My Pre-Owned Tata Safari 3.0 - Ownership Review

[ZenandEnfield]

@ Umalkars,
I read the whole review. Your enthusiasm for this car and positive energy has encouraged me. Now I want to buy an used Safari & go on trips! But I can't afford it, I may sell my Zen & buy a diesel Lancer or a Sierra.
Thank you & God bless you.
Regards,
Sunil
PS. Why do you start your trips late at night? How do you stay awake? When faced with bright headlights, I find it difficult to see even with my 100/90 bulbs. Maybe it is my 49 years of age!

 

[umalkars]

@ Umalkars,
I read the whole review. Your enthusiasm for this car and positive energy has encouraged me. Now I want to buy an used Safari & go on trips! But I can't afford it, I may sell my Zen & buy a diesel Lancer or a Sierra.
Thank you & God bless you.
Regards,
Sunil
PS. Why do you start your trips late at night? How do you stay awake? When faced with bright headlights, I find it difficult to see even with my 100/90 bulbs. Maybe it is my 49 years of age!

Thanks @ZenandEnfield. You should certainly get a good used Safari below 4L if you are keen on buying one. Please check on the net.

Regarding starting trips late at night, I just love night driving - I can go on and on and on ... Another major reason is that there's somewhat less traffic in the night, mostly you don't see 2-3 wheelers and the roads are almost empty when you pass through villages on the highway.

I do accept that many a times even I am blinded by the bright lights of the on coming vehicles. I have put on a set of auxillary lights (from Neolite) to increase the visibility and they are really really good.

Don't be surprise if I tell that some times I just drive (Safari) at the speed of merely 40-50 kmph if the roads are new (unknown) and in a bad condition. The point is, I want to enjoy the drives instead of rushing to the destinations.

@Sudhanshu: Please check this out for the seepage issue:

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...me-road-test-drive-review-137.html#post317777

Thanks @Sam Dinkar

 

[strome]

This must be a batch problem,other storme does not have this issue.

i dont know where exactly they have sealed,but it is between windscreen and bonet area where the water drains off,TASS people will be already knowing this

Sorry for the delay in posting. But unfortunately was busy with this particular issue itself. I took the car to dealer workshop. They didn't know anything about this. I reproduced the problem in front of them. They kept the car for inspection. Delivered the car after 2 days and said that they found some gap (pasting defects) and rectified it. But on next wash I found the same problem. Also while driving I was having the problem of having smell coming inside the car (off course with AC on and windows re-checked all the times).
On one sunny day also I found that the carpet got wet. I used wiper twice / thrice to clean the windshield. Don't know whether this was due that water / A/C water. Anyway the problem continues. Tool the car again to the dealer workshop, showed them the wet carpet. Left the car, waiting for there respone.

Meanwhile what about yours? Are are having the same issue now?

Or another note I found some issuing the braking system
Was driving at around 80 - 100 KM/Hr. Suddenly I had the change lane (another vehicle was coming from opposite direction wrongly). With brakes applied I changed the lane and steered the vehicle to align to the next lane. While doing so I lost the control of the vehicle temporarily, it jerked heavily, felt like the car is not in my control and can turn anytime. It was a severe experience.. Reproduced the same scenario again and the same thing occurred. The feeling is something like a free fall, the car for few seconds jerked abruptly of its own and it was not obeying any command from my side, it's difficult to explain the situation. I have never faced such problem. Have any of you faced such problem?

Don't know what to do. Any suggestion is welcome.

 

[umalkars]

Sorry for the delay in posting. But unfortunately was busy with this particular issue itself. I took the car to dealer workshop. They didn't know anything about this. I reproduced the problem in front of them. They kept the car for inspection. Delivered the car after 2 days and said that they found some gap (pasting defects) and rectified it. But on next wash I found the same problem. Also while driving I was having the problem of having smell coming inside the car (off course with AC on and windows re-checked all the times).
On one sunny day also I found that the carpet got wet. I used wiper twice / thrice to clean the windshield. Don't know whether this was due that water / A/C water. Anyway the problem continues. Tool the car again to the dealer workshop, showed them the wet carpet. Left the car, waiting for there respone.

Meanwhile what about yours? Are are having the same issue now?

Or another note I found some issuing the braking system
Was driving at around 80 - 100 KM/Hr. Suddenly I had the change lane (another vehicle was coming from opposite direction wrongly). With brakes applied I changed the lane and steered the vehicle to align to the next lane. While doing so I lost the control of the vehicle temporarily, it jerked heavily, felt like the car is not in my control and can turn anytime. It was a severe experience.. Reproduced the same scenario again and the same thing occurred. The feeling is something like a free fall, the car for few seconds jerked abruptly of its own and it was not obeying any command from my side, it's difficult to explain the situation. I have never faced such problem. Have any of you faced such problem?

Don't know what to do. Any suggestion is welcome.

About water issue, haven't checked lately, but cannot claim that its fixed. But its certain that its coming in through some gap below the top of the bonnet.

About braking issue, never came across this issue. But my wild guess is that these could be the possible reasons (guys - please correct me ...)

1. Fault in braking system - uneven brake pads or the brakes are not applied evenly on all wheels correctly / simultaneously
2. Wheel alignment is not correct (rare possibility, wonder if this could be the reason at all)
3. Some issue with power steering - seems illogical !!!

 

[umalkars]

Just an update, given my vehicle (almost 2 weeks back) for servicing and some repairs at Krishna Garage (Chinchwad, Pune), expecting the vehicle back tomorrow or latest by Sunday.

Will be going to Rajasthan next month with my son, hence thought of getting it serviced.

Some of the issues identified-
1. Coolant leakage
2. Vibrations in steering and too much play
3. AC cooling not as expected, also one of the knobs not functional
4. Fuel guage not working
5. Co-driver's power window not working (issue with winder)
6. Puddle lamp (of rear left hand side door) not working

Putting a couple of more auxiliary lights.

Query- what's the max output (current) available from the battery when the engine is running? Is there a way to calculate how much load a battery can support? If I am putting extra lights (already using 2 100W extra without issue), how can we check if its not overloading the vehicle's electrical system?

 

[Sam Dinkar]

Dear Sudhanshu,

I would urge you not to tinker too much with the electricals considering the age of your Safari. Any modification that would add to vehicle reliability is welcome and any modification that would put a strain on OEM equipment is not.

For the battery voltage query, maybe this would help:

It (battery output) depends on the load. Lead-acid batteries will put out very high current. Take your car's cranking battery. It probably can put out 1000 amps. It may only be a 50 or 60 Ah (ampere hour) battery. The current the battery delivers is load dependent. And so is the power (watts). Because, like you said, Watts = Volts times Amps.

But when figuring the power, you must consider the fact that the battery voltage decreases with increasing current. This is due to the internal resistance of the battery. Take the car cranking battery for example. It may have an internal resistance of 0.008 ohms. And one normally uses an open circuit voltage of 12.8 volts at the battery terminals.

So the current from the battery will be 12.8 volts divided by (the internal battery resistance plus the load resistance). The maximum current the battery is capable of is called short circuit current. This would occur if you connected the battery positive terminal to the negative terminal with a zero resistance wire (like a solid copper bar or large cable). In this case, short circuit current is 12.8V/0.008ohms = 1600A. That is the maximum current the battery can produce.

Obviously, a short circuit can do no work for you, so this is a useless situation, and not too good for the battery either. You can go thru some math and determine that maximum power from the battery will occur at one half of the short circuit current and that will occur at one half of the open circuit voltage. So, maximum power from the example battery = 6.4V times 800A = 5120W = 5.12kW.

The power versus current curve is parabolic. As such, the maximum power occurs on a declining slope of watts per amp. This means you seldom want to go over 35 percent of short circuit current to calculate usable maximum power from a battery.

So you have a 144V set. Maybe you can find the actual resistance, but let's use 0.08 ohms. Say the open circuit voltage is 150V. The short circuit current is 1875A. 35 percent of that is 656A. Battery voltage at 656A = 97.52V. Power at that point is 63.97kW.

I've used some assumed figures, like for internal resistance. But that is how I'd figure maximum current and power from a battery set. Of course, your actual power at any given moment will depend on your load.

Source: DIY Electric Car Forums Site Home

 

[umalkars]

Dear Sudhanshu,

I would urge you not to tinker too much with the electricals considering the age of your Safari. Any modification that would add to vehicle reliability is welcome and any modification that would put a strain on OEM equipment is not.

For the battery voltage query, maybe this would help:

Thanks @Sam for the info, but that's too technical for a layman

To keep it simple, presently the headlights have 55w bulbs each, so its 110w. I have two auxiliary lights, 100w each. So the present consumption is 110+200=310w (for lights), apart from other electrical units in the vehicle (mainly AC and tape in the night.)

Didn't face any issues when both headlights and the auxiliary lights are ON (driven considerable distance.) I understand that adding more lights may put a load on battery and are NOT required at all in normal driving conditions.

Just out of curiosity, how much (more) wattage can I draw from the battery?

 

[ZenandEnfield]

Good to hear from you again. I changed my stock bulbs 50/60 to 100/90w and relay & wiring kit (thicker wires) to take the load. Electrician installed them. Are your aux wires thicker?
Check the brake oil? Then get a trusted mech to check the brakes one by one.

 

[umalkars]

Good to hear from you again. I changed my stock bulbs 50/60 to 100/90w and relay & wiring kit (thicker wires) to take the load. Electrician installed them. Are your aux wires thicker?

Yes, the aux wire is pretty thick.

 

[ZenandEnfield]

It should be thicker than the stock wires.
My right rear brake cylinder had gone which was jamming the tyre as a result the inner part of the tyre was worn. This was not detected by MASS but a private mechanic!

 

[Storme911]

Meanwhile what about yours? Are are having the same issue now?

Or another note I found some issuing the braking system
Was driving at around 80 - 100 KM/Hr. Suddenly I had the change lane (another vehicle was coming from opposite direction wrongly). With brakes applied I changed the lane and steered the vehicle to align to the next lane. While doing so I lost the control of the vehicle temporarily, it jerked heavily, felt like the car is not in my control and can turn anytime. It was a severe experience.. Reproduced the same scenario again and the same thing occurred. The feeling is something like a free fall, the car for few seconds jerked abruptly of its own and it was not obeying any command from my side, it's difficult to explain the situation. I have never faced such problem. Have any of you faced such problem?

Don't know what to do. Any suggestion is welcome.

Yes problem is solved,had purosely kept out in heavy rains to check.Later found out that the carpet was dry
Here in mumbai TASS i am quite happy ,they are well experienced.
I request you to try other TASS.

And regarding brake issue i never experienced that

 

[umalkars]

Got the vehicle back, still see some coolant leakage from the host pipe I suppose, will have to take it back. Also planning to change AC control panel as the knob to adjust blower direction is not functional.

Is anybody aware of the price of this panel, as seen in the image below. Also attaching a couple of images with 4 auxiliary lights (each with 100w bulb)-

 

[Sam Dinkar]

This is a stick on panel. I don't see anything wrong with it. Why do you want to change it? Or are you talking about changing all switches/knobs and vents outlined in red?

p.s.: Cool lights

 

[umalkars]

This is a stick on panel. I don't see anything wrong with it. Why do you want to change it? Or are you talking about changing all switches/knobs and vents outlined in red?

p.s.: Cool lights

Yes, the one marked in red. Actually, only the knob which adjust the blower direction (like if it should point to windshield, or only to the chest, etc.) is not functional. But I guess we do not get only that set hence I might have to replace the entire switch panel.

Called TASS guy and he said that the AC switch panel might cost around Rs.5k. Wondering if I should try to get a used one in a working condition.

 

[ZenandEnfield]

So which lights are new, the white or the yellow. I take it that the fog lights in bumper don't work?
Quite bright.
Have you tried, xenon lights?