[RAHS]

I drive a Duster ( Diesel/Manual ) & due for an upgrade in second half of 2020.

AT is a MUST for me since Bangalore traffic is getting worst day by day. My office commute is around 50 KM per day ( 2 way ). Driving a manual is becoming a challenge.

Top 3 Contenders ( With a budget of around 20 Lakhs OTR )

1. TATA Harrier AT ( Hope AT will be there by then! )

2. TATA H7X AT ( Waiting for the launch this year )

3. Next Gen XUV 500 AT ( Which is already in works )

I am not considering any of the upcoming launches: MG Hector, Kia SP, Citroen C5 etc.

I was also thinking of pre-owned Fortuner AT. But the size of the vehicle ( Not for driving but for parking ) and low FE figures keeps me worrying

Cheers,
RAHS

[madhukriss]

Originally Posted by soji

I have a slight problem with the moulded mats I have opted for and quite not sure if this is the right thread to ask this question. The moulded mats does not cover the whole section but only a portion which is about 1/2 of the actual surface area.

The problem is, the bottom surface of the moulded mats is some sort of PVC which makes it slip away right while stepping into the vehicle.

I'm thinking of having the bottom section hot glued in a zig zag pattern and is hoping that would resolve this. I'm wondering if anyone has tried a better solution?

Hi, I am a brand new member and just got my posting rights a few minutes ago. Have been meaning to respond to your query since the time i saw it a week ago.

I got delivery of my Harrier about 3 weeks ago and got the moulded mats as a part of my accessories purchase. The dealership (Malik Motors in Hyderaba d) had done a "jugaad" by using double sided tape to hold the mats in place at the time of delivery. However, after taking them out once while cleaning I have never been able to glue this mat back into place. Sometimes the driver side mat slips far enough to obstruct the full play of the clutch pedal.

Am trying another "jugaad" by using a velcro tape and shall update if this trial works fine.

Originally Posted by soji

3. The boot door takes some effort to close. Not sure if it's specific to my car and I have raised this concern with TML.

I had the same issue with my Harrier as well. At the time of delivery the sales guys passed it off pretty convincingly saying that it was due to the rubber beadings being new and hard and hence the effort.

However, after a couple of days of shutting the boot door with bone jarring thuds, I raised a complaint on the TMSC App. I got an immediate (like within 10 minutes) call from the service centre of the local dealership asking me to get my vehicle in for a check. Whatever they managed to do, the boot door now gets closed softly without any effort. Guess it is another small "niggle" from Tata Motors and not sure if this is only restricted to selected vehicles or is a problem for all Harrier owners.

[pseudo_coder]

Originally Posted by RAHS

Top 3 Contenders ( With a budget of around 20 Lakhs OTR )

1. TATA Harrier AT ( Hope AT will be there by then! )

2. TATA H7X AT ( Waiting for the launch this year )

3. Next Gen XUV 500 AT ( Which is already in works )

Isn't Hexa the same size as Fortuner? FE is also similar I think, close to 10 in the city.

[soji]

Thanks Bud! Good to know the boot door issue could be fix during the first service.

Regarding the mat, I bought a pair of adhesive velcro from itsy bitsy and stuck it under the mat. Each strip could be cut into around 4 pieces. It now stays put

Link to the product: https://itsybitsy.in/products/velcro...mmx30cm-2-sets

Originally Posted by madhukriss

Hi, I am a brand new member and just got my posting rights a few minutes ago. Have been meaning to respond to your query since the time i saw it a week ago.
Am trying another "jugaad" by using a velcro tape and shall update if this trial works fine.



I had the same issue with my Harrier as well. At the time of delivery the sales guys passed it off pretty convincingly saying that it was due to the rubber beadings being new and hard and hence the effort.

However, after a couple of days of shutting the boot door with bone jarring thuds, I raised a complaint on the TMSC App. I got an immediate (like within 10 minutes) call from the service centre of the local dealership asking me to get my vehicle in for a check. Whatever they managed to do, the boot door now gets closed softly without any effort. Guess it is another small "niggle" from Tata Motors and not sure if this is only restricted to selected vehicles or is a problem for all Harrier owners.

[RAHS]

Originally Posted by pseudo_coder

Isn't Hexa the same size as Fortuner? FE is also similar I think, close to 10 in the city.

I meant H7X, not HEXA. I am not a fan of HEXA because of it's MUV'sh looks.
I don't think H7X will be of the size of a Fortuner. It should be one level below.

[giri1.8]

Originally Posted by RAHS

I meant H7X, not HEXA. I am not a fan of HEXA because of it's MUV'sh looks.
I don't think H7X will be of the size of a Fortuner. It should be one level below.

Fortuner might look imposing, but current gen is actually narrower than Harrier/H7X by a very small margin, difference in length is there though.

[Shreyas Agarwal]

Originally Posted by RAHS

I am not considering any of the upcoming launches: MG Hector, Kia SP, Citroen C5 etc.

I can understand the reason for not considering

MG Hector: New brand, unknown reliability and Chinese DNA.

Citroen C5: It is gonna be way out of your budget.

But why don't you consider the SP. Its gonna be launched in 2019. And is gonna be reliable (considering the parent brand). Finally, it is going to be more premium than the Creta, so would be a proper upgrade to the duster.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by RAHS

I don't think H7X will be of the size of a Fortuner. It should be one level below.

H7X is shorter than the Fortuner by 134mm, but is wider by 39mm! Wheelbase is also near identical with only a small 4mm difference between the two.

[chiranjitp]

Yesterday took a test drive of the Tata Harrier, the TD unfortunately wasn't very long (some 15 minutes long TD). Last month I test drove the Jeep Compass (chief competitor of the Harrier). From the compact SUV range, I have exclusively driven the Ford Ecosport (we have a 2016 Titanium + D in our garage) & the Hyundai Creta petrol (my friend owns one).

The Drive:

Off the mark it feels exactly like a Jeep Compass, the clutch, gearbox feel are very similar. The clutch is very light, though it has a slightly longer travel. The gearbox has well defined gates, but once you are on the move & going through the gears, you realize that the shifting action has a notchy / rubbery feel to it. The Jeep compass easily had a smoother shifting action, the other thing I noticed was that the gear-knob had some vibrations. Just after the Harrier TD, I drove my 2006 Swift, the gear shifting was way better in the Swift.

A strange thing I noticed in the Harrier (& in the Compass) is that after releasing the clutch in first gear, the car lunges forward. I am someone who likes to give some accelerator input before releasing the clutch, so there isn't any change that the anti-stall mechanism was making the car lunge forward. This behavior will make these 2 car a bit tiring to drive in city traffic.

Anyways on the move, Harrier has good enough low end grunt, slightly better than Compass (maybe because of gearing). The Mid range is quite strong, though there is no strong turbo kick, power comes in a linear way. The top end (by top end I mean above 3500 RPM) is actually a bit disappointing, mainly because the engine gets really boomy at high RPM. Not only is the engine loud at high RPMs, it's also a bit too noisy under acceleration. The Ford Ecosport's diesel engine is easily quieter than the Harrier's engine, even the same engine in the Compass sounds smoother.

Overall performance is more than adequate, most guys would be satisfied with the performance on tap. The Compass is a bit quicker, especially when you floor it. I did toggle between the different driving modes, with sports modes engaged the acceleration is noticeably better. The city mode in isolation isn't very bad, it is more than sufficient for city driving.

I didn't get a proper chance to take the Harrier over bad roads, still it felt like that the ride will be good, the suspension seemed to be on the softer side. Under hard acceleration the nose lifts up a bit & on braking there is nose dive, a hint that the suspension is on the softer side. I took the Harrier up a small hill (went to the entrance of Kamakhya Temple), it was a relatively slow climb (narrow road & traffic). The hydraulic steering seemed good to me at low/medium speed, return back action was nice. The slow speed climb revealed one weak point of most modern SUVs, despite having a big engine the Harrier needed constant downshifting to first gear. The problem here is the tall gearing, my ex Zen with a tiny 1 litre engine would be better in such a scenario, just because of its short gearing.

The Interior:

Classy would be the word that I would use to describe the Harrier's interior. First up is the dull faux wood treatment on the dashboard, which runs across the length of the whole dashboard & gives a nice contrast. The floating 8.8 inch touchscreen is brilliant to look & use, the digital instrument panel is one classy touch. The other thing I liked in the Harrier is that there aren't too many buttons on the central console like most modern cars.

The front seats are quite big with sufficient bolstering, even thigh support is good. The adjustable lumbar support is one brilliant feature, wonder why manufactures skip this simple but useful feature. The space at rear is brilliant, be it seat width or leg room. The Compass in comparison feels cramped. One slight problem I have with the rear seat is the headroom at the back, for a SUV I would have preferred a tad more headroom.

The exterior:

This is the trump card of the Harrier, the design is futuristic & classy at the same time. The uniquely placed LED DRLs are sure to turn heads. The design is full of curves & creases, though nowhere does it feel overdone. The ORVMs are Elephant sized, the coverage is simply brilliant. If I have to nitpick, I would say the alloy wheel design could have been better. The rear camera also stick out as a sore thumb, it is placed below the Tata logo & looks like an aftermarket unit. Taking about the rear camera, the display output is horrible. More than anything, the video resolution & clarity are really bad.

Features:

The Harrier is one fully loaded car, especially the top variant. 6 airbags, ABS, ESP, TC & a host of other safety features. The JBL powered 9 speaker ICE sounds awesome, easily better than the one on the Compass. It also has a host of other unique features like puddle lamp with logo projection, auto headlight, rain sensing wipers, cruise control. One thing is missing even in the top variant, an auto dimming IRVM. Our Ecosport Titanium + is equipped with one & I find it very useful.

P.S- One really silly thing is missing in the XT variant, the XT variant doesn't get a vanity mirror . Even something like my ancient 2001 Zen Vxi had a vanity mirror. This missing feature isn't mentioned in the brochure as well. Luckily the demo car inside the showroom was a XT variant, hence I noticed the missing vanity mirror.

Here are a few photos:











Size comparison with the Swift:

[RAHS]

Originally Posted by Shreyas Agarwal

I can understand the reason for not considering

MG Hector: New brand, unknown reliability and Chinese DNA.

Citroen C5: It is gonna be way out of your budget.

But why don't you consider the SP. Its gonna be launched in 2019. And is gonna be reliable (considering the parent brand). Finally, it is going to be more premium than the Creta, so would be a proper upgrade to the duster.

Agree. Size and stance doesn't seems be promising from the test mules.
But yes, let's wait for the launch

[itsashishsharma]

Originally Posted by chiranjitp

A strange thing I noticed in the Harrier (& in the Compass) is that after releasing the clutch in first gear, the car lunges forward. I am someone who likes to give some accelerator input before releasing the clutch, so there isn't any change that the anti-stall mechanism was making the car lunge forward. This behavior will make these 2 car a bit tiring to drive in city traffic.

Seems to me that you are habitual to driving a petrol. All diesels have this nature of lunging forward when you release the clutch with no accelerator input. My diesel car climbs inclines in 2nd gear with no accelerator input at all. This is because of the higher low end torque of diesels.

[Rahul Rao]

Originally Posted by chiranjitp

A strange thing I noticed in the Harrier (& in the Compass) is that after releasing the clutch in first gear, the car lunges forward. I am someone who likes to give some accelerator input before releasing the clutch, so there isn't any change that the anti-stall mechanism was making the car lunge forward. This behavior will make these 2 car a bit tiring to drive in city traffic.

This is a long stroke diesel engine, and it has adequate torque at idle to start on a mild gradient. If you give accelerator input the ecu is going to be ready for adverse condition or sudden heavy load and make the car lurch.
I never touch accelerator in first, sometimes shift to second without touching the accelerator.


Rahul

[the_joker]

Originally Posted by chiranjitp

A strange thing I noticed in the Harrier (& in the Compass) is that after releasing the clutch in first gear, the car lunges forward. I am someone who likes to give some accelerator input before releasing the clutch, so there isn't any change that the anti-stall mechanism was making the car lunge forward. This behavior will make these 2 car a bit tiring to drive in city traffic.

I think this is a characteristic of diesel engines. You can drive the car without accelerator input. It should make the car easier to drive in city traffic. You can drive the car with only one leg, only the clutch input. You won't have to slip the clutch too. Your right leg can relax for a short while. My Figo could easily climb small inclines without pressing the accelerator pedal and without slipping the clutch.

[pavi]

Originally Posted by chiranjitp

From the compact SUV range, I have exclusively driven the Ford Ecosport (we have a 2016 Titanium + D in our garage) & the Hyundai Creta petrol (my friend owns one).

Originally Posted by itsashishsharma

Seems to me that you are habitual to driving a petrol. All diesels have this nature of lunging forward when you release the clutch with no accelerator input. My diesel car climbs inclines in 2nd gear with no accelerator input at all. This is because of the higher low end torque of diesels.

He has mentioned he extensively drives a Ford Ecosport diesel. So I am getting confused by the comment. If it is the nature of diesels why is it a surprise to him who drives a Diesel engine almost same as yours. Is it actually the anti stalling feature at work, I have experienced the same in Nissan Sunny Diesel which my cousin owns.

[chiranjitp]

Originally Posted by itsashishsharma

Seems to me that you are habitual to driving a petrol. All diesels have this nature of lunging forward when you release the clutch with no accelerator input.

Originally Posted by the_joker

I think this is a characteristic of diesel engines. You can drive the car without accelerator input. My Figo could easily climb small inclines without pressing the accelerator pedal and without slipping the clutch.

Originally Posted by pavi

He has mentioned he extensively drives a Ford Ecosport diesel. So I am getting confused by the comment.

Like I wrote in my post, I am used to driving diesels. I learnt driving in a 2012 Punto 1.3 MJD, then came the Ecosport TDCi in 2016. I do know about the anti-stall mechanism (have written about it in my post), every diesel car can be easily moved without any accelerator input. Basically what happens is that when we release the clutch without any accelerator input, the revs drop to below idling RPM (only slightly), since there is load on the engine to pull the car forward. To compensate for this load & to stop the engine from stalling, the ECU intervenes & the car lunges forward. This according to my knowledge is the anti-stall mechanism at work. Since the diesel engines generally have more torque, the RPM drop is negligible.

Once you give some accelerator input (rising the RPM to 1200-1300) & then release the clutch, the anti stall mechanism doesn't come into play. I have a habit of rising the revs to 1200-1300 & then releasing the clutch, even in diesels. I developed this habit since I have to frequently drive a 99 Omni, that car needs a good amount of accelerator input before releasing the clutch.

So, I don't think it was the anti-stall mechanism at work in the Harrier / Compass, at least not the anti-stall mechanism I have experienced in other diesels. The lunging forward that I experienced on these cars isn't such a big problem, one should get used to it over a period of time. Still I found it a bit irritating the first time I drove these 2 cars, hence wrote about it .

Originally Posted by Rahul Rao

This is a long stroke diesel engine, and it has adequate torque at idle to start on a mild gradient. If you give accelerator input the ecu is going to be ready for adverse condition or sudden heavy load and make the car lurch.

I was not aware of the anything like this, i.e the ECU getting ready for sudden heavy load. If such a thing exists in big diesels, then this lunging forward might be due to this mechanism. I don't have much experience in driving big diesel engines, the other big diesel engine that I have driven is the 2.2 L engine in the XUV500 (belongs to a friend of mine). But that drive was around 2 years back & I can't recall how it was in the XUV500. I must soon ping my friend for a drive in his XUV500 & check out the clutch behavior .