Safari Common Rail Engine Launch? EDIT 010805 Now driven. Edit 190805 Now BOUGHT!!!

[Steeroid]

TSK the problem was not with the a/c compressor, but with the compressor FAN...which may or may not be part of the compressor. What was replaced was the FAN assembly.

and the reason I bought the Safari finally was the 4 year bumper-to-bumper warranty. No warranty, no buy.

[directinjection]

Thanks a lot Steeroid for enlightening members with your DICOR experience. Where are you based now?

[nitinbhag]

Originally Posted by directinjection

Thanks a lot Steeroid for enlightening members with your DICOR experience. Where are you based now?

Somehow, I missed watching this thread...
Similar experiences with my Dicor, which is done 3500km:
- AC blower was making a rattling noise- Was replaced by Subros
- The brake oil light and temp gauge went haywire on my long drive, although nothing was wrong with brakes or engine temp - wiring issues
Steer, common problems:
- front passenger window gets stuck open, Prerna has promised replacement of motor
- Door locks function randomly
- Puddle lights work randomly
- there is a particularly bad rattling noise from the back seat these days, which I need to check

The smoke problem seems to have reduced a bit after the Tata folks fiddled around with the EGR and turbo settings.. Havent noticed any difference in vibration levels yet..

I have a big issue with the cabin noise levels when you go to speeds beyond 100kmph.. The engine+tyre+wind noise level is very high, enough to drown out the stereo. Steer, your experience?

LOL, 8 of 10 people who see my Dicor - 1st question is 'what mileage'? I simply do not understand this obsession.. I would expect questions on - how is the ride? what about 4WD? whats the price? etc.. etc..

Wheelie in Dicor???? the only way to do this would be to park it on a 60 degree up slope, engage 1st gear and let go at full rpm

[GTO]

Steeroid and Nitin, arent you guys putting up with too much of a hassle for a 10 lac rupee car?

GTO

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by nitinbhag

I have a big issue with the cabin noise levels when you go to speeds beyond 100kmph.. The engine+tyre+wind noise level is very high, enough to drown out the stereo. Steer, your experience?

I dont have that problem, strangely. The only noise over 100 kmph is wind noise - the engine is very silent, almost too silent as you can hardly hear anything. Ask v1p3r who came for a spin in the Safari and was quite surprised at the lack of engine or tyre noise at those speeds.

Wind noise is something I am going to investigate in great detail when I have the time. Its not intrusive, but its there at those speeds.

Finally to answer GTO's question - no it really wouldnt be worth the hassle of owning a car with these kind of hassles. The only reason why we put up with this kind of **** is that:

1. Its covered by warranty
2. They take care to see that your problems are sorted out
3. The problems have been taken care of and have never been 'critical' (except in the case of my starter motor).
4. Over the last 6 months, the number of issues were highest in the first one month and then have dwindled down to no issues at all over the last 2 months.
5. Driving that thing around is really satisfying - kind of makes up for all that ****.

Nitin - the rattle from the backseat is probably your hazard triangle shaking inside its plastic case. Its stored in a zipped up pouch behind your rear seats. Else it could be the toolkit rattling against the seat OR the hydraulic jack may have gotten unseated from its position under the passenger seat after a bad pothole or two.

[Steeroid]

@ GTO - another factor that must be borne in mind is that we (at least Nitin and I) are open with the problems we face and talk about it. I know of many others who would prefer not to talk about their experiences for fear of what people might think of their "1 million rupee mistake".

I know of a certain Endeavour owner in Kerala who has faced more problems than this with his 15 lakh Endy, but would prefer not to talk about it. In fact he tells everyone who asks him about it that it is a wonderful car with no problems, but being close to him I know the number of times he's had to take it back to Ford, and its NOT for niggling issues such as what I have mentioned. Similarly there's my cousin who's Skoda has cost him a bomb in maintenance and spare parts (he's, well, accident prone) that would've cost a fraction if he had any other vehicle, but when asked about the car or even the maintenance costs he is all praise in front of others.

Let me clarify that I do not consider my purchase to be a mistake. Not yet, at least. I prefer to be upfront and I trust that what is mentioned in this thread is taken in the right spirit, and is not taken to mean that the vehicle is bad in any way.

[tifosikrishna]

hi steeroid, its very apparent that you are very forthcoming with your problems. its very true that many people tend not to disclose the problems they face with their possesions (not only cars).
at the first place, it shouldnt have happened for the top of line offering like dicor, nonetheless, if they are able to find out the probelm and fix it then its fine. but the point is, we will willing to spend some time and effort upto a certain level, but if it is going to happen repeatedly then its a real quality issue.
from your previous post i see that issues have come down drastically af the first couple of months... then its fine. hope and wish it stays this way.


on a side note, my indica intially had some teething problem like door light and thermostat not working properly, i had to visit at four or five times to get it fixed, after that it was all fine.

[GTO]

Steeroid,

Agreed that Tata is repairing the issues when they come up, and that you feel safe with your car being under warranty.

But that brings up two issues : Would you rather buy a car from a company that is pro-active (infuses quality in such a way that problems after delivery are negligible) or re-active (reacts to problems after they come up i.e. after delivery). I would rather they adopt such manufacturing processes that eliminate quality glitches.

Second, if the car is giving so many problems within the warranty period, whats to tell what happens after your coverage runs out?

The Endeavour is certainly nasty to own. My neighbour has had some serious turbo issues (cost upward of 70 grand) and is generally not happy with his purchase. Is contemplating selling it within a year of ownership.

Driving that thing around is really satisfying - kind of makes up for all that ****.

That sums it up the best. I put up with a lot of crap that my Jeep hurls at me, only because of the ownership pleasure.

Yes, I am extremely open in my car reviews too.

GTO

[tifosikrishna]

Originally Posted by GTO

Steeroid,

I would rather they adopt such manufacturing processes that eliminate quality glitches.

GTO

hey GTO, our indian companies are long way to go in that. If i am right japanese companies ranks best in terms of manufacturing processes. Infact in the JD power intial survey, japanese manufacturers always hold the top slot. I am now reading about Lean manufacturing .. the toyota way.. the basic premise is to come down on inventory and detect quality defects at source and rectify them...

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by GTO

Steeroid,

Agreed that Tata is repairing the issues when they come up, and that you feel safe with your car being under warranty.

But that brings up two issues : Would you rather buy a car from a company that is pro-active (infuses quality in such a way that problems after delivery are negligible) or re-active (reacts to problems after they come up i.e. after delivery). I would rather they adopt such manufacturing processes that eliminate quality glitches.

I would rather do that, but my decision was based on a whole host of criteria. If I wanted Quality over everything else I would've picked up the Innova that I had booked.

There are no excuses for Tata going about their business in this manner.

Originally Posted by GTO

Second, if the car is giving so many problems within the warranty period, whats to tell what happens after your coverage runs out?

I've been told to expect 'niggling' problems with Tata vehicles. My patience runs out at about 6 months and if the vehicle still gives problems, its on its way out - warranty or not. So lets wait and watch.

[nitinbhag]

Originally Posted by GTO

Steeroid and Nitin, arent you guys putting up with too much of a hassle for a 10 lac rupee car?

GTO

GTO, I was prepared for small problems when I made my decision to buy the Dicor. Luckily, nothing major has gone wrong yet. I am OK to get these minor things fixed, hopefully, these will settle down. Like Steer, I do NOT consider this buy to be a mistake. I also do not mind giving TATA a bit of leeway for a new car. At least, they are very responsive and proactive about fixing these issues. And I got the 4 year warranty as well.

What probably is happening is that Steer and I are very vocal about every little thing. And we probably expect too much perfection . Driving this car is a pleasure on our roads and I wouldnt trade it for anything worth 10L on the roads today. I would regret buying Dicor only if Toyota launched Fortuner at 10L in the next few months. And we know thats hardly likely .

Steer - will wait for the 1st service to sort out the engine noise issue. Will check on the things you mentioned for the rattling noise.

[tsk1979]

@GTO and @Steeroid
From owning numerous Tata cars there is a pattern I have seen. Almost all the faluires are in the Parts not built by tata, namely : Starter motor, Alternator, AC, Powersteering bearing etc.,.
It seems like a good move to go to china I guess, because the indian suppliers are definately not upto the mark.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

From owning numerous Tata cars there is a pattern I have seen. Almost all the faluires are in the Parts not built by tata

tsk - however, Tata cannot hide behind that excuse. At the end of the day we're buying a Tata vehicle, not a Subros a/c or a Lucas alternator or a TVS starter motor. It is their duty to QC bought out components, not take that as an excuse to shift blame to someone else.

They simply HAVE to bring the quality of 3rd party components up, else the market will bring them down.

[tsk1979]

I agree! What I meant was that Tata needs to do something about their suppliers. First 2-3 years they were new to cars, so excused but now its been 8 years! Its high time things settled down

[nishant_kingpin]

GTO Tata's have come a long way as a car manufacturers from the early days and the reason that we continue to adore there vehicles even with some nicks here and there is the overall package they present.

Steer mentioned about the mist on the lower wind screens and the cooling of the pedal area when the AC was pointed to only the front. This for once I used to think was to ensure homogeneous cooling of the vehicle Its been there in both my India's and the Indigo too. Viper's not being smooth was another thing I felt Tata's could never fix. Also I have come to realize that some of the service stations do a much better job than the others and the quality of workmanship is inversely proportional to the number of vehicles they work on simultaneously. But the quality has really changed over the years. Gone are the days when I used to spend atleast 2 days every alternate week at Concord Motors back in 1999-2000. Now its only the scheduled service visits.

Steer and Nitin bought vehicles just after the launch and even though this was not a radically different model but still there was this feeling of owning a latest launch. We all remember how Steer haggled around and probably was amongst the first buyers across states to have driven the Dicor and sure got the first vehicle in the city. Generally there is higher expectations of malfunctions in recently launched vehicles. But being envied is eternal