Head says Safari, heart says XUV 700: Which of the two shall I buy?

The mind and heart are clearly torn. Head says Safari - futuristic and feature loaded, and latest of the 2 SUV. But have concerns over how reliable Tata service would be.

BHPian mentalmaxout recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

So war of the titans (Indian SUVs) is here

Want to shift from sedan to first SUV. Plus mid life YOLO setting in .

Shortlisted these 2 candidates. Facelift safari Accomplished + 7 str vs XUV 700 AX7 L

Requirements

• Comfortable to drive in city (95% time in Mumbai city bumper to bumper)
• Good FE for an SUV ( 10-12 KMPL)
• Yearly running will be 13-15k , preference for diesel
• Niggle free ( joke, i know) but as far as possible and easily solvable as possible
• Should be solidly built and should last 10-12 years ( my Nissan sunny is in its 12th year with over 1.3 lakh kms odo)

Test drove the Safari and XUV

Liked in Safari: (over XUV)

• Massive road presence
• Excellent touch screen and camera quality - features like 360 degree camera quality
• Feature loaded
• Higher seat viewing adding to SUV feel
• Ventilated seats , memory functions and auto dimming IRVM
• Small touches like sun protection for windows & foldable headrests
• Interior richness
• Solid built

Other points of safari

• Ride felt stiffer
• Brakes seemed to have delayed response compared to XUV
• Steering felt a bit more heavier (compared to XUV)
• Reliability of Tata service centre vs Mahindra ( have been hearing horror stories of Tata Motors since childhood)
• AC cooling seemed slow ( on 2nd seat air vents were located near the knee)
• Music system sounded louder than XUV but XUV seemed more richer
• Gear shifter seemed tacky and plasticky... Couldn't shift gears in first few tries and still kept getting it wrong

Liked in XUV (over Safari)

• Ride felt more plush and more sedan like
• 2023 model seems to have most niggles sorted out
• Responsive brakes
• Auto booster headlamps
• Sony 12 speaker system with 3d surrounding sound
• Chiller Ac

Other points XUV vs Safari

• Lack of ventilated seats and auto dimming IRVM is a big bummer
• Shades for 2nd row seats would have been nice

The mind and heart are clearly torn. Head says Safari - futuristic and feature loaded, and latest of the 2 SUVs. But have concerns over how reliable Tata service would be. Plus reliability of all the electronic features on offer

Heart says XUV; hearing most niggles are sorted out and even random rattles have stopped rearing their heads, but missing a few features like ventilated seats and auto dimming IRVM.

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

Aha, so the Sarkari Family is out looking for a new car . Knowing how you keep your cars long & travel so much, spend a lot of time test-driving, reading forums & choose wisely.

As other BHPians have said, the Innova Hycross seems tailormade for you and one really cannot go wrong with it. But maybe you prefer an SUV, maybe you don't need all that 3rd-row space and maybe you don't want to spend more for the top-end Innova Hycross.

If that's the case, both the Safari & XUV700 are fantastic SUVs. The Safari, especially, looks like a 60-lakh car after its facelift came out; there is no doubt that its got a greater personality now than the Mahindra. But between the two, I'll go with the XUV700 AT. Just find it to be better engineered, better powertrains (including a great turbo-petrol & a sweet refined diesel that's better than FCA's diesel in the Safari), superior suspension setup and lesser niggles overall (although it will still have its share).

Here's what BHPian libranof1987 had to say on the matter:

What are the current waiting periods quoted for the Hycross and XUV700 AX7 L? A friend was in the market in Aug and was quoted a year by Mahindra, since the top end is the hardest hit by supply chain issues + has the most demand. The Hycross goes even longer.

If waiting period is not a concern, I agree that the Hycross may be best suited. Especially the hybrid that'll be very handy in crawling traffic. The XUV700 next. None of the three cars are SUVs per se so if you want a true SUV, perhaps consider the Compass?

Here's what BHPian rajshenoy had to say on the matter:

You haven't mentioned if you need 7 seaters but since you did not mention Tata harrier(5 seater) I assume you are ok with 3 row seats(excellent boot space on folding).

Biggest concern I have is 95% drive inside city (bumper to bumper) - From my analysis on team-bhp, this might lead to Diesel DPF issues. Diesel is amazing choice if you are looking for a highway tourer. Among the two, only Mahindra offers petrol (ok for 13-15K kms per year) which I hear might return you only 7-8kmpl in city(and 11-12 on highways)

As few have already suggested, I feel hycross might suit your "city" requirement better. I too am confused between XUV700, Tata safari and hycross. Drove them on same stretch and felt TATA to be the widest and heaviest(feeling) and hycross felt very car like to drive(XUV comes in the middle). As I drive a sedan(Corolla), I felt hycross to be more city friendly(the width makes it easy for city drives). XUV came close second on ease of drive. My family did not like Safari back seat ride quality.

Since you are looking for top end variants, XUV and Safari also are over 30L and it is not much of a stretch for Hycross.

Toyota however comes with that super long waiting period, so if you are not willing to wait, do give it a pass(I feel both XUV and Safari offer amazing value)

Lastly, do check the service experience of your local TATA, Mahindra dealerships as that alone will decide the fate of your long ownership.

I booked hycross purely for these reasons as the nearby TATA service stations seem always overcrowded and Mahindra dealership is dragging their feat in bringing service centre near my house for XUV(Need to travel 25+ km in bangalore traffic). Hope that helps

Here's what BHPian 3WiseMen had to say on the matter:

Between the two the XUV700 is a better product - It has better engines and suspension. XUV also is a relatively fuss free ownership and the after sales service is much better.

As for your criteria - Though in the fuel efficiency department, the Mahindra may be lacking but the diesel is still better than the Petrol. It is very good in Mumbai traffic conditions - the steering wheel is light, the acceleration is good + ADAS also helps.

The refresh Safari however has better looking interiors and some additional features and a more usable last row.

Hycross if your budget permits is a good wild card entry that checks all your boxes, just that the availability is low, the prices are unjustifiably high and the car is a van and not .

But then again, I'm a big advocate for buying Indian cars. We need to help our homegrown brands.

Here's what BHPian rAijin had to say on the matter:

Well, I would say "Been there, done that"

I booked XUV 700 AX7L Petrol in Nov 2022 after researching a lot between Safari and XUV. Safari at that time was not that great as compared to XUV even in terms of interiors and features list.
Moving to 2023 with Safari facelift, I was again tempted to re-think my choice and I decided to stay with XUV 700 for below reasons:

• The missing features of Ventilated seats and auto-dimming IRVM might be added in 2024 variants. So you will not miss out on these. You will however miss out on rear sun-shades and sliding rear seats.
• In XUV, you get a lot better head lights ( best in segment ) which gets even better with auto-booster headlamps and I love the door handles. You will miss them on Safari.
• My biggest reason for XUV is that sweet petrol engine with 200bhp and 360NM and better night visibility.
• Another major reason was lack of Petrol engine in Safari. Govt is coming up with "weird" policies for Diesel engines. So, I would recommend moving towards Petrol or Hybrid. Also, with 95% city usage, your diesel DPF would clog.
• XUV is also a more mature and better engineered product at this stage. Majority of niggles have been ironed out in XUV late 2023 batches. I don't think Ventilated seats and auto-dimming IRVM ( if introduced in 2024 ) will add much to the niggles. Safari has just started with the niggles list in the new facelift with addition of many features.
• XUV ADAS is a lot better and niggle free compared to Safari's.
• Looks are subjective. But I still prefer XUV's look compared to Safari.

Having said that, as others have also mentioned, Innova Hycross hybrid suits your needs better. I think it also looks more like an SUV rather than MUV.

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