[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Front: Independent; Lower Wishbone; McPherson Strut with anti-roll bar and Coil Spring
Rear: Semi-Independent; Twist beam with Coil Spring and Shock Absorber

Thanks. But was wanting the actual layout, not just type. Was wondering about the rather major (judging from pictures) suspension intrusion in the bootspace.

Regards
Sutripta

[s_pphilip]

Hope TATA can consistently stay focused on this one for the initial years and address customer feedback real time, we all have some emotional connect and empathy with TATA irrespective whether we own a Tata or not, I am sure most of us will have liked some Tata at some point be it seirra, safari, indica, sumo, vista, manza, they all had their pluses, what we weren't too happy about is the step motherly treatment meted out by the folks we interact with on the floor.

I am sure Tata will have worked on these basics in the past few years to give their new launches a stronger foundation, it is the attitude of the sales & service staff that needs to change, they should believe deep down within that YES Tata delivers the best, I haven't meet a sales person who talks passionately about Tata like some of the sales guys who proudly talk about a VW or a Honda, their jobs should be more than a routine and TATA should do the brand building within.

I think Tata should seriously rope in some world class advertisement agency that promotes the TATA brand on the whole, just like Honda or Skoda or VW or BMW or Merc does, they always present the brand at a larger than life level, not saying that they do amazing wherever they go but we approach them with respect and admiration and not just empathy.

Advertising the car is good, but we need people to trust the brand and believe that the TATA has the technology, expertise and emotional connect, hence brand building advertisements portraying core values of the brand, they can emotionally connect with a lot if they have an advertisement on Maruti's lines, taking people back to the Sierra days and then show the progress in the Zest, they have a detailed history in India to fall back on.

Tata also need to publicly display some escalation matrix that can address and solve problems which builds trust and confidence, even I still carry this impression that anything to do with Tata and the response may have minimum accountability (again not saying that others are doing better).
We all want TATA to win this one, all the best for a brighter global future.

[AutoIndian]

First of all many many thanks to Aditya and Rehan for bringing this excellent review to us, couldn't have asked for more.

Today I received a call from Tata Motors call centre to give me information about the Zest. I said I know all the details. I asked the lady to tell me about only two things, the prices and the variants. She said these will be declared on the launch date of 12th Aug 2014. She also shared one not so encouraging news. The diesel AMT won't be available immediately after launch and we will have to wait till the Diwali festive season to hit the showrooms. So the wait is longer for all you guys opting for the diesel automatic

[s_pphilip]

That said, Tata has got the parameters on the drawing board right, just going by the review, its spacious, has mature ride, neutral handling, engine/gearbox combo practical, responsive steering, nice interiors, the fit and finish up there, looks striking (comparatively I like the Amaze for its angular looks across the car, does not carry much of forceful strokes and curves), overall promising to challenge the segment leader, of course some minor quality issues remain and wish they could provide more storage spots for all the kick knacks we like to carry (I use all the bottle holders and extra shelf's and pockets) but then that's a small factor compared to the overall product. Whats required is a competitive introduction price that shakes the skeletons of others.

It is well rounded but it is in a highly competitive space, good thing is that this segment is doing real well so there is scope for everyone.

The AMT+Diesel will bring in a lot of footfalls and they should convert the initial hype into sales, this first mover advantage may be short lived if another moves in with a Diesel+Auto model which should not be too far away.

Promising car beautiful dissected, I echo what's already a hundred times in the air, crisp yet detailed review, brilliant work, the magazine guys need overhauling.

[pdma]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

The diesel AMT won't be available immediately after launch and we will have to wait till the Diwali festive season to hit the showrooms. So the wait is longer for all you guys opting for the diesel automatic

Thanks AutoIndian, but i personally dont think the wait is too long specially for the first in house (Indian) diesel autotranny, well may be not technically but still .As many already pointed out TATA has nailed the interiors and they have always priced thier cars sensibly and looking at these things Iam sure TATA has a winner at hand. They should also take the feedback on the quality of work at the service centers and the over all after sales attitude and correct it as it is quite evident that people are willing to buy their cars , provided they are treated better. If anyone has questions on the reliability well , the answer is clearly visible in your signature.
cheers,
pdma.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by shashi63

What I do find missing in this review is the fact that none of the segment first features have been highlighted.

Read the "What you'll Like" in the post by Aditya. That itself will give you the segment first's.

Originally Posted by shashi63

Once this is done then it becomes a proper review, secondly once these are put in place the Zest will stand head over shoulders against it's so called competition. Please compare it on its segment and only in its segment.

This is a proper review already and I feel there is nothing much to add / delete in this review and if the Zest's capabilities are to be proven then it should be done by Tata and the car itself. 'If' only one official review made a car successful then "all" the cars sold would be having an official review made.

Swift Dzire, Amaze and Xcent - Aren't they in the same segment as the Zest is? It is that's why the same 4m slab application trial by Tata.

Originally Posted by shashi63

I have driven the Amaze, the Dzire, the Xcent and clearly even a idiot like me who has zero automobile knowledge can clearly see that the Zest is years ahead of all of them and yet our Mod's who are Automobile Engineers and more learned than me can't say that definitely!

What are you trying to convey here?

The review has all the 'good' + "neutral + "bad" points of the Zest covered so nothing more is left to be said on the Zest to make it superior or inferior.

On what all basis are you saying the Zest is "light years ahead"? Have you driven it to know what it is? The MODS have driven and written down their opinion here. Nothing wrong or nitpicking here.

Originally Posted by shashi63

Finally Tata has been working on many features and it's reliability and product quality has gone up in the past few years.. maybe our Mods should go back to Tata and do a review of the new Manza and possibly speak to a few owners who have brought Tata vehicles in the past 2 years and check their experience before saying what you won't like poor service quality!

• Poor in-cabin storage (narrow door pockets, no 1-liter bottle holder, missing seatback pockets etc.)
  
• Boot lid has no cladding on the underside. Looks cheap on an otherwise well-kitted car
  
• Detailing & quality are evident. Things aren't absolutely perfect though. This volume knob was already loose on one of the cars we drove
  
• Quality control still needs to be improved. Bolt holding the rear seat has pinched the felt cladding, making it unable to cover the bolt head
  
• Ill-fitted plastic panel in the passenger's foot well
  
• Gap between the horn pad & steering wheel. You can see a red wire inside!

Tata indeed is going all the way to get their brand image back on track but the above points seem silly to be left un-judged.

Originally Posted by shashi63

Since people have such a negative image about Tata products maybe we can even ask Tata for the figures for the Crash Test and then display it transparently for a full blown review!

Crash test rating will make or break a brand image? or a customers perception?

What about:

• Reliability
• ASC Standards
• QA
• Sales

Anurag.

[RSR]

Originally Posted by for_cars1

Good thing to note that the spare wheel in the boot is placed with the Air inlet pointing upward. This will avoid the need to flip the spare wheel over whenever one needs to check and fill air. Its stupid of car manufacturers (like Hondas, Hyundais and Marutis in most of their cars) to keep the spare tyre face down, just to get some better Boot volume numbers. This makes it so inconvenient to fill air.

Originally Posted by directinjection

Didn't know such a practice exists among manufacturers. How mean!

Yes, many manufacturers place the spare wheel with the nozzle facing down in the boot. This does make it difficult to inflate the tyre or check the air pressure.

However, as parsh already mentioned, this has got nothing to do with showing a larger the boot volume. Boot volume is calculated only for the proper boot cavity, excluding the spare wheel well (unless specifically mentioned otherwise). Therefore, placing the spare wheel one way or the other makes absolutely no difference to the boot volume, which ever way the boot volume is calculated.

The reason why manufacturers do this, is to place the tool kit inside the spare wheel. When done with the nozzle facing down, the tools become accessible easily. Some manufacturers even have special circular (actually cylindrical) tool holders made of plastic etc. to fit exactly inside the spare wheel, such as this one:



(On some models, the cylindrical tool holder is placed under the spare wheel with its nozzle facing up, and a long bolt to secure the two. This makes it easy to inflate the tyre or check its pressure, but becomes cumbersome to access the tools.)

While placing the wheel with the nozzle facing down does make it difficult to inflate the tyre or check its pressure, this kind of placement has another advantage for those who need it. It forms the cavity to securely place a car safe - a special circular safe that is fixed inside the spare wheel. This can be done only when the wheel is placed such that the nozzle faces down. This is the kind of thing I'm talking about:

[sohail99]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

I also think that DRLs are a bit too bright and obnoxious, and there needs to be a tighter standard for the amount of brightness they are allowed to have.

DRL studies have undoubtedly shown that having them is safer, but then again, that was based on DRL-equippied cars which constituted only a small part of the cars on the road. They were different and they stood out.

When every single car has DRLs, i don't know if the numbers will be the same - but i do know that I'll find it a little irritating with all those bright white LEDs in my rear-view mirror.

cya
R

I think DRLs are meant to be bright as they need to be visible even in full noon sun and they are meant to catch/demand attention of fellow drivers for safety reasons.

If the DRLs are not dimmed or turned off by turning on the headlights, then that might be a problem for night driving!

[desertfox]

At last there seems to be a winner from the Tata stables here. A car which actually people may buy to drive themselves not just the taxi operator segment.

How good is the A/T gearbox and gear shifts. How does it perform over 50,000 km run that needs to be evaluated. The new petrol engine is interesting but not a runaway winner. Needs more BHP I guess and mid level torque.

[lurker]

the problem with the petrol engine is .. that you always think a 4 valve option is around the corner and that too with a bigger turbo. Now that really prevents the petrolhead from investing in the current zest.

Infact the Revotron feels like WIP, and not at a final stage of it's evolution. What if someone buys a Revotron today and an year later next model has 4 valves and a bigger turbo. On a petrol that would be a killer.

[AutoIndian]

Just now coming back from the test drive of Zest. Pandit Auto has put up a road show in our office campus (SP Infocity). Wanted to TD both the petrol and diesel, but unfortunately petrol was not available. Some observations from the TD of the diesel manual and information provided by the Customer Advisor

1. Both the front and back seats are very soft. Not sure how comfortable these would be on long journeys
2. Boot is sufficently large for a week long trip, family of five. However the boot mouth is comparatively smaller and the lower end is quite high from the ground, hence large suitcases won't be that easy to load.
3. The voice command worked like a charm. "Tune to 91.1" and it obeyed my command without any fuss. Then "set tempaerature to 20" and once again it changed it from 18 to 20 degrees celcius
4. Instantaneous FE bar jumps to 30 kmpl, the moment you lift the foot off the accelerator pedal. It can be set to show the digits instead of bar (nifty feature)
5. On asking why rear AC vents were not provided, the advisor told me that the vents towards the window side throw maximum air to the rear seats. I experienced that, even after setting to throw maximum air towards me, it was throwing air towards the rear. Only central AC vents can be directed towards the front seats
6. Checked the feature of DRLs turning off as soon as parking lihgts are switched ON.
7. Two separate buttons for front fog lamps and the rear bumper centre mounted red fog lamp
8. All the models, starting from the base variant will come with company fitted alloy wheels
9. Another nifty feature is while you are in thick traffic the touchscreen will show you how near or far the car behind you really is.
10.The gear shift is very good as compared to the Manza or Vista D90. No unwanted vibrations on the gear lever. This is a new generation gear box along with a new generation ABS.
11. The blower fan can be set at 7 different speeds (I have seen 4 speed settings at the max in most of the cars)

At the end of the TD I was handed over a Rs 500/- coupon of PVR cinemas and the moment was captured in their camera. Nice gesture and overall a sweet experience . Although the customer advisor could not answer few questions we was very calm and composed. Didn't try to bluff anything. One strange observation though, even the dealers are in complete dark as far as the variants are concerned. It was rather me who was telling the dealer person that XT stands for top end, XMA for automatic, bla, bla, bla, thanks to Team BHP.

[arjab]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

8. All the models, starting from the base variant will come with company fitted alloy wheels

If this is true then it will be first of its kind in India, if not in the world.

Are you sure alloys are standard fit and not available as a company approved accessory for all models?

[rosaf]

I just got a call from TML regarding ZEST and the lady on the phone started explaining the features ...to which i politely replied that myself being a member of Team-Bhp know about most of the features and asked her about AMT test drive to which she replied that at the launch only manuals are going to be available and the AMT will be launched later on.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Just now coming back from the test drive of Zest. Pandit Auto has put up a road show in our office campus (SP Infocity).

Thanks for your report

Did you see any storage tray under front passenger seat? It will solve the issue of storing 1 liter bottle in Zest.

[gsurya]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Did you see any storage tray under front passenger seat? It will solve the issue of storing 1 liter bottle in Zest.

Yes I saw the storage tray under passenger seat during my test drive, but this is not that high, so I would say just buy slim 'flat' bottles that you now get in shops that can go into these car door pockets. Its not a deal breaker at all.