![]() Strangely, however, the parking brake does not have an LED indicator of its own, requiring you to look at the driver display to see whether it is engaged. There are a reasonable number of buttons available not too many or too few, and I appreciate the addition of an electronic parking brake, replacing the gimmicky aircraft-style throttle lever of the Harrier. The steel-grey strip below this panel, and the use of piano black is not to my preference. The dashboard continues to follow Tata Motors’ recent design language, but does better in the Safari thanks to the nice, dark wood-finish panel running across the dash. Apart from the slightly lightweight plastic on the door panels, things feel solid. I took particular note of the rough-looking stitches on the Harrier’s seats, which the Safari does not suffer from. ![]() Materials appear to be nice, with an airy colour scheme that looks more premium than the Harrier’s. There’s a sweeping arc between the dash and the windshield, reminiscent of some Jaguars. Tata Motors continues to draw cues from corporate cousin Jaguar Land Rover, which is evident from the Safari’s interior. Image: Overdrive/Rajeev Gaikwad The interior With a couple of small changes, the Tata Safari's interior feels more premium than the Harrier's. It also does not sync volume with the connected Bluetooth device, frustrating me on one occasion with the lack of music because my phone volume was set too low, and there was no way of knowing. It is bland to listen to unless you use the equaliser or one of its pre-sets. The JBL-branded music system is a carryover from the Harrier. Simple toggles are confusing, because you have to hunt for tiny icons on the screen to figure out if they have been activated. However, my complaints with the UI remain. It is responsive, and worked with my Apple smartphone (CarPlay is available, but wired). The 8.8-inch touchscreen infotainment system is a wide-screen variant of what we’ve seen in the Nexon and Altroz, and as such, does not differentiate itself much. However, there is no remote engine start or climate control functionality like we’ve seen in some other cars recently. It provides basic geofencing security features, as well as allowing one to activate the horn and the lights remotely. ![]() The new Tata Safari gets the same iRA connected car suite that we saw recently in the Altroz iTurbo. Our automatic test variant came in this fetching Royale Blue colour that looked elegant and premium. To my eyes, it’s a smarter-looking vehicle than the Harrier much less concept car-like. There’s a large quarter-glass for the third row with an interesting design element buttressing it from the roof rails, down to the body panel. There’s a higher roof, with the distinctive kink that the old Safari was known for. The new Safari is clearly based on the 5-seat Harrier – much of the front looks similar, but the treatment aft of the C-pillar is quite different. Where the Tata Harrier felt like Pratap Bose, Head of Design walked into a meeting, threw the sketches on the table and said, “build exactly that, or else.”, the Safari looks like this time round, someone on the business side said, “you’ve had your fun, now let’s do some of it my way.” Judging by the way the communications folk lit up at my mention of the more ‘mature’ design language, it appears that the mission has been accomplished by the new Safari to a certain extent. Image: Overdrive/Rajeev Gaikwad A more mature design The Safari looks more mature than the Harrier it shares most of its basic design and mechanicals with. How could it, being based on the very recent (for Tata Motors) Omega architecture, which traces its roots back to Land Rover? It’s a modern SUV competing in what is becoming an increasingly hot segment in the market. The new Safari suffers from none of these shortcomings. But the last time I drove one (the Storme), my elbows sat at different levels, I was more sailing than driving and spent most of my time wondering that perhaps Tata Motors meant that 400Nm of claimed torque was shared across several vehicles. The Safari holds the distinction of being one of India’s early “true” SUVs with 4x4, a reasonable cabin for reasonable people and other such luxuries. And I have fond memories of my family Tata Sierra, so if anything, I might be biased. So, here’s my unpopular opinion: I don’t see the draw of the old Tata Safari. 1 now: WTF? Then: Zeher hai ke pyaar hai tera chumma? Now: Do you like eating mangoes? Just how many of your sweet memories of yesteryear are based on pure, irrational nostalgia? Rola-Cola? Sickly-sweet, weird, barely cola-like, but recent Instagram gold.
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