Jun 24, 2007 07:04 AM
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AFter reading the various reviews and positings on MS covering the Scorpio, Innova and the Safari Dicor, decided to look at the Dicor seriously with a view to buying it. And mind you all this happened within 1-2 days of browsing the net and MS. I currently have an Indigo and have been thinking of going in for a vehicle with more space, since our family has grown to 2 kids and the feeling that we are past the Indigo.
This journey till now has been.The first choice was to look at the Scorpio, becoz of the large number of Scorpios that you see on the road. Then came the Innova, since it had a phoren tag and more importantly the Toyota tag. Thanks to MS, and reading about the Scorpio's high CG, braking issues at high speed, ride bumpiness, unstable in turning corners at high speed, overall boxy look, I discarded the Scorpio.
The Innova did not make the final shortlist due to the leg space that I currenty have and am happy with in the Indigo and wanted something more than that and not less. One look inside an Innova and I saw the miserly leg space for the second row seats. There went the Innova out of the window.
After reading about the great looks on the Safari(yes I had to read about it to draw my attention to it, since I have not seen many Dicor's on the road in a large city in Bangalore), decided to look at the Safari more deeply and had the dealer(Manipal Motors) come over for a test drive. Not wanting to bore you with the details of the traffic in Bangalore even on a Saturday afternoon and the dealer coming 4.5 hrs late, here are my observations(in my order of priority):
Looks: Top class.nothing comes close to beating the Safari here
Driver's view: Even in a LX and without the seat height adjustment, gives a clear view from way above and the comfortable seating makes you feel like a King
Gear shift: Very-very-very tight, hard to change and sticky just like a truck.the test vehicle was a brand new LX from the factory, so the explanation was that it will become easy after the first service. Tata Motors(TM) needs to get serious here, if they think that all Safari's are not owner driven and are driven by former truck drivers. But yes, this is something that can be sorted out in a service or two.
Clutch: Being used to Indigo, I was not prepared for this clutch that has only 2 positions, fully engaged and fully disengaged.Nothing in between! Can't think of this in any city driving condition. Explanation: Since there is a position sensor telling the onboard computer the clutch position, TM have designed it this way.sure they can also help me push the vehicle everytime I stop in city traffic. Probably something that can be improved in the first service. BUT the BIG problem was this cyclic low frequency vibration that I could feel thru the clutch only when depressed.No answer for this and I felt was a big MINUS.
Steering: After hearing horror stories of 6 inch slack in the steering on both sides.I was happy to see that this is not true and the steering is very responsive even for high speed maneovering. It is not as smooth as my Indigo, but I think it is very much there and will ease out with use.
Braking: Good for a large vehicle of this size and combined with my gear ratio deceleration that I also use to slow the vehicle, worked and felt just like my Indigo.no sweat and surprises here. 80km to 0 was done over 75-80 feet with gear assist.
Power & Response: Good at all gears, though there is not much headroom for an SUV that wants to and can become world-class and hence the new 145BHP will be fantastic and take the Safari out of this world. Great part of the test drive was the 0-80/100km acceleration in 20-30secs that LEFT behind a SCORPIO that wanted to show its power and beat a SAFARI, by almost 40-50feet gap. Nobody except me and the Scorpio's driver knew that all this was happening!
Space & Comfort: Fantastic, made my wife feel clautrophobic after sitting back in the Indigo! My 2 yr of son had his personal playground during the entire test drive and could not care less about what was happening outside.
Cabin sound proofing: Not as quite like my Indigo.but nothing to complain about.but am not sure how much of the music system will be heard outside and since I drove a LX without a music system could not test this.
Interiors & Plastic: TM should have the Indigo/Indica interior team work on the Safari, they will teach the current guys a thing or two. Big scope for improvement here.
Have decided to buy the Safari, BUT only after the new 2.2 lit, 145BHP is introduced which could be by the end of 2007. Writting this article I thought was the only way I could repay MS for the excellent guidance I have received over the past 3-4 days in this costly decision making process!
