Aug 28, 2009 04:27 PM
13752 Views
After almost 2 years of uncertainity about which vehicle to buy I finally took the plunge and bought a Safari 2.2 VTT EX variant.Why Safari?My earlier car was a Mitsubishi lancer.
Roads in bangalore are pretty bad and also a lot of long drives usually takes a toll on sedans because of low ground clearance.Since I dont like my car getting scraped the only option I had was to buy an S.U.V.In India buying an imported S.U.V was much beyond my budget.
Hence the choices available were Safari, Scorpio and Innova.Innova is not an S.U.V but it is a good car.But the fact that I did not need a seating capacity of 7 people and that I wanted good looks too eliminated the innova.Also for a similar price the Safari EX 2.2 was more value for money.The Scorpio was test driven and I found that even on a normal road the vehicle felt like a ship in rough seas.
This does not inspire confidence.The Scorpio is slightly more refined than safari but it's poor handling and instability during turns and lack of comfort and front leg space which was half that of safari eliminated it.Safari is not a perfect vehicle.It has poorly finished plastics in some areas and panel gaps are not that uniform and vary from vehicle to vehicle.But one drive in this vehicle will blow you away and more than make up for these small issues.Now here are the advantages
1)Huge amount of space(Difference between an economy class and Business class in a flight)
2)One of the most comfortable vehicles available under 20 lakhs(Beats more expensive S.U.Vs on comfort).Feels like a magic carpet or air cushion.Similar to a volvo bus....
3)Good stability upto 140 kmph(Above that an S.U.V will not be safe barring the C.R.V which is not a proper S.U.V, and expensive cars like cayenne etc ) and much better than scorpio here.
4)Powerful A/c
5)Good fuel economy(I got 15kmpl on my first long drive and get slightly above 10 in city)
6)Turning radius is decent for it's size(Can be better).Scorpio is better here though.
7)Bad roads do not exist for the vehicle8)Easy to handle in the city(Depends on your driving skills.If you are beginner then it might be difficult to park).Scorpio is easier to handle in city.
9)Looks!!!!Though it is a decade old design it still looks good.The road presence is remarkable for an indian vehicle.It could put to shame a lot of expensive cars.
10)One of the best suspensions available11)A good engine churning 140 BHP.It is a huge change from earlier safaris.But engine refinement is slightly better in scorpio12)Interior looks are much better than scorpio...13)Good service network14)4 year warranty on every nut and bolt except battery and tyres!!!15)Excellent visibility
Cons1)Poor plastic quality2)Poor quality control(Every car will differ slightly)3)Size may be a slight issue with beginners.4)Comparing with scorpio some fancy features are missing like automatic vipers(good), cruise control(useless in India), tyre pressure monitoring(useful but can be fitted after market).
But overall the Safari 2.2 VTT is gem of a vehicle to carry you in style and comfort over the worst roads.Buy the car if you like long drives.A long drive in this car will make you fall in love with it.The feeling of driving a safari cannot be explained and can only be experienced.It makes you feel like a king sitting on a throne which moves or a recliner fitted with an engine and moves!!!
There might be small issues(came to know from owners) but nothing major.As for me the only issue faced was that one door lock was not opening properly.This was fixed during first service.The Safari is now selling in good numbers (almost half sales as innova) which is a positive sign that the market has accepted in when cars like civic sell in single digits.But before you buy do couple of test drives and make sure u love the vehicle completely.Reclaim your life!!!!!!!!!!!Waiting to get back to my Safari ....
