Quote:
Originally Posted by K_Drive Hi guys,
Tiago a new age Tata car launched in 2016 has successfully completed 5yrs! Is it aging well? Are there any major rattling, rusting or any quality issues? Requesting initial owners to share feedback. |
4 years completed and counting now. Rusting - nothing of that sort. Mine is a Berry Red XZ Petrol, top end during the time.
Mechanically, the car has been fine, something not many believed about Tata cars when I purchased my Tiago all those years back.
Only issue is rattling and plastics. The reason for that, I suspect, is that one time, the dashboard was dismantled to try and fix a minor rattle I had from the MID area (only in a specific rpm band), I mentioned the same issue couple of times and each time upon taking the vehicle back from service, I was assured that it was gone, but
newsflash - it wasn't. Finally, after mentioning it constantly they agreed to take apart the dashboard and check. That was the single biggest mistake I've done in my Tiago's entire ownership period and I regret it every day. Taking apart the dashboard caused many more rattles to occur some of which exist to this day, of which, one is a major one. It is a thud sound which comes from somewhere inside the dash, I believe some clip of the dashboard might have been broken when they assembled it back. This thud sound is a very annoying. I mentioned that some rattles still exist in my car, around 3-4, all of them except this thud sound, I've learnt to live with. This is annoying as it cannot be drowned out by the really nice music system and also because it comes when the car is going through broken/bad roads (not uncommon in Kerala), I can feel the dashboard vibrating along with the aforementioned thud sound (multiple continuous thud sounds as long as I'm on a bad road) and sort of moving up and down (I haven't seen it actually moving up and down but the vibration and sound makes me feel that it is). If there is any fellow BHPian who experienced the same thud sound from the dashboard and have found a fix, I would kindly request you to find your way into my PMs or quote this reply.
It would be a HUGE help if you can help me fix this particular annoying sound and I would be very grateful.
Now the second thing I mentioned - plastics. They are of a good quality on the top of the dashboard with a very nice soft finish, but some plastic panels are not as good, especially the ones in the door pads seem to be not as good, especially the gloss black part on the door handle. They make squeaky sounds when I press them, same with the panel(s) near the power window console. Again, something I've learnt to live with, it is almost a non-issue. Another issue was a certain plastic panel, upon which the parcel tray rests, coming apart. I would like to personally meet the designer at Tata who thought designing a load (parcel tray) to rest in the opposite direction of how the clips in a panel would be fixed, would be a great idea. Again, it was fixed, not because I use the parcel tray to store a lot of stuff but because it is a truly ugly sight when that plastic panel hangs around loosely. Then there is the parcel tray strings, one of which was broken, but it is a non-issue because I have a tissue box, amongst some very few other light things (light, to avoid the aforementioned plastic panel coming off again), and I don't want the parcel tray to lift up with the tailgate. Then there is the issue of the AC vent adjustor breaking off. Three out of four vent adjustors have attained independence from my Raj. All thanks to some Einstein at Tata design dept who picked form over function there. A Polo type setup would have meant chances of it breaking would be very less but no, design FTW!!!
All of this brings me to a big point that I would like to make to any prospective car buyer. Never, ever, let the A.S.S dismantle any part of your interiors, atleast avoid dismantling parts that are large, like the dashboard which may have many clips which could be broken (perhaps inadvertently) by them upon re-assembly. You will never EVER get back the factory finish of the car if you let them dismantle it. If there is one rattle that's annoying you, which is coming from somewhere near the dashboard and you cannot resist the itch to tell the service centre to take it apart and fix it, just visualise this scenario - imagine that rattle in your mind, now imagine the same (or amplified) type of rattle coming from multiple points. Would you be okay with that? The thought of that alone will make you avoid any major work in the interior.
Now my sample space is my own experience and experiences of people I know; there may be service centres that can do their work without breaking panel clips and causing more rattles, but from my ownership experience of various cars (of different brands as well), you will never get the factory finish back. So if you can, avoid it.
P.s. while I was typing up an essay about my gripes, it completely flew past my head that you also asked if it was ageing well, I assume that means a lot more things than just plastics and rattling. So mechanically, as I mentioned, the car has been very reliable. Only "mechanical" issue I had was a slight squeaky sound when I move the gear towards the right end, doesn't matter which gear I end up eventually. It was fixed. Apart from that, touch wood, no issues so far. Engine has been
Toyota level reliable. Not a single instance of any break downs or weird stuff happening. Mileage has been decent. I knew what I was getting into when I went for a much heavier car compared to the options at the time - Swift, Celerio etc. I get around 13-14 in the city. And in 60-40 highway-city usage (you won't see much of 4/6 lane high ways in my state, or atleast my district, very rare), I get around 18-19 (tank to tank method). One of the fog lamps recently died on me, but I have relegated fixing that to next year, it is not that important.