For the longest time, the Tata Safari has been synonymous with a diesel engine – after all, you need powerful diesel torque to pull this 2-tonne behemoth. But with the market shifting to petrol – even in heavy SUVs – Tata Motors has developed the new 1.5-litre Hyperion turbocharged engine.
While it works powerfully in the lighter Sierra and Harrier, how does it fare in the Safari?
Behind the wheel
The weight shows as soon as you hold the steering wheel. After having driven the Harrier and Sierra petrol, the bulk of the Safari is immediately apparent. As you shift into the first gear and step on the gas, it feels a bit lazy – as if the SUV is hesitating to move ahead.
But as the speed increases and the turbocharger kicks in at around 2,000 rpm, the Safari starts to transform. The power delivery becomes linear and somewhat punchy. On the highway, at speeds above 80 km/h, it doesn’t feel lazy, but strong. Despite its weight, it’s able to accelerate the Safari from 80-120 km/h in seconds, needed for overtaking long trucks.
Difference with diesel
While it may feel underpowered compared to diesel at most speeds, it has the refinement that the diesel just cannot match. It’s far quieter at city speeds and while cruising on a highway, and although it does produce a growl when accelerating hard, it’s still quieter than the diesel – more importantly, it also produces far less vibrations, and that makes a difference.
And why is that so?
The reason is that the Safari is an amazing chauffeur-driven car – the rear seating area is huge and very comfortable, but diesel vibrations can disturb your sleep, and may disturb your online meetings. The Safari petrol also makes sense if you use it mostly in the city – it is low on fuel efficiency, as my test unit returned 10-12 km/litre – as, variant-to-variant, the petrol is at least Rs 1 lakh cheaper than diesel. If your monthly run is less than 1,000 km, it’s better to keep that Rs 1 lakh in the bank and use it for fuelling the Safari for years.
What about competition?
The new Mahindra XUV 7XO petrol is a powerful rival – it has a bigger, 2.0-litre turbo-petrol, and a lot of features, but the Safari’s petrol feels slightly more refined, and the Safari itself feels more robust.
(Prices of the Safari petrol are from Rs 13.29-25.2 lakh, ex-showroom, while those of the XUV 7XO petrol are from Rs 13.66-23.45 lakh.)
