Tata Safari Storme Vs Rest of the Competition

[THE XOVER]

Guys,today bought November issue of Autocar just because of Storme.But after going through Storme's review I feel that I have wasted my 150 bucks.

Why?

Because first of all their magazine review is 99.99% same as their website one.

Secondly,according to them Storme VX 4X4 reaches 0-100 in 16.89 seconds.Now before I could make out anything about this performance figure,I read a caution note* in the side that these figures are not per Autocar standards.

Shame on you Autocar for robbing 150 bucks of a poor soul like me.

 

[redbull]

it is purely subjective.
I cant like Xuv, it is still a wannabe urban softroader.,I would go for Aria anyday.
For a proper good Suv, Storme ticks all the boxes.

Fortuner seems to have ESP and XUV has ESP, Hill Hold and Hill descent control. How much important are these?

 

[jayadev]

Fortuner seems to have ESP and XUV has ESP, Hill Hold and Hill descent control. How much important are these?

If an individual have driven proper 4x4 offroader or suv,need of such superfluous feature like hill descent control will rarely come into his mind.

 

[redbull]

If an individual have driven proper 4x4 offroader or suv,need of such superfluous feature like hill descent control will rarely come into his mind.

I think hill hold is a very important feature. no need for handbrake gymnastics.

What about ESP? it will prevent rollover in highspeed turning?

I missed the topic but IMO the XUV is a much better car. I checked out the strome at Tata dealer and found Xuvs interior better. IMO the Xuv looks better and is also a good VFM. I did not take a test drive so can't comment on the engine performance of the strome but I know that the 2.2 in the tata is not as reliable as the Mahindra because tuning the ECU wont have an effect on the cars reliability. And the Mahindra also has better after sales and I am guessing better resale.

It seems people are complaining of XUV brakes not upto the marks and more importantly brakes have some defect like brake judder. This is a show stopper.

Any idea of Safari NCAP safety rating?

 

[Gurrala74]

Guys,today bought November issue of Autocar just because of Storme.But after going through Storme's review I feel that I have wasted my 150 bucks.

Why?

Because first of all their magazine review is 99.99% same as their website one.

Secondly,according to them Storme VX 4X4 reaches 0-100 in 16.89 seconds.Now before I could make out anything about this performance figure,I read a caution note* in the side that these figures are not per Autocar standards.

Shame on you Autocar for robbing 150 bucks of a poor soul like me.

Hahahahahha Poor Xover !!

I stopped buying all the Auto magazines after I joined TAI !! I never felt a need to visit other websites too and I give this sole credit to TAI team and one nice reporter of TAI, Mr.Visran

 

[THE XOVER]

Any idea if Tata is developing higher displacement engines? A 2 liter engine pulling a 2 ton machine is not something that I am happy about.

There was a very strong rumour of TATA developing a 3000 cc VTT engine for Storme (then known as Merlin).Now it seems that that plan has been put to shelf.

But anyway,2.2 VTT is not an underpowered engine.Ask any 2.2 owner,they would be more or less satisfied with their beast.

Can anybody throw some light on exactly what has changed in the engine - both dicor and storme seem to have same figures

Biggest change is Aria derived G-76 MKII gearbox.Apart from this caliberational tweaks have been done on turbo etc.Apart from this TATA have coated the inner part of engine with some compound for more smoothness.

In a nutshell,they will never reveal the 100% details of what have they done with the engine.But since everyone who has driven Storme has came out impressed,it seems that their effort has succeeded.

I missed the topic but IMO the XUV is a much better car. I checked out the strome at Tata dealer and found Xuvs interior better. IMO the Xuv looks better and is also a good VFM. I did not take a test drive so can't comment on the engine performance of the strome but I know that the 2.2 in the tata is not as reliable as the Mahindra because tuning the ECU wont have an effect on the cars reliability. And the Mahindra also has better after sales and I am guessing better resale.

First of all looks are subjective.Some may like XUV some Storme,so its fine.Secondly the interiors of Storme do look spartan,but is the quality better than others,that is the question?

PS: Please try to take a nice TD of Storme and XUV,and present a fun comparo.

I have also heard people say that mhawk & meagle engines are more durable and reliable than the 2.2 dicor mill. It that's indeed true, then Tatas have to seriously consider re-engineering their engine.

Yes m-hawk is more reliable and more smoother engine when compared with to Dicor.But how much the VARICOR is improved over dicor and m-hawk has yet to be seen.

BTW,2.2 dicor may not be as reliable or smooth as m-hawk,but its not bad in its own right.It earlier had some fuse issues,but now TATA seems to have got hold of the measure.

Fortuner seems to have ESP and XUV has ESP, Hill Hold and Hill descent control. How much important are these?

Earlier Fortuner didn't had this feature,even now only the top 4x4 model gets VSC or ESP,the manual 4x2 and the A/T 4X2 don't.

Having said that in tall vehicles like these ESP is very important feature as it stops the vehicle in toppling at high speeds.

Hill hold and hill descent are also good features.But the low ratio 4x4 gearbox of Storme is good enough for any hills,rest to assure even without the help of these.

It seems people are complaining of XUV brakes not upto the marks and more importantly brakes have some defect like brake judder. This is a show stopper.

Brake problems.XUV seems to be have clutch failure problems,PS failures problems etc, just to name the few.Just search the net,you'll find a special thread that is dedicated to XUV's problems.

Any idea of Safari NCAP safety rating?

No idea.

Hahahahahha Poor Xover !!

Yeah RK!! Of course you can have a solid laugh at my plight.

I stopped buying all the Auto magazines after I joined TAI !! I never felt a need to visit other websites too and I give this sole credit to TAI team and one nice reporter of TAI, Mr.Visran

Only if Storme's review would be available on TAI,my 150 bucks could have been saved.

 

[S Class]

The choice to vote are wrong. You can't put Fortuner & scorpio in same bracket.
It should be this way in 2 options -

storme, XUV, Aria >> 1 &

Fortuner, Endy, Captiva, Santa Fe, Koleos & Rexton >> 2.

My choice -

Honda CRV Diesel. Awaiting this, nice, subtle & sophisticated -

 

[Black-Knight]

Since STORM is not available yet down south I havn't driven it. So I am not sure about the drive. After looking at the reviews and the description of STORM

1) STORM - Yes the name defnitly suits the car.

2) TATAs I think they never look at around(Market) and then try to design and upgrade as per market. They just think ok its time we have to make a change and start searching their garage. (Landrover is also in thier garage)

2) Though I havnt driven STORM I had a chance of driving ARIA for full 2 days -
ARIA is definitly India's answer to EURPOEAN cars. I have driven it on busy single lanes in Bangalore, Streched High ways , muddy village roads, bad mountain curves, it felt just like bliss. And I can say that I was defnitly flying on Clouds.

Mistake here was very bad pricing and marketing of this car.

3) Since ARIA and STORM share the same BED(Chasis) where as STORM is a little shorter I can already predict what will be the SLEEP (Ride) on this one. Though ARIA is 200Kilos heavier than SAFARI it can be still driven in any curves at a decent speed, takes turns with one hand, sticks to road like a SEDAN and takes the corners well

4) Now STORM is some mm lower to current SAFARI, Some 100Kilos lighter, both front and back disk breaks - I think old safari was on diet and the TATAs have well took it to gym shredded those extra kilos. Looking at the previous reviews I could sense that it will be a serious competitor for a 100ms sprint race but just a competitor for a fashion Show.

5) Now we are know that the 2.2 Dicor is the big brother of 1.3MJT engine and we all know the success of these engines. So it’s good that STORM gets the same heart.

7) The oldest SAFARI was a stone from a mountain; The current safari is like a carved stone from hand chisels; STORM is for the current generation who don’t like hand chisels but laser chisels. I see that there are loads of changes at the Heart, Body and also Cosmetics but the prominence is concentrated at cosmetics.

8) I will as of now end at the cosmetics - The body lines are very neatly started, drawn, merged and closed at every angle. Since the STORM has the wheel down the bed they save on the Spare wheel cover costs. Because of this one thing is for sure for STORM Owners no krrr krrr or humming noises from the back door anymore and yes no disturbance at the rear view (Imagine you watching a movie with a tall person's head in your front seat). The cladding are very well merged with the body compared to SAFARI. The twin exhausts look very up marketed(TATAs are good at small things like this). The face naah just the nose is completely changed. I feel now with those projectors are like Ray Ban’s for SAFARI.

Yes the interiors are neither fascinating not boring but definitely upto today’s market. Hell I still don’t understand the logic on TATA’s here as why SINGLE DIN. I was hoping that it will have integrated maps and touch screen. They are completely dead here. Even an alto had a dual din. Rear roof top AC looks much clean and integrated.

I am just waiting for the STORM to hit down south. I really wish to see STORM sweeping the SUV segment

 

[THE XOVER]

There are 3 most dominating SUVs in India that have shattered almost every record with their sales performance.They have been loved by the masses for their looks and performance and ahem...even utility like no other.Who are they:

1. Under 12 lakhs: There is the mighty muscular Scorpio,which ever since its launch 10 years ago has never ever looked back and remained the perfect and best selling SUV for middle/upper middle class folks.


2. Under 15-16 lakhs: XUV5OO has set new trends at this price point owning to its fabulous looks and amazing features.


3. Under 25 lakhs: Only one ruler that has set an unprecedented norm of being the first 20+ lakh vehicle to register a sales volume of 1000 units per month ever since its launch.



Now looking at these above stalwarts,thou may think that India is an SUV crazy nation,but guess what Einstein,it really is.


Hence when TATA launched their new SUV :the Storme,they compared it with these 3 SUVs in their official website,literally accepting the fact that ,"to be the best you've to beat the best."


Lets see whether Storme has what it takes to spoil the party of above 3 maestros.


1. Scorpio: I think if we compare Storme with Scorpio based upon all the reviews that are floating on net and also upon the basis of what our fellow members like Raja and Vipul are saying who have tested both Storme and Scorpio.We can see that Scorpio has literally no advantage over Storme sans low end response and cruise control.

Be it top end performance,a smoother gearbox,better fit and finish,non taxi image,better ride quality,better handling at high speeds,the Storme literally murders the Scorpio.

So no doubt about the fact that the biggest threat for Scorpio at the moment is Storme.Now lets see whether Storme affects its sales figures or not,once it's launched across India.


2.XUV5OO: XUV5OO even though a direct competition to Storme should remain unaffected by Storme in my view.Why? Well the kind of features and VFM it provides is unparrallel.Even its lower variant W6 which has a'bags,ABS etc is cheaper than fully loaded variant of Storme.

But still Storme has got its advantages:

1) For once its a real SUV with low range 4x4 gearbox with LSD,so those that are looking not only to go to their corner office daily but are looking to skip it at occassions to take a ride at their farm-houses,tea plantation sights,the slippery and snowy Himalayas,will prefer to make their own road in the Storme.


2. According to most reviews,Storme has got much better fit and finish than XUV.


3. Ride quality is better in Storme.


4. And surprisingly most reviews mention that at high speeds corners it's the Storme which feels more planted and setteled than XUV.




3. The Fortuner: Now the above mentioned 2 SUVs are basically MUVs with SUV styling thrown in,since Scorpio has got no LSD and only 180 mm ground clearance and also MnM are very reluctant to sell 4x4 Scorpio its better to assume it as 4x2 MUV.As far as XUV goes,its basicaly a sot-roader,cross-over or an MUV which is intended to for a family of 7 to move comfortably on smooth roads.With no low ratio 4x4 gearebox,its abilities off-road is really limited.

But the Fortuner here is an exception.It has not only got LSD,but a central differential as well,and in emergencies you can lock the front as well as centre as well as rear differentials.So its ability as a real SUV is unquestionable.


So which is a better SUV,Storme or Fortuner.Well it depends:If you want bullet-proof reliabbility,no niggles, a trouble free experience,great after sales support then close your eyes,dish out 25 lakhs and the regal Fortuner can be yours.

But if you are VFM conscious,can live with little niggles and ordinary After sales support,have ben dreaming to own a Safari since your childhood,save your 10-15 lakhs,invest them in share market and driven home the new Tata Safari Storme:the king forever.



Hope you liked my hypothetical comparo,cheers.




THE X-OVER

 

[Gurrala74]

There are 3 most dominating SUVs in India that have shattered almost every record with their sales performance.They have been loved by the masses for their looks and performance and ahem...even utility like no other.Who are they:

1. Under 12 lakhs: There is the mighty muscular Scorpio,which ever since its launch 10 years ago has never ever looked back and remained the perfect and best selling SUV for middle/upper middle class folks.
...
But if you are VFM conscious,can live with little niggles and ordinary After sales support,have ben dreaming to own a Safari since your childhood,save your 10-15 lakhs,invest them in share market and driven home the new Tata Safari Storme:the king forever.



Hope you liked my hypothetical comparo,cheers.




THE X-OVER

+100 Xover, to me it looks like this

Storm with the competing models you have listed here

1. Scorpio : Scorpio was good enough when it was launched as there was no such vehicle and it has registered some good numbers, but now when I want to compare Scorpio with Storm, the I feel Scorpio as a Semi-SUV and Storm is a complete SUV. To me space and ride quality, comfort matters a lot when I pick my selection as a SUV, so in these departments, Scorpio scores low and it looks dated also to me.

2. XUV 500 : I have to mention something that I did not drove this vehicle, but I have sat in that recently and traveled for a while and and my observations comparing to Storm. Yes its interiors and front exterior looks are really good. Yes its features are also awesome, but Storm Scores over XUV with good Comfort while seating and ride comfort both, as I did not felt that comfort in XUV and at times I felt I am sitting in a closed box and it really has a bumpy ride on some bad roads. Ofcourse its pick and speed are good, but I did not get that comfort feeling in it. More over Storm has a Rich feel either from front or rear, which is not there in XUV and I am really disappointed with its rear design, it could have been better.

3. Fortuner : Excellent SUV, same I did not drive it but travelled in it some time back. Its really huge beast and Toyota super fit and finish, it has superb spaces and good height too and it scores in every department over Storm, but Storm looks good to me in two aspects
1. Price is way less
2. I felt bit bumpy drive in Fortuner especially in corners, I felt bit scary
3. Since it is huge, its parking is little headache too

All the above is my personal subjective opinion and not to offend any brand

 

[THE XOVER]

Raja,


Since you have driven both Storme and Fortuner,so I would like to ask few questions to you regarding these two Real SUVs:


1. Which engine is more smooth and refined the 3lt d4d of T-Fort or 2.2 Varicor of Storme?


2. Which SUV accelerations better in the first gear,and then respectively in 2nd,3rd,4thand 5th gear?


3. Which has less body roll and which out of these two is more planted at high speeds?


4. Which has better ride qualty?


5. Which looks more brutish from close up,i.e.,which has better road presence?


6. Which gives you more commanding seating and driving position?


7. And finally,which out of these two feels more at home at tight metro rush?


PS: I know that Fortuner is not a direct competition,but since Tata themselves have compared Storme with Fortuner,hence I want to know about these two in a comparitive manner.Asking you since,you've not only driven both but since you're also a neutral and unbiased person.

Waiting for the answers.


THE X-OVER

 

[Raja]

I feel fortuner can't be seriously compared with storme as there is a price difference of 10 lakhs ,and they though suvs don't come in similar segment.
Still to answer your questions let me state this that following are my subjective opinions.
1) fortuner and storme both will roar if you rev them more then required in a given range ,I will give fortuner points here.

2) fortuner plus it has tremendous pulling power like a locomotive in low revs

3) storme less body roll planted & at 130-140 I found storme has a edge.

4) storme for me and more comfort.

5) fortuner

6) both.

7) both are equally easy and equally difficult because of the size parking issues can be there

 

[Raja]

There are 3 most dominating SUVs in India that have shattered almost every record with their sales performance.They have been loved by the masses for their looks and performance and ahem...even utility like no other.Who are they:

1. Under 12 lakhs: There is the mighty muscular Scorpio,which ever since its launch 10 years ago has never ever looked back and remained the perfect and best selling SUV for middle/upper middle class folks.
...
But if you are VFM conscious,can live with little niggles and ordinary After sales support,have ben dreaming to own a Safari since your childhood,save your 10-15 lakhs,invest them in share market and driven home the new Tata Safari Storme:the king forever.



Hope you liked my hypothetical comparo,cheers.




THE X-OVER

@xover

I think we must not compare the fortuner with storme atall . Fortuner , captiva , endy , pajero sport are competetion to fortuner .

Storme can be compared to Scorpio and xuv since they 3 are priced somewhat similar .

Storme vs Scorpio - better low rev response , free revving engine and compact size compared to storme are the major advantages Scorpio has over storme , rest there is seriously nothing exiting about the Scorpio .

Looks can be subjective and yes storme is a new product so it has to prove in reliability area .

Storme vs xuv - if one is very particular about ride quality , wants a 4x4 and hates the look xuv only then storme makes a good choice here . Because other then that I don't find any great advantage the storme has over the xuv .

So taking all this into consideration I feel the truely vfm model is the storme lx because its some maybe 2 lakhs cheaper then xuv and priced right at the throat of scorpio sle model has all basic stuff you need and looks ( subjective ) offers more ( better interiors , space , comfort , disc brakes , music system , good fit and finish )

Rest all models ex, vx I personally don't find exciting in storme .

So if 1 has limited budget of 11 lakhs the storme lx is a best option as it provides you everything better then anything you get in that price bracket .

But if one has a budget till 14 lakhs then one must back to back drive xuv and storme and go according to what they feel .

 

[THE XOVER]

Raja: Forgot to ask you about brakes;which out of Storme and Fortuner has more confidence inspiring brakes at high speeds? Since both these beasts are around 2 ton in weight,this becomes one critical area of comparision?

 

[Raja]

Raja: Forgot to ask you about brakes;which out of Storme and Fortuner has more confidence inspiring brakes at high speeds? Since both these beasts are around 2 ton in weight,this becomes one critical area of comparision?

I never tried to check brakes of fortuner in high speeds as the car belongs to my friend. About storme I can confidently say the brakes are very good . Intact abs motors guys specifically tell you to check the brakes on high speeds ,as Tata have told them to highlight the brakes in a test drive