[Shiwik]

After a lot of deliberation, i have gone ahead and booked an Aria Pure. Higer variants seemed a tad more expensive and hence the base version. Having said that, there are almost all that i need in the base version. Ideally i would have been extra thrilled if it had airbags but for now I need to settle without those. I am trading my existing Innova for 7L (could have got more if i was a bit patient). The base Model on road comes for 12,04,000 in Bangalore. This includes an extended warranty. I got a 53K discount on the overall price. Additionally I am getting the usual things like mats, mud flaps, idol and perfume. I further negotiated the reverse parking sensors and a 12V socket in the boot. I am quite impressed with the level of responsiveness from Prerana. I always had my reservations about the Tata dealer but this was as good (or as bad) as any other vendor. A word of caution, look out for insurance options outside as there is a huge difference in the price that the dealer quotes compared to getting it done from outside.

I got the VIN number from the dealer and it is a June manufactured vehicle. Thanks for t-bhp for educating me on how to decipher this

Reasons why i preferred this over the XUV
1. Space Space Space
2. Better priced than the base W4 (Although that has ABS and Airbags as standard)
3. Ride quality was simply outstanding
4. AC was brilliant. Somehow i did not feel the XUV AC was as effective. Tried it on a couple of vehicles
5. Seating comfort
6. Engine was fairly responsive but i thought XUVs engine was better
7. Aria looked lot stronger and better put together than the XUV

I get the delivery the coming wednesday and would probably do another writeup a few days beyond that.

In the meanwhile I would appreciate if someone could educate me on some of the insurance policies around there. I got to hear from Sundaram that they and ICICI lombard are the only two vendors who provide unlimited number of claims on a bumper to bumper claim while other provide atmost 2 per year. United Insurance has provided the best quote which is more than 7K cheeper than the next vendor. Anyone had any experience with them and how easy or complicated is it to deal with them.

[ambujlal]

Originally Posted by Shiwik

After a lot of deliberation, i have gone ahead and booked an Aria Pure.

An absolutely question, how would you manage to find a parking for such a massive vehicle on almost non-existent parking spaces in Bangalore. I admire Aria for its sheer ride quality and value it brings as a people carrier, but always get scared thinking "where to park the beast". I guess one needs a hatchback along with Aria to do the city roundabouts. Tata should give Nano free with Aria

[Shiwik]

Originally Posted by ambujlal

An absolutely question, how would you manage to find a parking for such a massive vehicle on almost non-existent parking spaces in Bangalore. I admire Aria for its sheer ride quality and value it brings as a people carrier, but always get scared thinking "where to park the beast". I guess one needs a hatchback along with Aria to do the city roundabouts. Tata should give Nano free with Aria

Well I have been driving an Innova for over 7 years and kinda used to the bulk. Practically speaking, these MUVs are not significantly larger than a sedan (say a corolla). So parking this vis-a-vis a sedan is almost similar. Smaller hatchbacks definitely have an advantage but that is a call one needs to make.

I am looking at a couple of advises here.

1. The car comes with Bridgestone tyres. I was looking at changing them to Yokos right after i take delivery of the vehicle. Would you recommend i continue with Bridgestones. I have been using Michellins on my other cars and must admit they are good ones.

2. Any recommendations where i can get Alloys in Bangalore? The usual shops obviously sources them from somewhere and get a cut. I was looking at by-passing these shops and get to the dealer directly.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by Shiwik

I am looking at a couple of advises here.

1. The car comes with Bridgestone tyres. I was looking at changing them to Yokos right after i take delivery of the vehicle. Would you recommend i continue with Bridgestones. I have been using Michellins on my other cars and must admit they are good ones.

I have used sets of Bridgestone Dueler, Michelin Latitude Cross and Yokohama Geolandar ATS on my Scorpio.

Let me assure you that the grip provided by the Bridgestones is nowhere close to that of the other two.
Latitude Cross is a mighty fine SUV tire for tarmac based usage. Grips well, is silent and is puncture resistant. But it is like a cow on ice in sand or gravel or slush.
Geolandar ATS is the all rounder for Indian conditions. It provides, I'll say 90% of the tarmac performance of Latitude Cross and is MUCH better at tackling the rough or loose stuff.

My Scoprio is 4x2, so traction is all the more important

[condor]

Originally Posted by Shiwik

After a lot of deliberation, i have gone ahead and booked an Aria Pure.

United Insurance has provided the best quote which is more than 7K cheeper than the next vendor.

@Shiwik, Congrats ! Wishing you a long happy ownership of this beautiful vehicle. I got my Storme from Prerana, and have been happy with them.

Regarding insurance, Royal Sundaram is said to be good. Prerana offers RS & if I remember correctly, United as the other option - both through Tata Insurance.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by Shiwik

...Anyone had any experience with them and how easy or complicated is it to deal with them.

Try to go with an insurance used by your dealer. That's easier. I have SBI insurance for my car and the service centre do NOT have a tie up - so there was NO cashless facility.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Try to go with an insurance used by your dealer. That's easier. I have SBI insurance for my car and the service centre do NOT have a tie up - so there was NO cashless facility.

I do not think it is mandatory for Insurance company to have a tie up with dealer. One can take Insurance from any company and it has to be honored as per IRDA. This claim of cashless claim in basically a marketing gimmick adopted by dealers as they get a huge cut in the premium.

If one goes though IRDA it clearly states such practices as misselling.

AS far as i Know, there is a compulsory deduction in all Insurance policies. One has to pay certain amount of the claim. Each company calls it differently. It is mostly called as voluntary deduction. It ranges form 2K to 3K and even 5K in some cases.

In my experience the insurance quotes by dealers are almost 20%( in case of private sector) and 40-45%( in case PSU insurers) more than the actual quotes if one were to approach the insurance company directly.

When i had to renew my Indica vista 6th year policy all the private guys quoted a very high price ( compared to what was quoted by the same companies the previous for the same car)
Their rates are 30% more for a car with less IDV and more NCB than last year. All of them parroted the same line. As per IRDA premium is more for TATA cars above 5 years age.
Then i approached Oriental, they told there is no such thing and gave me the policy at almost 30% less than private guys.
To me it appears these private formed a acrtel and are hiking the premiums

For my ARIA the normal quote is 40K from dealer and 36K form HDFC direct.
I got Zero depreciation with accident insurance for Seven passengers + medical facility for 26.5K from United. Voluntary deduction is 2K

I was saving a minimum of 15K in the first years and around 50 for a period of 5 years .

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by rkg

I do not think it is mandatory for Insurance company to have a tie up with dealer. One can take Insurance from any company and it has to be honored as per IRDA. This claim of cashless claim in basically a marketing gimmick adopted by dealers as they get a huge cut in the premium.

If one goes though IRDA it clearly states such practices as misselling...

When and where did I say that it's mandatory? I guess you need to read my post all over, once again please.

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Try to go with an insurance used by your dealer...

In case it was NOT clear, I meant, go with an insurance (aftermarket) which the dealer has tie up with! That way, you save on the difference and also avail cashless facility.

[torquecurve]

Originally Posted by Shiwik

After a lot of deliberation, i have gone ahead and booked an Aria Pure. Higer variants seemed a tad more expensive and hence the base version. .......

Congrats on your buy! Just a quick question though - does the Pure come with Dual Mass Flywheel and the new clutch? The new engine has an amazing warranty and so does the clutch.

[Shiwik]

Originally Posted by torquecurve

Congrats on your buy! Just a quick question though - does the Pure come with Dual Mass Flywheel and the new clutch? The new engine has an amazing warranty and so does the clutch.

Thanks and i am looking forward to it. Coming from an Innova background, there is this unexplainable feeling (probably in my tummy) asking myself "will the Aria fill the void created by my dear Innova - and i am positive about it".

DMF has been dumped by TATA on all its variants and they now call it High mass FW. Vibrations on the gear lever were evident but that was comparable to my Innova. So i have no reason to complain. I personally thought it was a good move since TATA could probably never get the DMF function as expected. Ideally i would have wanted more kit but i (and only I felt this way) felt, lesser the electronics lesser the chances of niggles. The Base has pretty much most of what i wanted (barring the Airbags). Was not too hung up with the ABS or steering mounted controls. I have a pioneer touch screen music system which i intend to get it off my Innova and plug it into the Aria. I am sure most of you know what comes with the car - but just in case you did not then here it is -

1. Visually nothing different across variants except the smoked headlamps in the top variant
2. Solid wheels (16") which i intend to change to alloys
3. Bridgestone tyres - would be changed day One to either Yokos or Michelins (suggestions welcome). Dealer has quoted 6K additional in exchange for the bridgestones for the Yokos
4. Three rows AC with an additional foot AC for the middlerow
5. A stone age analog clock on the dash
6. All four express down power windows
7. Remote lock on both on the Key and inside the car on the press of a button
8. Heated OVRMs (power adjustable from inside) with turn indicators
9. LED lights inside the cabin
10. 12V sockets for all three rows
11. Boot lamp
12. Flat bed setup on folding the last and the middle rows
13. Speed sensed auto lock
14. Body graphics that runs from the D pillar all way down towards the headlamp. Conceals the size of the metal doors
15. Parking Sensors

[GrammarNazi]

Congrats! Aria is an awesomely comfortable car. Quite under-rated IMHO. This is the 150bhp, 320NM Torque version right?

Looking forward to the ownership review. Its definitely superbly built, IIRC it also scored 4 out of 5 in NCAP ratings.

Originally Posted by Shiwik

...DMF has been dumped by TATA on all its variants and they now call it High mass FW. Vibrations on the gear lever were evident but that was comparable to my Innova. So i have no reason to complain. I personally thought it was a good move since TATA could probably never get the DMF function as expected...

Interesting. High Mass Flywheel - sounds like something new that TaMo again didn't market properly. Anyway.

...Was not too hung up with the ABS...

Any particular reason? AFAIK Aria has all-round discs (Rear ventilated and front solid discs) right?

[damodar]

Originally Posted by Shiwik

15. Parking Sensors

Are you sure these come with the PureLX variant , because they are not mentioned in the brochure? Did you find the steering heavy at low speeds?

[Shiwik]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

Congrats! Aria is an awesomely comfortable car. Quite under-rated IMHO. This is the 150bhp, 320NM Torque version right?

Looking forward to the ownership review. Its definitely superbly built, IIRC it also scored 4 out of 5 in NCAP ratings.

Interesting. High Mass Flywheel - sounds like something new that TaMo again didn't market properly. Anyway.

Any particular reason? AFAIK Aria has all-round discs (Rear ventilated and front solid discs) right?

You are right, this is the one with the bumped up power. I did not find any turbo lag on this one and the engine pulled fairly effortlessly. One other thing i noticed was, one gets to trip digit speeds pretty rapidly and you would be late to realize you are already at 100+ speeds. While it sounds nice, I would recommend one needs to be cautious about it. It is a fairly heavy vehicle.

HMFW is what the sales person mentioned. I am not sure if it is just a sales prank so cannot really comment. In anycase, i did not have any issue with it. The top model is ranked fairly high on the safety charts (it also has additional kit). However the chasis and the frames are hydroformed - which means they offer better strength and rigidity. Airbags would definately have improved the safety quotient but the next model was 4 Lacs higher :-(

Aria has solid discs all around. Brakes were quite effective. Couple of times i crossed over 120 kmph and had not brake (not an emergency one at that) and the vehicle stopped without a fuss.

Originally Posted by damodar

Are you sure these come with the PureLX variant , because they are not mentioned in the brochure? Did you find the steering heavy at low speeds?

Sensors are not part of the standard kit. I negotiated it from the dealer (excuse me for not being clearer earlier). Steering was quite responsive at lower speeds and i generally drive with one hand. So no issues with it at all.

[rkg]

My ARIA Pure LX completed 2500KM in 1.5 months of ownership.

In addition to what Shiwik already mentioned, ARIA has Disc in the back along with them also has drum for parking brakes. This is what they are calling as "drum in the hat" as per TML engineer
MID gives- average KMPL for both the trip meters and also instant milage, range, outside temperature. One can select the units Fahrenheit/centigrade for temperature and Km/Miles for distance

My city milage was around 9.5 and highway 12.91( 85% Highway and 15% city)
Full tank gave a range of 723KM. Iam sure if it is a full highway drive it will easily be 800KM

[swiftnfurious]

Wow. Yours would be the first face-lifted Aria on the forum. Congrats on the booking and please do shower us with lots and lots of the pics and an ongoing detailed report.

Originally Posted by Shiwik

...but the next model was 4 Lacs higher :-(...

That's bad!