News

Ownership review: My pre-owned Tata Safari Storme Varicor 4x2

3rd November 2021, 21:15 by Deepankar Sadekar

I quickly asked for the test drive. The drive quality was good. Clutch was lighter than my i20. The engine was smooth. I took her to some rough surfaces and the suspension also seemed to be in good condition. And most importantly, the criteria of prime importance among all other things, my wife also liked the ride.

BHPian PassionateDrive recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

My experience behind the wheel:

I have been driving a 2010 i20 Sportz CRDI for almost 11 years and have already clocked a happy 130K kms in it. Prior to this, my family had a STD M800, which we owned for 10 years/70K kms, driven equally by me and my mom. So overall I have an experience of driving for more than 20 years and 165K kms.

This is my i20 after 11 years/130K kms:

Experience with the little beast; Hyundai i20 Crdi Sportz:

Having graduated from a classic M800 STD, the i20 CRDI initially felt like a jet. But the fact is, even today after 11 years it is the same beast. The 1.4 litre CRDI engine is one that puts many bigger sedans to shame. It’s straight line acceleration brings a wide grin on my face every time the turbo spools up.

Things which I enjoyed thoroughly with her:

Straight line acceleration.
The 6th gear is fun to drive. A century and a half on the speedometer is effortless.
Feather light steering to drive within the city limits.
Can munch miles at lengths: Have driven her for 700+kms in a single day.
Very practical and excellent quality interiors: No rattles even today, easy accessibility of all the controls, storage for all necessary items, driver side one-touch down as well as one touch up (this one is very rare but extremely important IMO, don’t know why we don’t find this very common), cooled glove box, under-the-seat rear AC vents, etc.

Things which did not quite grow up on me over these years:

Turbo lag: It's a beast when the turbo spools up at ~2000 rpm. But until you reach that mark it feels like eternity.
No ABS: One of the biggest sore points.
Frequent gear shifting: The not so good aspect of the 6 speed gear box I guess.
Suspension: You cannot just throw uneven or bad roads at her randomly. She is not comfortable at these, and won’t keep you comfortable either.
Steering at high speeds: The steering doesn’t weigh up at high speeds. Very risky for someone new behind the wheel.
Exterior design: Personally, I am more fond of designs with straight lines and clean surfaces. In this segment I like the Polo more than the i20.

Reasons which made me look for a new car:

My highway runs have been roughly to the north of 80% of total mileage.
Plus, my family has grown over these years, in terms of age as well as number.
I also wanted something which could accommodate my friends on occasional trips.

For these reasons, I was looking for something bigger, more sturdy and more safe on highways.

Aspects which influenced my decision:

Decision to not to sell i20. The beast was doing just fine, and I believe in holding a car for longer term. We can get a good perspective on this from the below article by GTO.

Link: How a more expensive car can work out cheaper (if you hold onto it for longer)

So by not selling it, I had the luxury to buy a car which would be exclusively meant for highways, i20 being my city work horse.

Impact of rapidly changing automobile trends:

Focus shifting to electric vehicles: IMO, this is going to be faster and abrupt than we anticipate
Rising cost of ownership: Focus shifting to subscription based models

Given these factors, I had a feeling that the next car I buy would probably be one of my last ICE cars 'owned'.

And hence, the most important criteria that I had was:

My heart would have a slightly more weight over my head while making the final call !!!
Other criteria which shaped my decision:
A rugged, safe and a mile muncher SUV, which would serve me for the next 10 years/150K kms.
A spacious one. My definition of space; Should accommodate 5 + 2 people (occasionally) OR 5 people at their super comfort + 15 days of luggage.
No 4x4.
Preferably MT (Am i old school?).
No preference to the tech features like HUDs, 360 degree cameras, driving modes, auto braking, etc. I don’t see them as worth spending for in the Indian conditions (I am old school probably).
It has to be a used car: GTO's article on New vs Used car gave me a perspective to this long back. Link: ARTICLE: Buying a New Car vs Used Car

Plus, no car of my criteria was less than Rs. 20 lakh if I were to buy it new. And I firmly believe that it is not worth spending that much today, in the segment that I was looking for.

And finally, the budget:

I had set a limit of 10 to 12 lacs (+ 2 lacs as buffer for an extremely good deal)
My average final cost of ownership (excluding fuel) on the car should not be more than 1.5 lac per year for the duration of my ownership.
No loan, or at least no car loan. Used car loans are priced exorbitantly.

Exploring and evaluating the used car market:

The used car market is complex. Apart from the conventional dealers, there are half a dozen online channels. I primarily used OLX, Car Trade and Cars24. There are more number of dimensions to evaluate a used car, than the new car. And to add to that complexity, most of the dimensions are interlinked. Below are few of the important dimensions which I considered:

Mileage: This seems pretty straight forward at the start. Less mileage, better the deal. But now add another dimensions to this.
City run vs highway runs.
Car wears and tears more if it’s mostly a run within the city limits. So I preferred, for e.g. a 10K kms car mostly run on highways (of-course no rural) vs a 5K kms run car which is city driven
Service history: This one is tricky. If the car is serviced from an authorized service center, then in most probable case you would get the service history. But in my experience, that is not the only way one would maintain a car optimally and economically. Many enthusiast would agree on this forum, there are multiple avenues where one could maintain the car in a much cost effective way rather than to take the car to the authorized service centre always. Now, it is up to the owner to maintain in detail the expenses if the car is serviced outside.
Analogy: If you have a simple cold and cough, you prefer to go to a nearby general physician, who most will be your family doctor. You don’t go to a big multi-specialty hospital in this case.
Who has driven the car: A car driven by a full time experienced driver is in most probable case in a better shape even after 5 years, than a year old car driven by someone who has recently learned driving. It also depends on whether or not the owner is a car enthusiast, or someone who looks at the car as just another means of commute.
Selling reason: Why the car is on sale? Accident? Maintenance issues? Claim depreciation? Liked a new car? Parking issues? Or the pandemic?
Price: The price of an used car is also driven by all the above factors.
Finally, the gut feeling: At the end of the day when you test drive a car, you should get that feeling of “yeah – that’s the car”.

Thus, it becomes pretty difficult to evaluate any used car. This also makes the car segmentation a little blur. For e.g: An 8 year old D2 segment car can be priced almost equal to a 4 year old C2 segment car. And in some cases, it actually makes sense to go for the 8 year old D2 one than with the relatively newer C2 one.

Options which I searched and evaluated:

Innovas & Crystas | 2013 - 2018 | Mostly 1 lakh to 1.5 Lakh kms on the odo.

What I liked:

Solid built, Toyota reliability.
Absolute fuss free maintenance, Toyota service network.
Miles muncher: can drive it at lengths without any stress.
Spacious by my definition.

What really did not click:

These are MUVs and not SUVs.
Many of them on offer were 7 seater. Middle row captain seats are not to my and my family’s liking.
For most Crystas, Initial cost + repair were above my average cost of ownership criteria.
A ‘Yes’ to Innova or Crysta was coming more from the head than heart.

Cretas & Seltos | 2016 to 2018 | 30K to 60K kms on the odo.

What I liked:

Refined engines.
Better NHV level.
Power, ease of drivability were excellent.
Plush interiors.

What really did not click:

Not spacious by my definition.
These are bigger cars and NOT SUVs.
Not rugged, these are delicate cars.
The premium for the tech features (driving modes/360 camera/HUD etc) which I don’t feel worth.
Having owned an i20 for all these years, the driving feel wasn’t much different.

A couple of Fortuners | 2011 to 2013 | 60K to 120K kms on the odo.

As I said, the used car market allowed my budget to even fancy some D2 segment cars. SUVs like these are built to outlast their owners.

What I liked:

Solid built SUV, Toyota reliability.
Absolute fuss free maintenance, Toyota service network.
Milee cruncher: Can drive it at lengths (Innova fares better though).
Spacious by my definition.

What really did not click:

The stiff ride quality. Even my family did not like the middle row seats.
The cars which I test drove were very shabbily maintained.
Mostly available were in white colour, which was a strict NO for a Fortuner.
In my head I wasn’t able to stay with the thought of having owned a Fortuner for more than 2-3 days at a stretch.

Scorpios and XUV500s | 2012 to 2018 | 30K to 150K on the odo.

Quite a few Scorpios and XUV500s were well within my budget. In fact I would have got a good deal if I would have searched here in a bit of depth. But I, neither my wife, really like these designs. No offense, but it is a personal choice. I like something with clean, straight line design.

I did not even evaluate any pros and cons for these two.

Ford Endeavour old gen | 2014 + | <80K on the odo.

All the Endeavours that were available on the online market were of either 2010 or 2011. Also, none were run below the mark of 80K. Plus, I was little sceptical about the mileage, having read some reviews about the car running only 6 to 7 km per litre of diesel.

Tata Safari Storme | 2016 to 2018 | <80K on the odo.

To be honest, of the total no. of searches I would have made for the used cars, more than half of them would have been on “Tata Safari Storme Varicor”. The comfort, the road view, the ruggedness, the drive, the space, the clean straight line no-non-sense exterior design is something I always admired.

Of the Safaris, I had ruled out the Dicor given that it was discontinued way back.

In Storme, I was particularly interested in the Varicor 400 version, odo reading less than 80K. After searching for a while, I realized that the Varicor 400 is one of the toughest vehicles to get in the used car market. I cited two reasons for the scarcity:

The initial sale itself was miniscule, so there are very few of them on the road.
The people who own it, hardly ever sell it.

Though, to my luck, I had found one of these on OLX.

Tata Safari Storme Varicor 400 VX 4x2 | 2018 | 60K on the odo.

I had found this one on OLX in the month of March 2021. It was a 2018 manufactured and driven for 60K. Asking price was 12 lakhs (non-negotiable). But this was on sale in Kolhapur. And then we went into second lockdown. So I could never go and visit the dealer. By the time the travel restrictions were lifted, the vehicle was off the charts. Did I say luck before ??

But then the destiny, as they say…

Tata Safari Storme Varicor 320 VX 4x2 | 2016 | 59990 on the odo.

I was actually test driving some other vehicle on the highway, when I saw one bronze Safari Storme parked at a dealer’s place, right in the middle of all the vehicles on the display. Being a Safari, it caught my attention instantly. I completed the ongoing test drive and went home, with that storm(e) still in my thoughts. Later in the day, me and my wife visited the dealership to test the vehicle.

First Impression:

The vehicle had just arrived at the dealer’s place and seemed in a pretty good condition. There were couple of minor scratches, but the overall fit and finish looked intact. Tyres had 25% to 30% life left in them. Interiors seemed to be well maintained. In fact, the owner had removed the third row jump seats, and instead had put a nice cushion all over the third row space (refer the pic below). Looking at these, the owner seemed an enthusiast. To my eye, the vehicle did not looked accidental or flood affected. I verified the RC documents, all seemed fine. Also cross checked the vehicle details on the online RTO site, it matched the documents shown to me.

The Test Drive:

I quickly asked for the test drive. The drive quality was good. Clutch was lighter than my i20. The engine was smooth. I took her to some rough surfaces and the suspension also seemed to be in good condition. And most importantly, the criteria of prime importance among all other things, my wife also liked the ride.

During the test ride conversations with the dealer he told me that the car belonged to a diamond merchant in Mumbai. He was selling the vehicle due to lack of parking space (vertical space) in his new residence, which had the vertical double parking system.

Inspection in Detail:

The next day, I asked the dealer to get the vehicle to a nearby TASS. I got the vehicle thoroughly checked. The service advisor gave me a green signal to go ahead with the deal. Following were few things which needed attention:

Regular service with oil change was due (which anyways I would have got it done the first thing).
There was a gap in the front left side window glass, which led little air pass through inside at high speeds.
One of the rear brake lights needed replacement.
Antenna was missing.
Front and rear wiper blades needed replacement.
Last row seats, which were taken out, were rusted. (apparently the owner had removed these on the first day itself and the seats were lying in his garage since then).
Flip key cover was damaged, spare key electronic circuit was damaged.
The car needed a good polish.

Negotiations:

Arranging finances was not a problem, given the quoted price was well below my allocated budget. I started negotiating. We agreed on a number + the dealer taking care of the last six items (in the list above) and ownership transfer by himself.

Finally, the moment:

Two things were kind of nagging me:

Serviceability.

T.A.S.S = Gamble (how many times these two words have been written together in this forum?).

Though I am also open to get it serviced outside T.A.S.S, but I need a reliable, trusted mechanic/garage in Pune. Any leads TBHP?

Parts availability of a discontinued model: T.A.S.S confirmed that parts availability would not be an issue, but at times can take some time.

But then, as my heart had a slight weightage over my head, I took the call and booked the car by giving the dealer the token amount. I told the dealer that I would take the delivery the same day, so he started getting the car ready with all the points he had to take care of.

Below is the first pic of the car just before I booked it:

And in the evening, the car was ready to be delivered:

While I am writing this thread, the car odo stands at 64000KM. Having driven it for 4K in last the two and half months, below are my impressions:

What I am loving:

Supreme ride quality.
2.2 litre Varicor engine is butter smooth once it gets warmed up.
Glides over roads, good or bad doesn’t matter.
The third row seat setup is being thoroughly enjoyed by my son (a very rare praise for the Safari old gen's third row seat).
The high seating position.
The driver’s view: Who needs a 360 degree camera setup? (though reverse camera is sorely missed).
Low end torque.
Negligible turbo lag.
The steering: Coming from an electronically powered steering, which is feather light in cities but doesn’t weigh up as you speed up, this hydraulic steering setup is such a confidence booster on highways. Even within the city limits, the maneuverability is manageable.
Don’t have to change the gears as frequently as I do in my i20.
Space: It is huge. Recently i did an airport trip to drop my friend and his family, who was moving to Canada for good. He was carrying 120+ kgs of luggage, + I had 5 passengers in the car, including the driver (of course me).
AC: Coming from the Hyundai lineage, Tata ACs are chilling for me. It is like changing the base from south to north.
Road pesence: Definitely a head turner.
Turning radius: For the car of this size, the turning radius is such a boon, especially for parking in tight spots (like my parking space).
Mileage: 13 to 14, with 90% driven on highways.

What could have been better:

I sorely miss the reverse camera.
Vibrations on the steering wheel on the rough patches.
Absence of a touch display: This is more of a aesthetics though.
The AC vents when completely folded down lets the cold air pass through. This becomes very annoying when the AC is chilling cold, even at level 1.
The bottles in the door bottle compartments rattle at times, make annoying noise over rough roads. Need to put some dampeners.
Same with the storage space on the top of the dashboard. On extremely bad roads, the lid even opens up automatically. Can’t even put any dampener here.
I miss the ‘one touch up’ for the power window, which is there in my i20.

Few niggles specially with my car:

Had a terrible experience with the BCM. All sorted now, thanks to Team BHP for guiding me on this. You can find the issue logged here.
Left reverse parking sensor has a mind of its own, at times keeps beeping unnecessarily while reversing (I think it senses a ghost ), needs replacement.
Gap between the left front window glass and the door frame; lets air inside at high speeds.This apparently needs a winder replacement.

Enough of words. Let the pictures do the rest of the talking:

This was after a nice 2 days of detailing. I did the detailing from CarzSpa Baner Pune. And IMO they did a fantastic job:

The dashboard is neat and clean:

The gear knob has some scratches and the leather wrapping it is slightly worn out; the diamond rings effect probably (it was owned by a diamond merchant):

The front row seats:

The middle row seats:

The third row redesigned. Look at how neatly the side cushions have been customized to fit the cut out where the jump seats are attached. My son loves his small room. A rare praise for the old gen third row seats:

The rear profile:

Driver's front view: You get to see the top of almost all the cars from this height:

Driver's rear view: Combined from all the mirrors. Would anyone still require a 360 degree camera feature?

The stock Bridgestone Duelers, as of 64K kms:

The sisters smiling together:

Ending note:

Why my heart lead me to take this decision ?

Sometime back in the year 2001-2002, during my college days, me and few of my friends (7-8 of us) were just chilling out at our usual hangout place. We were known for being a very noisy group, and at that moment we were actually giving utmost respect to our reputation of being that way. While the decibel levels were at the peak, suddenly a Safari (Dicor then) passed by. And for a split second, there was an eerily silence around. This silence would have been more prominent for the people who wouldn't have noticed the car. But for us, who just loved the beauty, the stance and the road presence of this beast, it was a kind of a subconsciously agreed pause. The very next moment, we were back to our business and the decibel levels were again back to the previous level. No one spoke anything about that momentary silence, until couple of hours later, only when we were heading back to our homes, little exhausted, I whispered to one of my friends to whom I was the pillion rider; "I will have that one in my garage at least once in my lifetime."