Tata Safari Storme EX Ownership Experience (Mixed Bag!)

[dbeast78]

I have been dreaming about moving to a SUV since last 1 year. Took test drive of almost all the SUVs in 10-17L bracket. The last one to drive was Storme, the ride handling, suspension and the road presence completely got myself hooked to 'THE BEAST'. There was no turning back since I took the test drive.

All my immediate family & friends , except the current safari dicor owners were asking me 'Why Tata'? I didnt realize the depth of that question at that point, which is dawning upon me now 2 months post the ownership. (more on the TASS & TML service experience below!)

After negotiating hard with the dealer (KHT) and postponing my purchase decision a few times from June, finally bit the bullet on late August. The catalyst being a handsome discount & exchange bonus along with a pretty good price for my faithful 1.3 L Getz.
I booked a EX urban bronze storme and luckily there was a JUly make readily available with the dealer. Once my loan came through, did the PDI (THx to the TAI checklist) and okayed the vehicle. In all it took barely 10 days since paying the booking amount to lay my hand on the beast. Took the delivery on Sept 1st week with accessories of reverse sensor (complimentory), Explorer edition Nudge guard, Door Visors & Chrome garnishes & Yoko Geolander 255 Tyre upgrade on day-1.
This is my 8 th week of ownership and have already clocked 7000kms in the odo with close to 5 trips to Kerala. The experience so far:
+ves

• Ride Quality in the highways is heavenly
• Soaks the craters and bumps effortlessly
• Tireless Driving without breaks for upto 400+kms
• Amazing road presence
• No-nonsense breaking - once had to do a hard breaking near a divider in the highway and vehicle behaved splendidly under the circumstance.
• Very minimal body-roll even while taking curves
• Transparent Turbo kicking-in post 2000 rpm -sometimes wonder if am driving a luxury sedan with its effortless overtaking
• Out of the world rear-seat comfort (both my mom & wife vouches for it)
• A boot that can put to shame a mini packers n movers (personally experienced during my last trip back from kerala)
• Amazing A/C - I can keep my beverages chilled with both the AC on, if need be
• The bluetooth and handsfree system that allows me to take calls while driving.

Now to the not so +ve experiences. (well there is a -ve section too)

• Rattling /Squeeking noises all around - be it from the Seat Belts, Window panes, Rear doors, clutch springs
• Suspensions creaking noise , esp the front right when vehicle moves sideways (still fighting with TML/TASS for proper solution)
• A/C blower inefficient - corrected during my first service
• Rear Door rattling which the TASS is still not able to solve
• Plain looking dash with a below average speakers. Mind you Headunit is a great one (Alpine with two pre-outs)

Well now lets come to what frustrates me the real -ves . Even with such an impeccable product , why is it struggling in garnering nos. some of my below points might answer this:

• The dealer KHT doesnt seem to have any professionalism - found on the 2nd day of ownership that in my left rear bumper there are some scratch marks & re-painting brush marks (not there during my PDI)!!! Upon confronting the sales team though initially they didnt acknowledge after escalating to TML they agreed to replace the bumper ( a few weeks later). Potential buyers please be careful while interacting with this dealer.
• Dealer competence in servicing - even after giving it for FOURTH time all my rattling issues (mentioned above) & suspension squeeking noise continues. Now I am planning to switch the dealership to Concorde.
• The lack of accountability from this dealership is worrying. Unless you call some TML executives, things sometimes doesnt move.

The positive being that TML has been supportive in this regard and a few of the dealer service team also has gone out of the way to help solve. However, doesnt help your cause in the end if these kinda niggles persist. These niggles sometimes take the overall 'WOW' factor of an otherwise splendid ownership experience so far. Nonetheless, didnt buy Storme expecting a customer focussed treatment from TASS either. So in a way I had expected this
Lastly, still am completely in love with my beast. This is the most under achieved SUV we have in the market. Had it been a better dealer service with a little thoughts on the dash & an aggressive pricing Storme would have bought the old Safari glory days back to Tata. Better late than never- wishing for Tata Motors to listen.

 

[mukesh]

Congratulations dbeast78 for the UB Storme, i have been driving my Storme since January this year. Initially i faced the TASS related issues and at one point of time i was really frustrated when i visited the service center 6 times for the same issue (noise in engine bay because of faulty clutch). I escalated this issue to TML and in the entire clutch set was changed in warranty. As far as rattling is concerned, i think TML does not have any solution, someone told me that doors are so heavy that hinges cannot handle them for long time. Touch wood my Storme does not have any issue as of now, i just cam back from a trip to Himachal Pradesh last week and enjoyed every KM i covered. Just escalate the issues to TML and dealer will fix everything.

you can read my ownership review at http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...safari-storme-comes-home-dream-fulfilled.html

Wishing you many happy miles with your Storme.

 

[Octy_Vin]

Hi dbeast, Congrats for the beast. It looks beautiful. Waiting for some more pictures.

 

[manojodungat]

Congrats on your new acquisition.

• Its good that Tata is taking care of all your concerns with respect to the niggles of your priced possession.
• Your concern about the lack of professionalism and inefficiency to address niggles at the dealership/ASSC is understandable.
• The non-existent QC leading to squeaking and rattling of various parts this early in a brand new vehicle is more annoying and disappointing, as far as I am concerned.

 

[GM88]

Congrats dbeast78 on your new beast. It looks best in this shade. I think its a good product let down by the dealership network and the known rattling/reliability issues. For Tata, it will take a tremendous effort to get this big negative out of the context for the Safari Storme's sales to pick up. In today's age, its highly unacceptable for a brand new car to have rattling/squeaking issues. Waiting for a day when Tata will give us a Niggle free car from the Day 1.

Anyways, I am sure even with these small niggles, Storme must be bringing a huge grin on your face everytime your behind the steering. May you crunch many niggle free miles with your beast. Drive safe.

P.S. - No ownership review is complete with a few pics of the interiors as well as exteriors. Eagerly waiting for you to post them.

 

[srid68]

Congratulations dbeast78. Please post more pictures

 

[Ambylovers]

Hi,
Congratulations on your New Car.
Whether Bumper painting was not intimated to you before the Car delivery? If yes, How come these guys play this kind of role for the new buyers.

 

[safarifan]

congrats buddy.THE BEAST looks cool. Sad to hear about your issue. Even for me the seat belt in co-drivers seat hits the body and creates noise when iam driving alone. Is there any permanent fix for this isue guys ?

 

[dbeast78]

congrats buddy.THE BEAST looks cool. Sad to hear about your issue. Even for me the seat belt in co-drivers seat hits the body and creates noise when iam driving alone. Is there any permanent fix for this isue guys ?

Thanks Safarifan, the beast is indeed a mean machine.. My niggles are sorted out for now . The saviour this time Concorde motors 'UV' workshop in Begur road. I moved my beast out off the non-competent KHT guys for good

Hi,
Congratulations on your New Car.
Whether Bumper painting was not intimated to you before the Car delivery? If yes, How come these guys play this kind of role for the new buyers.

THanks Ambylovers. No the crux of the matter is the KHT sales team didnt seem to have the integrity. They hid this from me !!

Congratulations dbeast78. Please post more pictures

Thanks Srid68. Definitely i owe more picx. just that am lazy. May be after I do my ICE & Art-leather seats I would pull myself up to do that

Congrats dbeast78 on your new beast. It looks best in this shade. I think its a good product let down by the dealership network and the known rattling/reliability issues. For Tata, it will take a tremendous effort to get this big negative out of the context for the Safari Storme's sales to pick up. In today's age, its highly unacceptable for a brand new car to have rattling/squeaking issues. Waiting for a day when Tata will give us a Niggle free car from the Day 1.

Anyways, I am sure even with these small niggles, Storme must be bringing a huge grin on your face everytime your behind the steering. May you crunch many niggle free miles with your beast. Drive safe.

P.S. - No ownership review is complete with a few pics of the interiors as well as exteriors. Eagerly waiting for you to post them.

Thanks GM88. More pix are on the way , may be a 2014 to-do . No doubt at all, this is the best one for me in this price bracket or even better than the japanese cousins in 20+bracket per my opinion.

Congrats on your new acquisition.

• Its good that Tata is taking care of all your concerns with respect to the niggles of your priced possession.
• Your concern about the lack of professionalism and inefficiency to address niggles at the dealership/ASSC is understandable.
• The non-existent QC leading to squeaking and rattling of various parts this early in a brand new vehicle is more annoying and disappointing, as far as I am concerned.

Thanks Manojdungat. Now that I have moved over to concorde 'UV' specific workshop, the issues seems to be solved for now. (touchwood)

Hi dbeast, Congrats for the beast. It looks beautiful. Waiting for some more pictures.

Thankx Octy_Vin.

Congratulations dbeast78 for .the UB Storme, i have been driving my Storme since January this year. Initially i faced the TASS related issues and at one point of time i was really frustrated when i visited the service center 6 times for the same issue (noise in engine bay because of faulty clutch). I escalated this issue to TML and in the entire clutch set was changed in warranty. As far as rattling is concerned, i think TML does not have any solution, someone told me that doors are so heavy that hinges cannot handle them for long time. Touch wood my Storme does not have any issue as of now, i just cam back from a trip to Himachal Pradesh last week and enjoyed every KM i covered. Just escalate the issues to TML and dealer will fix everything.

you can read my ownership review at http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...safari-storme-comes-home-dream-fulfilled.html

Wishing you many happy miles with your Storme.

Thanks Mukesh. Yes now my rear-door rattling is gone, as they adjusted the lock/hinges and even the clutch springs have been corrected.

 

[suhas]

Congratulations on your acquisition.

 

[Tornado]

Awesome pic man, need some more.

BTW, which cam is this?

 

[kinshuk.arya]

Congratulations man.
Do post some pics too.

 

[bhvm]

Congrats on your beast!
Even I miss our safari after moving to XUV500 and Fortuner with regards to comfort.
Enjoy your ride.
Any Mods planned? It seems to be crying for some extra large Fog lamps and bumper! (for the macho look and safe night driving)

 

[dbeast78]

Thanks for all your wonderful comments.
The mods done so far are:

1. Explorer edition Half Nudge guard (as seen in the pix)
2. Door Visors
3. Headlamp CHrome garnish (visible in the pics)
4. Yoko Geolander 255/65 R16 upgrade
5. HRS 16" alloys
6. 3D mats
7. Reverse sensor (free accessory)
8. Hella Dynaedge wiper

Being planned:

1. ICE - looking for SQ with a 4ch amp & 10/12" Sub (most prob Rockford) & a front comp (focal or Infinity)
2. Art leather seats once my current fabrics are spoilt to the core by my kiddos

Not planning for any auxillary lamps as the current projector lamps are more than sufficient and way better than the old safari headlamps. I feel its not worth the welding & the rattling risks I get myself into.

 

[Gurrala74]

@dbeast

Congrats for your new Storme buddy !! excellent review but with less pics

So, it is very much evident that Storme is good vehicle, but the main problem here is TASS and I wish TATA takes this aspect seriously and take care for Storme owners well, otherwise only good things of vehicle cannot hold their reputation and within NO time the Storme will join the list of bad vehicles of TATA(treated as bad vehicles due to incompetence of TASS)

Wish to see more pics buddy and it is clear to me that if some one want to buy a Storme, then he needs lot of patience dealing with TASS