TATA SAFARI RED DARK review | TheRevviewer.com

 We Indians have an undeniable love for SUV’s. Those Macho muscular looking cars with a peculiar stance do a great job in showing off your status. Earlier Bigger car was just a show of bigger status Just look at the old Sumo Gold or the Qualis, But things are changing, now we need performance, Luxury and VFM. In the 7 seater SUV market, We have two competitors- the XUV 700 and the Safari.

In terms of luxury, both sport their individual creativity and identity keeping the competition even. With Tata’s latest move of launching the Safari Dark edition, My scale might just tip over to Tata motors and give them the win.

 

Powertrain

The safari has an only diesel line-up (Very strange decision with BS-6 ph2 norms). It has a 2.0 l diesel engine coming from the harrier producing 170 bhp power and a whooping 350 Nm of torque. Now lets be honest, this car weighs nearly 2 tons so the torque doesn’t feel too much and make the safari into a Sports sedan, No. The power is just about right and will get the job done. It even returns a decent mileage of 15 on highway and 13-14 in the city (Thank god no petrol). Now Tata gearboxes are not the best. Automatics are slow and manuals are notchy. But the Harrier and safari use a Hyundai Gear box used in the Tucson, YES. SO the automatics are joy to ride in but the manual is average. Its not bad but it doesn’t have much to praise itself either.

 

Dynamics

The safari has a full monocoque Chassis. What that means is, the chassis is one complete piece resulting in ultra stiff chassis. But, It’s a safari so it has very soft suspension setup and being an SUV has poor center of gravity. So like I earlier said, it isn’t a sports SUV, but it will surprise you how the handles this much of body mass. There is a slight body roll when you serious push the car but if you just change lanes, or small maneuvers, you won’t feel a thing. Now I was not particularly happy with the steering wheel as it lacks feedback. It does weigh up well with the speed but that feel of the front wheels is completely absent. So it takes a lot of balls to push this car on the corners. The brakes were ok and under serious heavy braking the massive tyres prove acres of grip. ADAS works flawlessly and was not too intrusive.

 

Steel finished dashboard

Features

The safari like any other cars has countless features. In fact, the interior on this car is just a piece of art. It’s something I can look at for years and still not be bored at all. It has a 10.25 inch touch screen infotainment unit and a 10 inch TFT digital cluster, which looks good but I prefer the dual connect screen on the XUV, It just looks better. The interior of this car is RED, and it really looks fantastic. It almost looks like I’m in a Bently (Look wise only). The leatherette is good and the 6-seater version come with quilt headrests. The ambient lights are red too, with the right amount of piano black this car interior is one of the best tata has produced closely followed by the jet edition. The Panoramic sunroof is one of the best in segment with mood lighting surrounding It. Safari also has 6 way power adjust driver seats and 4 way passenger seat. The best feature I like about this car is Ventilated seats in the first and the second row, That’s a first in class feature.

 

Build

The safari build quality has really improved from all the years. For a car of 30lakhs OTR I expected better quality of plastics but the interior quality overall is nice. The exterior is good, looks macho and has a seriously eye turning road presence. If you’re a person who doesn’t like bold design, that’s fine, Tata offers 34 Variants for the safari. Yes, 34!! Even though it only has 2 gearboxes and 1 single engine it offers 34 variants, That’s insane.

 

Final Verdict

The safari is a great car, but with a seriously tough competition, it leads me to a mixed recommendation. If you want an immediate car with less waiting period, the safari check up for it with no doubt. If you want something bold, out of the crowd, and peppy, and possible chauffeur driven, safari should be your first pick. But if you want a more subtle and calm design, and more driver-oriented experience, I would suggest the XUV700. But all in all both the cars are great.

 

Yays	Nays
Creative and wide range of options in terms of interiors.	Manual gearbox is very notchy
Good ride quality with a decent mileage	Ride quality is too soft
Plush ride quality	Features feel outdated compared to XUV700