[Venkatesh.H]

I have recently taken a short test drive of Harrier ZX. What I like about Harrier are as follows.
• Striking design and I can see the freshness in the design with DNA of JLR from front and rear views.
• Fit and finish inside the cabin is top notch, barring few hard plastics in the cabin.
• Steering is super light and it’s a breeze at city drive.
• Clutch was very light and I did stalled engine at 3rd gear, maybe I require little practice for getting used to the light clutch.
• Pickup was adequate in ECO mode.
• Driving on rough patches was just superb since it dismisses the rough patches as if they don’t exist. This is in comparison to my Polo 1.2 Petrol car.
• I couldn’t try other drive modes, hill hold, hill descend and ESP. but very good addition to the SUV as I frequently drive to my farm around 80 km from Mangalore, which has around 20 km of hilly area with rough patches in between.
• Very good value for money proposition.
• There is sea of change in refinement and safety in present day Tata cars/SUVs compared to Indica cars.

I am planning to buy SUV in April 2020. What I did not like in Harrier and waiting for the missing features as follows.
• BS-VI compliance Engine and other safety norms associated with it.
• Missing torque converter AUTO gears.
• Addition of 2 seats to make 7 seater in H7X (BUZZARD or CASSINI).
• Higher state of Power tuning with 170+ HP, same engine is producing 170HP in Jeep Compass.
• All niggles ironed out.
• Panoramic sunroof, not a deal breaking feature for me.
• Smaller size ORVMs, present ones are creating huge blind spot. Even re-position to little lower will do.
• Power operated driver seat. Memory function will be a great addition, as same SUV will be shared by my wife, which she has different seat height adjustment.

Request owners to write about their experience on drive modes, ESP operation, hill hold and hill descent performance.

[RedStallion]

Originally Posted by amrutmhatre90

Somewhere in Pune uniquely wrapped Tata Harrier. This time the wrap is not limited to roof.

This is the classic case of overdone. It certainly takes away the awesome look of the beast.

Front grill work is certainly inspired from the KRAZ.
IMO, the rear door decals should have been avoided at least.

[lifebuoy]

Originally Posted by lifebuoy

Well written by GTO, as always. However:

- The engine quickness, cornering abilities, etc are compared with the Compass, whilst Rear suspension is compared to an independent one as in the XUV 5OO. Although ride is reported as compliant, yet the Compass is better, quicker, etc. In short, a better performer.

Many thanks to all the 27 readers who have seen the light of the day through my cryptic comments.


Came across this test drive of the Harrier by Motor Trend on autos.msn.com. Please spend a few minutes to read and you will appreciate the effort put in by TATA Motors.



https://www.msn.com/en-in/autos/news...id=mailsignout

[AirbusCapt]

Had a test drive of the Harrier today. Quick points:
Beautiful looking exterior. No two ways about it. Good road presence, mainly due the high bonnet line.
Great sounding music system. Better base and crisper sounds than my Hexa, even though the Hexa has a center speaker in addition
Love how the bonnet is visible when in the driver's seat
Decent interiors. However I am not a fan of fake wood and tan seats. Overall felt the quality of interiors is a step down from the Hexa.
Orvm was not a hindrance. The windshield is wide enough and the side windows low enough to judge and look out for traffic. Not a pain point as highlighted by many.
Engine sounds coarse. In comparison it sounds like the deisel Dezire cab engine, loud and gruff, at all speeds.
Ride quality is good but not great. Hexa is still the benchmark on how to sort and tune a silent suspension. The mature ride of the Hexa makes way for a slightly stiff ride in the Harrier.
Build quality is not as sorted as the Hexa. Driving on rough terrain, the Hexa cabin is totally silent, in the Harrier you can year the normal squeaks, small sounds of plastics and trims. Nothing abnormal, but in comparison the Harrier doesn't seem as well put together.
May be my perception is based on an abused test drive car, I hope the production models are much better built.

[sswami4]

If anyone is booking a harrier or has booked and expecting delivery
Some tips for deals you can fetch
I have taken quotations from
Concorde motors Mumbai
Bafna Motors Ratnagiri
Ism motors Roorkee
Oberai motors Dehradun

( I have small houses in these places )

The first thing that the sales guy comes up with is no deal..it is in waiting
The thing to note is Harrier sales have been odd 2500+ in March because production is slow and not because there is an overwhelming demand

1) ex showroom price check on harrier website choose state and region click on build and book next you shall see ex showroom price
Dealers tend to add logistics in ex showroom
To avoid the handling charges, tally with Tata

2) logistics charges - everyone said it was compulsory and later they all waived them off

3) All of them agreed to give free mattings , dash mattings and mudflaps . You can push for mascot as well

4) Do not go for their insurance , they will force you because they have a very high margin
Their insurance is 1+3 ( 1 yr comp+ 3 yr Tp )
Which comes upto roughly between 85000- 98000 depending upon region and dealer
Now if you get insurance done by your agent
For 3+3 full insurance + zero debt it will come to max 1,18,000 for 3 years! And you can push your agent and he shall given discount from his margin which could make it fall to 1,15,000 or even lesser
If you have NCB from previous car insurance that will further bring it down.

If you plan to take delivery in july- August you can still push for more accessories on the deal , since it is one of the most slack period for car sales.

Hope this might prove helpful
Best wishes for locking in the best Made in India SUV as of today with all the best technology of Jlr

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by sswami4

If anyone is booking a harrier or has booked and expecting delivery
Some tips for deals you can fetch
I have taken quotations from
Concorde motors Mumbai
Bafna Motors Ratnagiri
Ism motors Roorkee
Oberai motors Dehradun

All the points mentioned by you are generic and applicable to negotiations in general. Was there any difference between offers from dealers located in these cities based on the variable demand that might exist between them?

[sswami4]

Originally Posted by shipnil

All the points mentioned by you are generic and applicable to negotiations in general. Was there any difference between offers from dealers located in these cities based on the variable demand that might exist between them?

The difference I found was that smaller cities like Roorkee and Ratnagiri were very transparent and were ready to ante up the deal if I provided them better quotes from competition
Mumbai and Dehradun had hidden charges and were not ready to negotiate much

[sreerknair]

The Car&Bike article mentions that the DCT in Hyundai Venue will the one offered to Tata Motors for Harrier and the upcoming 7 seater. A DCT in Harrier will be an interesting proposition.

https://auto.ndtv.com/news/hyundai-v...ission-2023035

[sumalkar]

The Hunt Begins ..

After selling my Safari 3.0, I was looking out for a big vehicle, mainly for highway driving. Though I have Grand i10 and I did go for few long journeys in this car, still was missing the feel of Safari.

First choice ..

Initially I thought of buying a Toyota Fortuner though I was aware that it could be out of my budget. Still, I called and enquired about the finance options. Even for base model without accessories, the down payment was Rs.5.5 lac with EMI of almost Rs.50k. No way I was going to afford that at this moment.

Thereafter, spent few days browsing the net but just could not decide on any particular vehicle. I just wanted a big vehicle that would give me a sense of comfort and safety, along with driving pleasure, especially at nights, as I love long drives / journeys in the dark.

Second choice ..

On March 8th, visited Mahindra showroom to check out Marazzo M8. Took the test drive the same afternoon and no doubt it was very easy to drive with extremely light steering and clutch. Interior space was good too, but it still lacked the class that I was expecting. The infotaintment system and other buttons didn’t really impress me. Even AC was not that effective on driver’s seat though it was pretty chilling for 2nd and 3rd row passengers. On a positive side, almost 100% finance was available on on-road price of around Rs.17 lac and the EMI too was below Rs.30k.

Interestingly, the showroom I visited had Alturas G4 parked outside (in fact, right behind the Marazzo) and it's massive looks just blew my mind. Requested executive there to allow me to look inside and it was indeed a royal feeling.

After returning home, read multiple reviews and also saw videos of Marazzo. Lot of positives were mentioned but still it all boiled down to one thing - that it's a people mover. On top of it, after looking at Alturas G4, I just couldn't convince myself that I should go for Marazzo.

What next?

Third and FINAL choice ..

My son suggested me to have a look at Tata Harrier. So the next day (March 9th) I visited Tata showroom near my house to check out Harrier and Hexa as well. The Harrier was on display and the very first look made me fall in love with it. Interiors were cool & classy, tall and wide tires, big length and huge boot space, and of course, a powerful 2 litre engine - everything seemed just perfect. The price of Harrier XZ (top end) was almost Rs.20 lac and luckily 100% finance was available through SBI.

Also, had a look at Hexa, but Harrier seemed just too good. Requested executive for a test drive and he agreed to bring the vehicle to my place later as it was not immediately available.

Test drive ..

The executive came with Harrier to my place around 7 in the evening and we went for a short test drive. The first time I started, the vehicle almost lunged on 1st gear. I was on city mode but could still feel the immense power. Feeling inside the cabin was awesome, steering pretty light and responsive. The pedals were pretty dip and I had to pull seat close to the steering so that I could engage the clutch fully. I took a drive on a plain road and it was definitely a cool experience. At one point, I initiated sports mode and I was at 100 km/h within few seconds. The power was simply awesome. The cabin was not that silent, I could hear engine noise but that wasn’t a major factor for me for rejection. The sound quality with JBL speakers was great, AC was cool, and the boot space was good too. Plus considering all the other features that the top variant was loaded with, I made up my mind to go for Tata Harrier.

So, that was it. This was the vehicle I wanted and I just booked it as soon as I was back from the test drive. Handed over a cheque of Rs.30k to the executive and very next day forwarded all the documents to him to check loan eligibility.

Also, requested the executive to bring the vehicle for one more test drive during the day time and he agreed.

But unfortunately there wasn’t any positive response from the sales executive and it was I who was calling all the time and enquiring about availability of vehicle for one more test drive. Finally, after 4 days I realized that this is not the dealer I would prefer to buy the Harrier from. So I called the guy and told him to cancel the booking and refund the amount. Surprisingly, even he readily agreed and didn’t seem interested in pursuing the deal. Don’t want to get into details, but I did receive few calls from that dealer for the next couple of days to go ahead and buy the vehicle from them. But I just politely refused.

The hunt continues ..

On Thursday, March 14th, I visited Rudra Motors (on Pune-Ahmednagar road, near Wagholi) along with my colleague from the office and was greeted warmly by SA Chandan. Initially, I did not tell him about my earlier experience related to Harrier. He provided all the details and we again took the test drive. He seemed very interested in explaining and showing all the features about the vehicle.

After returning home that evening, though I liked Harrier, but just due to bad experience earlier, thought of exploring Hexa also. I just called Chandan and told him that I want to consider Hexa as well. Next day, he forwarded Hexa details along with price list over WhatsApp and I called and informed him that I would visit the showroom again on Saturday to discuss things further.

Eureka ..

Visited Rudra Motors on Saturday (March 16th) and the first question was if I had finalized on the vehicle. I was not sure and the discussion continued for some time. Soon there were more people (of course, staff from the showroom) around me trying to discuss and help in deciding between Harrier and Hexa. Finally, it was back to Harrier XZ again - Calisto Copper, signature color for this SUV. As I had all the required documents with me, we all decided to move quickly and close the deal.

Again, avoiding details, the loan was processed quickly (certainly took half a day for completing the formalities) and as the vehicle was available, I was even given the chassis number by end of the day. Three to four months of waiting period coming down to ZERO. No words to express my excitement

About registration of vehicle, I was told on Saturday itself that the vehicle would be registered with PCMC RTO as my address was from that area. But I was bit confused as the pin code of my area came under PMC and I thought that, may be, I could get the Harrier registered with Pune RTO. I called the showroom again on Monday morning to verify the same and they re-confirmed that it would be PCMC RTO.

As the vehicle was available in their stockyard I just thought of having a look at it hence visited the dealer one more time on March 18th afternoon. Had a quick discussion with executives there, re-verified the accessories that I had finalized and requested them to take me and my son to their stockyard to have a look at OUR Harrier.

Took some snaps of the vehicle without accessories as the looks were surely going to change at the time of delivery. The insurance was filed and done the same evening by them (got an SMS) and the Harrier was all set for registration.

The wait begins ..

THE HARRIER

So, after waiting for another 10 days with continuous follow ups with dealer regarding the progress on RTO registration, the delivery was confirmed at 4pm on March 29th, which also happened to be my son’s 18th birthday. The RTO tax was paid on same day by the dealer and coincidently got an SMS about registration number being allotted while we were at the showroom to collect the Harrier.

First look - it was just looking awesome. I had opted for base pack of accessories which included few chrome fittings and it only made the Harrier look more beautiful. The ODO read 138km - I asked about the same and they said that the vehicle was driven to conduct few tests. Got a coupon for 5 ltr of diesel which I immediately utilized so that I could drive home without any worries.

Without going into details here, we drove home our Harrier the same evening. The dealer promised to deliver number plates the next day.

First drive after reaching home - went to pick up my daughter from her friend’s place at 10 in the evening and also got tank full at Shell. Frankly, I still wan’t comfortable with the seating position as my left knee constantly touched the lower part of dashboard. Also, due to incorrect driver seat’s height, I wasn’t that comfortable using pedals. But all in all, it was good first day of Harrier.

Next day, I lowered driver seat position to it’s minimum and then all was good. My knee was comfortable and also using clutch / brake pedals was as desired. As I was driving Safari till last month, lowering seating position in Harrier didn’t affect the driving judgment as such. I could still maneuver easily through the city traffic. Big ORVMs were and are still a big risk and they seriously create blind spots. The only option I see here is to be extra careful and consciously make efforts to check for approaching two-wheelers and other road users from the side lanes.

Called the dealer on Saturday on status of number plates, they were ready but guys were busy so could not deliver them. Finally, collected my number plates today and I am all set now for new adventures.

Quick drives ..

Went upto Lonavala 2 days back at 11 in the night. Took old Pune-Mumbai road while going and I could hardly engage top gear. But even on 5th gear the ride was smooth. Came back via Expressway and tried cruise control. It was just wonderful, controlling speeds using steering-mounted buttons.

I still feel that the driver’s seat comfort and position is much better in Safari. The steering (cover) is classy but very smooth, some chances of losing a grip if taking turns using one hand.


What I think about Harrier ..

Looks - definitely “OWNER’S PRIDE”

Steering - pretty light considering the size of the vehicle and very responsive. But this again may need extra precaution while driving at high speeds

Clutch - it’s light but has a long travel, a lot of play and may take some time to get used to it

Brakes - a bit of play which I don’t enjoy but very effective. The stopping is quick and confident

Acceleration - very smooth and gradual, you just get the desired response

Cabin noise - it’s not very silent but still ignorable. The noise inside does increase considerably when the AC is switched ON and especially when the blower is on high speed

Suspensions - seems a bit hard, usually feel it on bumps. Might prove more effective when the vehicle is fully loaded

AC - it’s good but blowers make too much noise. On AUTO mode, didn’t find it that effective if set to temperature above 20 degrees. Of course, it’s summer so that could be one of the reasons

Driving modes:

Eco - just right for driving school candidates
City - just perfect for city driving with right amount of power and pickup
Sports - just what every Harrier owner would love to use all the time

Space & comfort - very spacious and one has to seat inside to feel it. Back seat passengers are sure to enjoy long journeys in Harrier

Infotaintment - yet to explore fully but it looks good though screen touch response is not as desired. Also, no support for Apple car play yet. The 7” screen on instrument cluster is pretty informative and useful, provides tons of information. Haven’t tried navigation yet

Headlights - the focus is adequate to drive under 100 kmph. Anything more and you may need a set of powerful aux lights

Small but interesting features that I liked ..

request sensor on co-driver door
small space to keep mobiles on both the rear (middle-seat) doors
lights beside vanity mirror
logo projection from ORVMs, looks really nice in the dark
small chiller within arm-rest, but wish it was bigger

Cons (if I may say so) ..

position of USB ports - hardly visible so difficult to use
no support for Apple car play yet
a bit of vibrations on steering and gear knob
single 12v point - should have provided one more for rear passengers
radio seems to turn off if screen is switched off - wonder if there’s a workaround
wish it had integrated tyre pressure monitoring system
did not find switch to unlock doors, like the one in Grand i10

Anyway, this is just the beginning and hope to create lots of beautiful memories with my HARRIER.

[condor]

Congrats, @Sumalkar. Wishing you a long happy ownership of the Harrier. And quite lucky there that you did not have to wait much for the delivery.


I happened to visit the nearby showroom on Friday for a quick glance. Coming from a Storme, I found it relatively low-slung. The up-right seating position that we are used to is not there. But it is definitely spacious. Looking at it, I feel the days of large/Tall SUVs are reducing now.
But no plans to change

Btw, can you share the experience with the rear-view mirror - if it obstructs the view. I feel it should not. People out here in the thread are playing it up.

[Mortis]

I saw a white Harrier yesterday in the flesh for the first time. Looks great overall and has a nice presence. I couldn't hear any engine noise from the outside atleast.
However I don't like the rear from a straight, seated view. The narrow rear windshield makes it look like those people who wear trousers pulled up all the way to their stomachs. Also don't like the way the area around the glass tapers, kind of like a wide neck on narrow shoulders

[sswami4]

Congrats @ Sumalkar

Wish you very happy motoring! I was also wondering about the impractical positioning of the USB.
That positioning could have been fine for the 12v outlet. In my opinion just a switch of positions of the two would have done it. I was thinking of getting a USB hub which can fit in the place, but am not sure how it would work as it is connected to the infotainment system and not a standalone charging point.

If you happen to install one or would be trying one, let us know how it goes. Also can you throw some light on the infotainment system about the ports available (AV or other). Aftermarket TPMS is also on my mind along with dashcam. I wonder if those could be connected to the infotainment system.

Cheers Enjoy your ride

[sumalkar]

Thanks.

The ORVMs are very big and certainly create a blind spot. Just need to be extra careful and consciously make an effort to check for objects especially at intersections.

The USB positions (both at front & back) are very bad. One can connect USB hub to the rear port and keep front one for infotainment / mobile app connectivity.

Had been to Goa 2 days back in Harrier covering around 1000 km. Overall the trip mileage was 17+ kmpl, and it crossed 19+ for first 250+ km from Pune to Kolhapur as it was a smooth stretch without much traffic in the night.

Was lucky to get a chance to test few features of Harrier, like rough mode around Amboli, and wet mode as it rained very heavily just before Khed-Shivapur toll gate. Both modes made a difference and could feel the difference.

The rain sensing wipers were just fantastic adjusting it's speed based on rains.

Noise levels were bare minimum on highway, tyre / road noise less than Grand i10 at high speed.

Lucky to not face any issues at all so far, the Harrier is just proving to be a perfect long journey vehicle.

Looking forward to planned 4.5k trip next month to Himachal

[damodar]

Originally Posted by sumalkar

Lucky to not face any issues at all so far, the Harrier is just proving to be a perfect long journey vehicle.

Looking forward to planned 4.5k trip next month to Himachal

That's a great mileage for a 2 litre 1.7 tonne vehicle. Tata seems to have got the tuning spot on with adequate performance and great efficiency.
The drive mode failure which occurred in some of the initial batch of cars was attributed to a loose connection of the brake switch. It's very easy to get it corrected at the TASS if this sort of problem occurs.
Have a great trip!

[AdityaDeane]

Stuck Harrier needs 2 Tiagos to pull it out

News source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Wiejg6xNQ