[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

Tata sure have been working on new desings, but I'm yet to see a revolutionary product like the Mahindra's XUV 500.

The XUV 500 may have seemed revolutionary only because of the excessive look-at-me design and list of features. A drive of the car left me wondering what Lotus ever had to do with setting up the chassis. Obviously, I was unimpressed. It seemed more like an effort by Hyundai; cram lots of gizmos and every styling element possible to attract the largest audience. The product itself, as a car, was not so impressive. The Tiago, offers decent comfort, decent dynamics, good looks, a quality stereo, premium feeling plastics and design, all for much much cheaper than you could ever imagine. The XUV may seem revolutionary on paper but in the flesh, it felt no more expensive than what it was sold for. The Tiago actually manages to feel a little more expensive than it is and that, in my books, is truly revolutionary.

Originally Posted by Nissan1180

To be honest, the quality of interior plastics is not very different in the Tata and Mahindra vehicles. In fact, the exterior finish of the recent TML products is far, far superior to that offered by Mahindra (a new Scorpio in the showroom had uneven paint on the cladding-I posted a picture on another thread).

No one is being biased here, quality of material aside, Tata still has some issues with finish. The fit and finish on the Tiago while improved, is still lacking in a few areas. The shadow-line for example in the car I test drove, would not line up between the doors and the wings. So "far superior" is a bit of a stretch. Tata is on the right path, but let's not turn a blind eye to the fact that they still have quite a way to go.

[asit.kulkarni93]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

A drive of the car left me wondering what Lotus ever had to do with setting up the chassis. .

Off-Topic-

I don't think lotus has tuned the suspension for the XUV, IIRC it was the Force One which got a lotus tuned suspension.

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by asit.kulkarni93

Off-Topic-

I don't think lotus has tuned the suspension for the XUV, IIRC it was the Force One which got a lotus tuned suspension.

Here's a link to Mahindra's mobile website which supports my claim: http://m.mahindraxuv500.com/MoreFeatures.aspx

As well as a link to a Zigwheels article that mentions the same: http://www.zigwheels.com/news-featur...ack-day/12892/

While everyone else was going gaga over tpms and drls, this was one of the few things that caught my eye in some of the first drive impressions and reviews I could get my hands on before testing out the car myself.

[asit.kulkarni93]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

Here's a link to Mahindra's mobile website which supports my claim: http://m.mahindraxuv500.com/MoreFeatures.aspx

As well as a link to a Zigwheels article that mentions the same: http://www.zigwheels.com/news-featur...ack-day/12892/

My bad! Didn't know this. Thanks for correcting me.

I feel zest was a revolutionary product from TML as it has retained all the good characteristics of a Tata( like space and comfort) and also offered a few first-in-class things like a diesel AMT,turbo-petrol.etc.
As a package it is value-for-money.
Tiago goes a step ahead with its design. Looks classy!

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by asit.kulkarni93

I feel zest was a revolutionary product from TML as it has retained all the good characteristics of a Tata( like space and comfort) and also offered a few first-in-class things like a diesel AMT,turbo-petrol.etc.
As a package it is value-for-money.
Tiago goes a step ahead with its design. Looks classy!

The Zest had me perk up in my seat too but then after the reported niggles in several ownership threads, I lost complete interest. I remember one ownership thread on TAI that mentioned the horn not working when the steering wheel was turned more than 90 degrees to full lock, remote fuel-lid and boot opening not working, mud being flung into the engine bay etc. These are the small things that no one wants to be bothered with when buying a new car. Atleast not me. I'd rather have everything work and function like it should than get three driving modes on a 90 horsepower car. Then I read the mileage that people were getting from Tata's all new 1.2 liter turbo petrol. Someone had mentioned 9kmpl in the city and 13kmpl on the highway I get the same numbers (with ease) in my relatively old 2.4 liter naturally aspirated Kizashi pushing higher speeds on the highway and having to stay in lower gears in the city.

That was when I realized that short first impression reviews could never truly judge the fit and finish and quality of a product; they could merely report that it has improved, and that then sends the masses into a frenzy running around saying it is awesome and everything is perfect, but the Zest still remained a product with poor QC issues IMO. At the end of the day, I believe we pay big bucks to companies to make us cars to avoid such nonsense otherwise a simple cottage industry kind of setup could take over the manufacturing of such cars if this is the kind of QC that is accepted

Jokes aside, I have read about the improvements Tata has been directed to make to their manufacturing process and am thus very eager to see how the Tiago fares in the long run. More improved than the Zest, but is it enough? Only time will tell.

[ksameer1234]

I happened to check out Tiago at Terminal 3, Delhi Airport couple of days back. Cute is the word which sums up the car from outside! Inside, though spacious, lacks that walk-into-a-Tata experience of Zest.

However, I do feel that compact dimensions and that small steering wheel will enhance acceptability among women-folk, compared to something like Bolt.

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

The Zest had me perk up in my seat too but then after the reported niggles in several ownership threads, I lost complete interest.

May be you should also check out satisfied one year ownership experiences of Zest and Bolt owners as well!

I remember one ownership thread on TAI that mentioned the horn not working when the steering wheel was turned more than 90 degrees to full lock, remote fuel-lid and boot opening not working, mud being flung into the engine bay etc.

I am sure you would have realized that mud issue has been long fixed and others are more like one-off.

Someone had mentioned 9kmpl in the city and 13kmpl on the highway

I don't know who that someone is, but I can inform from personal experience that I have been able to extract 14kpl with spirited driving in city mode and shifting past 3000 rpm.

With relaxed driving with 5 passengers, the figures have been 17 kpl for a 700 km journey on only two lane roads.

[AmarPaithankar]

People must believe more in facts than mere hearsay.
Just because in your neighbour said his friend's relative's relative's friend had a problem, you must not believe in it unless either experienced first hand or known from a reliable source.

Us Indians have a "herd" mentality. What 10 others do is correct, even when we know it is not. Just because everyone says an XXX named car gives excellent mileage, ours XXX car, even if it is not giving good mileage, start saying that our car also gives good mileage, so much so that we start believing in it.

In TML products' case, it so happens that out of a 1000 users, 10 users face problems and out of these 10, 5 are (unfortunately) linked to forums like teambhp. These "over informed, highly educated, much experienced" so called users inflate the problem to any extent in their postings that a product suffers even when it is good.

Forums also use generalised statements like " poor after sales service" which is just copy pasted without checking in all reviews. This they say is legacy / part and parcel of the product.

Responsible forums and users must avoid this

[Dr.Suraj]

Second Test Drive of Tiago XZ - Petrol.

- AC - I don't know what the fuss is about the AC. It's super. TATA has had horrible ACs (Indica days) - where the AC button was more like a anti-turbo button. Got marginally better in Manza days. But since the Nano AC is trumps. TIAGO is no different. Having read the posts here tried some different settings in my sufficiently long test drive (a good 10 odd kms over 40 minutes). AC on blower 1 with re-circulation mode on. AC on blower 2 with recirculation off. Rolled down windows midway and started AC again (Worli Seaface area, 4:30 - 5 pm). I did not find the AC under par by a far stretch. In fact it was quite the chiller. When we stepped out to switch drivers (10 minutes into the drive) - my friend's glasses were fogging up - meaning the temperature inside was significantly lower than the one outside - AC is perfectly fine

- as rightly suggested by others - this maybe a case of 'clogged air filter' - takes 10 minutes to clean but the sheer 'force' of air blowing through changes. Have to do it atleast once a month in the Manza, especially after a trip to Pune / Ahmednagar (dusty highways). And yes - the DEALERS should attend to it.
- It could also be a case of the car being parked in the sun too long - but then again the XZ variant comes with the knitted roof liner which is fantastic to feel and does a great job of insulation - sound and temperature.

- Engine - once again - this time pushed the car hard around corners, revved in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear upto 5000 RPM. No coarseness. No sluggishness. Decent linear power. I am not sure what it is that people are looking for - but for such a nimble, chuckable car the power is more than adequate. At 5th gear and 80 kmph - rolled down the windows and switched off the music to listen to the engine. Subtle. Not irritating. Not too loud. Slot down to 4th and it growls. Raspy. Not coarse like the Nano. Not thrumming. Tad on the louder side. Not super silent like a Hyundai or a Honda or a Maruti PETROL. (strictly talking PETROL here). Definitely not underpowered... we were 4 on-board during this test drive.

- DIESEL - I don't think there is ANY production issue of DIESEL vehicles at TATA end. The dealers have them, but somehow I think it's like a 3:1 thing. Or I don't know if it's upto the dealers to 'order' the cars and most have not ordered both.
Concorde WORLI / PRABHADEVI - DOES have a DIESEL car for demo. infact they have called me, not once, not twice - but THRICE for test drive. Unfortunately I haven't been able to make it all 3 times. :(

- COLOURS - HERE there seems to be an issue. BERRY RED colour has not been produced ! I remember seeing a pic in this thread of the TIAGOs lined up outside the plant. Nary a sight of red / maroon. NONE of the dealers have it. They haven't even heard of anyone having it. Concorde here has ALL the other colours on display. (NOT TD). Blue is a nice one too. The orange has a lovely effect under the sun (not present in Grand i10). Reminded me of the paint job those WestCoast Custom guys use to give some of their hotrods. It changes shade and sheen ever so slightly under the sun. Beautiful effect. White looks elegant too. Silver is well silver.

- SALES - TATA has really upped the game here. Unlike earlier as one would read in the Zest thread where customers would walk in and no one would be bothered to show them around, no those remarks have decreased significantly this time. My personal experience at the SAME Concorde Mumbai has improved manifold. During Zest & Nano GenX v/s Tiago!
Punctual. Courteous. Timely follow ups. Eager to sell but non-intrusive. Genuine effort to find where the 'problem' is and try and help sort it. Messages get conveyed around the chain. No dead-ends. Yuvan and Sushil are the guys who have attended to me. Patient test-drives. Good replies to questions. Unlimited, unrestricted, unquestioned test-drives. KEEP IT UP GUYS. (You put the Hyundai guys to shame - more on that below)

Side note - Mr. Raju Patil (GM) is no more with Concorde Mumbai. He has switched ships and headed over to Audi Thane now!
Neither is Mr. Javed Shaikh there. Dinesh Labdhe is handling my cars just fine at Concorde Worli. For now.
(I have heard that under the CPM reign, there is no 'forgiveness' and 'chalega' work culture. One MUST deliver. Green balance sheets and positive changes. Not just TML but heads have been rolling left, right and centre even in other places like Tata Tele and TCS)

- CLUTCH - Something I did not face the first time but faced minimally the second time, more prominently by my friend. Lifting off or picking up from standstill - in 1st - using ONLY clutch - made the car shudder. Violently. No 'NOISE' just jerking around.
Use a teensy bit of accelerator and this was never felt. We tried it at many signals. NOT once did this happen in any other gear or even with little movement. ONLY from stand still in 1st gear. SA could not really explain it. But I had a sense of deja vu - I used to have the same issue with my Nano earlier. During the first service Prakash at Concorde Worli changed the clutch cable for me under warranty and made me sit and drive and then tweaked some setting in the engine bay and since then my clutch was super smooth till my driver drove Stuart for a week and it got screwed again. So forgive me guys - but I am ASSUMING - that since this was a TD car and might have been 'abused' over the last 654 kms (ODO reading) this could just be a 'setting' issue. Nevertheless it's something I thought must be shared on the forum.

- Fair comparison and competition - So Hyundai Prabhadevi is literally a stone's throw away from Concorde. Infact that whole lane is a car lovers wet dream of sorts. VW, Honda, Skoda, Porsche, Lamborghini, Tata, Mercedes Benz, Hyundai - in that order - with Chevrolet and Nissan a few meters ahead and about 1.5 kms ahead you get Rolls Royce and JLR.
So we hop over to Hyundai. My friend refused to sit in the i10 (which is similarly priced). The interiors and fixed headrests and plastic quality was a turn off for him coming from the Tiago. Plus the fact that i10 was being dumped in the taxi market did not go down well with him. I sat, for the heck of it. But jumped out in less than 10 seconds. One look at the console - and I was disgusted. tacky!
So over to the Grand i10 - First of all, Hyundai showroom is nowhere close to being as clean, bright and welcoming as the Tata one. Then comes the staff who looked more like government office employees (no offence meant, just referring to the age old stereotype). Their tone was condescending, their willingness to sell was lacking (probably because they have great sales already unlike TATA) and their knowledge of the vehicles was lack-lustre. Anyways, I wouldn't buy a car based on how it is sold, I would buy it for it's merits.
Coming to the Grand i10 - first thing - again a very poor console. The Tiago looks WOW viz a viz the Grand i10. Seating - not at all welcoming. Lacks under-thigh support and does not have the bolstering, comfort and snugness of the Tiago. I did not find the plastics of the Grand i10 to be superior to Tiago (especially the dashboard and general areas where you touch)
In Tiago I only found ONE spot of plastic poor. Rear door handles (inside) - the small crevice where you put in your fingers to pull the door in. That's all.
I did find cost cutting in the Grand i10 - for example the spare wheel well was left unpainted / uncoated. The Tiago had an immaculate one. The finishing of the boot material and layout was superior in Tiago too.
Rear seat of grand i10 felt too flat. Most of all - I sorely missed the adjustable head rests in the front seats of the Grand i10. They are SUPERBLY integrated in the Tiago.
So what features does the Grand i10 give extra? - Folding ORVMS I guess & DRLs.
Nothing else the SA there could tell me that the Tiago did not already match or better - like the niceties in the music system, ABS, airbags. Infact the cabin lamp was also better placed in the Tiago and was a WHITE LED with the theatre dimming effect.

But at this point I had to ask the price - and the Grand i10 was for Rs. 7,10,xxx on road v/s the Tiago at 5,84,000. Staggering difference of 1 lakh + !
My friend immediately nudged me to say it was a mistake trying to compare the two! I wanted a TD of the Grand i10 - but the SA was acting pricey and my friend had already lost interest. For his heart was set on the Tiago. Only issue was he had a OTR target of 5 lakhs and the Tiago was 84k over it. And seeing the number of extra features he was unwilling to settle for the XT version.
So he went back home to crunch some numbers and see if he can make the push or else he will - LIKE ME - wait for the AMT version to come out, or atleast wait a few months to see how this shapes up for TATA.
Like I had mentioned earlier - I can't justify the purchase of this car right now - but it sure ticks all the boxes and is a hell of an effort by TATA in all the departments.
Tiago is seriously Fantastico !

P.S. - Take your VR glasses when you go for a test-drive. They scan the code on that and give you a freebie.

P.P.S. - We never could manage the mood to go check out the Celerio. My friend for one firmly believes in that quote 'If you don't look back at your car after you park it, then you bought the wrong car.' - and he says the Celerio and WagonR make him look AWAY even when passing by - so no question of considering them.
I have promised myself that I will go and TD the Celerio and Grandi10 and i10 - just to be able to make a very very FAIR comparison with the Tiago - ONLY in the engine department - because the rest of it I am pretty convinced the Tiago surpasses them by a good margin - interiors, features, build quality, ride quality, drivability, comfort and above it all - VFM.

[SAE40 in veins]

Originally Posted by Dr.Suraj

Second Test Drive of Tiago XZ - Petrol.

- AC -
So what features does the Grand i10 give extra? - Folding ORVMS I guess & DRLs. .

First, your TD was very well compiled and was a kind of mini Comparo, the kind we see in magazines.

Coming to features, the Grand i10 offers a 'Push button start' and remote keyless entry in some variants. Honestly i have never seen a Grand i 10 with DRLs on the road and if at all it is available, should be with later variants.

Now back to the point, with prices lower than the Celerio, i think the primary comparison of Tiago should be with Celerio and not Grand i 10 which is clearly a segment above if one goes by the pricing. So all the more reasons for you to do a TD of Celerio soon. Will wait for your inputs and Thanks in advance.

[Arkanile]

Originally Posted by Arkanile

My first post , an honor to be a part of this community. Am planning to buy XT petrol, test drove the vehicle a couple of weeks back,my 2 bits

A lot has been said about the a/c not being effective, my experience was different, found the a/c to be quite chilly and it was able to satisfy the requirement.
On the power front, I drove in both the Eco and city mode. Found the engine unresponsive and dull in the Eco mode, however press the city mode and the car becomes a different animal, was able to pull away nicely, small tap on the accelerator and it became quite zippy.
Could not experience any engine vibrations/clutter as mentioned by many members, possibly since the car was doing back to back test drives.
Test Drive done at Berkley's Chandigarh. Showroom was nice, was attended to immediately had to wait for the TD for 45 mins. In terms of knowledge, same story as others.

Went for my second TD at Arya Motors Gurgaon on Saturday. Some retractions to my earlier experience.
The Aircon is definitely a concern, drove the car around 1300-1330 and it was a fairly long drive, the air con was not at all effective, infact the a/c on my Tata Indica which has currently run 1Lakh+ performs better.Told the SA guy the same and inquired if others had also pointed this out.SA first refused to accept issues, however then acknowledged that yes the air con is a problem. When asked him what is being done? he replied saying feedback has been shared with TML and they are working on it. Had gone with the intention of booking the car, asked him what if the issue is not sorted and car is delivered as is..had no answer.
Also enquired about the exchange of my car, the valuator came back saying no buyers for Indica Petrol..offered 18K. When informed that Berkley's in Chandigarh had quoted 30K considering it was an out of state registration the valuator had no words.Walked away with booking amount still in my pocket.
Planning to visit Dhingra motors and some other TATA dealers in NCR to see if I can strike a good exchange deal.
Apart from the Aircon issues, found no other major issues which can be a dampner to the deal, I drive pretty sedately, the car server the purpose of driving in Delhi NCR and if need be has the required torque to overtake.

[AkMar]

Has anyone got a change to listen to the 4 speaker system in XT variant? How is the sound quality in it? Obviously it won't be as good as the XZ, but still when viewed in isolation, is it good enough?

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by AkMar

Has anyone got a change to listen to the 4 speaker system in XT variant? How is the sound quality in it? Obviously it won't be as good as the XZ, but still when viewed in isolation, is it good enough?

I specifically asked for a XT in my second test drive to try out the Audio. It is 'fantastico' . It sounded even better in normal volume than my Safari's after market high end ICE with a massive sub woofer. The clarity of voice in the Blue tooth connected to the phone is amazing. No microphone haul due to acoustic feedback even when the volume is turned up.

[manoj_joseph78]

Went to Mohandas Motors Trivandrum to see Tiago last Friday. Looks like the dealership is closed due to some issues with Tata. So the state capital of Kerala does not have a Tata passenger car dealership anymore :-(

[redcruiser]

Originally Posted by Arkanile

Went for my second TD at Arya Motors Gurgaon on Saturday. Some retractions to my earlier experience.
The Aircon is definitely a concern, drove the car around 1300-1330 and it was a fairly long drive, the air con was not at all effective, infact the a/c on my Tata Indica which has currently run 1Lakh+ performs better.Told the SA guy the same and inquired if others had also pointed this out.SA first refused to accept issues, however then acknowledged that yes the air con is a problem. When asked him what is being done? he replied saying feedback has been shared with TML and they are working on it. Had gone with the intention of booking the car, asked him what if the issue is not sorted and car is delivered as is..had no answer.
Also enquired about the exchange of my car, the valuator came back saying no buyers for Indica Petrol..offered 18K. When informed that Berkley's in Chandigarh had quoted 30K considering it was an out of state registration the valuator had no words.Walked away with booking amount still in my pocket.
Planning to visit Dhingra motors and some other TATA dealers in NCR to see if I can strike a good exchange deal.
Apart from the Aircon issues, found no other major issues which can be a dampner to the deal, I drive pretty sedately, the car server the purpose of driving in Delhi NCR and if need be has the required torque to overtake.

I feel you can try selling your indica through some third party like olx or cartrade etc. You might get a better deal than the dealership appointed valuater. Now a days in the age of Uber and Ola you can simply ask any of those taxi guys if they need one. I am sure you will get a better deal.

[GLAD73]

Originally Posted by Dr.Suraj

Second Test Drive of Tiago XZ - Petrol.
So what features does the Grand i10 give extra? - Folding ORVMS I guess & DRLs.
Nothing else the SA there could tell me that the Tiago did not already match or better - like the niceties in the music system, ABS, airbags. Infact the cabin lamp was also better placed in the Tiago and was a WHITE LED with the theatre dimming effect.

The Grand i10 does have a rear aircon vent which is a boon in the scorching summer heat, I wish the Tiago had this on its feature list.