Much appealing and sturdier this time

Pros : Nominal price, appealing looks, improved interiors and excellent power

Cons : High maintenance of Tata SUVs and boxy rear appearance

Being the New Delhi resident, I attended the Auto Expo, 2012, where I confronted the amazing and powerful prototype of Safari named Tata Safari Storme. I was surprised to know that this car is soon going to make debut in the Indian auto-market. I inspected the exteriors of Tata Safari Storme which have potential to delight any of the automobile enthusiasts. The bonnet of this car is slightly increased than its current variant and looks somewhat similar to Toyota Fortuner. Side view of this car is also exciting but the boxy rear looks seems disappointing.

I got the info that this car is going to come powered with the same 2.2 liter DICOR engine of current Safari, but to be honest the noise of DICOR engine of Tata crossovers is unbearable. Hence, I would be happy if the new Tata Safari Storme comes equipped with a silent engine. Fuel efficiency of this car is expected to be somewhere around 10 kmpl, which I think is quite less in comparison to many other fuel efficient SUVs available in India. I intend to buy this car when it is available in the market, but I have been confronting many Tata Safari users who complain of its high maintenance cost.

This car is expected to fall in the range of Rs. 9 – 10 lakhs, which from my point of view is quite nominal in comparison to cars like Mahindra XUV500, Chevrolet Captiva and Ford Endeavour. Despite the engine being noisy, the present Tata Safari is extremely powerful and if Tata Safari Storme too comes blessed with similar power, the joy of off-roading and travelling will surely get doubled. While this car was on demonstration I saw that the interiors of this car are blessed with fine quality leather upholstery. The leg-room and headroom space of Tata Safari Storme is more than the present Safari variants.