What is it?

Tata has found its game in the realm of special editions. It began this quest in 2020 with the Harrier Dark Edition and then, just over a few months of 2021, launched an Adventure Edition for the Safari and then Dark Editions for the Nexon, Nexon EV and Altroz.

Now it’s back again and this time around with a special edition called the Tata Safari Gold Edition. As the name suggests, Tata’s flagship is adorned with swathes of gold colouring both on the inside and outside. This Gold Edition also introduces some new features for the cabin as well as a new exterior colour scheme for the SUV.

Now, when the Safari was launched earlier this year, we put it through its paces and you can read about that here or watch the video embedded below. However, we have also looked at the Tata Safari against its main rival, the Hyundai Alcazar and you can read about that here.

What’s changed on the outside?

Tata has given the Safari Gold Edition visible yet not overly done gold cues all around. On the face, the grille, headlamp bezels and the signature Tata ‘T’ logo has been adorned in gold. In addition, you get a ‘Gold’ badge above the front wheel arch as well as a gold Safari logo on the roof rails.

This Gold Edition of the Safari can be had in two shades- white with a black roof or a new colour, black gold that Tata says is inspired by the shades of the coffee bean. It’s in the latter you can see the gold dusting in the paint scheme and this we suspect will look good when the car is in bright sunlight.

Like the Adventure Edition, the Safari Gold is based on the top-of-the-line XZ+/XZA+ variants and thus you get exterior features like projector headlamps, R18 charcoal alloy wheels and a panoramic sunroof. While this new iteration of the Safari might not have the butch cues and heavy boxy lines of the car it has succeeded, there can be no doubt that’s it’s an attention magnet, more so now with the gold colour scheme.

What’s changed on the inside?

Where the outside has seen some subtle upgrades as part of the ‘gold deal, it’s somewhat ‘shinier’ on the inside. The door handles, Tata logo on the steering wheel as well as the front climate control vents have all been trimmed out in black. The dashboard has been covered in marble finish material complete with a large gold bezel running the length of the dashboard. The material covering the dashboard is a high-quality plastic painted to appear like a marble finish.

It’s a similar story in the second row where the door handles have been painted in gold while the headrests for both rows have the word ‘Gold’ stitched into the headrest. Row 3 remains unchanged and gets features like fan speed control and two USB Type-C ports on the left side.

In terms of features, the Safari Gold is based on the top-of-the-line XZ+/XZA+ variants and thus gets all the bells and whistles offered with the SUV. However, this car debuts ventilated seats for the first and second row, wireless charging, air purifier and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for the Safari range. We can expect that these features will be offered on other trim levels in the Safari range soon.

What’s under the hood?

The Tata Safari range is offered only with a 2.0-litre diesel engine that produces 170bhp/350Nm and is mated to either a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic gearbox. There’s no AWD/4X4 but there are three driving modes-normal, rough and wet. As mentioned earlier, we have extensively driven the Safari and you can read about that here.

What about pricing and rivals?

The Tata Safari Gold has been launched in India with the XZ+ Gold and XZ+ Gold six-seat model priced at Rs 21.89 lakh while the XZA+ and XZA+ Gold six-seat has been priced at Rs 23.17 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The Tata Safari is a rival for the likes of the Hyundai Alcazar, MG Hector Plus as well as the Mahindra XUV700; all three-row SUVs from their respective automakers.

Photography: Kaustubh Gandhi