Two Enthusiasts Go Storm Hunting - Tata Safari Storme Test Drive Review

[TSIVipul]

After giving so many brownie points to storme , and giving it 3 rd place ahead of the ford endy , you still feel only loyalist will buy ?

I have given it 3rd place because it is MY 'subjective' opinion.
I feel that only loyalists buy Safari or Safari lovers buy Safari because the numbers say so, even the Safari lovers themselves say the same "only Safari, none else".

And for what just because it is not quick in low revs ? Do you think everybody has that first priority in buying a SUV ?

Because it is not quicker in low revs...hehe, in which rev range it's really quick BTW?? As mentioned, it is a relaxed cruiser and works fantastically as one.
I don't know what are the priorities of urban buyers while buying an SUV but one thing for sure...'they don't buy it for mud plugging', at least 99% of them.
Rest I will be thankful if you elaborate on the point of real needs of an SUV buyer, for us.

It will sell in huge numbers or not depends on tatas marketing strategy which I agree is weird and silly and most imp if there are niggles or not .

It depends on the vehicle too, else Etios would have beaten the hell out of DZire in the market(I haven't compared Etios or DZire to Storme so it should not be misunderstood, I am just telling that with marketing and good badge, vehicle also needs to be competitive). For good sales 50% role is of marketing strategy and 50% is of vehicle. If both are balanced perfectly at 50-50 then vehicle is a hit else with the increasing difference in both, the sales keep on decreasing.

As a product it is really a refined product when it comes to being a overall product as of now ( compared to scorpio and all ) lets see what the owners report after a year .

+100..

@jaydev - what makes you think storme is for elders only ? Here vipul and all have mentioned storme looks edgy and modern SUV ,again just because its slow in low revs ?

I guess he meant:

• Lack of features/gadgets.
• Lack of outright performance.

 

[Raja]

@ vipul .

1) the numbers say so of storme or safari ? Let the storme be launched all India and then we will see if the number has increased or not , so till then lets reserve the comment on who will buy it .

2) SUVs if are quick are ofcourse good but that dosent mean that is a deal breaker , SUV must provide decent space , must have fine ability to tackle bad roads , must serve a purpose of a nice comfertable long distance cruiser if one plans weekend trips or does many long work related trips inspite of living in urban cities .
The small turning radius also makes it easy to manuover now .

Storme might feel sluggish in low revs only when you compare it with xuv or Scorpio on it its own it has decent acceleration which will not upset any 1 . Beside in my subjective opinion people buy SUV for the presence too it makes , and in my opinion storme has got good presence do you agree ? We are just talking about storme here and iam asking only your subjective view .

3) about increasing and decreasing difference , readers are very well aware of the image t.a.s.s has and the kind of marketing they have adopted for storme hence my comment .

Now comming to the vehicle part ,
With your own subjective opinion you have given storme 3 rd place hope you gave it because you saw it better SUV then xuv , Scorpio and ford endy in your subjective expreince right ?
or else why the 3rd place ?
Inspite of you feeling it sluggish and not having a great acceleration you have given it more brownie points then the xuv and Scorpio it means storme does something better then xuv and Scorpio in your subjective opinion right ?

4) features and gizmos +1000 storme is as good as naked , anybody who gives priority to gizmos then comfort must not even consider the storme atall it disappoints badly .
That is why i have maintained my stand the vfm buy is the storme lx , because it has everything one requires in a very nice price and a better choice then Scorpio sle which looks dated and dosent look as finished product as a strome lx do you agree here ?

Rest if storme is vfm then xuv well that is something we all can debate and will be interesting to hear everybody's thoughts on it .

For me the most sensible buy is a 11 lakhs on road storme lx model which has class leading comfort, ride quality , interiors , fit and finish and paint quality and in my subjective opinion slow in low revs is not a deal breaker and this problem can be easily tackled by chossing right gears .

 

[S Class]

finally , very good report vipul. kudos for that.

Ps: if you are 5.11 and the steering was touching the way it was for you , then i can forget doing a TD of the storme. all i would be left is bruises on my knees.

By this logic, I will have to keep my leg out while driving a Fortuner.

@ Vipul,

No doubt Safari fans will buy Storme, but I am sure, many other will also follow. M & M relies more on marketing guys, Tata's rely more on mouth publicity. I know persons who in Diwali bought Vista & are happy with it. Many Vista owners on TAI are also happy with it. Now those who fall for ads will opt for Swift, but it doesn't mean Swift is far superior than Vista.

I am sure once Storme is launched pan-India, situation will change, especially after people will come to know that Storme is not mere facelift but much more than that.

And saying if Storme is VFM for 14L or not is incorrect. You care comparing top end, fully loaded true 4x4 with XUV. For me, the most VFM of the lot is LX, which will cost about 10.97L on-road.

@ all,

I must say Vipul did give good try for storme review, but I personally never make decision on such short TD. It is precisely for this reason XUV review is not out even from my cous to me. And what also matters is ease in city driving & I bet storme is best UV to be driven in city, thanks to its low turning radius.
I am surprised when no-one highlighted this point which is there in our day to day driving. Just driving on highways or some bad roads is not good enough. 0-100 hardly matters in day to day driving. My Merc can smoke out several sedans, but I hardly see 0-100, infact if we go somewhere in convoy, I place the car somewhere in middle....comfy driving.

And SUV/UV are meant for bad roads, rough use etc. and it is here where storme scores over XUV. I am 100% sure than storme can take lot more abuse than XUV, but again no-one is mentioning this.

Same is the case with cars, you may like or not in TD, but it doesn't mean it is good or bad for long term. There are many things one needs to see in it, and I will be making a list of all those points.

And some may think why I give such egs ? Simple, car is man's first love.

BTW, I will be going to Nagpur in next couple of weeks, will post all details of XUV W8 then & if possible, a side to side pics of W8 & W6 too.

 

[jayadev]

@Raja, One of my friend is looking for Suv and first query was thrown at me asking how is Duster! I answered the way Iam supposed to i.e it is the buzz at present. He was quite happy that I echoed with his findings and homework.

I suggested why not wait and consider storme . From his facial expressions I could realize he never heard that term. May be he was wondering and relating it to bad weather like Sandy and Neelam.
I quickly added its the latest suv from Tata after Aria. Aria word made him curious and there came jawab tapaak se, No No I cant spent that much ,not more than 10 lac. I continued , storme is around 9 to 13 lakh. I saw his face brighten up I think *Latest* thingy worked. I tried to show him the pic and came shock ,,what this? It is sumo!
I Was about to give up while I showed him the interior especially the dashboard where he laughed at his wits end...another Taxi from Tata and you calling it latest suv...hey Jayadev have you lost your senses?
I think I was scratching my head ,that is what I gather when we said goodnight ! I was left stranded thinking upon the truth that automotive has gotten too much into me that is why I have become blind to basic requirements of a common man spending a million rupee.It would be utter emberrasment to reveal I am a Tata supporter from inside, he may never have a word with me again,how the hell Am I suppose to tell him all those 100 pages reasons and improvements on quality?
First impression is the best one and it should be! What say?

 

[Raja]

similarly there is a young friend of mine waiting to book the storme who just loved the new look of storme.he finds it mini range rover.

Then I have some other who started laughing on mahindras designing abilities and ridiculed me when I said quanto and xuv look stylish. I tried to explain them sales numbers and features they said so ? Is it a factor to consider when buying a car ?
We are discussing subjective experiences here what say ? our esteemed member vipul drives Laura and altis is quite young and dynamic in his subjective experience inspite of less features he has rated the storme in 3rd position right ?

So lets wait and see , yes I agree Tata can very well fail the product with their weird marketing antiques. As a product its a nice attempt from Tata IMHO.

 

[MrRanger]

After giving so many brownie points to storme , and giving it 3 rd place ahead of the ford endy , you still feel only loyalist will buy ? And for what just because it is not quick in low revs ? Do you think everybody has that first priority in buying a SUV ?

It will sell in huge numbers or not depends on tatas marketing strategy which I agree is weird and silly and most imp if there are niggles or not .

As a product it is really a refined product when it comes to being a overall product as of now ( compared to scorpio and all ) lets see what the owners report after a year .

@jaydev - what makes you think storme is for elders only ? Here vipul and all have mentioned storme looks edgy and modern SUV ,again just because its slow in low revs ?

Raja, for small kids speed is the only concern they still ride on hotwheels, they need some maturity to understand WHY SUVs.

If I given Pajero, STORME, ENDY, FORTUNER, SCORPIO to rate as SUV

My ratings would be
#1 PAJERO
#2 STORME and ENDY (rank 3 is masked no other vehicle can take in the list)
#4 FORTUNER
#5 SCORPIO
this is based on there true blood nature of off road ablity not on speed

 

[jayadev]

similarly there is a young friend of mine waiting to book the storme who just loved the new look of storme.he finds it mini range rover.

Then I have some other who started laughing on mahindras designing abilities and ridiculed me when I said quanto and xuv look stylish. I tried to explain them sales numbers and features they said so ? Is it a factor to consider when buying a car ?
We are discussing subjective experiences here what say ? our esteemed member vipul drives Laura and altis is quite young and dynamic in his subjective experience inspite of less features he has rated the storme in 3rd position right ?

So lets wait and see , yes I agree Tata can very well fail the product with their weird marketing antiques. As a product its a nice attempt from Tata IMHO.

Philosofical Jargon doesnt help in sales figure.If you ask me about Punto or storme I can literally put my views in such a manner that rest of the cars will look mere a junk.but look at the sales numbers that reveals the actual truth of what masses wants not the crafted for true fans only type of conundrums.

I liked storme probably that is why to every next person I meet somehow I bring forth the storme topic, of course at least one of them would have wondered from where does this storme thing came in ?

Regarding Vipul, I think he had a horrible time which I could realize from his initial post. Now it looks like he is giving away polished comments just for the sake of survival in storme related forums, as if throwing out at least what fans only wants, I cant read authenticity and honesty in his recent posts anymore,he is most of the time echoing what I have read elsewhere.incidently his subjective views and star ratings are no way matching or somebody interviened and edited ?

@Raja, my first impression of storme was built upon your review It was the one which gave it a solid feel, made me like it. Now its all fragmented.the performance,marketing, launch,nothing is clicking nowhere means in a nutshell I am finding it hopeless from distant view

what is that 3rd masked suv- Force?
my brother saw force suv in blore. He commented #not bad it sure looks like an suv almost endy type#
I was at a loss to ask about Storme that too in city like bangalore..shame on Tata.

 

[Raja]

Common now you are saying vipuls comments also hold no views ,? and at the same time you are forming a opinion on his test drive impressions and saying on this very thread that storme is for old guys because its sluggish ? What must we gather ? you take vipuls comments seriously or not ?

and he is making everybody happy here ? Common man what does this prove ? and what are you advising we must take his comments seriously or we must not ?

For me atleast i do trust his authenticity , yes maybe some part of his report were controversial but he is a guy who will stand firmly on what he says and believes ( maybe vipul can comment here more ) and if you feel this thread is a testimony of flattery and biased and " make fans happy "types , please report to the mods and request them to close it as this is seriously against the ethics and principles of TAI and the foundation on which it is formed .

Reason iam saying wait because seriously Since we don't know the sales figures of the storme yet why not we refrain from talking about it as of now till tata launches the car pan india what say ?

 

[MrRanger]

@Raja, One of my friend is looking for Suv and first query was thrown at me asking how is Duster! I answered the way Iam supposed to i.e it is the buzz at present. He was quite happy that I echoed with his findings and homework.

I suggested why not wait and consider storme . From his facial expressions I could realize he never heard that term. May be he was wondering and relating it to bad weather like Sandy and Neelam.
I quickly added its the latest suv from Tata after Aria. Aria word made him curious and there came jawab tapaak se, No No I cant spent that much ,not more than 10 lac. I continued , storme is around 9 to 13 lakh. I saw his face brighten up I think *Latest* thingy worked. I tried to show him the pic and came shock ,,what this? It is sumo!
I Was about to give up while I showed him the interior especially the dashboard where he laughed at his wits end...another Taxi from Tata and you calling it latest suv...hey Jayadev have you lost your senses?
I think I was scratching my head ,that is what I gather when we said goodnight ! I was left stranded thinking upon the truth that automotive has gotten too much into me that is why I have become blind to basic requirements of a common man spending a million rupee.It would be utter emberrasment to reveal I am a Tata supporter from inside, he may never have a word with me again,how the hell Am I suppose to tell him all those 100 pages reasons and improvements on quality?
First impression is the best one and it should be! What say?

Exactly brother, I guess you remember my post regarding safari ex vs ford fiesta choice for my friends friend ....

No JAYADEV people who see storme in pics they exactly feel like your friend, but once they see STORME in real they really fall in love and LR signature will be printed on there heart not sumo.

this is exactly happened with me, when I saw STORME pics at 1st time I thought TATA is MAKING ANOTHER GRANDE and that carried for long untill i saw it real and drove it, my god I was over joyed by seeing it.

Now for me STORME means a younger brother of LR Discovery.

So TATA AS TO TAKE CARE THIS THINGS BY BRINGING STORME TO THE DOOR STEPS OF ALL. Im underline Marketing here

 

[jayadev]

@Raja, the context is who will buy it? That is where we are.

Why is it not like magnet at least in one of the field?

It is wierd analogy I fail to understand which couple of you guys are expecting.

Time is a great killer. By the time Tata launch it pan India heaven might have met earth.

I feel likeness of huge bulky Suvs are subsiding,now is the age of mini Suvs especially in budget segments.

 

[Superbad]

@Raja, the context is who will buy it? That is where we are.

Why is it not like magnet at least in one of the field?

It is wierd analogy I fail to understand which couple of you guys are expecting.

Time is a great killer. By the time Tata launch it pan India heaven might have met earth.

I feel likeness of huge bulky Suvs are subsiding,now is the age of mini Suvs especially in budget segments.

yes i agree. except maybe the fortuner.

one could only park it outside the buildings atleast in mumbai.

no parking space for it is enough.

imagine a 30 lac SUV being parked along like a stray


the future is crossovers.

 

[MrRanger]

what is that 3rd masked suv- Force?
my brother saw force suv in blore. He commented #not bad it sure looks like an suv almost endy type#
I was at a loss to ask about Storme that too in city like bangalore..shame on Tata.

I never considered FORTUNER and SCORPIO as true blooded off roaders,
but i never drove force 1 yet i cannot comment, but it looks rugged

 

[Raja]

@Raja, the context is who will buy it? That is where we are.

Why is it not like magnet at least in one of the field?

It is wierd analogy I fail to understand which couple of you guys are expecting.

Time is a great killer. By the time Tata launch it pan India heaven might have met earth.

I feel likeness of huge bulky Suvs are subsiding,now is the age of mini Suvs especially in budget segments.

My point is who will buy it or not can't be predicted by you and me so , lets wait to see the pan India sales figures just this . If its magnet or not will be proved only after that .

And if future is cross overs then great scorpios too will be washed out along with storme do you agree ?

 

[MrRanger]

My point is who will buy it or not can't be predicted by you and me so , lets wait to see the pan India sales figures just this . If its magnet or not will be proved only after that .

hey according to dealers figure of bookings storme sales are picking up aggressively

When the sales guy assisting me I saw back to back 4 new customers including a lady came-in on her Mercedes with her grand father.

I was heartful to see a lady with merc appreciated STORME.

 

[Superbad]

And if future is cross overs then great scorpios too will be washed out along with storme do you agree ?

seems you are sincerely wishing for the scorpio to fail

all i have mentioned is UVs with compact dimensions are the future.

this aint america where people buy SUVs for grocery shopping and a sedan for their city driving.
Preference will be to buy products which gives Them the best of both worlds primarily due to the pathetic roads and occasionally driving their extended family.