Indica Xeta GLX (1.4L) - 1 month ownership report

[ashj]

Hi TBHPians,
Today I completed 1 month with my Salsa Red Indica Xeta GLX and I thought this is the right time to write a review about the car. Since 1 month and 500 kms is not a big time to judge the performance of any car, this review will be limited to the problems that I've faced so far with the car. I'll keep updating the review from time to time.

Day-1: The car looked good and I was happy to make the decision to buy this car. But the dealer (Concorde Motors, Bangalore) service really sucked and by the time I took the delivery and drove out I was half mad at them and myself for choosing Concorde. The pre-inspection on car was near to zero and the sales girl tried to take me for a ride by saying that the promised sun-film is on the car but since it is of very light color I'm unable to distinguish it! Come on, I'm not a fool who cannot find a difference between a car with sun-film and one without one. After lot of arguments, she finally agreed that the sun-film is not there. Then I started pointing out on lot of other minor things that were missing. All is all, it was one painful evening for me.

Day-2: The car is back to Concorde Motors for fixing up the number plate. I also informed them that I heard some noise from the rear left door whenever car is on bad roads. Also the front left power window gets stuck sometime when it is powered up. They said that both the problems have been rectified.

Day-3-30: The front left power window still gets stuck and after close observation I realized that it is because the angle of the glass changes as it goes up and about 1 inch from the top, it gets tilted so much that it gets stuck. Later I realized that the same problem is there with front right window too (I don't use the rear windows so cannot comment on those). Also, the sound that seemed to be coming from the rear left door is actually coming from the rear left shock absorber and it is still very much there. Also the "Check Engine" light turned on after about 10 days and I had to made several calls to the Concorde only to be told that it is normal and is caused due to some minor electrical fault and I can continue to drive the vehicle normally!!! I hope all these problems will be rectified in the first service.

Apart from these, I didn't face any other major problem and I'm getting about 11kmpl with AC on for 20% of the time in city driving conditions. I'm not very happy with the vehicle because of these niggling issues but apart from that there is no reason to be unhappy either. If anyone has faced these problems on the forum, please let me know your experience.

Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have and I would try to answer them all.

[nbr]

How do you find the ride on the highways ? and also, hows the pick up ?

[Zappo]

Hmmm... poor you. Well, about this glass getting stuck because of the angle of tilt, I think this is unique to your car. In my experience with so many Indicas this is the first time I am hearing this issue. However the chances are that it is a very simple problem. The glass has not been fitted properly in the housing. They take the glass out to fix the sunfilms. While putting the glass back they did not do so properly. Its in all probability a mistake of the film installer.

About the sound from the rear I think there may be a good chance that you are overreacting. Are you really very sure that the sound is coming from the rear suspension? It could very well be the jack which is loose in the boot or maybe the handle or the spare wheel is bouncing a bit or even the toolkit or the emergency reflector triangle set... possibilities are so many. And any of these in the rear will make almost identical sound and could be difficult to decipher. However, on really bad roads if your car's rear passes over some rock or goes into a big pothole the suspension can make some noise, and I would say that is normal.

Talking about your Check Engine light, ummmm... now we are talking about a mass problem. Its not just your car but the entire Xeta junta that faces this problem. However the Concorde is talking crap when they say you should keep driving with that light on. Just talk to your Tata Regional Office. All your problems will vanish like magic. That light should be immediately attended to. If there is some serious problem and the light comes up and you ignore it the results can be devastating. Tatas will also blame you and void their warranty.

Having said that, the light coming on is a very regular Xeta problem. Mainly the sensors... Xeta it seems has too many of them. As a result any untoward thing makes the light to come on. The problem is that Tatas decided to keep the error logged and the light on even if the problem was momentary. There is no way out but to take the car to the service station and hook it up to the comp there. They will check for an error (most of the time there won't be any) and then flush it. That will switch off the light. Its a bit of a pain, I agree. On the other hand the dealers are a bit careless now about this important status light because 99% of the time it is a false alarm (well, ok, lets say an immaterial one at that stage).

[Jaggu]

get the glass fixed proper on the window winder mechanism. and yeah maybe get a better workshop.

bangalore boys can help

[ashj]

@nbr - Didn't get a chance to drive too much on highway. Although got a chance to drive on a free stretch and the drive was comfortable.

@Zappo - I think you have point. Even though I'm sure that the sound is not because of some loose item, I'll drive the car after checking and securing everything in the boot. Also, the sound comes with every small bump on the road. It's like even if there is an uneven patch on the road, it makes a light thud. The sun-film was installed in front of me and I didn't see them removing the glass. They only removed the beading and nothing else. In any case, I too think that it is a minor issue and can be rectified easily. The warning light is really an issue and even I was a little scared after reading the owner's manual. I confirmed the same from three different dealers in Bangalore and each one of them said that I can continue to drive but I should keep an eye on the temp gauge to make sure it never reaches the red mark. But I think you made a very valid point related to the warranty. Thank you. I'll take the car to the service center this weekend.

I would appreciate the Xeta owners in Bangalore to come forward and let me know the best place for servicing their cars.

[Zappo]

ashj, here is a little trick for that engine check light. Try it out and see if this makes a difference. Once you get the logged error cleared be a little more careful. When driving on the road if suddenly the car stalls, say because you were reversing or may be rolling behind a caravan of vehicles in a bumper to bumper traffic and could not judge the clutch release, do not try to start the car in a hurry. This typically happens when the vehicles behind honk incessantly. Just forget those behind you for a while. Turn the key off to the lock position (very important). Take a deep breath, count 1 to 5 and then crank the car. And start driving again.

See if that makes any difference. I suggested this to a colleague of mine for whom we picked up a Xeta a few months back and he was also plagued with this engine light problem. My suggestion was based on some driving scenarios that I witnessed. It has since worked marvellously for him. He has not encountered this problem since then.

P.S. Having said that Xeta is very very sensitive to adulterated fuel. Or even micron sized suspended debris present in the tank (not exactly adulterated in this case) at times can trip that light off.

[abhishekkk]

Hey Ashj....yesterday I faced the problem of CHECK ENGINE indicator not turning off even if u crank the engine. I bought Indica Xeta GLE 15 days ago and this is the first time when I m facing this problem Is it a serious problem??also which fuel is most suitable for this car?? speed or any unleaded petrol??

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Seems like TATA still has a long way to go till they can meet the quality standards of the competitors!

Is the car back from service?

[Sush]

Quality of Tata cars is still not up to the mark. My uncle bought Xeta and was left left stranded twice. The car won't start. The problem was detected to a loose IC. Moreover the dealer had taken him for a ride by giving him a car that was manufactured 7-8 months ago. He escalated this issue with the Tata people and after couple of meetings etc some Tata official came personally and gave him a cheque of Rs. 22,000.

[spadival]

Originally Posted by ashj

Also the "Check Engine" light turned on after about 10 days and I had to made several calls to the Concorde only to be told that it is normal and is caused due to some minor electrical fault and I can continue to drive the vehicle normally!!! I hope all these problems will be rectified in the first service.

At this rate, I think Tata will remove the check engine light from Indica Xeta V3 !!

[Zappo]

Actually spadival Tatas did not show the foresight here. That Check Engine light thing is a freak idea gone berserk. A Tata dealership guy told me this.

According to him at times something or the other falters for that brief second in any car. The fuel had a minor suspended particle which caused the flow to slow down for a while, or the temperature of the engine shot up beyond the permitted range by a fraction of a degree for the brief while before all the mechanical contraptions took charge and brought it back to the acceptable range. In all these cases the on-board computer picks up that otherwise blink-and-miss glitch immediately. And that is true with any car.

Now according to this guy while in other cars the light flashes and vanishes immediately (or sometimes do not flash at all) Tatas wanted to be doubly sure that nothing is wrong. Its probably a case of once bitten twice shy, what with initial problems with their petrol Indicas years back. Only that it backfired in a different way now. They decided that all such errors will be retained in the log by the on-board computer till it is brought to the station and checked on their authorized software. Then it will be cleared. Only that unlike other cars which do not log passing errors (only the persistent ones are logged) Xeta does so as a matter of abundant caution. Now this has become a hassle for owners, Lol.

In fact this guy was adamant that if that light flashes for a split second just like in other cars most of the time driver won't even notice. The allusion being to the fact that probably all other cars experience such momentary discomfitures but choose to overlook them whereas Xeta reports all and sundry issues... that and too many sensors make for these problems according to this guy.

So if anything the Tatas will probably also take the non-reporting route like others in their 'V3' Xeta.


P.S. : As a IT professional I find this to be a crazy case of over-debugging/Testing if there ever was one! Or rather a too detailed debugging.

[indivic]

That was a good write up Zappo.
If Tatas could go this far with their specifications towards the ECU suppliers.

Could they also not give out the common list of issues/no issues that they have seen so far and have the ECU reprogrammed in such a way that false alarms are not logged anymore ?

They have 1000s of IT guys in their own fold i.e TCS, can they not get a team to do this in their automotive division ?

[msharma_79]

i have a GLS and i am also facing one problem, doors do shut but the dont get looked from the outside(both front) so you have to use the key to lock the doors.
and secondly it has been almost 15000 kms on my car and usually i drive alone but whenever people are sitting in rear always complaint about the bumpy ride. i fail to understand. is it possible that the there has rarly been anybody on the rear seat (sounds naughty hehehe isnt it) the suspension is still a bit hard.

please let me have your views on that.

thanks
take care and God bless
Manu

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by msharma_79

i have a GLS and i am also facing one problem, doors do shut but the dont get looked from the outside(both front) so you have to use the key to lock the doors.

I did not understand what you are saying. Are you saying that the front door does not lock when you engage the lock lever from inside and come out and shut the door?

If that is what you are saying then it is not a problem but a precautionary design feature. What you got to do is engage the lock lever from inside and then while shutting the door lift the door handle and then shut it close. Now release the door handle. The door should be locked now.

Originally Posted by msharma_79

and secondly it has been almost 15000 kms on my car and usually i drive alone but whenever people are sitting in rear always complaint about the bumpy ride. i fail to understand. is it possible that the there has rarly been anybody on the rear seat (sounds naughty hehehe isnt it) the suspension is still a bit hard.

Now this is a troublesome area. You can not please everyone. Initially Indicas had a stiffer suspension. That was why it behaved so well on all sorts of roads. I have one such Indica in the family. It is extremely well behaved in the worst of pothole infested roads even with a full load. However lot of people used to complain that the ride quality could be made a little softer. Tatas obliged and the Indicas which came in the 2005-06 period had a soft sprung suspension. I personally own one of these. Ride quality is exemplary but then the body roll in these is pretty prominent unlike the previous Indicas. Lot of people were not happy with this much body roll.

Now as I understand it Tatas have again gone back to the stiffer suspension or something close to it since sometime in 2006. My friends have two of these. They have very little body roll and behave very well (much like the earlier Indicas). But then again I guess some people are not very happy with stiff suspension.

So it all depends on your batch of the Indica. Even if the suspension appears a bit stiff to you be happy about it because the car behaves very well and holds its line very well. The body roll is not a very happy thing to experience when you are doing sharp manoeuvers, believe me.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Zappo

ashj, here is a little trick for that engine check light. Try it out and see if this makes a difference. Once you get the logged error cleared be a little more careful. When driving on the road if suddenly the car stalls, say because you were reversing or may be rolling behind a caravan of vehicles in a bumper to bumper traffic and could not judge the clutch release, do not try to start the car in a hurry. This typically happens when the vehicles behind honk incessantly. Just forget those behind you for a while. Turn the key off to the lock position (very important). Take a deep breath, count 1 to 5 and then crank the car. And start driving again.

You're kidding, right?