[rajesh1868]

My headlight (low beam) needs to be replaced. I am planning to order one and get it installed from the local garage.
Can someone help me with the specs that I should order? Have done this earlier from the service center but I am now in a small town with small garages. They may not have the right stock always.

[Meph1st0]

Originally Posted by rajesh1868

Can someone help me with the specs that I should order? Have done this earlier from the service center but I am now in a small town with small garages. They may not have the right stock always.

You can get the owner's manual for all Tata cars here.
Low beam bulb is of the type H7 (12V, 55W)

[srvm]

Owner of Zest Petrol (XMS variant here). Bought it in Feb-2016 as our first car. I used to clock 10,000km on average every year until Coronavirus struck.
Went past 50,000kms on the ODO yesterday during my trip from Bangalore to Vellore. Overall good ownership experience until now. Only some minor niggles.

I hope to write a long-term ownership review soon which will contain details of positives as well as niggles.


Photo taken last week near Gudibanda lake near Chikkaballapur.

[AlQuazi]

Hi Folks -

I'm looking to purchase a used Zest in Pune.

Usage will be primarily in Pune City and trips to the hometown (~1300 km round trip - coastal KA) every 2-3 months.

My budget is ~4L. The Zest (revotron) fits the budget well. The diesel variants command a higher resale.

Existing Zest revotron owners - how has your service and maintenance experience been with the Zest? What signs should I be looking at when buying a used vehicle? Any recurring niggles in the overall ownership? Any part failures which could end up in costly repairs for out of warranty cars?

Lastly, is the additional premium for the diesel worth it?

Also, I'm looking for Manual cars. No AMT business for me

Thanks.

[sam264_2000]

Originally Posted by AlQuazi

Hi Folks -

I'm looking to purchase a used Zest in Pune.

Usage will be primarily in Pune City and trips to the hometown (~1300 km round trip - coastal KA) every 2-3 months.

My budget is ~4L. The Zest (revotron) fits the budget well. The diesel variants command a higher resale.

Existing Zest revotron owners - how has your service and maintenance experience been with the Zest? What signs should I be looking at when buying a used vehicle? Any recurring niggles in the overall ownership? Any part failures which could end up in costly repairs for out of warranty cars?

Lastly, is the additional premium for the diesel worth it?

Thanks.

I had a 2014 Tata Zest 1.2 Revotron XT which I sold in Feb 2021 after a trouble free and happy ownership of 62k kms. My take on the car and comments on your queries:

1. Zest is a solidly built car - it has a nice heft to it. Paint quality, space and ground clearance is fantastic. Harmon Kardon on top variant has good sound quality. Suspension is on the stiffer side. So ride quality is a bit bumpy in city but the car handles well on highways.
2. My service and maintenance experience in Pune (Concord) has been positive. I prefer to service the car at dealer's workshop rather than FNG. Coincidently, I had the same Service Advisor for 3 to 4 yearly services who took good care of the car.
3. Niggles faced - check engine light came up twice in the 2nd year of ownership. Culprit was one of the sensors behaving erratically whenever fuel was low. Fixed the sensor under warranty. Problem disappeared.
4. When you insert the key and turn on the ignition - let the dials complete the 180 degree swap.
5. Do not turn on phone bluetooth when you crank the car and slot in reverse. It messes up with reverse sensors - don't know why.
6. 4 lakhs is appropriate if buying from organized used car retailer chains.
7. Diesel engine is far more powerful than 1.2L RT petrol. It will be my choice of engine for Zest. 1.3 Multijet is a stonker and returns a healthy mileage. Petrol feels underpowered and will return 11 to 13 kmpl in city conditions.

IMO, Zest is a very underrated car. It deserved good marketing and incremental updates from Tata.

[simplyself]

My Zest XM 90 D had finally made me think about its maintenance. Till date, with about 1,19,000 km on odo, I never went for an unscheduled maintenance. But things seem changing - first, left rear power window failed, then the right rear one followed suit. What made me wonder was, why would the rear power windows fail? They were seldom used.

Then, a week ago, the blower switch came apart. It would run only if it is pressed tight. I went to an AC mechanic who told me that the assembly of three switches need to be changed. I couldnt find one, so I called Tata Service in Uppal. They too didnt have it but said they would procure in a couple of days or so, if I confirmed. I had to return to my home town and also, the car would go for scheduled 1,20,000 km service in a thousand or so kilometres. I thought I would get these repairs done at the time of service when, apart from oil and filters change, timing chain kit also needs to be changed. So I quick-fixed the knob.

Another point of concern is the key fob. To start with, the car was provided with two keys but only one remote. Now the remote look like its been nibbled by rats. Doors open, but the door locking button is now not working. I guess I have to change that too.

After seven years of very less maintenance, now it seems I have to shell out some money. I was one of the earliest buyers of Zest - bought it in October, 2014 - I got with the purchase an offer where the company would bear the costs till 45,000 kilometres or three years which meant I paid for service only from when the car went in at 60K service.

A slight itch started to go for another vehicle but I am not ready to let Zest go. I looked for another car, shortlisted Magnite, Wagon R, Tiago, Altroz, but my travelling has been drastically cut and I didnt even do 15 K kilometres in the past two years. So buying another car while keeping this is doesnt make sense.

In a way I am spoiled by what Zest offered. It has height, space inside, frugal, and very low in maintenance.

[Meph1st0]

I found an interesting observation about wipers after 5 years of ownership. This could be new information for at least some of the owners as this is not mentioned in the manual.

The wiper speed during intermittent operation can be changed by rotating the portion of the stalk indicated in red. The wiper operates once every 5 seconds in the fastest setting and once in every 30 seconds in the slowest setting.

The cabin filter provided in Zest is mesh type. While it will last forever, I have my doubts about the filtration properties. So this time I ordered a pleated paper filter. This should have better filtration properties but is not washable and has to be disposed of when it gets dirty/clogged.

It is available in boodmo and manufactured by a company called zip.

On another note, I am finding it difficult to upgrade. It is difficult to find a vehicle more spacious and well built without paying atleast twice what I paid for Zest.

[K_Drive]

Originally Posted by Meph1st0

The wiper speed during intermittent operation can be changed by rotating the portion of the stalk indicated in red. The wiper operates once every 5 seconds in the fastest setting and once in every 30 seconds in the slowest setting.

Thanks man for posting this. Found the same on my Nexon. I haven't noticed this before! Similarly there is headlight level adjusting option on the right side stalk. Looks like this is common for all of the new age Tatas.

[coldice4u]

Has any Zest/Bolt owner faced engine issues at low temperatures of 10-15 degrees or below? My 6 year Bolt XT at low temperatures gives off a check engine light error,seems to misfire intermittently and causes the radiator cooling fan to go on, despite low coolant temperatures of 45-50C degrees. The issue manifests especially during early morning starts and using the vehicle is inconvenient during Dec-Jan here in NCR as the HVAC also starts behaving weird with no temperature control. My car has ACC and the heater just stops working as the engine temp stays low due to the cooling fan staying permanently on during this time despite low coolant & ambient temperature.

A scan for errors gives off a coolant temperature sensor error but that is incorrect. The sensor has been replaced twice but hasnt helped. People i have spoken to has advised of ECU issues as this issue is not observed during the rest of the year but unfortunately cannot be confirmed. It appears to me that the ECU is not resilient to low temperatures, probably due to lack of adequate testing. I'm worried about using the car in such a condition as this might result in engine damage due to low operating temperatures.

Also how can i find out if an update to the ECU is available and also the version that is installed in my vehicle?

[mercedised]

I am in used car market looking for a used diesel Zest AMT. I have found 2 XMA 2014 Zest with 70-80K genuine run. Both the cars are in good condition. But, having read so many issues in new cars related to AMT, I am confused whether should I buy a AMT Zest or not, specially after knowing the costly repairs that one has do in case the AMT mechanism fails. Can any AMT owners here suggest me whether to go with the deal or look for a Manual Zest?

[Vishal.R]

Originally Posted by simplyself

.. first, left rear power window failed, then the right rear one followed suit. What made me wonder was, why would the rear power windows fail? They were seldom used.

Have experienced same thing, failure of left rear power window in my Zest XMS MJD 90 few months back (at 5.5 yr, 50k). As per FNG who replaced with an OEM part (cost around 1k), Its not very uncommon issue.

[coldice4u]

Originally Posted by cherisam

I own a Bolt Petrol XT.

Hi Cherisam
Do you still have your car? Tried sending a PM but unfortunately you don't have them enabled!

[coldice4u]

Originally Posted by Vishal.R

Have experienced same thing, failure of left rear power window in my Zest XMS MJD 90 few months back (at 5.5 yr, 50k). As per FNG who replaced with an OEM part (cost around 1k), Its not very uncommon issue.

Originally Posted by simplyself

My Zest XM 90 D had finally made me think about its maintenance. Till date, with about 1,19,000 km on odo, I never went for an unscheduled maintenance. But things seem changing - first, left rear power window failed, then the right rear one followed suit. What made me wonder was, why would the rear power windows fail? They were seldom used.

Funny the rear left window failed on my Bolt too last month. I plan to order the failed part from Boodmo and as pointed costs about 1k. The best part is that almost all the parts for Zest/Bolt are easily available on Boodmo

[rajesh1868]

Originally Posted by coldice4u

... rear left window ...

Originally Posted by simplyself

...left rear power window failed..

Originally Posted by Vishal.R

failure of left rear power window in my Zest XMS .

Well I never knew this was common issue till I saw these posts. My Zest XT's left rear window too failed around 5-6 months back. It was around 74k kms and about 5 years old then.
I could not visit a service center and managed to fix in a local service center.

[Reinhard]

Power window winder arm/motor failure is a very common issue, not just in the Zest. With age and the lots of dust, grime and water flowing through that area, the assembly fails with age. I had a similar failure in the immediate ancestor (Vista) that I had. I won't be surprised if the same part is used across all these X1 platform cars (Bolt, Zest, Vista, Manza).

Originally Posted by Meph1st0

On another note, I am finding it difficult to upgrade. It is difficult to find a vehicle more spacious and well built without paying atleast twice what I paid for Zest.

A very valid point, that quite a lot of us on these cars are facing / are going to face. I'm one of those too. Eventually replaced my X1 platform car with just another copy of the same car (Vista -> Nexon) for reasons like better handling, ground clearance and dynamics. In case of the Zest - even the handling, GC and dynamics are well sorted.
And I purchased the Nexon, after initially setting off to buy the Safari Storme or XUV5oo! The cost difference is simply not justified for what we gain net. Very likely that those with pure practical requirements and no "status symbol" expectations from the car, will just end up side-grading from their Zests etc to similar sized cars. We are not going to be easily convinced to pay 20+ lakhs for minor gains over our current cars! The only differentiator will be if the option has a very good powertrain (with a very good AT box).