Tata Safari Storme LX - My Black Monster (BM) ©


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It is first ownership report, so pardon me for my lengthy story.

Previous Vehicles:
To begin with I had a Hyundai Accent Executive (2010) with me. I got it in second hand car market immediately after my marriage. Before marriage I was in USA and had Toyota Corolla as my first car and then bought a Honda Civic Coupe (Two door) version. After marriage I was slowly settling in Bangalore. I had neither two wheeler nor car when I got married as I was not in India for a long time. My previous bike was Yamaha R15 which I did sell when went to onsite. When I enquired for Honda Activa as my wife can drive too, the dealers told me a waiting period of two months here. What? I got my R15 in two days in my hometown and that was the first R15 in the entire district. As we need a two wheeler immediately, I purchased an used Activa.

You may wonder, why I am elaborating this incident here. Here comes the answer. One night we went for our friends treat at Indira Nagar. While returning back it rained heavily. We waited for long in the restaurant itself, but it still didn’t stop. We rode back to our house fully drenched on rain. That night we sowed an idea of buying a car immediately.

Search for new car started that week itself. Test drove two sedans Honda City and TATA Manza. We liked Honda City but it was little expensive for us, as we were settling down slowly after marriage. Then we started looking for an used car. I was looking for Jazz and City but didn’t come across a good car or the price was too high. We came across this Hyundai Accent which has done only 8K and just an year old. We liked it and booked on the same day.

Hyundai Accent served as well, I drove 32,000 KM in 28 months. No rattles or squeak in my car. It gear shift is as smooth as in day one. It gave me an average FE of 11 in city and 15 in highways. No mods done in any of my previous cars and it continues with Accent too, other than JBL speakers at front and back. I have done numerous trips to Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Tirupati and Chennai in my Accent without any trouble.

July 2013:
The itch to own Safari started. Initially I was looking for owning an used Safari to replace my accent and get a hatch for my wife. I took test drive few used safaris. The good ones went quicker before I can decide on them. Casually I wrote an email to TATA Motors corporate asking for Safari discounts for TATA employee. I got a reply immediately and got a call from KHT Motors. I booked Storme test drive on the same week.

Other Contenders:

Renault Pulse:
We thought of getting a new hatch for my wife and retaining the Accent with us for a short period. We went to test drive Pulse Petrol version. The car looks good from outside and spacious for four inside. I like the car, style and its handling. Asked my wife to test drive it. She drove it and didn’t like it as the A pillar was hiding her view. She felt lot of blind spot while driving the hatch. So the plan cancelled there itself.

Renault Duster:
My wife likes duster. Somehow I was not able to imagine myself driving this. No offense to any owners. It is not something of my style. If we want something big, then it should be Safari for me.

No other contenders to Storme. My mind has somehow obsessed with Storme.

Back to TD of Storme:
As promised KHT Motors team has brought Storme to my office on time. I did a TD of 20KM in narrow roads, no roads and on highways. I was impressed with the below points,
• Easy to drive as four corners of vehicle is visible
• Easy to manoeuvre in traffic
• Taking ‘U’ turns in this monster is not tough, thanks to its reduced turning radius. Did a couple of ‘U’ turn and impressed.
• Power – tap the accelerator, past 1700 RPM engine was roaring for a flight. It was addictive.
• Comfortable front and back seats with ample leg room.
I didn’t feel any negative thing about the vehicle other than those I read in forums,
• Bad service – I know how to get the work done without raising voice, showing frustrations. I know by being humble and polite same thing can be achieved. So Im not going to worry about this.
• Niggles and rattles. I usually keep my vehicle very clean and do my maintenance on time without any delays. So this will not haunt me, as I will not mind taking my vehicle to service station immediately, if I feel any uncomfortable.
So it was decided Storme by now.

Booking Experience/Discounts/Price:
I booked my vehicle from KHT motors. I sold my Accent to individual buyer and got an exchange bonus of 15k for the same from KHT motors. I got additional 20K cash discount and 7K corporate discount. Total on road price of my variant was close to 12.95L including AMC. I was given free mat and rear parking sensors. My vehicle didn’t have the audio system, but KHT provide it for me. I booked on 24th Dec 2013 and my vehicle was delivered on Jan 22nd. I chose Astern black as the colour.

Delivery Experience:
I asked them to deliver my vehicle before 11:30AM. But I reached there only at 11:15 thanks to unpredictable Bangalore traffic. Two days before the delivery, I went to their stockyard and did my PDI and everything was fine. I went to showroom with wife and my toddler. Sales manager got my vehicle ready. He handed over the key to me immediately. I asked my wife to drive it first before 11:30, which she did. We did the paper work after 11:30 and the process was over within 30 minutes as ours was the only vehicle for delivery that time.

We filled the diesel and dropped my wife at office. Next morning went to temple and did puja and from then Black Monster (BM)© is doing a wonderful service to us.
Initial ownership:
I have driven 2000KM in 20 days. Day by day my love for driving it is growing up. Initially the gear shift was little harder but it is smooth now. Reverse sensor is so helpful. I am getting a highway average mileage of 15 KMPL and above with full AC. I’m getting little above 10 KMPL and above in city with 80% AC.
The vehicle is fine and I have done parallel parking in my office spaces with ease. The vehicle with full load and full AC in hilly terrain didn’t even strain a bit. It was eager to pull us with ease.

My rear hatch door got jammed this week, other than that I don’t have any issues. Done my first service, bill amount was zero. Please feel free to ask me, if you want any more details. I will update this thread more frequently.

As of now I don’t have many pictures, so just attaching the picture taken during delivery time.
 

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Thread Starter #5
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Thanks Varun and Anshuman. Anshuman has helped me a lot after my purchase :).

Got few pictures of my Storme today. Also had a chance to take pictures of our member TH14's Storme. We got both Silver and Black Storme together, so if you are confused between black and silver, please refer this post.
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Color comparison between black and silver
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I met TH14 today and did drive both vehicles. My Storme has little harder clutch and tighter steering whereas his has stiff suspension. Thanks to TATA, they provide an unique characteristics Safari to each individual.

While we were doing rounds of test, I got an issue. My passenger door was not opening full. The culprit was door panels were touching the front side. I made a video to explain it. I am just attaching a picture here.
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Planning to visit service center tomorrow. It is going to be my third visit in 5 days with three different issues, but all minors. The vehicle is really doing great. The ride comfortable is unmatchable which makes me forget all these minor issues.
 
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Even i thought the cluth was lighter on TD vehicle and mine was harder but later i felt that cluth was light after 5k km of running.

Before 5000< km of running-Initially storme was crashing into pothole,even smallest of potholes it used to make passenger go into pendulum moment but now nothing like that,it smoothly goes over any pothole or rough road.

The car will be more comfortable after 5-6k km of running,all the moving parts will get free.
 
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Hey Ram, Congratulation on your new beast. I just felt like Dejavu, Even I have black Storme and Pics were just the same pics I had clicked, ofcourse the background was different.

The Door issues seems to be a bit serious but my experience with TASS is that you will not have to spend any money and get it resolved (unless there was some accident, but I guess not)

But you see these initial visits to TASS is can be considered as Boon-in-disguise as you will have chance to make relations with your Service Advisor and that would go long term in getting consultation on your vehicle overphone with one-on-one interaction with them.

Wish you millions of happy miles with your beast.
 
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It is going to be my third visit in 5 days with three different issues, but all minors.
Hi rekharam, Congratulations for your Black Monster.
TATA is offering SOUL, safari owners group. Join and tell us what is there.

Make a log of the events, and have it on proper document. Also note the service visits and dates. Safari Storme is capable vehicle. Which insurance you made? Can you provide details?
 
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Hi,
Well written.. Congratulations on your Safari.
In everyone's life some spark will arise for getting an idea of Owning a Vehicle. Like wise in your life, Rain played an important role... [:)]

Wishes to clock many more miles.
 
Thread Starter #13
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Thanks everyone. Service center has fixed the passenger side door opening issue temporarily. They promised to replace the entire cladding.
 
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Hi firstly congratulations on your amazing purchase, wish you trouble free ownership.

Can you put in some light on AMC, type of AMC and kms coverage along with cost.

Just inquired prerana motors for the price quote.
PRICE UPDATE:
New Prices for Bangalore: ON ROAD

1. LX- 12,02,290.
2. EX- 13,77,432.
3. VX- 15,88,511.
4. VX 4x4- 17,46,065.

Discounts: 10k cash+ 25K exchange on 2014 models. 55k for 2013 models.
 
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Before 5000< km of running-Initially storme was crashing into pothole,even smallest of potholes it used to make passenger go into pendulum moment but now nothing like that,it smoothly goes over any pothole or rough road.

The car will be more comfortable after 5-6k km of running,all the moving parts will get free.
I am not lucky there. I observed this issue (Hard suspension) during my first long drive few days after taking the delivery. It’s almost 5K km now and the suspension behavior remains same, stiff on bad roads.
 

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