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97000 kms in 9 years with my Tata Safari; Now sold due to NGT Rule

17th March 2025, 16:50 by Kanad Kalasur

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Safari was like opening a Travel portal or Travel log of my life which was not there before. Highways were a joyful and relaxing experience now.

BHPian JoseTheScorpion recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

A little History

The three cars we had before the Safari Storme, were the M800, Santro and Getz prime.

You can find the complete details in the below links:

M800 – https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-...uti-800-a.html (Our First Car - The 1988 Maruti 800)

Santro - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-...fore-xing.html (Hyundai Santro – King before the Xing)

Getz - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-...getz-crdi.html

Also had the Zen, for my Dad- will surely write its story as well, but coming to my Safari Storme

Car Details
Tata Safari Storme VX 4X2 Varicor, MT, Pearl white, Model 2012(Dec)

Here is the famous ad I was mad about.

https://youtube.com/shorts/kovjXob58...dIAEAWkHshCXoy

Since the Safari ad in 2006 – “reclaim your life”(Ad link above). I have been a hardcore fan of Safari dicor. I got married in 2012 and as we now were growing as a family, I decided to look for an upgrade to the Getz CRDI. My parents, my brother, my wife’s parents and my wife were all in on the idea(lucky me) and they all wanted to contribute. I surely felt as the luckiest son, brother, husband and husband-in-law at the same time.

Why Safari Storme

In Oct, 2012, the Safari Storme was launched and the moment I saw it in flesh, I was in love with it. My family also liked it but their only concern was its size. As it was a huge upgrade from our last ride – Getz Crdi. Me being the best driver in the world(in my head) never had a doubt and took a couple of test rides. My concern was moving to a 15lakh TATA car, its reliability and service quality, after reading the horror stories of many Safari owners in teambhp. Off course the final decision was taken, thanks to the reviews posted by my BHPian brothers on the high-quality upgrade on the Storme compared to the previous gen (Dicor).

Other cars considered and what turned me off

Scorpio – no space and the ride was too bumpy
Duster – looked too small
Safari dicor – interiors were outdated
XUV500 – didn’t have the SUV feel

What’s it like to own a Safari

Safari was like opening a Travel portal or Travel log of my life which was not there before. Highways were a joyful and relaxing experience now. I had travelled to many places in my Getz crdi, the longest being the Delhi-Ahmedabad trip, but at the end of the journey I was very tired and exhausted both ways. Safari was the opposite, I was roaring to go on, with the longest trip being 1200kms from Hyderabad to Thrissur (Kerala) a few times. Also, I have once covered the distance in 14hrs in the year 2017, without breaking a sweat.

Trips done from Delhi

Delhi- Lansdowne
Delhi -Manali -Rotang pass
Delhi-Agra
Delhi-Satkol
Delhi-Dehradun

Many more, which I may not remember now.

Leaving Delhi

So, we bought the car on Dec16th 2012 from Dwarka, Delhi. I was working in Noida and my wife worked in a public bank in the Karol Bagh branch. She was transferred to Hyderabad in 2015, and I also tagged along, luckily getting an internal transfer in my office as well.

Trips done from Hyderabad

Hyderabad - Goa
Hyderabad - Pune
Hyderabad – Vizag/Vijayawada
Hyderabad – Bangalore/Mangalore/Ooty/Coorg

Letting Blinder go

I pet named my Safari as “Blinder” because of its powerful halogen dual barrel headlights and fog lights. We kept the car for 9 years and had to sell it only due to the 10 year Delhi NGT ban on Diesel cars. As we were in Hyderabad, we sold our DL registered car to Cars24, which was a disaster (will share all details in another thread).

Anyway, so there goes our white elephant. It was a sad day, but at the same time, there was an uncertain anxiety as to which car would be the successor to the great Safari Storme.

LIKEs

Most comfortable 5 seats of any SUV under 30lakhs. The rear two seats are jump seats which are possibly the most uncomfortable seats
Soaks up potholes / speed breakers / footpaths like it is nothing
Commanding view of the road/traffic from the front two seats. Also huge windows makes it feel really airy inside.
Powerful AC with 4 vents in the front and 6 vents at the rear. I think it also had a separate AC unit for the rear.
Looks – agree, that the Dicor looks better, but the Storme isn’t far behind.
Ease of driving/visibility – with huge rear-view mirrors and huge windows all around, visibility was best in class.
Space – leg room, headroom, shoulder room and boot space (900 L). No SUV was even close to challenging it.

DISLIKEs

Plastic quality – Not good at all
Noise / vibration and rattling – I think every safari owner will share the same frustration of the weird noises coming from all around the car. All the time.
Highspeed dynamics – Scary, if you even try to change lane in triple digit speeds, due to the high centre of gravity
Interior – Beige interior colour, it easily used to get soiled.

ISSUEs

Continuous rattle issues, Doors, seats, boot.
Had to change the complete ignition system with key once and costed 30k. This happened on a trip to Kerala, luckily I was in my relatives house when the Car failed to start.

UPGRADEs

LED headlights – white and powerful – spent 12k
DRL lights and LED indicators – 1k
I liked the Storme as stock, it was the top model so had all the required features.

Here are some pics of our Safari(Pet named “Blinder” for blinding oncoming traffic)