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-   -   Tata Harrier : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/209281-tata-harrier-official-review-47.html)

After a long lull, the Harrier sales had picked up a bit.
But, now, with this increase in prices, they could lose whatever little momentum they had gained.

Coming to the 'reduced' success of the Harrier, I feel there are loads of places where Tata went wrong.

- Poorly equipped base/mid variants (Example: Unpainted door handles, Manual mirror adjustment controls etc.)
- No petrol Engine
- No Automatic Gearbox
- Lack of flashy equipment: No sunroof, No auto-closing boot etc. (Even though I personally see no usefulness in these gimmicks, the common man perceives these as 'luxury'.)
- No 4wd. Of what use is that Great Land rover platform, if there is no 4wd!
- Conservative state of tune for the power-train.
- Some QC misses.
- Uninterested Sales force.

Nevertheless, in spite of the above shortcomings, it is widely accepted and understood that the Harrier is much more robust, abuse/off road friendly & a class above it's other rivals Seltos & Hector in terms of presence/street cred.

If only, Tata can fix the shortcomings quick enough, this product will get the success that it deserves.

Agree they are not mutually exclusive. But I don't think that as arrogance at all. I can point out some of the statements that came from the Maruti quarters for examples of that. The absence of automatic beats me too, but it could be an honest mistake or a miscalculation from Tata. It might be cliched, but I am pretty sure one can find faults with any car in the market. Tata's new cars have lot of positives over their competitors - safety, build quality, design, stellar audio systems, lower price in comparison with the competition to name a few.

Coming to the topic at hand, I can't think of another car (below the Fortuner/Endeavor ranks) that looks as majestic in white as the Harrier. The other day, I came across a couple of white Harriers parked with a Fortuner and trust me, nobody will think these are just about half the price of the Fortuner. Perhaps, this is what is contributing to the recent improvements in the Harrier sales. Hopefully it's a trend that Tata can keep up.

Safety, Build Quality and Price certainly arent the USP of TATAs. The whole slew of cars coming out nowadays at this price point are safe. Even the XUV5OO has a 4Star Rating.

The design, ride quality and Audio systems are the best in the segment and there's no doubt about those.

When I was in the market for a car, to get bare min luxury from the TATA stable, I had to shell out 20 lakhs. The XM and XE variants were cheap looking and lacked any good features.

The 19.xx Lakh Harrier XT lacks ESP, Hill Hold and Hill Descent Control which the similarly priced XUV500 W9 provides (apart from a host of other features which the Harrier lacks). At lower variant Harrier XM vs XUV5OO W7, there was simply no competition. And this is disregarding the fact that the XUV is a decade old model.

They got the market wrong, ruining the prospects on an otherwise good vehicle. Being a person who wants to see TATA vehicles succeed, I desperately hope the upcoming models gets most things right, including driver side footwell space.

This felt like I was reading my own thoughts in July2019. On paper the comparison you made is absolutely right. And thats why I had visited a Mahindra showroom with a cheque to book the W7 right there. Why did I not book it? A test drive that I took on a brand new car.

Customers should drive the Harrier and the XUV5OO. For me, the deal broke in 500 meters. The XUV5OO felt OLD in every aspect of the driving experience. The Harrier on the other hand was far more pleasant to drive. Much more direct, eager & composed under all circumstances. And then - the quirkiness of design / finish on the XUV5OO comes out quickly when one looks carefully at the tastefully done Harrier.

Overall, a lot of cars beat the Harrier sales on paper much earlier in a customer's buying process. People don't test drive it at all due to lack of electronic features on paper & that results in the "failed product". Tata thought they were selling a car good on looks & driving dynamics & other items don't matter. What they got wrong was - the other items on paper is what pulls the people to the showroom to take a test drive in today's world.

(And now the Harrier is outselling XUV5OO so it seems more TDs are happening. Anyway - outselling a 10 year old car is no achievement to boast about. So that's that.)

I faced the same dilemma in 2018 while buying my Hexa XMA. XUV W7 AT which was the comparable variant had android auto, ESP , keyless start and much more. Adding to my problems, Mahindra launched a facelift with reduced pricing , placing it below Hexa XMA. I was left with no choice but to book the W7 AT. But I just could not get in terms with the quirky looks of XUV . With every passing day, I started losing sleep thinking about the weird door handles, the flimsy plastics, the moustache and the suspension of XUV. In the end, against all logic and opinions from friends and family, I cancelled the booking and bought home the Hexa.

There is no denying the fact that, even after 10 years , XUV is the complete product when compared to Hexa or Harrier. And that is where Tata fails. Only a handful of people are able to find sense in their products. Tata first have to get into buyer's consideration set. And that will not happen if they don't study the comparable variants of competitors and design their variants accordingly.

agree:

To each his own, but from my experience, the Indian market is still far from mature, and the less than 15-20 lac market still doesn't have the deep pockets, or for that matter time to deal with expensive spares, lazy dealers and technicians of brands other than MS and Hyundai. So they aim on attaining peace of mind with MS (zero breakdown in 9 yr ownership of our Dzire) or some status with Hyundai. And I won't take it away from both those OEMs because they have put time and effort to reach there.

What Tata thinks is, this is our product and this price 'X' is what we deserve. (Would have been valid if they made the right moves and put in the effort like Hyundai) What the masses think is, I don't care what your product is, we wouldn't pay more than 'Y' for it. Or they want all the gimmicks in tow if they are expected to shell out the 'X' amount. We take delivery of our Hexa tomorrow, and for as much as I love the product, I wouldn't have put my money if we didn't get that flat INR 2 lac discount. And my pre delivery experience till now has proven me right.

80-90% Tata are at fault for where they are today. They need to find a balance and soon. The market or competitors aren't going to wait for them.

We should stop reading into the December sales. There was a 1.7 lakh discount on the product.
Almost all manufacturers had stopped production in Nov to clear sales by year end. Some had more inventory to sell others had less ( dispatches ) so the numbers are misleading.

Anyway the prices have been hiked by 40k over last year's price. The next few months will decide how many would actually buy it at its new price.
When the BS6 model arrives I dread to imagine the price bump again. They better soften that premium price bump blow with additional features if not the new entrants like the Creta and the next gen XUV will manage to undercut them like Seltos and Hector did last year.

If the XE and XM didn't feel neglected and stripped down of some basic features for their asking price, Tata could have sold far more Harriers than they managed up until now. That way they could have had some leverage over Kia and MG but they only focused on the top end variant.

Hi! Good Morning to all members of this esteemed forum. Here is a small write up on my ownership experience of Tata Harrier. Kindly ignore errors (if any)

Vehicle Details:

1. Previous Car: Hyundai I10 Kappa - 2009 Model (driven 87000 Kms)
2. New Car: Tata Harrier XZ
3. Color: Orcus White
4. Landed Cost: INR 18.23 Lacs (including extended warranty & zero Dep. Insurance)
5. Accessories Purchased: Basic Kit for INR 24000/-
6. Date of booking: 30.12.2019
7. Date of Delivery: 05.01.2020
8. Date of Manufacture: 18.12.2019 (ascertained from slips attached on engine). Month & Year corroborated from VIN No.
9. Pre-Delivery Inspection - Visual Inspection from outside & VIN No. confirmation.

Verification of Niggles:

1. Panel Gaps: No unevenness noticed. Did pinky test for tailgate panels (inspiration from BHPian @neil.jericho's post on this thread) and surprisingly after slamming the tailgate with more force, the gaps visible in beginning got disappeared.

2. ORVM: They are huge and covers visibility upto vehicle base by slight tilt. Due to this the rearward visibility is excellent. Further, happy to report that after spending few hours in the vehicle, got accustomed to frontal pillars visibility (this was my main concern after reading the official review). May be my height (6'2") helped me in this.

3. Engine Noise: Felt upto 40% less noise as compared to the test drive car (March Manufactured). It is more pronounced in first two gears, post that it further refines to sweet rumble. Rear passengers did not complained on noise even at low gears. With music on, I could barely hear any noise.

4. Vibration: Felt on gear lever & on steering while starting up and in first gear. Thereafter, its smooth.

5. Seat Adjustment & Clutch: For me, seat works best in slightly laid back position but due to long clutch travel, I stalled the vehicle couple of times. To counter this, I raised the seat height and after that neither the protruded dash board nor the long clutch travel bothered me. Clutch is super smooth though.

6. Hand Brakes: Works absolutely fine. However, the gap between hand brake and place to keep cups is less in my opinion.

7. Bluetooth & Infotainment: Works perfectly fine on my OnePlus 7T. No, issue till now with the infotainment system.

Drive Experience (300 Kms):

1. First 15 Km ride from Showroom to Home: Due to transition from a small hatch, I was a little scared in the beginning to drive this big burly SUV (specially around old bus stand area which is known for its heavy congestion and haphazardous traffic), however; due to bonnet visibility and excellent maneuverability of Harrier, I found confidence within 5 kms of my ride. You have to drive it to believe this ease. The turning radius did not bothered me once during U turns.

2. Highway drive (200 kms) - The Next morning, I left for Sambhal (My workplace and resident township). This drive was amazing, the highway manner of Harrier impressed me and my family. We felt cocooned inside the car. Occasionally, I felt some minor bumpiness but I guess this was due to higher tyre pressure. I could not managed to get tyre pressure corrected, will do in some time.

3. Style Quotient: Absolute Head Turner. I have received overwhelming amount of compliments from my office colleague. Some even compared it with Fortuner. Even I can not stop myself from admiring this beauty. clap:

This is my brief write up. In coming weeks, I will be exploring its feature and will update the same in the forum.

Thanks for reading.

Some Pictures of delivery day:

Congratulations on your purchase! Mine's a dual tone. I concur with your assessment. Off late, the clutch tends to squeak a little when I start her up in the morning for a few minutes.

+1 on the steering. Handling in traffic is a breeze. Try and it keep it under 2000 rpm until the 1st service. That will help the mileage as well as engine life as per the Sales Advisor at the showroom.

Thanks!

Initially, I was negotiating for dual tone (looks killer in white with black roof), however the dealer backed out at 11th hour due to December end rush and I had to settle for Orcus White.

I will keep your inputs in mind with respect to low RPMs during initial period.

Thanks & Regards.

You're most welcome. On a side note, have you tried using Cruise Control? I haven't quite been able to figure out how it functions.

I can relate to this statement completely. I was so much absorbed by the specs and reviews of other manufacturers (like Kia and MG) that I actually visited their showrooms and test drove those vehicles. It was until couple of days back that my curiosity about Harrier finally forced me to visit one of the Tata showroom near my house, and oh boy, my entire perception about Harrier changed.

The sheer size, space and looks just blew me away. It feels very solid and secured, like a tank. I never had such perception about Tata vehicles before this visit. I think Harrier is a car that people buy with a heart than a mind.

Having said that, I seriously find the absence of automatic transmission, rear disc brakes, front LED lights and adjustable armrests very disappointing. I hope Tata includes most of these features in their BS6 variant. Also appreciate Tata's continual efforts to fix those minor niggles that appeared in the earlier batches of their cars.

@A_KP & @vk007 - congrats on your Harriers. Wishing you a long happy flying with the Harrier.
Cruise Control can be enabled after a certain speed. This speed is configured in the ECU. Once you reach that speed, press the Cruise Control button and take your foot off the accelerator. The vehicle will maintain that speed. After that whenver you even tap / press the brake pedal, it gets dis-engaged. This is the basic working for a Cruise control.

Further configurations are possible - like resume, adaptive cruise control etc. I have not checked the Harrier, hence not able to give you more inputs. But do try this out.

Hey condor, thanks for the good wishes and the explanation. On a recent trip to Vijayawada, I tried using it. I increased my speed to about 80 and pressed the Cruise Control button. The corresponding symbol luminated on the MID as well. However, as soon as I took my foot off the accelerator, the speed started to drop. So, I disengaged it and continued driving in normal mode. Maybe I did something wrong. In my defence, I have never used Cruise Control. I will ask the showroom engineer to show me how to use it.

No big deal if you havent used it before :). it's new for you, and now just a matter of understanding how it works. Can you share a pic of what the owner's manual says on using it.