So far, the experience has been great, and sometimes I feel that it is a little bit of luck for us or that people have actually exaggerated the issues that they have with their Tata cars.
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Well, itâs been about 7-8 months of owing and driving Tata Safari Accomplished Plus, Automatic Transmission. So far, the experience has been great, and sometimes I feel that it is a little bit of luck for us or that people have actually exaggerated the issues that they have with their Tata cars. I’m keeping my fingers crossed to continue having the same feeling throughout my ownership experience with Tata Safari, but never have I felt that I made a wrong choice, picking Safari over XUV 700, Innova HyCross, Alcazar, Tiguan, Kodiaq, Tuscon, and several other cars I got to drive and test. My ODO meter has now clocked 16,000km in a short period, and I must say that the distance has been a combination of city, highway, day, evening, and midnight drives. [b]ve come from the Honda experience where sales service was not even a question, but here are my key takeaways from the ownership experience so far, and I will also add a few things that could get better:
Areas where I enjoyed owning and driving the Safari:
a. Suspension is smooth, and the overall ride quality is great. Have driven more than 800/900km in a single day without breaks and the car doesn’t make you feel tired. I also like those prompts on “Driver alertness/attention,” which comes from the system when you drive continuously without breaks.
b. The automatic transmission has been fine despite variations in speeds and terrain, and it generally does its job well.
c. The seats are very comfortable, and ventilation does help in extreme temperatures. We have a capital seat configuration, and all the passengers feel happy and not tired. We also have a dog who has accompanied us for 70%- 80% of the total ODO reading, and we think the car accommodates it well.
d. Boot space is perfect with the last rows folded. In fact, unloading from the car tells us that we were super loaded on all the trips. However, with the six-seater (all rows open) configuration, you cannot expect much space for luggage.
e. I like the stability of the car; this factor is a wow amongst all other ancillary stuff related to the technology that the car offers. I can tell you with experience that I feel very comfortable driving Safari at 100+ versus any other car in this segment. This could be due to many factors, which I don’t understand, but sitting in Safari’s driving seat, you feel that you are in better control. In fact, it gives you a feeling that you are in a steady state, and you can cruise with ease and still control your car if an unfortunate object or animal comes on the way. I have driven the car in MP, where a lot of cows and other animals cross the highway, and this is the area where I felt very happy driving safari, and I could easily accelerate and apply brakes where needed.
f. Air cooling, even at ~50 Degrees, was ok. However, I would expect the second-row passengers to get better comfort from the middle vents and not the ones on the side panel. The third-row passengers get better air from the vents they have.
g. Space and utility placeholders are good, and there are too many; sometimes, you can forget where you kept your stuff.
h. The dashboard technology is good, and it is supported by a great camera and software system. Besides a few glitches that I encountered before the software updates, it has been a smooth experience.
i. This is an unpopular opinion, but IRA is definitely a great support in the experience. I like reading the statistics, and the connectivity features are handy many times. I also like IRA’s comfort when I have given my car for service or valet parking.
j. Again, this is a contrarian view. My experience with Tata Motors After Sales Service (Prathammalik and Jasper in Hyderabad, Metro Motors in Karnal) and Dealer for Purchase (Metro Motors) has been excellent. In fact, they are more responsive than many other brands. The Tata Motors customer support team has been responsive, too.
Areas where I expect some improvements:
a. ADAS is great, but I am annoyed by the frequent alerts. These alerts do not really help in Indian conditions.
b. My visibility on the pillar side is limited due to the design of the car.
c. Seat welcome and memory features can be improved.
d. OTA for software updates should be there; it is difficult to spare time and go for updates.
Areas where I am a little disappointed:
a. I don’t know if I have many, but I feel that the 19-inch configuration sometimes bothers you on the smaller bumps. I am not sure if it has to do with air pressure at that time or in general.
b. The finishing of the final product could have been better. I have seen the JBL logos coming out from the speakers, and I also noted that the red lights on the door inside needed pasting when they came out.
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