[storme'd]

Originally Posted by NST440

AFAIK TATA people are very particular about lapse of service dates & in your case if its 24th feb, you should get it done within a weeks time prior to 24th Feb. My 3rd service is also due in January '14 so hopefully i shall give my inputs. Although i have heard from people that this is a vital service for the Storme & includes major changes , i just wish TATA service people do it diligently & deliver the results.

Yup I hope so too but seeing them work at the floor, sometimes I just don't get the confidence that everything will e checked on the list. Keep me posted on your 3rd service.

[stormerider]

Originally Posted by storme'd

completes one year on 24th feb'14. When should I give it for servicing?
.

Wow, my UFO completes year on 23 feb! Current odo reading is 21k. After the third service the truck is running nicely and munching miles. Mileage increased to 11.5 from 10.5. That's the only thing I noticed.

[ebonho]

I seem to have developed a problem with the bluetooth. I can hear the sound of the guy calling me, but he cannot hear me. This is not happening everytime though. When the TASS guys came over to check it, they could hear me perfectly. But when I went home, the problem recurred with 3 different phones. My son's mobile, our house landline, as well as my friend's mobile. This happens both when they call me, as well as when I call them from my phone. What could be the problem? The Tata guys are saying they have to take the whole car with my phone to the Alpine dealer (in the heart of the city) and I really do not want to do that if not necessary. The other thing I noticed when the car came back from the TASS after they worked on checking the system and the bluetooth is that now on the FM the stations do not jump directly to the next frequency but instead jumps in steps of 0.5 all the way to the next correct one. Could this be the problem? How do I get it back to the original setting of jumping from one channel to the next directly?

[condor]

Originally Posted by ebonho

I can hear the sound of the guy calling me, but he cannot hear me. This is not happening everytime though.

Possible loose connection of the mike.

on the FM the stations do not jump directly to the next frequency but instead jumps in steps of 0.5 all the way to the next correct one.

Should be a settings problem - with the tuning / auto-tuning..

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by condor

Possible loose connection of the mike.

Should be a settings problem - with the tuning / auto-tuning..

Last night after I went home, I set the Tuner to DX Seek (default setting - distance - all channels strong and weak). The other two settings are DX Lo (local - only all strong channels) and Manual (manual setting - manula tuning in increments of 0.05 - the one it was on when my voice was not going through).

Checked with wife and son and friend's mobiles and home landline. Everything worked. Fingers crossed now that this was the issue only.

[hyper-VTEC]

So after trying to get a TD for some time, me and my wife could drive a Storme.

Truck: Tata Storme VX 4X2 - done 24XX kms, Pearl White body color.
Dealer: Concorde Motors, Guindy, Chennai
Date: 11.12.13 5PM
Area: Palavakkam, ECR

Preface: - A bit longish one.
My current car is a 2007 Petrol Swift completed 62xxx kms. It has served me well and i have had tremendous fun traveling to many parts of the country (shifted jobs between Noida, Bangalore and Chennai). States visited are RJ, DL, HR, UP, UK, MH, GJ, AP, KA, TN, KL including a 2500 Kms journey in 2009 Dec from Noida to Bangalore. I have always driven cars with relatively higher seating positions Amby (dad's), Maruti Omni. WagonR and now Swift. Some how i don't feel comfortable driving very low slung cars like Polo, Esteem.

Recently on a trip to Rameshwaram i met with an accident, where a dumper truck smashed the driver side of my Swift http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ml#post3192727. Luckily no one was hurt since front passengers were wearing seatbelts.

I am currently looking at Storme EX and XUV W4, since my budget is 14 lacs OTR. I dont like the (all due respect to owners) overgrown hatches EcoSport, Duster etc. Like the Yeti but that is out of my budget.

TD Experience:

Storme has very good road presence and the new Land Rover inspired front look nice. I went over the features and other things first. Looked at the new system (in Storme) of keeping the 5th wheel. Although this system steals the beastie look of the Dicor, but it is better for my back.

The Stereo has iPoD/Aux and USB. I didn't try any media, but the SA put on some FM channel. The speakers are crappy. However, not sure if the head unit will perform good with good quality speakers.

Rear AC was a boon. Recently hired a Innova which did not have rear AC and family had a tough time coping with Chennai heat (which is not at its peak now). AC is a chiller, but again the weather gods are quite bountiful on Chennai nowadays. But i am sure after reading other posts that AC will be good.

Started the truck and started rolling out. Noticed the clutch was quite hard. SA mentioned because i was graduating from a petrol hatch and also it is a new car. Combination of both resulted me in feeling that clutch was hard. I disagree though. I had TD'd the XUV 2 months back and its clutch was not as hard as the Storme. That XUV had done 17xxx kms.

I didn't feel much lag, obviously Storme is more than double the weight of Swift and the swiftness will not be there, but otherwise it was quick and body roll has reduced a lot from Dicor, which i TD'd atleast 2 years back (with a friend who purchased it).

Flies and Wasps (Autos and Indicas) were giving way without blowing the horn and even rental Innovas showed respect. Ride was super comfortable and plush and real estate was not an issue at all. Tried through some broken patched near the beach roads in Palavakkam and Storme took everything aplomb.

Overall i liked the Storme. It is now a mind vs heart game. Mind says XUV, heart says Storme.

Some fights mind and heart is having:
Heart: Storme can be serviced anywhere, XUV has to be taken to specific dealers and trained technicians only
Mind: XUV W4 has airbags, which Storme EX does not
Heart: Storme has a old world charm and in Indian roads for 12 (?) years. Had proved itself
Mind: XUV is a new, radical design
Heart: Storme has stereo (HU), front and rear fog lights which W4 doesnt have
Heart: XUVs are dime and dozen in the roads now, Storme is still exclusive

I leave this discussion here for the time being. I will TD both cars again back to back to check again on the performance (inside city) and comfort. I am in no hurry. I will buy around Feb/Mar 2014.

Storme EX was quoted at INR 13,83,640 by Concorde. This includes extended warranty and AMC.
Ex-Showroom: 1139406
LTT: 172411
Logistics: 7500
Insurance: 46250 (Not bumper to bumper). I can take my own insurance
Extended Warranty: 4th year and additional 50,000 Kms: 7980
AMC: 10093

Price of TML cars will increase by 1% from 01 Jan 2014.

There is only a cash discount of 20,000 right now. No other offers. He said he will check whether my company is listed in their database. If yes, there will be a corporate discount, not a major amount. He didn't disclose the amount. I didn't speak about freebies. Will take them up after i make a decision.

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Originally Posted by ebonho

I seem to have developed a problem with the bluetooth. I can hear the sound of the guy calling me, but he cannot hear me. This is not happening everytime though. When the TASS guys came over to check it, they could hear me perfectly. But when I went home, the problem recurred with 3 different phones. My son's mobile, our house landline, as well as my friend's mobile. This happens both when they call me, as well as when I call them from my phone. What could be the problem? The Tata guys are saying they have to take the whole car with my phone to the Alpine dealer (in the heart of the city) and I really do not want to do that if not necessary. The other thing I noticed when the car came back from the TASS after they worked on checking the system and the bluetooth is that now on the FM the stations do not jump directly to the next frequency but instead jumps in steps of 0.5 all the way to the next correct one. Could this be the problem? How do I get it back to the original setting of jumping from one channel to the next directly?

Dear Vistasp - (I got your PM, I'll try and catch up, depends on the time I get from my schedule, I pass by East Street every day though ). There are two separate issues mentioned as blue tooth & FM station seek. I am not an electronics engineer. I am replying from whatever I have understood. The reply is as follows:

1. Blue-tooth: voice is not heard by the other end person that means that the mike is not picking up the signal. This mike is externally fitted on the driver side sun visor. Just check for continuity in this circuit, the connection from the mike terminal & the music system’s back connector.

2. FM station seek: this is not the issue. The earlier system used to play already restored channels means with “Auto-Store” where direct set FM stations stored in internal memory of the unit would play. Now there are no FM channels stored in the system so it is seeking the channels (normally it goes from 90.0 to 90.5 in 0.5 frequency band). Just operate the “Auto store” function from the set-up to get the available channels stored in the memory so that you can get direct set channels while surfing.

I hope it all made sense to you. Whew! (I wish I was answering vehicle performance or vehicle dynamics related queries). .

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[condor]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

This mike is externally fitted on the driver side sun visor.

BD Sir, a small correction - the mike is fitted in the roof lining, between two visors.

COuld you please help me with my problem of burning smell from AC ? this is not external (due to incorrect closure of the recirculation flap). But smell of burning insulation. (I have sent you a PM). TIA !

[ebonho]

Thanks Behram. Lets meet up for sure. Call me whenever. The Storme is doing great bro. I love it.

[richie4u]

Here's what I call, "which came first the chicken or the egg?", found this made-in-china SUV who has something similar to our Tata Safari Storme. Now the question is who copied from whom?



More images at :Link

[sebastianjoseph]

I prefer the front of this to the storme. I never liked the Crome strip they put on most tata cars.

Originally Posted by richie4u

Here's what I call, "which came first the chicken or the egg?", found this made-in-china SUV who has something similar to our Tata Safari Storme. Now the question is who copied from whom?

Attachment 1179411

More images at :Link

[ebonho]

Storme went in for re-painting a scratch on the rear right panel over the wheel arch courtesy an over adventurous cyclist's handlebar.

The rubber grommets issue was also tackled with information straight from the factory.

@Behram, would appreciate if you can corroborate this please. The 4 side doors each have 2 grommets for 2 of the 3 slots, while the slot directly below the speakers remaining open. The tailgate, all 4 slots are open without grommets (makes sense since the glass there is not sliding so there is no way water can get inside).

The nipple part of the grommet goes inside the door, and all you can see outside is a rectangular rubber rim which slots around the periphery of each slot. It has a channel which fits on the metallic edge, with rubber overlapping outside and inside.

Now the new issue discovered while this work was being done. 3 of my shockers are leaking. Both rear ones, and the front left. The waranty is only for leaking ones, but I am not convinced about having an older lot (though not yet leaking) shocker on the front right and newer lot (with some improvements obviously) shocker on the front left. Won't this cause some imbalance or some issues down the line? Shouldn't Tata do the sensible thing and instead of waiting for the right one to also start leaking (or start making noises), simply replace both as a matched pair? Hoping experts and @Behram could weigh in on this.

For the rear shockers, up till now they have been replacing only the leaky shockers. A new recent circular from the factory has asked them (ONLY for the 4x2 Stormes - NOT for the 4x4's) to ALSO replace the coil springs with new springs (which now have a different part number). Since the springs are not yet available, they have ordered them, and all the replacements will happen once they arrive.

I don't understand how 3+ years of hard testing by Tata these shocker leakage issues never happened, and how only customers of the commercial lot vehicles are getting these leakage complaints?

I do not know if it is psychological, but I took the Storme for a 50+ km highway drive late last night (was not feeling sleepy, and wanted to drive my Storme - no excuse needed! ) and I found the handling to be a bit off, with slightly funny feeling in long sweeping corners as well as when changing lanes, with a sideways kind of "dipping" movement. Could it be because of one leaking, and one ok shocker on the front?

The truck pulls clean like a train in 5th, but 4th feels a bit strained in comparison.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Now the new issue discovered while this work was being done. 3 of my shockers are leaking.

How many km has your Storme covered? On what kind of roads? How would you classify your general driving style?

Originally Posted by ebonho

Shouldn't Tata do the sensible thing and instead of waiting for the right one to also start leaking (or start making noises), simply replace both as a matched pair? Hoping experts and @Behram could weigh in on this.

Well, warranty replacements are not pro active replacements and only the parts that "have failed" are replaced, across brands.

Originally Posted by ebonho

A new recent circular from the factory has asked them (ONLY for the 4x2 Stormes - NOT for the 4x4's) to ALSO replace the coil springs with new springs (which now have a different part number).

There were floating rumors that the Storme was a WIP product, but this kind of adds to it now. Any reason as to why the springs are being replaced? And why are they NOT being replaced on 4WD versions?

Originally Posted by ebonho

I don't understand how 3+ years of hard testing by Tata these shocker leakage issues never happened, and how only customers of the commercial lot vehicles are getting these leakage complaints?

Well, the quality of the so called millions of km of "field testing" is the same, for most Indian Cos', be it the Thar or the Storme, such issues are always brought up by the real users/end customers.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

How many km has your Storme covered? On what kind of roads? How would you classify your general driving style?

Just completing 5000 kms, thanks to being more comfortable in my Baleno for my office runs (BRT chaos being a major factor), and not yet done any of the much-planned long drives in the Storme. I used to drive the Storme much more aggressively (like a sedan) earlier but off late am getting into the diesel tractor 2000 rpm mode (and liking it - less stress). Only tarmac roads, never taken it offroading or anything. Slow to 2nd gear for speed breakers, and do not bash willy-nilly over them. I never abuse any vehicle of mine, bike or car or cycle.

Well, warranty replacements are not pro active replacements and only the parts that "have failed" are replaced, across brands.

But what happens when the new part is an improved version of the old part (even though the part number might remain the same)? And Shockers is something I am not convinced on this about. An old shocker and a new shocker will not behave the same, even if they are identical (which I'm sure is not the case here).

There were floating rumors that the Storme was a WIP product, but this kind of adds to it now. Any reason as to why the springs are being replaced? And why are they NOT being replaced on 4WD versions?

I have a feeling the 4x4's because of their added weight and their transmission needs have better/sturdier coil springs, and they are thus probably now replacing the 4x2 ones also with the same.

The reason is because this replacing of shockers has not stopped the leakage issues completely (this is what I hear - it may not be true or fact) and there are cases of replacements also begining to leak again. So they have now decided to change the coils too and observe if this makes a difference. All new replacements like mine will be monitored and under close observation apparently.

Well, the quality of the so called millions of km of "field testing" is the same, for most Indian Cos', be it the Thar or the Storme, such issues are always brought up by the real users/end customers.

That is indeed sad if true. I still love my Storme, but this shocker issue has unnerved me. Sure Tata are great with waranty replacement issues and all. Its the day my warranty ends that is causing me goosebumps now ......

I have seen test Stormes being thrashed on the Mumbai Bangalore highway for months before the launch. Those drivers were definitely not incompetent drivers or babying the trucks. How can these leakage issues not have happened then? Why only now? Has something changed in the interim? Vendor? Material? Specs?

[narayan]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Well, the quality of the so called millions of km of "field testing" is the same, for most Indian Cos', be it the Thar or the Storme, such issues are always brought up by the real users/end customers.

One thing I have heard ( from a vendor ) and recently read in another TML thread on their vendor management policies is that when it comes to actual parts procurement, TML procurement team is amongst the worst in the industry. Hence its relatively easier for vendors to supply sub standard parts due to poor control/sample testing/ vendor mangement etc. The original prototypes would have run those millions of kms with the best of parts leaving us to the whims and fancies of what the vendor actually supplies.

I wonder what this Horizon next is all about. Keeps coming as a punctuation in every TATA ad.

I am taking my beast tomorow to the dealer to recheck on the seat belt squirrel squeak + brake squeak ( typical sound when there is dust rubbing against the disc ). Will ask them to check all the shocks as well.