I had planned on getting some good leather seat covers put, but didnt manage to get that done before we left on our trip. We took it with the plastic covers on the seats. Actually, I still have not gotten any seat covers so far. I have only removed the plastic cover. Need to get seat covers soon. I have now decided that leather is for later when I get the time (read money also?). For the immediate, I am planning to get some towel material or fabric seat covers. I did some checking last week and found that none of the outlets I tried seemed to stock readymade fabric or towel material seat covers for the Safari. Anybody know any place that does? Preferably good quality towel material because this would still be a cheaper solution until the leather upgrade.
The ICE is your OEM Blaupunkt HU. Weighing the audio setup, I would say it is just alright, but I find that the Bass is not very effective. You need not be an audiophile to figure that things could be better at this price point. But I dont plan to get any upgrades there for sometime. At best, get some portable player that I can connect to this via AUX. As I said, its manageable.
Apart from the alloys, the other upgrade I got done was a reverse camera with four sensors. The brand is Red Soul. It gives distance measurement, and beeps if objects are too close. I got this done from the dealer itself. The setup is good. And I find it very helpful, especially in tight spots. Helps when I need to park the truck in Tippasandra market or in the bylanes off CMH Road during peak hours for example. Could get it down to only 15,500 from the stated price of 18,000. It comes, with a warranty, if I recall correctly of one year.
I had originally gotten it fitted to make my wife's life easier when she drives it. But she is still not confident of driving the safari. And now I have come to appreciate this a lot.
I have not gotten underbody anti-rust or teflon coating done. Plan to get an under-body anti-rust treatment done either at 7,500 or 15,000 Kms. Plans are also on to get the 3M paint protection treatment done at the same time. Depends on how many kms I run up between September end to December.
Lastly, I need to get some kind of lock for the spare wheel. Else somebody could just unscrew the damn thing and carry it away. Any suggestions?
Overall, I managed only a cash discount of Rs.11,000. The sales guy rubs it in saying he would have offered 25,000 cash discount for my bargaining had I approached him 3 months back. I got exactly the same comments from both Manipal and Prerana. The uniform response was that TM has got some new regional sales manager this year who is setting different rules on dealer discounts. Whatever...
The dealer threw in the usual floor mats, perfume, mudflaps etc. Concorde also fitted Llumar sunfilm (Black, 50%). Its strictly better than not having a sunfilm. Thats all. Since we left immediately, and this was free, I settled for it. Plan to upgrade to HuperOptik ones later. Seen some of them and was impressed. I might possibly get the windscreen done up soon.
I feel the mudflaps are partly cosmetic. At least the ones that Concorde have fitted in mine are. They are joined to the body only on side with the net effect that seem to stand out a bit funny, only upon close inspection mind you. Thinking of getting it removed.