[scuba]

Being from Serbia, buying and driving an Indian car can look a little bit odd. Not because of the car itself, but because Serbia is not accustomed to Indian car industry. We prefer European cars or Japanese and Korean vehicles. Only a small number of people know about Indian car industry and they drive Mahindras (Goa and Bolero pickups) or Tata Indica. And that is really small portion of our driving population. Only 14 Tata Safaris are registered in Serbia according to our DMV data. Serbians, in general, simply don’t know about Indian vehicles.

I bought my Safari in Italy from first owner in December 2013 and up to now, I drive it for 70K km. This is my first and for now only Indian car that I own. The decision was simple. For the amount of money that I had, I could buy Land Cruiser 20 or more years old or with 400K and above kilometers. Mercedes-Puch, same story. Russian 4x4’s... I have enough experience, so... thank you. For old Volvo Sugga I didn’t have money. Besides, TOC and registration fees for engines larger than 2.2 liters are so high in Serbia that I simply didn’t want to give that much money, each year. Before, in good old days, owning 2.5 or 3.0 liters was acceptable for almost everyone. Now is a different time and different story altogether.

So, Tata Safari 2.2 dicor was the best buy. Only 32850 km and less than three years old, from owner who used to drive his kids in it. No offroading, no senseless excursions. And, here I am, happy and relaxed in my Tata Safari. First I browsed the Internet for months, reading this, and other forums, blogs and reviews about Tata Safari. Than I have said to myself “why not?” If it is good for India, the rest of Asia, South Africa, Argentina, Spain and Italy, it must be good for me in Serbia.

I like Safari because of its roughness on off road terrain, and yet it is smooth and soft in the city. And it is good looking, too. I go to theatre in my Safari and tomorrow I go to places that even god forgot. No problem. For me, little bit hard clutch is not a problem. Longer travelling of gear shift rod, harder steering, some noise and clanking on uneven road is something that I am used to. In the end, it is 4x4 all terrain vehicle. If I needed saloon car I would buy a saloon car. Simply as that. But no one, who travelled in my Safari, have said anything bad or complained. They all confirmed that riding in Safari is luxurious despite the terrain or tarmac road.

Yes, Safari has some technical issues like most modern cars. If one is not prepared for those issues, he should buy more expensive vehicle. For this price I sleep like a baby alongside those issues. Reading this and other forums, I am in a doubt whether I should be happy or sad because in Serbia we don’t have TASS. That is completely different matter for me and it has nothing to do with the car itself. Indian and European Safari differ in some details because of European car crash standards. But the rest is pretty much the same. I still have no problem with service or spare parts. Almost everything under the hood is the same as for many European or Japanese cars.

As I have said before, I like Safari because of it’s comfort and power. Reliable 4x4 (it is still reliable after 110.000K of km) and wallet friendly at petrol station. Good looking, strong body, good visibility through the windows, maneuverable in the city and on off road terrain. Lots of space for passengers and baggage, comfortable seats. High clearance allows me to go almost everywhere and in combination with high torque, going somewhere rough is not a problem. Maybe, a little stronger and harder front suspension would be better for off road, but then Safari would lose some of its smoothness on tarmac.

Electrical components are pretty much the same as for European cars, but most small problems that I had were electrical issues. For instance, Check engine light goes on and off for no visible reason. The problem was with vacuum valves that operate EGR (my big enemy on every car), turbine and throttle. They are the same as those on Fiat Stillo. Other problem was with glow plugs. With voltage on glow plugs to be exact. Changing glow plugs resolved the problem. Now I have problem with ABS, but since it is Bosch, I expect no problem with service. The ABS light simply doesn’t want to go off but car brakes normally. Perhaps it is some sort of Gremlin or boogie man who resides somewhere inside the car.

When I drive through 70 cm or more of water, normally my feet are wet. But water sips inside the car around rear windshield and small glasses on rear doors when I pass them with pressure gun. Nothing big, just annoying. In general, a better final control at assembly line would be something that I would like better.

I am sorry for this long writing but Safari, a gentle giant, is a big car and short story would not be sufficient. I will write more of my observations as they pop up to my mind. For my first post here, I think this is enough.

And here are some pics of my gentle giant

[mayuresh]

Congratulations on the purchase and welcome to the forums.

You will find many enthusiastic Safari owners on the forum. Please do post good pictures of your vehicle.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by scuba

I bought my Safari in Italy from first owner in December 2013 and up to now, I drive it for 70K km.

Thank you for sharing the practical report on your ownership experience of the Tata Safari. Here's hoping you enjoy many more miles of comfortable and trouble-free driving.

A few queries:
- What temperatures do you face in winters, and are there any cold starting issues with the car?
- How do you source vehicle-specific spares like suspension components etc.?
- Is there any Tata service centre in Serbia?
- Do you perform DIY repairs on your car?

[anujmishra]

Welcome to TBHP from Serbia. That too another proud owner of Tata Safari.

Nice short ownership report of Tata Safari. I also drive Tata Safari and covered many long distances. My observations are almost same as yours. I am absolutely loving it and planning it to keep for long.

Do post pictures of your Tata Safari in this thread. You can easily upload pictures.

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing the experience! It's a great read.

Originally Posted by scuba

They all confirmed that riding in Safari is luxurious despite the terrain or tarmac road.

You can say that again. It is one of the best riding SUVs.

Yes, Safari has some technical issues like most modern cars.

This thread is your new browser homepage - Link.

I still have no problem with service or spare parts

Please visit 99rpm.com. BHPians have reported positive experiences when buying spare parts from them. I see no reason why they wouldn't ship international.

[ariesonu]

Originally Posted by scuba

Being from Serbia, buying and driving an Indian car can look a little bit odd. The ABS light simply doesn’t want to go off but car brakes normally. Perhaps it is some sort of Gremlin or boogie man who resides somewhere inside the car.

A straight from heart review of Tata-Safari.
Best when it comes from someone who has exposed the machine to some extreme weathers.
Welcome onboard and please note that no thread is complete without respective photos.

The Gremilin/boogie man is a best underline ever read for an electronic anomaly.

Regards-Sonu

[scuba]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Thank you for sharing the practical report on your ownership experience of the Tata Safari. Here's hoping you enjoy many more miles of comfortable and trouble-free driving.

A few queries:
- What temperatures do you face in winters, and are there any cold starting issues with the car?
- How do you source vehicle-specific spares like suspension components etc.?
- Is there any Tata service centre in Serbia?
- Do you perform DIY repairs on your car?

In winter, temperature can easily plummet up to -25 Celsius on the mountains. In Belgrade, where I live, we have up to -15. My Safari faced no problems with cold start so far. Before cranking the engine, I let two times glow sparks to do their job and off I go.

Specific spare parts I have to import via a company that imports parts for Tata indica which is relatively popular in Vojvodina region in Serbia. No problem for that.

As I already told, we don't have TASS in Serbia. Maybe it is good, maybe it's bad. Time will show

Up to now, I performed only DIY repairs on almost all of my vehicles that I owned. I owned repair shop for motorcycles and my garage was well equipped before the fire when I have lost everything. Now I have two of my friends who own car repair shops and I repair my Safari at their shops.

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks for sharing the experience! It's a great read.



You can say that again. It is one of the best riding SUVs.



This thread is your new browser homepage - Link.



Please visit 99rpm.com. BHPians have reported positive experiences when buying spare parts from them. I see no reason why they wouldn't ship international.

Thank You, these are very useful links

Originally Posted by ariesonu

A straight from heart review of Tata-Safari.
Best when it comes from someone who has exposed the machine to some extreme weathers.
Welcome onboard and please note that no thread is complete without respective photos.

The Gremilin/boogie man is a best underline ever read for an electronic anomaly.

Regards-Sonu

Thank You, I am very pleased when someone likes my kind of humor
As for the pictures, I will surely post them

[scuba]

Whoops! Almost forgot that I sometimes drive my Safari on tarmac

[condor]

Finally - the pics of the gentle giant. And the man himself ! Lovely pics too - wish we could drive over.

Regarding servicing - do the auto companies allow DIY servicing - and yet honor the warranty ? (As long as you can show proof that you purchased original spares).

[scuba]

Warranty expired, so DIY is the only solution for such rare car in Serbia. If you have warranty, you are obliged to repair the car at their shop (which is always the most expensive repair ever). After warranty period, you can do with your car pretty much whatever you want, just don't kill somebody hahahahahhaha

[moralfibre]

Welcome aboard Scuba. It is nice to see an Indian origin car being used in a country where it hasn't been officially tested launched or backed with a service support. Says a lot about your love for the Safari. The Safari has it's own cult status with owners being absolute fans of their machines despite the SUV being a notch or two lower in terms of reliability.

Going by the grille, your Safari seems to be the 3.0L variant. (I could be wrong here)

Originally Posted by scuba

In winter, temperature can easily plummet up to -25 Celsius on the mountains. In Belgrade, where I live, we have up to -15. My Safari faced no problems with cold start so far. Before cranking the engine, I let two times glow sparks to do their job and off I go.

The Safari has passed through Tata's environment test facility where these conditions are simulated in a chamber: link to post. . Seems like their test facility did manage to do this well

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by scuba

In winter, temperature can easily plummet up to -25 Celsius on the mountains. In Belgrade, where I live, we have up to -15. My Safari faced no problems with cold start so far. Before cranking the engine, I let two times glow sparks to do their job and off I go.

Thank you Scuba for the interesting write-up on Safari. The car looks great with the landscape. One question - Don't you have problems with diesel freezing at -15 degrees?

[scuba]

@moralfibre

My Safari is 2.2 and grill is from 3.0 model, but many "European" Safaris came with such grill. You can find them in Spain and Italy, almost all are with 3.0 grill. But older cars, about 2005 and 2006 came with different grill.

And as for winter temperature, I don't know what they have done in deep freeze chamber in India, but my Safari fires at -15 like mad. Obviously Tata has good deep freeze and good engineers in that part . Good battery and letting those glow plugs twice to do their job is enough for Safari to start.

I don't like to use those sprays for easy start because I have notion that explosions of those sprays is too harsh for cold engine. My opinion is that it is much better to let glow plugs to warm two or three times and than to crank the engine. But hey, maybe I am wrong. This is just my personal opinion.


@sourabhzen

In the past twelve years, In Serbia, we have only Euro diesel which is almost completely stripped out of Paraffin and sulfur. It stays liquid even at -15 centigrade. But in the winter, they pour additives into euro diesel before shipping it to petrol stations to prevent freezing at temperatures lower than -15, just in case.

Before, when we had so called D2 diesel, a much more "dirty" diesel than Euro diesel, at -10 it was normal for fuel to freeze. In those days we were using additives by our own. That was the time when it was common picture in the morning of drivers who put pots and pans with charcoal amber underneath cars that run on diesel. I used to do that myself

Originally Posted by condor

Finally - the pics of the gentle giant. And the man himself ! Lovely pics too - wish we could drive over.

Thank you, condor. I have never been to India. Closest I went was to Maldives to dive there, but that is not true India. Looks like we have the same wish. Maybe we could meet halfway

But if anybody come to Serbia, he or she will not regret a single moment for being here. Serbia is small but beautiful. And the beauty is the reason why I would like to visit India. A true India

Serbians like to have guests and we are giving our best for visitors to have nice time and to learn about Serbia and it's beauties. It is not strange for us to invite guests from abroad to stay at our homes instead of hotels and we share everything with our guests.
Well, not the woman, of course


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[Sutripta]

Hi,
Could you post a picture of the third row seats (if it is there).

Regards
Sutripta

[scuba]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Hi,
Could you post a picture of the third row seats (if it is there).

Regards
Sutripta

mine is five seater