Replacing a 12 year old Safari: Which 25-30L rupee SUV to buy?

So far I seem to have liked Honda Elevate reviews. But not sure if I should really switch from 2.2L Dicor to a 1500 cc engine.

BHPian mayuresh recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I have been a happy user of Tata Safari Dicor for 12 years.

I can still continue with it, but for some knee trouble that I have developed, use of clutch in heavy traffic causes a lot of soreness now. So, wish to switch to AT/CVT car. So AT/CVT is the primary requirement.

Usage pattern: City usage of about 100km per week, occasional long distance trips, may be around 4/5 times a year.

• 4 seater is ok but it should be spacious. 5 seats of Safari got utilized on very few occasions in my usage.
• Should drive well on rough roads, pothole ridden city roads as well as somewhat rough roads when we go for outings.
• I am a little over 6′ and prefer tall cars with good leg room, also prefer good leg room for the rear seats.
• Would prefer higher GC and largish wheel base.
• Among comfort features: Good air conditioning for both front and the rear seats and low NVH levels. Prefer good thigh support for tall passengers.
• I am not much into ICE or other gizmos. All those are welcome but aren’t a primary requirement.
• Basic safety features will do, whichever are a norm today. I am not very demanding about those.
• Good boot space for outstation travel. Safari has really spoiled us for this, but can settle for a little less.
• Good road presence and good view of the road, something I am used to in a Safari.

Budget : 20L (extendible).

So far I seem to have liked Honda Elevate reviews. But not sure if I should really switch from 2.2L Dicor to 1500 cc engine. How much will I miss the power of Safari on long drives? (I am not particularly sedate style driver when it comes to outings with good highways.)

Overall I find that there is a lot of crowding of SUVs in the under 20L range and then at the higher end they start close to 30L range, nothing much in between in terms of price. Curious why is that so.

Here’s what GTO had to say on the matter:

Since you are already a Safari owner and well familiar with the pros & cons of Tata ownership, why don’t you take a spin in the 2023 Tata Safari? Great looking SUV, but has its cons (refer to our official review). The AT & engine are well-matched.

Since you have increased your budget to 30-lakhs, the segment best is the XUV700 IMHO, followed by the Scorpio-N. If not an urgent need, you could also wait for the 4-door Thar that’s coming in 2024. Will be style with practicality.

Also TD the Innova Hycross Hybrid. I’m a huge fan of this car. The mid-variants fall in your budget. It’s now very SUV’ish in terms of styling and offers unbeatable practicality + fuel economy.

Here’s what BHPian Arjun.hb had to say on the matter:

Scorpio N did have an AT in Z4 trim. Not as spacious as Safari but close. Does everything else better than the Safari.

Here’s what BHPian 07CR had to say on the matter:

Scorpio N is something what TATA should have done with Safari facelift. You would not miss anything from the Safari, but feel upgraded in almost all parameters. Z4 AT seems best bet for you.

Mind you no other car in your budget will provide you the road presence and driving position of OG Safari. If you ready to let go that, Seltos FL (GT Line/HTX+ iMT), might be another alternative.

Elevate has good driving position. But road presence is a little awkward. Have read conflicting reports regarding the interior space for taller occupants. Many have found it uncomfortable due to angled flooring, which results in poor underthigh support. That along with the lazy 1.5 NA CVT Combo is something which might disappoint you on the highways.

Here’s what BHPian Paddelshifter had to say on the matter:

If you are a happy Safari Dicor owner, you’ll have no problem dealing with TATA service in my opinion. Based on this, I’d suggest that you test drive the TATA Harrier (not Safari). You will be able to compare it with the Dicor and see if it fits your requirements.

This should be followed by the ScorpioN test drive combined with the XUV700 also. You can then shortlist the one among these three cars and compare it with the next car (i.e. Seltos) that is different than the three you have test driven.

Seltos is not in the same leagues as the Dicor in terms of space but excels at all other areas. If you like the Seltos after driving larger cars, then you should be able to pick Seltos easily without confusion.

Here’s what BHPian BleueNinja had to say on the matter:

You have owned a Tata for 12 years hence I understand you would be quite familiar with Authorised Service Centres as well as FNGs. You are familiar with tata as a brand as well.

I would recommend Tata Harrier XZA (if sunroof isn’t a requirement) it gets all must haves plus some good to have features as well. This should cost you 24-25 lacs OTR pune.

The ride quality is great , drives really well and has street CRED. It’s spacious for a 5 seater and has a great AC performance. The automatic is really tuned well. It’s quite well balanced between efficiency and performance. I get a mileage of 10-11 km/ltr in heavy pune traffic and on highways I am able to get 17-19 km/ltr.

Since you will be going for an automatic variant you won’t be a victim of “knee console issue” as well once you have figured out a good seating position.

The boot space is good and 60:40 split seats can be utilised to get some more space. Also the front driver seat gets a lumbar support that you can adjust to provide adequate support to your back.

The one con that I would like to highlight is that I am 6’1 tall and I feel the under thigh support of front seat could have been tad bit better than what it is currently. However, a fellow Harrier owner who is as tall as me didn’t have any issues with under thigh support from his Harrier, so it’s better you check it out for yourself. Under thigh support won’t be an issue for your passengers though as the seats are really comfortable.

You can consider XUV 700 AX7 variant but won’t a 7 seater be overkill for you? AX5 variant isn’t speced out well for the price which it comes at.

Regardless I would say you can either go with ScorpioN, XUV 700 or Harrier.

Creta, Seltos or Elevate won’t appeal to you coming from a behemoth like Safari Dicor irrespective of how you look at it, whether it’s the build quality, engine power and feel or the road presence.

Keyword: Replacing a 12 year old Safari: Which 25-30L rupee SUV to buy?