[tifosikrishna]

Read a review of a car costing 70L and it says car doesn't have provision to carry spare tire. It can only be carried in the boot and from usage point of view, utmost need to carry a spare tire will arise during a long trip (barring airport pickup/drop) which is when one would want to carry maximum luggage.
Can this be called a design flaw? Don't think it is not, i would call it design constraint and for whatever reasons the decision makers went ahead and decided not to have a separate provision for spare tire.
I think same is the case with HEXA, when the new design language from TATA has umpteen examples of 'attention to detail' including printed elephants in Tiago glove box, it is easy to infer that designers consciously chose 3rd row passenger comfort versus flat folding capability, not sure why we are fretting over it so much.

[nkrishnap]

The problem here is people have different expectation from different brands. Some can get away with fundamental flaws, but some brands are treated harshly even for a design constraint. Like many have told, comfort took precedence when it came to third row folding flat. Unfortunately they are labelled fanboys. In case someone does not like it, they can as well buy a vehicle which offers the third row seat flat folding. But overseeing all other positives for this seat folding thing seems a little far fetched though.

PS: I do not own the Hexa nor intend to buy it anytime soon. So please keep the fanboy tag away.

[apachelongbow]

Its the reverse fanboy thing actually. Why should one pay 40 lacs for a leaf spring equipped, hard riding bouncy pickup converted to suv truck? Because it has a Toyota batch. Jokes apart... its ok for people to criticise.

[lazy]

Of course it is OK to criticize, that's the beauty of this forum and reflects the real world out there. Else, our best sellers would be Fiats and Fords and Hyundai & Marutis would be sales duds.

And, if someone isn't buying the Hexa only because its 3rd row doesn't go full flat, then that chap was anyway not going to buy the Hexa. Stop wasting your time and energy trying to defend the slope there. Its there.

For the 99%, the Car is a significant social statement and a TATA simply doesn't get enough Oooohs-and-Aaaahs from the social circle. Hence, a TATA is no-no.
But this isn't something many will admit to, since that would mean the person is too worried about others opinions rather than take a product based decision - not cool.
So, they will cite trivia like 19" wheels, non-flat 3rd row, "overpriced by 2 lakhs", no 4-5-10 year warranty, no Nexa like sub-branding etc etc, to justify the brand elimination.
And that is the crux of the problem that Tata has.

Anyway, their money their decision.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

Why should one pay 40 lacs for a leaf spring equipped

The Fortuner never had leaf springs in India. It is the old Endy which had them at the rear, and yes, I guess you meant badge and not batch.

But yes, both of them hold a bigger brand value when compared to TML and not without reason. They were/are reliable, better built and had better quality than TML vehicles.
However, that does not mean we write off a TML vehicle without giving it a fair chance. We are a ruthless market and frankly a strange one too.

We value things which dont matter like DRLs, touch screens, sunroofs, leather seats and auto headlamps and wipers OVER things which matter like safety, ride quality, build quality and interior space.

But then, we are like this only.

[nvldvr]

Reading about the proactive manner in which Tata ASS has been dealing with Hexa customers, I can not help but believe that Tata is out to well and truely improve on all fronts. The car is a great product, and now Tata is going all ahead in ensuring that its customers get first class service experience. I have never heard of car manufacturers dispatching technicians to customers homes to get issues sorted out. Well done Tata.

I am also on the lookout for a car in this segment, albeit an year or so down the line due to certain reasons. I have been considering cars like Hexa, XUV and Endeavour. I must say that though the Hexa impressed me a lot on all fronts, I was initially a bit skeptic about it being a Tata product and the not so good stories of dealings with TASS.

However, I am now convinced that with this kind of support and attention being provided by Tata, Hexa should be an easy choice for people on the fence, like me. If I had to buy a car today, it would be Hexa definetely.

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

The Fortuner never had leaf springs in India. It is the old Endy which had them at the rear, and yes, I guess you meant badge and not batch.

But yes, both of them hold a bigger brand value when compared to TML and not without reason. They were/are reliable, better built and had better quality than TML vehicles.
However, that does not mean we write off a TML vehicle without giving it a fair chance. We are a ruthless market and frankly a strange one too.

We value things which dont matter like DRLs, touch screens, sunroofs, leather seats and auto headlamps and wipers OVER things which matter like safety, ride quality, build quality and interior space.

But then, we are like this only.

Autocorrect.. i really thought the fortuner had leaf springs due its atrocious ride quality.
Build quality, Toyota yes, Ford no. Its the market which thinks like that with endevour selling barely 500 units a month like the Storme.
Hexa is a 2/4 thousand units a month car and from talking with TML sales rep, they are very pleased with the response.

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by lazy

For the 99%, the Car is a significant social statement and a TATA simply doesn't get enough Oooohs-and-Aaaahs from the social circle. Hence, a TATA is no-no.
But this isn't something many will admit to, since that would mean the person is too worried about others opinions rather than take a product based decision - not cool.

Being someone who owns a Kizashi, I can tell you that is simply not true. The Hexa looks far better than an Innova both inside and out and mojority of the folks will have no qualms letting their "Oooohs and Aaaahs" out. Just as is the case with my car, all my friends including the girls, LOVE it and there is only a handful of people I have met who have an issue of some sort with it. Mind you, there is no dearth of competition for my car amongst my friend's cars which range from Lauras to V6 superbs to A-Class etc. Perhaps it is that younger folks are more open-minded, not sure but this is just my personal experience. Only one chap my age told me he did not like it and apart from him there were a few uncles in my family that did not approve that's about it. 99% of the people loved it.

Originally Posted by lazy

So, they will cite trivia like 19" wheels, non-flat 3rd row, "overpriced by 2 lakhs", no 4-5-10 year warranty, no Nexa like sub-branding etc etc, to justify the brand elimination.
And that is the crux of the problem that Tata has.

Buddy in our country 19" wheels are not a trivial issue. All the good tyre brands manufacture their tyres upto 15" locally and some models upto 16" the rest is imported and hence owners of cars with 17" and above wheels, pay a LOT for every tyre change. The tyres also need to be changed earlier because these bigger heavier cars wear the rubber out faster. I pay anywhere between 60-80 thousand every time I buy a new set of tyres for my Kizashi and that is not a trivial matter. It's either looks or practicality and I'd say in India its better if the product comes with 16" wheels that can absorb our bumpy roads better and cost much less to replace. Non-flat 3rd row, like it or not, is also an issue for a lot of folks. Many people are in the market looking at the Hexa not just as a cheaper alternative to the Innova but also as a cheaper alternative to all the 30+ lakh SUVs out there like the Endeavor. Until the Hexa came, the best you could get was the XUV. For these folks 3rd row is not so important and they would mostly have it folded down for the increased boot space and folded up only when it is absolutely required to carry more people. In this case, for people who would have the 3rd row down most of the time, it is a bit of a hindrance. Price is definitely bang on. It is not like the car is absolutely perfect and these issues are trivial. What I am trying to point out is that they are not trivial issues for many. For example, my Kizashi did not come with bluetooth handsfree telephony and reverse parking sensors from the factory but since I am not romanticizing the brand and its efforts, I had no qualms making a fuss about it and having the dealer provide me a solution with the purchase deal. Fanboys of the Suzuki brand might have said oh these are cheap electronic accessories not an indicator of how the car is, these are trivial issues blah blah but I said no! It is silly to me that a D-Segment sedan doesn't have this no matter how good it is in other aspects. Being able to understand that does not make you a hater or fanboy just means you are a highly aware buyer

[rshnvjy]

Since I'm a newbie, I don't have the privileges yet to post an all new ownership review thread, and therefore I would like to pen my thoughts here as a small summary for all the members who may be considering purchasing the Hexa.

Hexa XT 4x2 7-seater, 2500+kms and 24 days on..



My dad took delivery of the car on March 4th and he hadn't even test driven the manual variant. I had extensively driven the automatic and he had tried the automatic a few days before confirming the payment of the manual variant as well and many of you may now wonder why we chose the manual over the auto. First of all, the Hexa was quite over budget for us and the automatic was even more expensive (possibly also in the long run with maintenance for the gearbox). Moreover, the manual XT has a lot of safety features (ESP, HDC, traction control, rollover mitigation), apart from the fact that the two primary drivers of the car, my dad and I both love manual gearboxes and the control they give.

So the day after he got the car, he came over to my college (100 kms from Thrissur, Kerala, where we live). The car was brand new with just a kilometer or two on the odo. It had been delivered straight from Pune before being given to us.

(Yes, it has a Team-BHP sticker on it )


Last week, I got the experience of driving the Hexa through varied conditions during a couple of trips we undertook, first from Thrissur to Kannur (around 220 kms), then from Thrissur to Trivandrum and Kanyakumari (total trip length of around 900 kms). The roads involved a few twisties and some pretty bad and rough stretches. We kept to the recommended RPM and speed limits for the run-in period, till 1500-1800 kms before we really started to open up the engine gradually. All in all, it was a good 2500 kms covered in barely 20 days, quite taxing for a new vehicle, I'd say. We came away suitably impressed. Here are 4 main points I'd like to share :

1. The ride quality is impeccable. The bad stretches of road that I talked about, were dealt with arrogance from the large wheels and perfectly tuned suspension. It does its job quietly. Overall comfort levels are at par with vehicles several classes above it. The seats are perfectly suited for people like me and my dad, both of us who are above 6 feet tall. This is one of those rare cars where I don't have to contort my body to weird postures to sit comfortably or for ingress or egress. The family is mighty impressed with this particular aspect. The third row is not particularly comfortable for me (I'm 6'2", way above average). I had to sit sideways to fit properly. But the third row seat is superb and well cushioned and anyone under 6 feet will feel right at home.

2. The handling makes it feel like a much smaller car. The Hexa took on some twisty sections of road between Thrissur and Kannur with aplomb. There was minimal body roll and the steering felt direct, if a little low on feel compared to the mind-bendingly telepathic steering on the Fiat Punto. It did feel well weighted however and very confidence inspiring. The car begs you to push a bit harder into the corners and this is not what I was expecting to say of a 2.1 ton ladder-framed behemoth. Driving this massive thing in the city too was rather easy, especially considering the fact that Kerala's towns and cities have absolutely terribly designed narrow roads and lots of people moving zig-zag without knowing any traffic rules.

3. The Varicor 400 engine is an absolute gem. At idle, it sounds even quieter than the 1.3 MultiJet that we had in our previous car, a 2010 model Fiat Punto. Inside the cabin, the engine is quite commendably silent at idle and gives a nice throaty roar when revved hard. Give it a little beans and the engine wakes up after 1500 rpm and gives you all that 400 nm torque in one instant. Of course, there is turbo-lag as is expected from such a large turbo but you'll soon learn to recalibrate your driving style so as to keep the motor at the peak of its torque curve. One thing that really made me smile was how this engine pulled in 5th and 6th gears at around 70 kmph on the incline of a highway flyover. I was doing 70 on the climb and flooring the throttle brought the engine up to its turbo zone and it kept pulling like a locomotive. That feeling of torque is immensely satisfying. Fuel efficiency numbers cannot be discussed with complete certainty yet, but we're averaging around 14 kmpl with a mix of city and highway driving. The gearbox is a bit notchy like what everyone has said, but this is not a deal-breaker at all. The clutch is a bit springy and both my dad and I managed to stall it a considerable number of times. One needs to adjust their driving style in this regard.

4. Tata has massively improved in the after-sales department. One unfortunate thing that happened to our car soon after delivery was that the Harman infotainment system stopped working completely. It would show a blank white screen which would flash in quick succession five times and then go dead, only to repeat the same thing again. Worried, the next day we took it to the local Tata dealer, Hyson Motors where they first tried reflashing the firmware on the ICE unit, but to no avail. Then they contacted Tata at Pune, who directed technicians from Harman at Cochin to visit the service center at Thrissur to get the issue sorted. They brought a new head unit which they exchanged for the one in our car. Then, they reflashed the software and all was fine. The car was ready by 7 PM that day. The service head at Hyson told us that Tata was very proactive and they got calls right from HQ (where they were also trying to recreate the problem simultaneously), and they even called asking to confirm if the Harman guys had turned up yet. This reaffirms our faith in purchasing our second Tata (first was a 2004 model Indica V2 DLX).



To conclude this short summary, we've thoroughly enjoyed the car so far. It is a solid piece of engineering that has a lot of attention to detail throughout. Ergonomics are spot on, in our case anyway, comfort levels are off the charts and drivability is immense. We love it.

P.S. I did read a lot of posts on how the third row seats cannot be folded flat. Let me assure you that this is not at all a problem if you are planning to haul a lot of luggage as we did over the course of the week. We had a huge amount of bags and suitcases that filled up the boot area with the third seat folded and not a single piece moved around or rested against the boot door due to the angle of the third row seat. Also, consider the fact that we drove over some pretty bad patches of road at the same time.

[roby_dk]

Update: Got a call from Autovikas today from the advisor who was on sick leave last saturday. He asked me did I make up my mind for Hexa. I told him about the poor experience we had in our last visit.
He apologised for the same and confirmed a test drive tomorrow. He will be coming to my home with XTA, lets see how it goes this time.

[RaghuVis]

Originally Posted by rshnvjy

Since I'm a newbie, I don't have the privileges yet to post an all new ownership review thread, and therefore I would like to pen my thoughts here as a small summary for all the members who may be considering purchasing the Hexa.

First off, Congratulations on your HEXA.

Am just curious why did you guys take delivery of the Manual version even without a TD. Just asking since you said it was well over you budget. I guess you are familiar with Vericor 400 engine and the manual gearbox by driving Safari of friends/relative.

Have to say after seeing so many owner posts, blue is the best color on HEXA. Please post some more pics!




PS: This guy is from my hometown and probably the first HEXA owner from there in our group so let me just congratulate him in our native language.

Gadi! Porichutta. Mmade naatinu oralu ithu medichunu kelkumbo kittana Santhoshamuundallo athu ippo entha paraya, thrissur poorathinu naduvilal junctionil ninnu vedikettu kekana pole oru feeling

[vdi]

Originally Posted by RaghuVis

Gadi! Porichutta. Mmade naatinu oralu ithu medichunu kelkumbo kittana Santhoshamuundallo athu ippo entha paraya, thrissur poorathinu naduvilal junctionil ninnu vedikettu kekana pole oru feeling

That was awesome.

Congratulations to rshnvjy and am yet to see one here at Cochin.

[radkrish_1978]

Hey Guys,
I booked Hexa XTA ( Automatic Top end );
Still I am confused
Is ESP, DSL, Traction Control and Rollover mitigation more important. I decided to go with XTA because, after the test Drive I felt the driving is best in Automatic compared to Manual ( some times I felt notchy gear shifts and long clutch press).

Also few of my friends suggested me to go with Innova V; But I feel it is over priced for not much features and NO automatic in V. Please suggest.

Mod Note: Please restrict Smilies to 2 per post

[vharihar]

Originally Posted by radkrish_1978

Hey Guys,
I booked Hexa XTA ( Automatic Top end );
Still I am confused

XTA is the best package I feel. I test drove it twice, and is fantastic. The only negative I'd say (and I don't recall whether this was in the XM or XTA) is that the driver seat push-back adjustment is prone to injury (finger crush).

[Karthik Chandra]

Originally Posted by radkrish_1978

Hey Guys,

Is ESP, DSL, Traction Control and Rollover mitigation more important.

Absolutely important. These features can be life saving in critical situations. Go for it