wearing seat belts. In a City or equivalent sedan, the exteriors will be destroyed in an equivalent impact, but there are lesser chances of rollover and therefore a slightly better chance of occupant safety, provided they are belted in.
The key is speed, as always, and passengers observing basic safety rules.
 
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The Honda City has atleast been tested internationally by NCAP.
Well I am not following City closely but knowing the partial treatment met to indians by the koreans and japs. the indian made Grandi10 score BIG zero where as Euro i10 grand scores around 3 or 4.
This shows that india specific models are devoid of safety but all gadgetry to make them look value for premium charge. So just need to be sure of the City which passed the NCAP is being sold in India
 
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Hi Friends

-
1. Low seating position
2. Don't know whether it will be comfortable for long hours of continuous driving
3. Paper thin sheet metal body
4. Low ground clearance for indian road condition and speed breakers
Coming to the negatives here..

1. This is not a major problem. Infact you will start loving the low seating position of the city.
2. Yes. It is comfortable over long journeys...
3. City has scored 4+ in the crash tests. For me, crumple zones are most important than the metal thickness. And there are only cosmetic differences of the variants sold in India and outside India and build quality is the same.
4.Take bad roads and speed breakers in a smooth manner and you will never face any scrapping issues.

Overall, Ivtec is always fun to drive... [drive]
 
Thread Starter #14
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Thank you friends fro your precious views.

While its true I may not use SUV for offloading 90% of time, our Indian rounds are some time worst than off roading. I'm scared of non-marked speed breakers on highway apart from big craters to test limits of your car.
 
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Thank you friends fro your precious views.

While its true I may not use SUV for offloading 90% of time, our Indian rounds are some time worst than off roading. I'm scared of non-marked speed breakers on highway apart from big craters to test limits of your car.
Well. You are right here. However take speed breakers and craters easily. Now a days, I feel Indian highways are far better. I travel frequently in Highways in TN and never faced any issues. If you want a rugged vehicle, you can also consider Duster which has ample ground clearance and best in class suspension setup...
 

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