[Prowler]

Originally Posted by AirbusCapt

Wonder what made Tata motors junk this engine instead of upgrading it to BS6 norms?

After Mr.Ratan Tata left Tata Motors, his brain children - Safari/Storme, Hexa and Nano have been relegated to history. Current owners of these vehicles have a hard time looking for replacements.
Even DiCors return 15km in highways when you don't exceed 80km. I had an Amby which I fitted with Isuzu 1.8l (4FB10 diesel engine) that returned 18-19 km in highways. It is nothing as the Amby was barely 1100kg whereas a Safari weighs 2100 kg.

[Rajith]

Our Safari storme has crossed 2.25Lac kms now and still running super strong. Cruises 120-130 km/hr easily. Key of this reliability is due to our 100% services on time at authorized centers.

[PrasannaDhana]

Update:

Odo : 41,150 km

I hoped usage would come down to 70-80 km a day as the kwid 1.0 is also on duty making city runs. But somehow my work had me driving a bit more this month. The storme still continues to do 100 km/ day.

Saving grace is the nice fuel efficiency it returns.

Experimenting with Fuel Efficiency to optimize the driving style :

You all are very aware of how keenly I follow up with my actual tankfull to tankfull fuel efficiency figures. Some might even find it obsessive on my part. But hey, driving a 2+ ton 156 bhp SUV 3000+ km a month, specially with current ever-rising fuel prices puts a rather big dent on one's wallet.

From my experience of experimenting with different driving styles of mine, these are the observations:

1. Driving the Storme like I would drive a hot hatch.

Driving it like a boy racer, taking the engine to 3k rpm before every upshift and cruising at 3250 rpm on the expressways + idling a lot inside city.
60 : 40 - Highways : City



A pathetic 9.88 kmpl

2. Driving fast, cruising at higher triple digits but not extremely high, driving rapidly within city

60 : 40 - Highway: City
Involves fast driving and idling with AC for long durations



Mediocre 11.09 kmpl

3. Normal Driving

60 : 40 - Highway : City

Normal driving, without much attention on staying on low rpms. Moderate idling (<10 mins) with AC on inside city.



Very satisfying 13.59 kmpl

4. Driving consciously, with maintaining 80 - 90 kmph consistently on highways and not exceeding 1750 rpm inside rural/city conditions

70 : 30 - Highway : City



Amazing 16.74 kmpl

When that is 80 : 20 - Highway : City, it goes up to



A stupendous 17.15 kmpl

5. Driving consciously, maintaining 70-80 kmph, and not exceeding 1500 RPM within rural/city conditions

80 : 20 - Highway : City



An unbelievable 17.94 kmpl !!

Now, I have found a balance between being very conscious and being reasonably fast with the latest tankfull and I find it optimal for my usage. Yes, driving 70-80 or even 80-90 kmph on highways can become a tad too boring.

I did 100 kmph consistently, at times hitting 110kmph, equally wandering in the 95 kmph often.

70 : 30 - Highway : City



An ideal 16.32 kmpl!

When you see these observations, you will realize that consistent 80-90 kmph vs 100 kmph has a respective FE figures of 16.74 kmpl vs 16.32 kmpl. A 0.4 kmpl loss is very much justified to the better driving speeds and in avoiding boredom.

Keeping the engine at a nice 2000 RPM at 6th.




The two white ones are being used well, the orange beauty is yet to be put to good use, which I don't think would happen anytime soon.


2021 Safari seen from 2018 Safari



Signing off with a beautiful pic of the Storme

[BulZire]

Originally Posted by Rajith

Our Safari storme has crossed 2.25Lac kms now and still running super strong. Cruises 120-130 km/hr easily. Key of this reliability is due to our 100% services on time at authorized centers.

This is awesome . seeing these type of messages is encouraging to keep my Storme EX for few more years without any second thought of upgrading

[Rajith]

Storme storming the highway majestically even after crossing 2.26lac kms with new pair of tyres !.

Completed 2000kms in 50 hours yesterday.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by Rajith

Storme storming the highway majestically even after crossing 2.26lac kms with new pair of tyres !.

Completed 2000kms in 50 hours yesterday.

Nice to know that the storme is doing duty post 2 lakh km mark.

But what is the point in taking the risk of clocking 2000 km in 2 days?

Even if we assume you rested a modest 12 hours for sleeping, and another 6 hours for meals and stops, it is about 2000 km in 32 hours, or say 63 kmph average for extended periods of time.

[Rajith]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

But what is the point in taking the risk of clocking 2000 km in 2 days?

Even if we assume you rested a modest 12 hours for sleeping, and another 6 hours for meals and stops, it is about 2000 km in 32 hours, or say 63 kmph average for extended periods of time.

It was a conscious call. I avoided flying in this trip due to pandemic as i have to take 6 flights and 6 airport visits.
Had to complete business meetings at 2 states 1000kms away !.
Apart from me had 2 drivers to do this task.

[Rajith]

Storme service invoice after crossing 2.26lac kms ,apart from Rs 31000.00rs spend for 4 new tyres.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Rajith

Storme service invoice after crossing 2.26lac kms ,apart from Rs 31000.00rs spend for 4 new tyres.

Not bad. They have changed a lot of parts - from Wiper motor to brake rotors. Usually it comes to about 25k for changing the timing belt and the water pump from TASS.

[PrasannaDhana]

Time for the monthly closing report.

Odo: 42,320 km

Total usage in July :3750 km

Which was shared between the Storme and Kwid 1.0

Storme V400 - 2400 km



Kwid 1.0 - 1350 km





Nice way to share wear and tear of above-average monthly usage.

Officially it has been 6 months since I sold my beloved ciaz and Storme becoming my daily driver. It has completed 15500 km in the last 6 months, inspite of lockdown making May month's usage very low.




The big boy did set me back by a few thousands, thanks to insurance renewal and that 40k km service.


Maruti sends this message to me in the morning. Just when I already started to miss the ciaz, this message didn't make things any better.



I hope it is being treated atleast half as good by the new owner as it was treated by me.





Safari Storme will see lower usage in August as I intend to use the Kwid more.

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

I am driving the kwid as sedately as i drive my storme when I experiment with max fuel efficiency runs. On the first tankful driving sedate now. Let me see if kwid gives good fuel efficiency. I will update it in the future

Well, time for the results: 26.25 kmpl


When I drove it as consciously and sedately I did with the storme when I extracted 17.96 kmpl from it.
Only difference is that I didn't use AC in the kwid. As you can see, 24+ kmpl is pretty easy without AC. With AC, 19-22 kmpl is the norm.

That makes the difference in cost per km to be a good 2.5 rs/km for Kwid over Storme.

A post without a pic of the storme? I don't think so.

[PrasannaDhana]

Update:

Odo : 43722 km

Days used in August so far : 4 days
Km run : 1400 km

Yes! Just 4 days of driving the storme, and all those 4 days were those long driving days with my work demanding a lot of miles to be munched.

Specially today, 512 km covered in 5 hours and 15 minutes, of which 200 km were in single lane State highways. Obviously, I did cruise at speeds that cannot be mentioned here, with 5 adults on board. Oh boy o boy, the Varicor 400 is a sweet engine to play with!!



Downside is that it gulped away 80% of the tank for just 512 km, translating to 9 kmpl lol!

Washed the car and waxed it too.







A few pics of the big boy :





Attachment 2191925


With one of my tempo travellers. That's another people mover I like to drive.


How often do you find 2 Safari Stormes parked together?

[PrasannaDhana]

Update :

A fancy odo

44444 km



Storme has clocked 2200 km so far this month. August has to be amongst the most active months of driving for me this year. I have already clocked 3000 km in 20 days. Thanks to Kwid, for taking away the burden of 800 km from Storme in the last 20 days.

Storme has been clocking 200 km days very often this month. Thankful for that amazing ride quality and comfort to be able to put up with so much of traveling.

Partners in work :



Dimensionally opposite, but it blows my mind that the storme is as easy (may be easier) to make U turns within smaller spaces as the kwid. I still remember driving my Safari Dicor and planning for U turns like I am driving a bus lol.



A few pics with the TUV300s (oh should I call them Bolero Neo )





Storme given rest for a week, and parked at celerio's slot. I have a round trip to Madurai (320 km) on 27th. Until then, my celerio, which has been parked without any usage for months together, will be used along with my kwid.

[Prowler]

I still remember driving my Safari Dicor and planning for U turns like I am driving a bus lol.

Yes. DiCor is like a Bus when it comes to its turning radius. Every time I go to a Mall, I get a lump in the throat when I negotiate the narrow passage. Before I climb a mountain, I ask people coming down whether a bus can go in those narrow hills. It has ample power to climb any hill, but can't negotiate a narrow hair-pin bend.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Yes. DiCor is like a Bus when it comes to its turning radius. Every time I go to a Mall, I get a lump in the throat when I negotiate the narrow passage. Before I climb a mountain, I ask people coming down whether a bus can go in those narrow hills. It has ample power to climb any hill, but can't negotiate a narrow hair-pin bend.

If you haven't driven a storme yet, you should try doing the same turn in it and do it back to back in your Dicor. You will have utter disbelief how the vehicle with the same dimensions can be so vastly different to maneuver

[PrasannaDhana]

Closing August with 45,750 km on the odo.

August has been the busiest month of this year, having me drive 4440 km shared by Storme V400 and Kwid 1.0 with 3441 km & 1000 km.



This month was also the one which had me drive on unplanned official trips of over 300 km on multiple days. Hence, I just gave two hoots about fuel efficiency and floored it on most days.

Effect of that, the fuel efficiency of this month, for 3441 km, the storme gulped 274 liters of diesel, giving a very average 12.6 kmpl, considering that most of the distances were clocked on expressways. I admit, I did do some insane triple cruising for hours together on most days, with 4 men on board always.

While year's most usage was in March, clocking 3681 km, but then, I used storme alone. Kwid wasn't touched then. Even last month was hectic with 3700 km shared between both the cars.



Having a hectic month, driving 4440 km not only makes you a tired man, but also makes you a poor man



A staggering Rs. 31,000 burnt on fuel this month, the highest in this year. Ofcourse, the culprit is the Storme contributing to the most damage




I really did intend to use both cars equally, so that the work load on storme gets reduced. Since my work demanded moving 4+ people, I had no other choice than to use the storme. Can't imagine anyone sitting behind me in my kwid. This is where I miss my ciaz so much.

All said and done, I did love the comfort and miles munching capabilities of the storme. A couple of passengers were quite surprised that a Safari could do such speeds on the highway without breaking a sweat.

A few pics




With my sister's Nexon. I recommended it to her and she is very happy with the car. I did drive it, and was really impressed with the punch of that 1.2 turbo petrol.