[FlyingSpur]

Originally Posted by roadracer

I meant the quality of the exterior build i.e the steel. For e.g., if you compare Vista with i20 or Punto or even a Swift, you will know that the others have a very good exterior build compared with Vista. Similarly I would like to know as to how the exterior build matches up with Innova.

I didn't think it was too tinny of fragile. Not much else i can say about this, since I didn't really observe this aspect. I just hopped in and started knocking about the plastics, given my curiosity about the interior quality.

Originally Posted by shantyrocks

excellent review buddy!
You have covered all the areas exceptionally well.
I feel TATA have a winner on their hands with this one

Thanks bro.

Originally Posted by ACM

flying spur, excellent review and equally nice replies to the queries from all.

Thank you Find answers to your queries below :

1) The driving position is commanding enough. The vehicle itself is quite huge visually, and creates quite an impact with the size and dimensions. It is sure to intimidate rickshaws.

2) The Aria's brake pedal had too much play in it, something that can be corrected easily at this stage. As far as the braking itself is concerned, it was quite confidence-inspiring when I did the 120-40 on the Sealink. Held its line well. The only unsettling thing is the slight pitch forward on hard braking, due to the suspension setup. I'd say the Innova is slightly better. The Captiva / Paj have better brakes definitely, while the Fortuner I drove in March had rubbish brakes.

3) I think it did. I think.

4) Oh yes, there was an MID. Fuel, temperature, odo, and I remember the surveyor mentioning distance-to-empty as well, while my cousin was driving it.

5) Nope. Wasn't told of any. I guess North India would have utility for those.

7) By default I adjust only the rake. So unfortunately I did not notice whether it was adjustable for reach as well. The concept is relatively new to me, AFAIK even my Corolla doesn't have it. Only the CE does, I don't know about the i20.

8) The horn button was fine to the rpess, but the horn itself could have been a bit loud. It sounds like a hatchback. And this muted sound was not because of the damping, certainly not. BTW the steering buttons do not come in the way of the horn at all.

9) It had cruise control. Did not use it.

10) I am 6'1" and a slightly heavy chap too. Didn't have a problem finding my position at all.

Now that you mention it, this is a little interesting. Are your front seats height adjustable? I simply could not manage to find a position in the Safari LX without the steering wheel fouling with my thighs. With the seat fully behind and the steering rake at the highest position, still couldn't manage. Cousin faced the same problem, and the car was rejected in 3 minutes.

11) I don't remember about the TMPS, sorry. I think I remember the surveyor mentioning it.

12) 6 CD changer.

13) Damn, forgot to mention this in my review. Yes, it had both USB and aux-in, and that too conveniently placed on the dash, quite low so that there arent wires running around.

14) The vehicle is quite high. A sidestep would do. I didn't need one though.

15) Well put. It's fine for an MUV.

16) I would say a 15.xx is possible. I'm not the best judge of this. It felt a little slow, but I'm corrupted by power these days. I'm quite a sober driver otherwise, but the only diesel we own is a missile, so...

Any, in case of low-end torque, in-gear acceleration and overtaking in typical highway situations, I have already covered this in one of my posts. You could look that up.

Hope your doubts are answered.

[theMAG]

Excellent first-hand review. You've covered every almost query that originally came to my mind originally.

Just one query: how was the gearing? City/highway oriented; if highway - about right/too tall ?

[ACM]

Thanks flying Spur, answers most of my doubts.

The Safari i have is the TCIC from 2001 and at that time there were no height adjustment options. I am able to get a decently comfortable position with the stearing at the max height without putting the seat too far away as then one needs to bend a bit to reach for the gear knob.

[SDP]

Fantastic detailed review! Good job FlyingSpur

As far as pricing is concerned, I do believe SidIndica's range 11.xx-13.xx makes sense. Tata's comparing Aria with Fotuner and Endy would most likely be part of they preparing a case for the VFM nature of the vehicle (same/better features for less money).
At the same time, that kind of pricing would make top-end Safari look really expensive especially for the quality it offers.

[FlyingSpur]

Originally Posted by theMAG

Just one query: how was the gearing? City/highway oriented; if highway - about right/too tall ?

Found it quite alright. 5th is tall, but still good enough for overtaking. I would expect decent FE figures on this one, despite the heft.

Originally Posted by SDP

Fantastic detailed review! Good job FlyingSpur

Thanks SDP

[kiku007]

FS - Excellent review

You have given out of information in the form of answers to BHPians questions. I feel that this can be consolidated and added to the main post. The review becomes all the more complete in it's first page.

[tifosikrishna]

FS, Comprehensive review for a happenstance TD. Voted 5*.

regards
tifosi.

[MudMover]

Nice review. But frankly, I'm not impressed ... this vehicle comes from the same group that owns JLR, and this is all that they can come up with?!! I mean, with easy access to the same technology and know-how that goes into the Range Rover and the Jaguar THIS IS ALL THAT THEY CAN COME UP WITH?!! Seriously, I was expecting this thing to be kitted out with beautifully flowing lines, totally different stonker of an engine, super-dooper suspension and bells & whistles never yet seen in any other Indian SUV/MUV. But this, this is just a Safari stuffed into an Indica skin!

This just doesn't cut it Ratan ol' chap, you better make your designers and engineers hang out more with the 'old chaps' back in 'Sunny old England'. OT: Blimey, this is why we Indians lag behind the Chinese. If the chinese had bought JLR, there would have been Range Rover copies competing with the Nanos by now! Anyway, this is just my take the ultimate judge is the market.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by MudMover

Nice review. But frankly, I'm not impressed ... this vehicle comes from the same group that owns JLR, and this is all that they can come up with?!! I mean, with easy access to the same technology and know-how that goes into the Range Rover and the Jaguar THIS IS ALL THAT THEY CAN COME UP WITH?!! Seriously, I was expecting this thing to be kitted out with beautifully flowing lines, totally different stonker of an engine, super-dooper suspension and bells & whistles never yet seen in any other Indian SUV/MUV. But this, this is just a Safari stuffed into an Indica skin!

This just doesn't cut it Ratan ol' chap, you better make your designers and engineers hang out more with the 'old chaps' back in 'Sunny old England'. OT: Blimey, this is why we Indians lag behind the Chinese. If the chinese had bought JLR, there would have been Range Rover copies competing with the Nanos by now! Anyway, this is just my take the ultimate judge is the market.

Would you pay 25 lacs for it then?

Seriously, your being a bit too skeptical. Just because they own JLR dosent mean they can use all the technology JLR has. Tata motors IS progressing even though it seems to have taken a while.

And its still supposed to be a huge improvement over the safari.

"just a safari stuffed into an indica skin" What rubbish .
Sorry if i seem harsh.

[aaggoswami]

1) The car is not a very good looking vehicle but cannot be called unattractive. The front grille is overdone and headlights are IMO even smaller than smaller cars like Manza and Vista. This gives it a bit odd look, but looks are subjective.

2) I expected an extra 10 horses because of the size of the vehicle that is going to be used on highways with lots of load. Safari, lets say when somebody is going off roading will have less chance of carrying 7 passengers or if Safari is driven to distant construction/developement sites then also mostly the car will not be fully loaded, but for a car that is more into people carrier some additional power would be welcome.

Also the higher power would comfortably create quite a bit of gap between Xylo and Aria. As we know, Xylo is one of the fastest people carrier in MUV segment as of now.

3) Wipers system's logic is still not clear to me. Why these wipers and what are real advantages ? IMO these wiper systems would be good for a squarish small screen where in one sweep would clear most of the screen. Its applicable for auto-rickshaw, but not here.

4) Pricing this car above Rs. 10-11 lakh is not going to ensure success. Lets say that Aria is priced at around Rs. 16-17 lakh. Then there would be some competition from Endy also. At those prices, SUV's are present in the market and we know how Indians love SUV.

[nowwhat?]

Originally Posted by MudMover

Nice review. But frankly, I'm not impressed ... this vehicle comes from the same group that owns JLR, and this is all that they can come up with?!! I mean, with easy access to the same technology and know-how that goes into the Range Rover and the Jaguar THIS IS ALL THAT THEY CAN COME UP WITH?!! Seriously, I was expecting this thing to be kitted out with beautifully flowing lines, totally different stonker of an engine, super-dooper suspension and bells & whistles never yet seen in any other Indian SUV/MUV. But this, this is just a Safari stuffed into an Indica skin!

This just doesn't cut it Ratan ol' chap, you better make your designers and engineers hang out more with the 'old chaps' back in 'Sunny old England'. OT: Blimey, this is why we Indians lag behind the Chinese. If the chinese had bought JLR, there would have been Range Rover copies competing with the Nanos by now! Anyway, this is just my take the ultimate judge is the market.

+1 to that.

Frankly, not impressive Mr. Tata... When can I see a world-class Indian car brand I can be proud of?

Unless I was running a taxi service in Leh, there is no way I would prefer the Aria over the Innova even if it is 4X4.

[JLS]

Originally Posted by MudMover

Nice review. But frankly, I'm not impressed ... this vehicle comes from the same group that owns JLR, and this is all that they can come up with?!! I mean, with easy access to the same technology and know-how that goes into the Range Rover and the Jaguar THIS IS ALL THAT THEY CAN COME UP WITH?!! Seriously, I was expecting this thing to be kitted out with beautifully flowing lines, totally different stonker of an engine, super-dooper suspension and bells & whistles never yet seen in any other Indian SUV/MUV. But this, this is just a Safari stuffed into an Indica skin!

This just doesn't cut it Ratan ol' chap, you better make your designers and engineers hang out more with the 'old chaps' back in 'Sunny old England'. OT: Blimey, this is why we Indians lag behind the Chinese. If the chinese had bought JLR, there would have been Range Rover copies competing with the Nanos by now! Anyway, this is just my take the ultimate judge is the market.

I do not think TATAs bought Land Rover for creating copies and selling them cheap. Tata would want to grow LR as a brand, run a profitable business and earn for the stakeholders.
Also Chinese practice of forcing foreign manufacturers to choosing local partners and local partner coming to market shortly with cheap copies is not a popular one with leading brands.

Regards,
JLS

[Amartya]

Originally Posted by MudMover

Nice review. But frankly, I'm not impressed ... this vehicle comes from the same group that owns JLR, and this is all that they can come up with?!! I mean, with easy access to the same technology and know-how that goes into the Range Rover and the Jaguar THIS IS ALL THAT THEY CAN COME UP WITH?!! Seriously, I was expecting this thing to be kitted out with beautifully flowing lines, totally different stonker of an engine, super-dooper suspension and bells & whistles never yet seen in any other Indian SUV/MUV. But this, this is just a Safari stuffed into an Indica skin!

This just doesn't cut it Ratan ol' chap, you better make your designers and engineers hang out more with the 'old chaps' back in 'Sunny old England'. OT: Blimey, this is why we Indians lag behind the Chinese. If the chinese had bought JLR, there would have been Range Rover copies competing with the Nanos by now! Anyway, this is just my take the ultimate judge is the market.

"Safari stuffed into an Indica skin" - isn't it easy to pass judgment while being completely ignorant? Almost like saying that any off-roader is basically a dung beetle.

Oh, now I see, you wanted "totally different stonker of an engine, super-dooper suspension". How could Tata miss these radical new technologies, I guess that while engineering the car, they were too busy to look at super-dooper suspensions systems made by a teambhpian (not to mention the totally different stonker of an engine).

Enough of sarcasm, something tells me that it'll fall on deaf ears. I'd suggest reading the whole test-drive report, since it is quite clear to me that you've not done so. This car, from a manufacturer barely 13 years into the business(of making true 'cars') makes something that gets such positive reviews from a trusted teambhpian, who then compares it to a Toyota and actually rates this higher in key areas? Doesn't that make you think a little before speaking?

[mercedised]

Ahh! Great.. came as a surprise tome when I first read the title. A nice review. I have not gone through the whole thread, so I would like to ask (pardon if this question is already being answered), Did it felt powerful motor than current Safari? By any chance, if you felt the motor being different than normal SUV's. Being a AWD, what difference did you felt driving it?

Thanks again for serving us with the yummie ARIA cake.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Would you pay 25 lacs for it then?

Seriously, your being a bit too skeptical. Just because they own JLR dosent mean they can use all the technology JLR has. Tata motors IS progressing even though it seems to have taken a while.

And its still supposed to be a huge improvement over the safari.

"just a safari stuffed into an indica skin" What rubbish .
Sorry if i seem harsh.

Sorry, missed your post earlier. I agree with you. Tata is at fault at many places and there is one thread " Protest Against Tata Motors ", but lets forget that for a moment.

Tata took over LR in around June 2008. By that time Aria would have crossed the basic design and development stages. So, the car was already in development when the take over was done.

Next, LR itself is not as big as lets say Toyota so definitely they have their own products to look after with not that big engineering teams. LC200 had a huge number of engineers working for them for around 5 years. Yes LC20 had development time for 5 years and its rumored that 1200 engineers were working in the project. I dont think the human resource with LR is that large. Also its not that easy to take up some data and/or engineers and ask them to work/implement on Aria.

The next SUV or car coming out from Tata must be better than Aria as they now have acquired LR for a time period sufficient to share developments, but IMO we can spare Aria.

Last, may in the subsequent versions of the car there will be further improvements. I am disappointed because I thought that Aria will take fight to Innova with a bang and thought that performance difference must be sufficient from Xylo to justify the 3-4 lakh rs. premium over Xylo ( that I thought Aria would have ).