[VeluM]

I drove my parent's new Zest quite a bit over the last three days, and had the following observations:

Likes:
1. Quality of components, fit and finish. Some parts (even in not so prominent places) wouldn't look out of place in a car that costs twice if not more as much. For example, the lower air-dam (black grille section) of the bumper - Just superb
2. Paint Quality
3. Headlights - both low and high beam
4. Ride and handling (for my usage)
5. Space
6. AC - very effective even in Kerala
7. Music system and features, including minor ones like the additional wipe after spraying the windscreen
8. Sound insulation, especially the suspension
9. Bling (DRLs, Corona/angel eyes, LED tail lamps)
- Quite a feel-good car in general

Dislikes:
1. Tata had to be Tata - there are three minor scratches on the car (not deep, will disappear with treatment/polish) that weren't addressed despite being identified during PDI
2. The paint is not finished properly just below the RHS headlamp (on the flank)
3. Sales people replaced the 18 spoke alloys with 8 spoke, but only mentioned on the day of delivery that they didn't have the silver ones so put the ones from the Bolt. They also damaged the paint on the alloys when replacing them (all of them!)
4. Creaking rear during ingress/egress when the handbrake is engaged

The indicated FE started at 9 (much to parent's horror) and has steadily climbed to 13 as of today. This is mostly driving on hilly, winding roads with at least 3 people (up to 6) in the car, very rarely managing 5th gear. I'm pretty happy, but parents wish it would climb more of course

Originally Posted by Slick

My Impressions -
1. Ride/Space comfort was the best among all the cars, as mentioned by rear seat occupants (we kept rotating passengers).
2. Sports Mode was awesome to drive in the Ghats of similar winding sections. Straight line was smooth as well, I could overtake very easiliy as long as the vehicle up front was under 80 kmph, above that I had to plan a bit (Bombay-Goa road).
3. Braking was nice and composed, felt hurried a couple of times but that was due to the driver in front stopping abruptly.
4. Handled superbly well on all turns, didn't try anything spectacular either so probably expected.

Agree with you completely.

Originally Posted by Slick

I still feel the car feels really heated (the temperature indicator has 3 bars) to the hand when touching the bonnet above driverside headlamp.

True, but doesn't seem to be a "problem". Just a characteristic. Also when crawling for a while, the radiator fan stays on for a bit after shutdown and you can really feel the blast of hot air.

Originally Posted by Slick

I have observed the oil getting dark and I will go for an intermittent service to get the oil changed.

I've also asked that the oil be changed at first service itself, but based on the amount of running expected, I will most likely fall into the once-a-year change rather than based on kms, so no worry there.

Originally Posted by Slick

I attributed it to bad petrol which I had to, unfortunately, fill at an obscure pump near Guhagar.
Is my analysis right?

I will get it checked at the next service nevertheless.

Most likely you are right, if the issue has never reoccurred.

Originally Posted by Slick

PS looking for good mats for the Zest, please suggest if you have found anything good, Thanks.

Still searching. Has anyone tried if the ones for the Vista fit (If available).

Originally Posted by devilicious

This is my biggest concern. After the suggestion of my fellow BHPians, I too changed my driving style to be more relaxed and was able to bring the FE from an avg. of 10 to 14 now; but, a brief stop at a traffic light brings the FE down drastically. Not sure if it's the actual figure or just an issue with software.

Was a big concern for my parents, but if the car performs pretty well even with a light foot so that will help with the FE. I'm pretty happy so far. Hard acceleration type driving will kill the average, it is a petrol after all.

[RavSam]

Originally Posted by VeluM

I drove my parent's new Zest quite a bit over the last three days, and had the following observations:



Dislikes:
3. Sales people replaced the 18 spoke alloys with 8 spoke, but only mentioned on the day of delivery that they didn't have the silver ones so put the ones from the Bolt. They also damaged the paint on the alloys when replacing them (all of them!)

I smell something STRONGLY fishy here!
What if the guy who purchased his Bolt requested for the alloys on your car and they switched it without your consent! Such a callous attitude! Were you/your parents okay with it? Scratches and all!


It's like replacing your bride just the day before your wedding because someone else liked it.

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by RavSam

What if the guy who purchased his Bolt requested for the alloys on your car and they switched it without your consent! Such a callous attitude! Were you/your parents okay with it? Scratches and all!

Sorry, the way I wrote that made it sound different from what actually happened. Some of it is my assumption, so my apologies

What happened was that I had requested that they replace the alloys with the 8 spoke ones because I don't like the 18 spoke ones. The sales people said that they would exchange ours with the 8 spoke alloys that they had in stock - kept for the other variants that now come without alloys.

At PDI they hadn't yet replaced the alloys, which they promised to before delivery. On the day of delivery they realised that they don't have the silver 8 spoke alloys in stock, but did have the grey ones that come with the Bolt, and so they used those instead.

In short, they didn't take them off a car, they just put grey ones on without telling us. I wasn't there when the car was delivered, so didn't inspect the alloys. I only reached over the weekend, and then realised that there was some damage to the paint on the alloys, and it is obvious that this happened when they were replacing them (machine marks).

I haven't created a ruckus about it because I don't want to upset my parents as they are already hyper-sensitive about the issues associated with Tata, and also they wouldn't really notice the damage.

The grey alloys (thankfully) look good and go well with the Sky Grey coloured car that we purchased, so it is OK. It is things like this though that Tata is famous for, and this tends to spoil what could have been a really good experience.

[RavSam]

Originally Posted by VeluM

Sorry, the way I wrote that made it sound different from what actually happened. Some of it is my assumption, so my apologies

Darn it!
Brother! What if you were an eye-witness at a court!

Coming back to the topic, I personally like the grey ones more than the silver ones. Makes it look expensive and special (at least to me somehow!).
Thanks for clearing that out!

[zesty]

Some pics of Zest rally at Hyderabad on 27th June 2015. Thanks to Tata Motors for the event. It was introduction followed by the rally and then a movie at GVK one.

[zesty]

This is the review of the Harman Kardon Navigation feature provided in my Zest XT. The navigation is only applicable for Zests manufactured after the first week of February 2015 (as far as I know).

Given below is the equipment list used:
1) 1 week old Sony Xperia C4 Dual with 2GB RAM, 5.5" screen and running Android Lollipop. Yes, only Android is supported at the point of penning this.
2) Shielded USB cable of 1.5m length from Bandridge. The USB cable has to be plugged in all the time to access navigation features. The phone GPS is used along with video rendering to show the navigation on Zest's touch screen. Note that the GPS is not inbuilt into the Zest.

Given below are the apps to be installed on the Android phone:
1) Install the Connectnext app from Google Playstore.
2) Open the ConnectNext app and it will automatically prompt and install ConnectNext service app. just accept and let it install.
3) Then install the NaviMaps app trial version. Don't install the pro version as the pro subscription is already included in your Zest and will be activated automatically. Just install any map of your choice eg: South India. The size is approximately about 200-300MB per region.



4) Also install the optional 2D city maps and 3D terrain if you feel that your phone is fast enough and can handle the video rendering along with multi-tasking.



After the installation, you can make a cluster of Apps handy like below. Observe that the Tata Motors ConnectNext app and NaviMaps app icons look almost identical.


Procedure:
1) Connect the USB cable and open the Connectnext app. This will auto detect your Zest music system.
2) Make sure you have your WiFi signal or internet available on your phone and then only open the NaviMaps app. The app will download a patch and auto upgrade itself to pro version. Cool! In my case the NaviMaps app comfortably used my 3G data.
3) Press the Home button on the Zest entertainment system and then add a shortcut to Navigation.
4) Open the navigation from Zest screen and cheers, get greeted by a warning to drive carefully and not to operate the system in between. This screen is unavoidable and will go away after some time.
5) Pick your destination from phone and start the route.
6) Turn off the phone screen to prevent overheating. My phone became very very hot to touch and soon it displayed a warning that the phone is consuming more power than it is being charged currently! Turning off the phone screen helped. This will not stop the navigation thanks to the background ConnectNext service app.


This is how the first screen on the phone looks after the NaviMaps app is opened.




And this is how Zest screen looks. Pretty cool. I personally like the default Zoom on the Zest screen. It makes it easy to predict the lanes and navigate.




Needless to say, I was inside the parking lot and was not driving the car. So, the GPS signal was weak, in which case, this screen comes and goes intermittently.




The arrow will turn into a circle in case the system cannot determine your direction




A "Weak GPS signal" warning is also displayed at the bottom when there is no signal.




There is also a setup menu which can be activated from the bottom by touchscreen. So, the Zest system is not actually dumb. You can pick your locations from here as well.



This is the screen which shows up when there is GPS signal available. The screen shows the distance to the next turn, the next turn direction(yellow arrow), total distance for the trip and the time(don't remember if it was the current time or the time when you will reach your destination).




This is the mobile phone view with 3D and terrain ON. Even though I switch mobile view to 2D(not shown here), the Zest screen defaults always to 3D view without the terrain.




If points of interest (popularly known as POI) are selected, they are shown automatically. How convenient! Here, the system is hinting at 2 petrol bunks nearby.




A small glitch of pink spots are seen near Tamma Residency. These spots are there on the mobile too. So, I am attributing this to some NaviMaps glitch




Given below are some of the app settings available on the phone.





Battery usage is not a concern, however I expected the battery usage to be 0% with the USB always connected. The Tata Connectnext app is nowhere in the battery guzzler's list.



Finally, while driving, the sound clarity was sufficiently clear and loud thanks to an already amazing HK music system. The default voice is that of a female. I have observed that if I started the radio while the Navigation is in progress, there were no further audio directions. Only the direction arrow on the screen was visible(video directions). The voice broke(as if some streaming problem on internet) couple of times per 20-25 direction readouts. Other than these, I did not observe any other problems till now. Overall, the navigation is an awesome handy feature provided on the Zest and Bolt.

[Dr.Suraj]

Originally Posted by zesty

This is the review of the Harman Kardon Navigation feature provided in my Zest XT. The navigation is only applicable for Zests manufactured after the first week of February 2015 (as far as I know).
Overall, the navigation is an awesome handy feature provided on the Zest and Bolt.

That is an extremely comprehensive review of just an HUD!

A hat tip to you sir for this effort.

I believe this is the same system in the Bolt.
Tata quietly updated the system in the Zest, without even an ad?

In terms of finding the right address, what is your review of Navi Maps?

Any other opinion of the connect next app?

Is the USB cable always needed?
Later won't it work with BT?
Maybe only 1st time verification needs USB?
Sony phones tend to ask for higher Ampere charging ports.
The USB port of the Zest gives out how many amperes?

Originally Posted by zesty

Overall, the navigation is an awesome handy feature provided on the Zest and Bolt.

Excellent and very useful review, zesty. During my test-drive, the sales executive repeatedly misinformed me that the Google Maps could be mirrored on the display panel!

Originally Posted by Dr.Suraj

Later won't it work with BT?

The sales executive confirmed that USB connection should be on always to mirror the navigator.

[zesty]

Originally Posted by Dr.Suraj

That is an extremely comprehensive review of just an HUD! A hat tip to you sir for this effort.

Thanks a lot Dr.Suraj sir.

Originally Posted by Dr.Suraj

I believe this is the same system in the Bolt.
Tata quietly updated the system in the Zest, without even an ad?

Yes it is the same one. Yes, its sad that Tata is not promoting all these great features. The car itself is amazing.

Originally Posted by Dr.Suraj

In terms of finding the right address, what is your review of Navi Maps?

Thanks for pointing this out. NaviMaps is made by MapMyIndia. This is the only major company which sells commercial navigation systems on the road in India with updates every year. I have their maps installed on my Garmin Nuvi GPS as well. Coming to accuracy, some roads were not updated yet. That is normal anyways considering how roads or signs such as one way, change almost every other day in India. Overall, one can rely on the directions provided. If the traffic is turned on, I was re-routed once automatically, but on a pathetic road, only to find a dead end.

Originally Posted by Dr.Suraj

Any other opinion of the connect next app?

The ConnectNext app is just there as a mirroring mechanism I feel. No features in the app. Just that it says that Zest is connected.

Originally Posted by Dr.Suraj

Is the USB cable always needed?
Later won't it work with BT?
Maybe only 1st time verification needs USB?

USB is always needed. this may be because Bluetooth is little slow for video streaming and also because the phone needs constant charging as navigation is processor intensive.

Originally Posted by Dr.Suraj

Sony phones tend to ask for higher Ampere chargin g ports. The USB port of the Zest gives out how many amperes?

Even I had this question sir. The Zest manual does not specify any value. The only way out would be to hook an ammeter in series. I will try to do this, but not sure when.

[gsurya]

Superb info on the navigation features in new Zest. Not happy to hear that it wont be on older ones, being one of those who was one of the first to buy one. But thats how it goes

Wonder & hope if company can do a software/chipset upgrade - for free or a cost? Will call & ask them.

[gsurya]

Got this prompt but disappointing reply from Tata Motors. Initial buyers of Tata Zest cannot upgrade to Navigation support. Though some people claim in replies that Harman Kardon technical staff had said its possible.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/zest-...72491779479635

[low_rider]

Update:
Finally got my front mud flaps upgraded. 2 weeks back, I had called up the dealer and they had told me that mud flap upgrade is available for your car.

Went to the workshop on this Saturday and got them installed. Got a free car wash also .
These are not replacement parts, but some strip which was mounted on top of the existing mud flaps. Hopefully the mud-in-the-engine-bay issue is resolved now.

Also, I purchased the Gold AMC (Rs 18K). I was thinking about it for some time and at last decided to purchase it. Let's see how much helpful it turns out to be.

[vishnusv]

Originally Posted by low_rider

Update:
Finally got my front mud flaps upgraded. 2 weeks back, I had called up the dealer and they had told me that mud flap upgrade is available for your car.

Went to the workshop on this Saturday and got them installed. Got a free car wash also .
These are not replacement parts, but some strip which was mounted on top of the existing mud flaps. Hopefully the mud-in-the-engine-bay issue is resolved now.

Also, I purchased the Gold AMC (Rs 18K). I was thinking about it for some time and at last decided to purchase it. Let's see how much helpful it turns out to be.

I installed the updated mud flaps (Mud entry prevention kit as per concord bill) on 8-5-2015 and after a couple of runs in heavy monsoon rains, I checked the engine bay only to find that there is still a lot of mud making its way into the engine bay and behind the head lamp units. The amount of mud has definitely reduced, but it is still far from adequately sealed.

[Prithwitheraj]

Vishnu. Can you post picture of mud prevention kit fitment? I also had to go twice to seal the area properly. Post the second fitment MIB issue have resolved completely. There were some more gaps post first fitment which needed to be sealed.I will post

[gsurya]

I got Tata zest branded door visors installed today from the dealer, quite good build, fit & quality with a chrome strip running on top - cost Rs 2100.

I forgot about mudflaps, will check if available. I havent noticed any mud in engine bay yet, but havent driven that much through mud & slush so far, either.