Chevy Tavera after 60000 kms

[jaisha8]

While wanting to buy a SUV my choice was Scorpio, Innova and Tavera. Scorpio is good and sporty looking, Innova looks like a Mini-bus, though the interiors looks good. Then it was Tavera that impressed
me by its Majestic Exterior looks and the beautiful beige dual tone Interiors.
And also after reading through many reviews in MOUTHSHUT for all these vehicles, I decided to go for Tavera B4 model which was launched in April 2007 only. I got the delivery in 5 days from the date of booking.
The Turbo 2.5L engine is smooth and yet very powerful. Though it doesn’t have the jerk- like pick-up of a Scorpio it makes the move smoothly without any jerk to the passengers. That’s the way it should be. Once it on the road, it is very quick equal to a Scorpio/ Innova etc. Also when you are driving a family car you don’t need a race horse do you?
I have recently completed 60000 kilometers and just finished my warranty also and still the car is in good shape (Touch wood). I must say that the car has given me good service so far and still the ride is very smooth and comfortable. The best part is at lease 12 adults can travel in comfort without been squeezed like in Scorpio/ Qualis. I have modified the back seats from 2 seater to 4 seater and now easily 4 people can be accommodated in the third row. The interior space is the best in this segment. I am not very much into fuel efficiency but once while going to Chennai and returning both times I filled up the tank and did a tank to tank check and I was pleased that I was getting 18.3 kmpl while going and while returning it was 18.1 kmpl as I was bringing back my family and some other (about 4 adults & 3 kids) in the car. This is too much to ask from a big car like Tavera isn’t it?
The ride quality is very good and even on bad tracks you don’t feel very bumpy as the suspension takes all the jerks. The suspension of Tavera is really tough. The best I liked is you can turn the car even on a small street road in a single turn.
The air conditioner is good with a powerful compressor that pushes air even to the back rows.
I have also added some extra accessories like DVD player with roof mounted monitor so that during long drives the passengers are not bored and can have some good entertainment.
Regarding GM I am not very much pleased with the GM service standards but for general servicing I am still giving it to the GM authorized centre.
Some of the problems that I came across in this mean time are as given below:
The rear left hand brake liner had to be replaced at 17000 kms itself and this was noticed during the 2nd service itself by GM. They quoted around Rs. 3000/ 4000 to replace this. But I had my doubts and took it to another good workshop (my regular) and they informed me that this should be in warranty so it should be replaced by GM, but GM refused to do so. I argued with them that how could just one set of brake lining wear off when all the four wheels run at the same time. Probably they had not done the settings in the first place, but her they didn’t oblige at all. So I bought a complete new set of brake liner costing around Rs 2000 from an outside and another 250 for replacing this one. When I went for the next service GM looked at it and threatened me that I would not get any warranty if I buy spares from outside. I told them that you already refused it in the first place when I came to you and now I don’t care for your warranty, I’ll bear the cost if anything happens to this brake liner. Now after 60000 kms it is still going good.
During last monsoon, the water was seeping in on the passengers from the front left side. My driver took the car to GM and you wont believe what they did. They stuck a double side foam tape on the gap between the door frame and the door. Still the water was seeping in. This time I myself took the car again to GM and called their manager and showed it to him. When he called the mechanic he gave the excuse that as I have the rain-guard fitted the water is seeping in. I shot back saying that if you guarantee that the water will not get in after it is removed, I’ll remove the rain-guards right now and if still the water is seeping in, you’ll have to get me a complete new set of rain guards and fit it as well. The manager tried to convince me but I informed that I can get this thing repaired in any local workshop outside but just wanted to show you the quality of your people and left from there. I took the car again to my regular workshop and when I told the mechanic he immediately told me that this is a common problem in all Taveras. He took a small wooden log, kept it between the door frame and the door and pushed on the door window frame. After doing it a couple of times, he asked me to sit inside and raise the window glass. He got a pipe and started pouring water from the roof and not a single drop of water came in. He didn’t even take any money for that. Again I took the car to GM and showed it to the manager. He inquired what the fault was and wanted to know who was the mechanic who repaired it. I didn’t give him any details on that and left.
The latest was once while bringing my kids from school suddenly there was a jerk on the front left side and the car stopped with a noise. When the driver went and saw front of the car was leaning completely almost touching the ground. He thought it must be a puncture and called me. But after some time he again called me and informed me that the front axle connecting rod bolt is broken and hence the car cannot be moved. I immediately started off to where my car was and on the way called the Tavera ‘Helpline’ and they were very responsive. I gave them my driver’s number and they called him and got all the required details to come with the spares. I reached there in 10 minutes and returned back with the kids as I couldn’t wait there till the mechanic arrived. The mechanic arrived after 5 minutes and replaced this bolt and bought the car home. They charged some service charge for sending mechanic and I also paid him some tips. Here I felt that the helpline is more responsive than the Tavera service people.
I am now using the car only for taking to kids to school & back and when all our family members are going for some outing together.
To conclude II won’t compare Tavera to the quality and performance of Innova but it is a good family car and if you maintain it well by following all the maintenance schedules it would really give a good performance. It is truly a value for money, at least for me so far.

[aaggoswami]

Excellent reveiw.

Tavera was worked upon in such a way that it was competition to Qualis at that time. Hence, rather than outright power, they concentrated on FE and it shows. Tavera is indeed quite a heavy car. It was on our list in October 2005, but we could not make it as the family version i.e. the version with all those comfort features was out of our budget.

Can you post some pictures of the piece of wood inserted ? I am not able to exactly make out where this was placed. I am surprised to know that water coming in is a common problem with Tavera.

[taranonline]

great review doc. I thought tavera was just taxi material but it seems better.

[Eddy]

Great looking car at 60k kms. How about some interior pics please ?

[jaisha8]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Great looking car at 60k kms. How about some interior pics please ?

Posting some interior pictures here. Right now I dont have the picture of wooden panel, shall post it later. The base model is more or less for Taxis but the upper end models are really good, believe me.

[jaisha8]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Great looking car at 60k kms. How about some interior pics please ?

ya, I maintaine it myself and do the cleaning also. Every 3 months I clean the upholstery with shampoo to bring back its original colour. As requested posting some interior photos. Right now I dont have the wooden dash photos shall put it later.

[jaisha8]

Posting the Dashboard picture with wooden trims.

[Aarman_008]

Nice review for a well maintained car at 60,000 kms.