My 2023 Tata Safari Adventure edition: Pros & cons of ownership

The car has been awesome to drive and trouble-free so far and I am hopeful that it will remain that way in the future as well.

BHPian Neversaygbye recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

There are times when you don't really plan for something but an opportunity knocks unexpectedly and you make the most of it. My recent purchase of the outgoing edition (pre-facelift 2021 version) of the Tata Safari was exactly one such incident.

While I will cover that story as we go along, now that I have driven the car for over 3000 kms, here are my initial impressions:

Likes:

• The looks! The Tropical Mist colour with the black highlights and grille in the Adventure edition makes the car a real head-turner. Build quality is typical of Tata (i.e. great) and the car has ample presence too. Also, this colour is a bit nostalgic for us as our first car the Matiz was of a similar (though darker and greener) hue
• The amount of space on offer inside. A usable third row and good leg space in the middle row with features like boss mode ensures that passengers in any row are comfortable
• 360-degree camera with 3D simulation. Really helps in tight parking spots and the 3D simulation is excellent. The cameras are of good quality too
• Amazing JBL sound system with lots of customization options. The balance can even be adjusted for individual speakers
• Butter smooth AT mated to a powerful engine and multiple drive modes (Eco, City and Sport) makes this a great car for both the city and the highway. Auto Hold function is a boon in start and stop bumper-to-bumper traffic
• Superb handling and body roll that is well-contained
• Good quality of materials and plastics - there is a premium feel about the car
• The driver seat moves down when you open the door, and moves up when you close it, to facilitate egress and ingress. There are three memory seat settings too
• Safety features such as 6 airbags, all disc brakes, ABS and EBD, rough road and wet road terrain modes, Hill Descent Control and Corner Stability Control, auto engagement of the EPB in Park mode
• Comfort features such as wireless charging, ventilated driver and co-passenger seats, panoramic sunroof, cruise control, voice commands, auto headlamps and wipers, an AC vent and controls in the 3rd row, two-stage lumbar support for the driver

Dislikes:

• Typical Tata issue with fit and finish persists. You would have thought that the maker of JLR cars from a segment and above would have mature QA/QC processes by now, but that's still not the case
• The AT has been tuned for smoothness and comfort and lacks outright responsiveness, especially when starting from a standstill. The car is anything but fast off the blocks
• Ride quality at slower speeds is on the firmer side - the 18" wheels don't help. 16" would have been ideal.
• Bluetooth disconnects at times (happened twice)
• Light-coloured interiors are a stain magnet - and require a lot of care and I had to ban eating in the car
• The car is a bit high for the elderly to step into - I had to get sidesteps installed
• The tailgate needs to be opened manually - there is no remote tailgate release of any kind
• No cooled glovebox - instead a cooled armrest storage is provided between the front seats. However, it's too small.
• Negligible storage space with all seats up - folding the last row means having to move the 2nd row two inches forward from the rearmost position, which reduces the leg space in the second row. If there are no passengers in the third row, it is better to keep the luggage on the seats, provided the luggage fits.
• Not related directly to the car but Tata's inconsistent dealership experience is a huge negative. I almost ended up not buying this car because of one poor dealership experience (more about that later)

And with that, let me move on to the rest of the story. But before I do that, here is my Tata Safari XZA+ Adventure Edition in all her glory:

While I really enjoy getting behind the wheel of the Safari, like I mentioned at the beginning, it was still an unplanned purchase. So how did I end up with this car?

Purchase background:

Well, it so happens that I was (and still am) quite happy and contented with my Vista D90, which has been my primary car and the epitome of reliability and niggle-free ownership over the last 11 years and 1.32 lakh kms (till now). The car has travelled with me to different parts of the country and still does duty as the daily driver. Here's a link to the long-term ownership report that also links to some of the TLs, for those who are interested, along with a pic of both the golden oldie and the new kid on the block together:

While I had no intention of parting with the Vista (something that holds good even now), at the back of my mind, I was painfully aware that it's living on borrowed time. With the NGT already banning diesel vehicles over ten years old in the NCR, and pollution levels in Calcutta being what they are, I am sure that it's only a matter of time before a similar ban is enforced in this part of the country. I didn't want to be caught on the wrong foot when that happened, and to that effect, I was thinking of options ever since Vista completed ten years last year.

Considering that EVs seem to be the vehicles of the future, I seriously grappled with the idea of getting one, as for a major part of the month the Vista runs in the city. However, I still couldn't convince myself that EVs (in their current form) are the future. For one, they are more expensive than their ICE counterparts for a similar set of features and have limitations both in terms of range and charging infrastructure availability. In other words, they are not convenient to run and since we value convenience more than anything else, I was and am pretty certain that EVs in their current avatar are passing fancies that will fade away and lead to something else, just like pagers and point and shoot cameras died with the advent of the cellphone, and push-button phones were replaced by touch screen ones. As any vehicle that supersedes or replaces the Vista in the future would be utilized for highway drives too, and would be with me for at least five years if not more, it was imperative that it should be worry-free and require only a minimum amount of planning for long trips, and be future proof for at least five years. In five years we should know where we are headed on ICE/EVs/Hybrids/H2/Flux Capacitor/Teleportation/Something else and I will invest in some other technology if it comes to that. So with this thought in mind, EVs were rejected as an option. (Disclaimer: the above is just my opinion and no disrespect is intended towards past, current and prospective EV owners)

Cars considered

The short answer to that is none, and the Safari just came and became the one despite that. Let me explain.

I had a pretty clear set of requirements in mind for any replacement of the Vista. The first thing was that my next car had to be a proper upgrade over the Vista and cost no more than 25L OTR. I was also sure about buying the top variant and that too in diesel (the low-end torque on tap coupled with the better fuel efficiency and lower maintenance and running cost of the Vista when compared to my Beat had spoilt me). This automatically ruled out the hatchbacks and compact sedans since none of them was an upgrade over the D90, except for boot space, and that really didn't matter much to me. That left the Sedan, MUV and SUV segments, but then none of those cars or variants in the <25 Lakhs price bracket appealed to me. I was anyway not interested in sedans because of their low ground clearance. None of the Mahindras grabbed my interest and in any case had it come down to choosing between a Mahindra and a Tata I would have gone for Tata because when both contenders have similar strengths and weaknesses, you go with the one you know best. I had a passing interest in the Creta and Seltos twins, but not enough to make me go to a showroom. In a pinch, I would have considered them, but I wasn't in that desperate a situation. (Possibly the only car I would have seriously considered had it been still around would have been the Duster). So despite my misgivings about the NGT, I put the thought of getting a new car on the backburner till the time I was forced to choose a replacement for the Vista.

However, there is this thing called serendipity, and in my case, it happened in the form of a promotional email from Tata Motors mentioning that the company was offering "lakhs off" on their cars. I was intrigued enough to open the email and found that the company was doing a stock clearance of some of the previous generation models - there were only a few variants of each type on offer but the Harrier was going for 20.89 Lakhs and the Safari for 20.99 lakhs ex-showroom, and that too for the top AT variants. That is how Tata entered the fray unchallenged and left with all my money.

I was actually on a trip to Balasore/Chandipur in my Vista and sitting at the breakfast table of the hotel when I saw the email. On a lark, I registered, and what do you know - within two minutes I received a call from Tata Motors. The lady at the other end wanted to know my location and which model I was interested in. I provided both. She confirmed both the availability and the price of the models on offer (exactly what was mentioned in the email). With INR 10k separating the Harrier and the Safari, I opted for the Safari even though we did not really need a 7-seater. Among the variants on offer were the Red Dark and Tropical Mist Adventure Edition in XZA+ trim. XZA+ (O) cars which included ADAS were also available but at a slightly higher price, but my preference was for the ones without ADAS.

Being an existing Tata owner, I was fully aware of the showrooms near my residence and opted for T C Motors Chinar Park. The lady from Tata Motors took down my details and said that someone from the dealership would contact me, I thanked her and hung up. (The other showroom in the area is that of Lexus Motors, which is on the same road about 2 kms away and almost walking distance from my residence, but I chose to stay away from them because of this bad experience in the past.

Continue reading BHPian Neversaygbye's review for more insights and information.