Tata recently updated its Safari Storme SUV with a new top trim that comes with an uprated motor and some cosmetic changes. To see how this new variant fares in the SUVs race, we pit it against Mahindra's popular Scorpio. 

Performance & refinement

The Safari’s 2.2-litre motor, has been updated and now makes 154bhp and an impressive 40.78kgm of torque. It gets a new six-speed manual gearbox. This has made the Safari faster, it does 0-100kph in 12.84 secs, making it 0.6 seconds faster than the Scorpio. The Safari takes its time to get going due to a big turbo. Post that, there is a step-up in performance and you feel a nice shove in the back as it accelerates out but the engine sounds coarse and gearbox feels rubbery.

The Scorpio’s mHawk engine makes just 118bhp in comparison. Despite this, it is the faster one to respond and picks up quite well from slow speeds. It is also the nicer and easier SUV to drive on crowded city streets.

However, on open roads, it lacks the Safari’s punch and the engine gets vocal when you wring it too hard. And as for the gearbox, the long rubbery shifts takes all the fun out of shifting gears.

Ride & handling

The Safari feels jiggly at slow speeds and rocks from side to side. But the long-travel suspension can gobble up potholes without a fuss and it feels more adept at handling rutted roads than the Scorpio. Overall ride is really good and so is the straightline stability. However, show it a series of bends and the Safari isn’t too happy. The skyscraper-like towering stance and the resulting body roll often gets unnerving as the speeds rise.

The Scorpio feels marginally stiffer than the Safari and you do feel most road undulations at slow speeds. It too, tends to rock from side to side and bobs a fair bit as well. The ride does settle down once you pick up speed and it absorbs road imperfections pretty silently. Its high-speed stability is decent and it feels more agile than the Safari. It rolls less and the top-heavy feeling of the Safari is not felt in the Scorpio. 

Interiors

The Safari’s updated interior looks much bigger. The dashboard colour scheme looks different and the buttons and knobs seem to be updated. Although there’s no touchscreen infotainment system, it does get functionality like Bluetooth telephony, aux and USB connectivity. The interior just doesn’t have that premium feel sought by car buyers at this price and even quality of materials is just about average.

Mahindra’s interiors feel well built and the quality of parts are much better. The black and grey dashboard looks more premium than the Safari’s and the touchscreen infotainment system works very nicely as well. The dials are quite easy to read and fit and finish is better than on the Tata. It definitely has the better cabin. However, closer inspection reveals some patchy quality; it’s still negligible compared to the Safari.