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Old 5th March 2018, 09:51   #91
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Re: Is being a cabbies' favoured brand no longer taboo?

On 2 recent trips to kolkata, most of the OLA Prime's that got allocated to me were Tata Zest's. I rode in close to, 15-18 different Zests and the remainder 2-3 bookings were for Dezires.
The youngest Zest was about 10k kms old, and the oldest about 120k kms. What surprised me immensely, was that the 10k Zest rode, sounded and felt EXACTLY like the 120k Zest! Mind you, all the Zests rode, felt and sounded better than any of the Dezires, (young or old), so much so, that I used to silently pray for a Zest to be allocated than a Dezire! I also made it a point to enquire from each Zest driver about his experience with the car. The only maintenance any of them mentioned was regular service, clutch plate overhaul, brakes overhaul and timing chain change, depending on the age of the car. Some of them even mentioned that their previous car was a Dezire and that they had moved to the Zest because it was more comfortable for them at the end of the day (200+ kms driving daily) and cheaper to own and run.
These experiences have radically changed my perception about Tata motors and their new age products, so much so, that I might actually consider a product from their stable if I were in the market in that segment.
So, forget about being a taboo, this time around, an emerging cabbies favourite, coupled with my own experience, has turned my perception about a company and it's product, on it's heels.
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Old 5th March 2018, 10:29   #92
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Re: The Curse of the "Taxi" Badge

It definitely makes some difference to the image, but then manufacturers want volumes too. Orders from Uber / Ola drivers, self-drive companies etc. add to the numbers.

I like Maruti's strategy of selling the old Dzire (Tour) to the cab segment and the new Dzire to private owners. Tata also did this at one point of time where they were promoting the older range to cabbies & restricting sales of newer cars only to individual owners.
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Old 31st July 2022, 12:58   #93
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Re: The Curse of the "Taxi" Badge

Are there any cars other than the Innova which still has the taxi image? Today I think the closest you can get is the Hyundai Eon. I travelled in one recently, And it felt only marginally better than an autorickshaw. I too tend to cars that taxi owners tend to because i value the same things they do.
The Curse of the "Taxi" Badge-pxl_20220412_142114968.jpg
With the Indica, everyone used to call it a taxi (and some of the blame comes to me for buying a white one) , but now that the actual taxis have mostly died out, I get a lot of nostalgia from people who used to own one or miss the ride quality compared to the budget segment taxis.

With the etios, i made sure i bought something that wouldn't be mistaken for a taxi, and generally people say they love it. Within enthusiast circles (read bhpians) there is mostly this derision on lack of features and cheap looking/feeling interiors which aren't a big deal for me.

I'm wondering what cabbie favourite car i can buy 5 years down the line as my next car as an upgrade to the Etios. Other than the Innova, i don't see anything in between.
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Old 31st July 2022, 14:19   #94
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Re: The Curse of the "Taxi" Badge

Quote:
Originally Posted by greenhorn View Post
I'm wondering what cabbie favourite car i can buy 5 years down the line as my next car as an upgrade to the Etios. Other than the Innova, i don't see anything in between.
I think the erstwhile ciaz diesel would be a good candidate, very spacious and the 1.3 diesel has decent punch, its discontinued but its a maruti car so I dont think spare parts and servicing will be an issue. Negatives would be the bad plastics and average build quality.

I've seen a lot of taxi ciaz diesels, not as much as the innova and etios but still a lot, most of them being the VDI trim. I think it will be easily possible to find good examples even some years down the line considering they were able to sell it in decent numbers.
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