Move beyond the second row and both cars come up short. The rear seat squab is angled a bit too high and, in a bid to improve thigh support, Mahindra engineers have been over-generous with the seat squabs – if you’re short, they’ll dig in behind your knees. The Scorpio’s seats are much softer but could be better engineered. The Safari offers more comfort, despite the firmer seat cushions. When you’re in the Safari though, you’ll find a surplus of space and seats that are very well contoured. Speaking of which, climbing into these tall SUVs is a distinct two-step exercise but it’s much easier to hoist yourself into the Scorpio. The visibility is superb and towering over ‘lesser’ motorists is a powerful feeling, but it can initially be a bit disconcerting having all the car’s weight moving around beneath you. Where it feels decidedly truck-like is the seating position – it’s almost too high, and you have to clamber up into the seat. Its cabin is laid out much more like a modern car, the dash flows out towards you and the door pads are contoured. It’s a much better appointed box, no doubt, but it feels like the premium bits have just been bolted onto a basic structure. The Scorpio still feels very much like an old-school SUV and that’s because the cabin is still basically shaped like a box – all right angles and vertical surfaces. There’s also almost no useful storage for front passengers and the pedals are placed a bit too high for most drivers. The wider seats have left no space between them and the doorpads, which forces you to, quite ridiculously, open the door to access the seat adjusters or the door pockets. Many of the ergonomic quirks have been addressed, but other flaws have cropped up. The design is much cleaner and more modern too, with a good use of various materials, including chrome accents. Quality is a huge step up, and though there are still some low-rent bits, they’re not right in your face anymore. On to the insides, and let’s start with the new Scorpio, whose interior has come a very long way from the last car’s. However, the sheer size does give it a lot of presence. But nothing tells you that there’s a new chassis and the design doesn’t really turn heads. The only place the Storme doesn’t look similar to the old Safari is at the rear where the spare wheel has been shifted from the tail gate to under the floor. The basic shape is the same, of course, but the details are all new, and though some of them are a little gaudy, we think the overall look is a good step forward. Fortunately that’s not quite something you can say of the new Scorpio. When the Safari Storme was first shown at the 2012 Auto Expo, there was a tinge of disappointment about the fact that it looked far too similar to the previous Safari. So naturally, we’ve brought them together once more, to see if the impressive new Scorpio can take the trophy back from the Safari this time. Now Mahindra has done the same with the Scorpio, and along with sharper looks and a much better interior, this is the biggest improvement to the popular SUV since it was launched way back in 2002. Called the Safari Storme, this car went up against the Scorpio and won. But then in 2012, instead of just the usual minor updates, Tata Motors went and gave the Safari a whole new chassis and suspension setup. A new engine here, a facelift there – it all added up in the end, and for almost every update, we’ve put them head to head. That’s no exaggeration either, as ever since the launch of the Safari and the Scorpio all those years ago, both Tata and Mahindra have made it a point to update them bit by bit, to cater to changing technology, emission regulations and, of course, customer preferences. In a grudge match that started over a decade ago, these two brutes have been trading blows year after year.
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