Re: Tata Tiago : Official Review A review on my ten month old(6,000 kms) Tiago xz(P), hoping it helps somebody who is unsure about the car.
In one line, its been reliable, and does the job, but annoying, really, really annoying.
Long review, well, what ever I've experienced in little over 10 months with the vehicle.
1) Delivery experience
- I could be a one off case, but it was bad for me. Buying a new car is a special time and they ruined it. They even tried to make it better by gifting me a car vacuum cleaner later on, but the damage was done. I'm not going to elaborate the whole experience, but one thing that really pushed all my buttons simultaneously was when I asked the SA, on the day of delivery, about how to connect my phone to the car's music system, and she points at the Connectnext manual and says, "it's in here, read it".Didn't even have the customary photo that day. This was after a bunch of screw ups, and decided to take the high road and be nice to them. The glorious dealer was Concorde Dairy circle.
Also, I payed to get the car in November but got it only in December. December cars carried a free insurance offer which was not given to me. One would expect a decent sales person to communicate that to a annoyed customer to pacify them, they didn't. Realised it only after I got the. They did refund some of that money after I complained to the customer care.But why would you over charge in the first place?
2) Power
-Its powerful enough for the city.
-Keeps up with the highway traffic. I mean, it can't hold a flame to an angry Skoda or anything bigger but can keep up with the 90-120kmph crowd, and is pretty surefooted until around 120-130kmph.
-It just doesn't pull uphill - lots of time spent in thesecond gear when climbing, 1st sometimes, especially when fully loaded. I'm from a hill station so makes this extra disappointing. On our way back from our tea plantation, I couldn't over take my dad in a 26 year old MG 410! I really, really tried. I had four people on board and the Gypsy only had two, but still.
2)Handling
Never had issue with the handling. Pretty good around corners.
3) Mileage
Average, my second hand i10 gave me slightly better figures under similar usage.
4)Comfort
Pretty neat.
5)Fasttag
Again, could be a one-off but i'm yet to receive it! Ten months! Been after them for over two weeks now, Concorde just doesn't take customers seriously. Super annoying, insulting even the way they refuse to reply.
6)Shaky driver seat.
Been shaking since the first month. Got it "fixed" the first time, shaking started again in a couple of months. The last time I visited the service center they did escalate it, and told be I'll get a reply in 7-8 days. Been 15 days since, I'm still to hear from them.
7) Steering wheel is tilted to the left a tiny bit.
Its not a big deal but its annoying to have that in a new car. Just read that Madhus can help, will make time to visit them.
8)Headlights
Nope. Nope. Nope. In a rainy night in the hills a cheap LED torch would have been better. I had to drive the car with power of prayers not eye sight. Whats annoying is that there is no alternative that TATA provides. I even offered to pay the full price for the Tigor set up but the service center vehemently refused, and told me horror stories about customers who upgraded their headlights. Any suggestions?
9) Brakes
Solid. Have done the emergency braking a few times. Car holds its ground and stops within a decent distance. But it developed squeaks a couple of times, got it cleaned and they stopped. The last time I got it cleaned, the service adviser said it had a bit of rust? It didn't really click me until I reached home, not sure if "rust" should be there. suggestions please.
10)Music system
Sweeetttttt. Had a colleague who would travel back with me just so he could listen to his music in my car. His other option was a colleague with a Duster.
11)Other Niggles
The fuel filler lid and the boot refused to open, on different occasions. These are small things but I'm forced to travel to the service center each time, and that is colossal waste of time. The time the fuel filler lid refused to open, I called the 24/7 assistance who sent a gem. He told me he had to tear the carpet(after he created a smaller tear with his fingers), he was confident that the service center guys could "stitch it back up". While controlling my urge to run him over, politely declined, and visited the service center next morning. They oped it with a pen and generously sprayed it with WD40. I could have done the same but I was afraid I might damage something, being a new car an all(one month old then). The bigger irritation was that it was the day of my first anniversary and I was supposed to leave to Pondicherry early that day. I left Dairy circle at 10 AM, guess when I reached Hosur? Ruined the whole day.
12) 3M Inside TASS
Avoid them like the plague. 3Ms outside are they way to go if you feel the need.
Over all the car is good, but niggles is the middle name, and dealing with the guys selling the thing is a huge pain.
If you have the patience to deal with the niggles and the gems they have employed go for it, else buy a Maruti or a Hyundai. Service center does what it can, may need a bit more polishing when it comes to communicating with customers, but over all good. Being a management guy myself, I mite be a little too pedantic about how one deals with a customer.
I feel TATA's heart is in the right place but they have not been able to fix gaps in their organisation. Some thing just can't be repaired, needs to be replaced. Hope they understand that soon.
I'm pretty sure JTP versions would be a Hoot and a half, I personally, would not buy another TATA in the near future. Maybe they need a few more years to fix these gaps.
Hope this was of some use. |