[Vid6639]

Mod's note: Thread moved to Initial ownerships section. Thanks for sharing Sahakar! Very interesting and amusing story.

[KINI]

Congrats Sahakar on the Aria!Must say,quite a leap indeed!Wishing you miles of happy driving .
If I were looking for a 7-seater the Aria would be my first choice!
Could you list out the features please??

[Prowler]

Wow. That is a Black Beauty. Once you get used to the 2.2 L DIcor diesel engine, you may not need the powerchip for normal driving. You need to keep the engine rpm on the boil (over 2000 rpm) and you will not feel that you are short of power on the highway.

[shankar.balan]

Wow.That is a Polar Shift undoubtedly!
Wish you the best of luck and enjoyment with that Aria.

[rsjaurr]

wow!!!! what a giant leap forward by fellow t-bhpian 2nd only to Neil Armstrong.
Jokes apart,congrates on buying new car.Enjoy the ride.

[sahakar]

Have done a lot of changes to my initial post on MODS prodding. Hope now its a more complete read.

@Prowler, will appreciate any and all tips on how best to make use of the 2.2L DICOR engine. Its quite a different animal than all the petrol engines that I am used to.

Originally Posted by Prowler

Wow. That is a Black Beauty. Once you get used to the 2.2 L DIcor diesel engine, you may not need the powerchip for normal driving. You need to keep the engine rpm on the boil (over 2000 rpm) and you will not feel that you are short of power on the highway.

@Kini. +1 Initially I wouldn't have recommended the Aria. But now after using it for a month and after a 1000kms I think Tata did a real good job here. The pricing really made it fail.

Detailed features are listed here on the TATA Aria website
Tata Aria - Features - Luxury has made its peace with ruggedness
Click on the the Tech Specs and Variants link on the left and go to page 2 for variant wise comparison.

Some small features not listed on this link but available on a different page on the site are
- Lighted vanity mirror
- Puddle lights on all doors
- Door open warning display for each door
- Park brake on written display on the dashboard and also a loud continuous beep if you start moving with the park brake on
- Ample of roof lights even for reading in each row
- Boot light
- Car lighter socket in each row even in the boot for connecting a vacuum cleaner
- Lots of cubby holes all around and the top
- Two glove boxes. The upper one is a chiller in higher models. It has an hole for AC air to come in and can be used as a workaround chiller in the PURE version too. At least the manuals I have kept there become all cold after a drive with the AC on.
- Lumbar support on the front seats. Really helps
- Tilt adjustable steering but no telescopic adjustment
- One touch down power windows
- Superb electrically adjustable OVRMs
- Basic driver info system with outer temperature, distance to empty, instant current fuel consumption, Trip A miles and average consumption, Trip B miles and average consumption, Total miles. Current Time comes on the music system display
- Nice single touch lane change option
- Loads of options for setting up the wiper
- European style head lamp controls. Has two more controls one for intensity of dashboard display light and another for headlight leveling next to the head lamp controls.

Originally Posted by KINI

Congrats Sahakar on the Aria!Must say,quite a leap indeed!Wishing you miles of happy driving .
If I were looking for a 7-seater the Aria would be my first choice!
Could you list out the features please??

Cheers
Sahakar

[DeKay]

Sahakar,
Seems like you had no budget limit because you were even considering the T-fort and the Xuv.

What I wanna know is, why did you go for the base version of the Aria? You could have gone for a fully loaded 4x2.
Apart from that, I hope that the After sales service of Tata doesn't take you for a ride and the car works perfectly till the time you own it.

Also, did you TD the 4x4? Any noticeable differences in terms of ride, performance and handling?

[sahakar]

Originally Posted by DeKay

Sahakar,
Seems like you had no budget limit because you were even considering the T-fort and the Xuv.

What I wanna know is, why did you go for the base version of the Aria? You could have gone for a fully loaded 4x2.
Apart from that, I hope that the After sales service of Tata doesn't take you for a ride and the car works perfectly till the time you own it.

Also, did you TD the 4x4? Any noticeable differences in terms of ride, performance and handling?

The reasons for going for the base version were -
- I didn't want to put any more money that the minimum that I could for a Tata vehicle. So lowest version is where I decided to focus on. I was pretty much breaking my own set rule of never buying a Tata.
- The PURE version didnt have a price rise in September. So difference between PURE and higher versions increased making it more value for money
- Other than badly missing the AIR BAGS, the rest of the specs were more than enough for my daily office run and the occasional weekend getaways.

I am crossing my fingers on after sales. Have given it for first service today. Will know by today evening how it goes.

Nope I didnt get a chance on TDing the 4X4. From the dealership, the 4X2 is more peppy and fuel efficient while the 4X4 with traction control is more stable on the highways.

Cheers

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by sahakar

@Prowler, will appreciate any and all tips on how best to make use of the 2.2L DICOR engine. Its quite a different animal than all the petrol engines that I am used to.


Sahakar

It is apparent that after using petrol powered cars, you find Aria and its diesel Dicor engine a bit slow off the start. The turbo lag may make this a bit slow in the initial 1st gear as you rightly said. But once you cross the initial run-in period, you will find that 3rd gear is enough to move around in the city.

Take it for a spin on the highway and you will find her never in short of breath. It will munch miles quite comfortably both for the people and the machine.

One more thing about some bad publicity of Tata service centers here. In my experience in the last 7 years, I really have had no occasions to complain. I am a painful customer and still I can tell you this.

[sahakar]

UPDATE ON FIRST SERVICE

The first service was kind of a breeze. Didn't expect it to go off so easy.

Reached the service center at around 10.30AM in the morning and parked the car. Got myself checked in at the receptionist and waited in the waiting room. After 10 minutes, the service adviser came in and took me to the car. I told him its the first service and to do the needful.

He asked whether there were any issues and I replied in the negative.

I was in two minds of getting the oil change done but decided against it as I wanted to put in Mobile Delvac MX and TATAs don't offer that.

The service adviser told me it would be done by 5PM and he would call before its done.

Around 3.30PM I got a call and I reached the service center around 4PM. The car was having a wash when I reached.

I got the gate pass done. As it was a free service, the invoice value was zero which I liked. I came out once the formalities were done. The Aria was getting dried out and inners being vacuumed.

I was out of the service center by 4.30PM. All in all pretty smooth affair with no hiccups.

I was worried about the service center folks spoiling my interiors with their hand prints and thankfully there were none.

Some points on the service center
- It also services the LR and Jag cars. Just they have a separate entrance but I guess they share the facilities
- Separate personnel for Safaris and Arias.
- Too many taxis and taxiwallahs. No wonder the downmarket feel that Tata has.

On a separate note, have got a 1000kms on the odo.

Generally pickup seems to be improving and the engine seems to be losing its coarseness on acceleration, etc. Using my brakes much more thanks to more aggressive driving.

Cheers

[Enigmatic]

Congratulations SAHAKAR ..
I have always loved the Aria and after the price correction its the best buy ever !!
The XUV is a great car no doubt , however to me the Aria looks way better . It carries those Timeless design Curved from the Safari .

Great decision to buy the Pure , infact i have been trying to convince my Dad to go for the same .
The only thing he is reluctant about is the size of the vehicle . But with reverse sensors in place and coupled with the high seating position you mentioned, i think it should not be that big a constraint .

Once again Congratulations on the BLACK ARIA ( Sounds kinda Ninja :P)

[sahakar]

Originally Posted by Enigmatic

Congratulations SAHAKAR ..
I have always loved the Aria and after the price correction its the best buy ever !!
The XUV is a great car no doubt , however to me the Aria looks way better . It carries those Timeless design Curved from the Safari .

Great decision to buy the Pure , infact i have been trying to convince my Dad to go for the same .
The only thing he is reluctant about is the size of the vehicle . But with reverse sensors in place and coupled with the high seating position you mentioned, i think it should not be that big a constraint .

Once again Congratulations on the BLACK ARIA ( Sounds kinda Ninja :P)

Somehow after seeing lots of XUVs now on the roads, I have lost all the initial excitement I had about it. Also, the XUVs looks seem funny now. Actually they were funny from the start, its just the price which blinded us all.

Size really is not an issue on the road. Once you get used to it, its just like any other car. Of course you have to be a bit more careful and cannot drive it around like a small hatchback. Basically any road that you see a TATA ACE being driven, you can easily drive the ARIA there.

Parking maybe the only issue with the Aria. If you do not have any parking related constraints they you really wont complain.

Actually the visibility of the Aria is so good that you don't even need reverse sensors. I have been driving it around the last month without reverse sensors as I still have to go and install them. Reversing is really a breeze with the large OVRMs. I am only not sure of the front sides while taking tight rights or lefts and take extra precautions there.

Cheers

[TSEA]

Congrats on the Purchase Sahakar. Enjoyed reading your thread.

I am sure this vehicle will serve you well. I have owned two tata vehicles and based on your review, my third might also be a Tata vehicle.

[sahakar]

Ok so I was waiting for this to happen. With the kind of driving most of these two wheeler drivers do, knew it would happen just didn't know when. A motorcycle finally banged into the behind of the Aria.

But wonders of wonders, the Aria came out unscathed. Not even a scratch on the back bumper. Good quality fibre bumper from the TATAs.

So now that this incident is over, I am due for some good Karma and hoping no more motor cycles trying to kiss my Aria.

Originally Posted by TSEA

Congrats on the Purchase Sahakar. Enjoyed reading your thread.

I am sure this vehicle will serve you well. I have owned two tata vehicles and based on your review, my third might also be a Tata vehicle.

This is my first TATA vehicle and am keeping my fingers crossed.

I like what I am experiencing with the Aria although there are quite a few horror stories in the forum and hoping that I do not add to them.

Cheers

[Valkyrie]

Amazing story man. Congrats on the car.
Lets hope the Aria serves you well.
Looking at your pictures, I would like to appeal to Tata motors to make the rear tail lamps in clear lens at least, or maybe LEDs.

That apart, Aria is really a competent vehicle in its own right.
Let us know more about the fuel efficiency and service costs. Do keep us updated.

I don't have a clue, maybe the gadget gurus will be able to tell, is there any aftermarket touch screen that can be fitted instead of the small dot-matrix (?) screen factory-fitted in the center stack of the IP? Like a Pioneer screen or something. It will look so OEM and cool.