[ramjiramu]

Originally Posted by Nayan

Am I repenting my purchase?

Sorry about your harrowing experience with Harrier. My suggestion is to choose peace of mind by saying good bye to problems and welcoming what you desire most. This might involve some financial loss but its worth compared to the pain of seeing the regretted decision everyday.

Also, do note that as more and more people report issues and popularity dwindles down then the resale value will go lower and lower.

So, instead choose what your heart says. Money can be earned but not peace of mind or lost time. I wish that you have wonderful driving years of memory ahead.

[RaghavEvoX]

The money TATA spends in marketing campaigns during the IPL could be used for improving their QA process. This post could probably have led to 100s of probable customers who might be thinking to buy a TATA to think otherwise.

I always wanted TATA & Mahindra to succeed but at this moment I would not buy them. Is it that difficult when a new entrant like KIA has a better process. Probably it is the 'Indian Attitude' that it is fine to have some issues, that doesn't help them. Or may be they should revamp their dealerships and be more strict with them.

[aastiksaluja]

@nayan.

Thanks for sharing the incident. I appreciate and admire your benevolence that despite facing such issues, you're trying to highlight the positives out of the incident, making sure that the good ones do not suffer even if bad ones are spared in the process.
Honestly, every car company/model/dealer has both good and bad experience story, and one should not form an opinion with just one review.

But, one cannot deny where the median of experience lies with major car companies. I have a handful of experiences to share from Maruti, Hyundai, Nissan & Mahindra in our purchases. I believe everyone has them unless they're purely lucky to have flawless buying and ownership experience.

But in this context, I do have my experience to share. Just like every other enthusiast, I followed the highly anticipated launch of Harrier & Compass and visited showrooms if I saw one around with time to spare. This segment was of greater interest because the next upgrade I'll have is in this segment, from the current use Nissan Terrano.
With that curiosity, I also visited the MG showroom for Hector. However, my priorities of a CAR primarily being a CAR and then a gadget rules it out as an option. So it's a narrowed interest between Harrier & Compass. I have had similar reasons like yours for Compass' premium price tag and love for Harrier. My heart roots for Harrier, but my mind plays out similar VALID reasons like you highlighted, and I faced myself.
Another thing, I'm in no rush, and with COVID around, I've decided to hold on to the current vehicle at least till next year. But the sales experience does make a difference in any logical assessment to NOT choose TATA as of now. It's like I want TATA to win me over with the slightest of a gesture, but they miserably fail every time.

I'll just share both experiences out there.

I visited the TATA showroom 3-4 times in Delhi NCR(Rohini, Wazirabad, Noida & Ghaziabad) & Rudrapur (Uttarakhand) 2019 and pre-COVID 2020, and all the times' Test vehicle wasn't there. Understood. You walk in and can't expect TD vehicle to be there every time. They took all the details, and I NEVER received a callback.
Sometimes, out of nowhere and weeks or months off, I get a random call, not from showrooms, but the central Telecaller team asking if I'm still interested. I said YES, but I'd like a TD first. Agin, false promises, asking too many details to fill up their forms, but no PROPER follow up. I didn't mind as I wasn't actively hunting for a replacement.
Also, the 2019 Harrier's issues were not an encouragement, and I waited for the upgrade.

Fast Forward 2020, Harrier's upgrade got my interest, and I waited by reading and watching reviews for COVID to go away before contacting the dealership.

December 2020, I put an online query marking my location in NCR, and I get several calls from a showroom in PUNE asking me for my interest. I wasted cumulative hours telling them where I am and giving me a relevant salesperson/dealers number from around here. But no use. For those thinking, why didn't I called the dealership myself, looking at their details in Google- I did and couldn't connect. Hence I put my details on the TATA motors website for a callback.

I came to Rudrapur after that, and once again, I thought I'll try the dealership here. The SA actually connected. When I told him of my interest in Harrier, he said he'll help. But they don't have a TD vehicle yet, and they're preparing for Safari Launch. I told him I'm interested in Harrier, not Safari. To which, he said- Sir, they're the same with just some added features. I thought at first he's just doing his job by pitching what he has and trying to make a sale. But wait for the next event. That time, I told him to revert when he has a Harrier TD vehicle.
He calls after two-three weeks and tells me he has the TD vehicle and where should he come. I gave him the address and asked if he has a manual or auto of Harrier. Then he tells me- Sir, I have a Safari TD vehicle. But don't worry, they are SAME SAME vehicle- same power, same chassis, and started spilling all specs, which by now I remember better than him, TBH.
I found it quite funny and had an urge to respond in the same way. I said the Jeep guy has been calling me (he did, see below for Jeep experience)- Same engine, same power, I think that would be better. Have a good day, Sir!


Jeep Experience

I had taken multiple TDs of the Compass from Friend's new car; while buying a friend's car, and once in Showroom as well. If Compass had conventional Automatic instead of Trailhawk back in early 2019 when we selected Alturas, I would've got it. After that, it was always the thing I want, but I wished to get a better deal in the form of a pre-worshipped or some good seasonal discounts.

I restarted my contact in December 2020 same time I enquired for Harrier, as mentioned above. To my surprise, Jeep doesn't have a showroom in my city, but they have an SA. Their only Showroom in Uttarakhand is in Dehradun, but with many compass owners in my region, they have appointed a local SA, partnered with Mahindra to use their service centre and appointed their trained technicians, keep essential spare parts inventory and luckily, keep a TD vehicle
Not sure how ASS will be, but it's still impressive, to say the least, for a pre-sales experience. The SA followed up professionally with me going for a tour of two weeks in between. When I came back, he got me the TD & offered a good deal on Longitude pre-facelift model as the last stock left out. And when I honestly told him my buying preference and scenario of no urgency unless I see a sweeter deal, he said not a problem. But still insisted on TD as I might be a possible client in the future.
Also, to remember, the SA I met in 2019 in one of my TD in Delhi showroom professionally followed up for a couple of months until I told him I bought another vehicle for now and would wait for some time before the next buy.

Like everyone's saying, one should not form an opinion out of one incident/review. But count all the ONEs and see where the ratio lies when you weigh the average. I'll let others be the judge of that.

[yrwagh]

@Nayan, Thanks for sharing the experience. It only makes me recall my SA experience with Harrier. Had that not been bad, I would've been one of the owners.

I wanted a MT version of Harrier. Went to inquire and got the response from SA that automatic is available for TD but not now as 4 showrooms are sharing it. My city which is apparently a birthplace of Harrier; has such a situation.I still said okay; but the response was it is not available and will let you know once we get it in our showroom. This is despite of me telling them that I am looking to buy a vehicle in another 15 days ! No response or a single call after this. Obviously, turned to Jeep Compass and with all boxes ticked and a sweet deal with discount went ahead with a purchase. I am very happy with my purchase. But nonetheless had very pathetic service experience in one and the only service center in my city for Fiat vehicles. Complained and got positive response with an assurance of a good service in future. Surprisingly my Jeep SA extended his help, to provide assistance in pick 'n' drop to service station in future whenever it is needed.

[abhatt]

@Nayan

I want to iterate my story here. I was so keen on Harrier that I followed and chased it for last 1 - 1.5 years. Went through multiple rounds of negotiations across multiple showrooms in and around my area. I was also not in a hurry to buy one and for anyone out there waiting for a good discount, I would strongly recommend to buy around end of December or when the newer model of Harrier will be introduced. Few on this forum said March end is a good time but in my opinion it was not for hot selling cars.

Coming back to the topic, I haggled a lot and was about to pay the booking amount for XZA+ white DT in March. My father had not seen the car, so as we were waiting I told him to have a look at the car. Thanks to Safari there was no display car but a test drive car was available. As my father entered the car, he was not very impressed which disappointed me. 1) Leather seats were worn out 2) Black Dash had multiple white spots all over the hard plastic 3) Push button start stop text was erased/wiped out. 4) Coming from the VW world he did not think the door shut was as good a thud as his Vento. I tried to convince him otherwise as his approval was important for me. Now a few meters away there was a Jeep showroom, I had visited once during the launch of 2021 Jeep however stayed away coz I wanted to be firm with my decision. My wife had always tried to push me towards the Jeep as she was never a big fan of Tata as a brand. I managed to convince her though with "Tata has changed" "Harrier looks like a beast" "Range Rover DNA" "Lovely Brown interiors" "Space"

Now as we stepped into Jeep, the display car and the test drive cars were spick and span. The difference was noteworthy, then the quality of the dash and interiors (even though the brown interiors of Harrier looked better in my opinion) were top notch. The thud on that door was different. I had test driven Jeep before and I had loved it. My father said this car deserves 3 lak more.

In the past, I had seen multiple Harriers with Start/Stop button erased out, poor white spots on dashboards, the brown wood panel of the dashboard had areas where the wood/silver tone was wiped off in multiple cars (probably while removing the plastic coating on it), electric seat buttons broken. All of this along with multiple niggles highlighted across this thread where I was an active reader played through my mind and it resulted in me giving up on my Diesel Auto and went for Limited Diesel Manual with my favorite Blue color (which they chose to give only in Safari).

Today, I am very happy with my decision but all of these decisions cannot be judged immediately. I had problems with VW service center, scratching my car every time I gave it to them. I had multiple bad experiences post which they moved their body shop away from Service center thereby reducing the load and managing vehicles in a much better way. So yes, it does not happen only with TATA however VW did take a note of it and took an action which was impressive. Do not sell your car, I am sure there are beautiful memories yet to be made which would make you forget the initial hiccups.

Only time will tell but I do enjoy the luxury of Jeep Compass and the sales experience was fantastic. He gave me a good discount on the insurance and also gave away a lot of Jeep goodies and accessories which was unexpected.

Now the funny thing is that a neighbor of mine got White DT XZA which parks 2 cars away from my Jeep Compass. We still look at it and love the way it looks, a genuine beast, but I have moved on and hopefully for good.

[vinodvayyat]

Originally Posted by Nayan

...Forget the Hector, please compare this with a car from lower segment like the Creta, Seltos, etc. Even the Maruti Wagon R at our home has better fit & finish.

I completely respect your post and I agree that more people like you should come forward and post such experiences to create better media attention and care from After Sales of car companies. But I differ on the view that Wagon R has a better fit and finish. I'm an owner of a Tata Hexa, a Hyundai Santro new gen, a Wagon R(2012 model). I have also seen the interiors of a new gen WagonR. It is very subjective and unfair to say the least. There is a world of difference w.r.to fit & finish between these two vehicles. With the same logic that you have put, one small niggle in Jeep Compass can make it comparable to Wagon R as well.

I had extremely bad episodes with Maruti ASS - in one such occasion, the service center guys spoilt entire hatch door including the tail lamp cluster when they were painting a portion on the rear corner. I had to create such a scene in front of them to get them replace the entire lamp cluster. While they were doing the replacement, I was curious to know how they will remove sprayed dots of paint that fell on the rear windshield and on the portion where the factory paint was intact. The guys were literally scrubbing the entire area with the putty blade! This created further scratches all around. I called MS helpline number and complained and all they said was that they can repaint the entire area - I humbly declined the offer and decided to live with it (because of same reason you were talking about - paint finish concerns and after sales price concerns if I'm to sell it).

My old Fiat Punto 90HP always used to have a new scratch after every service it got. I was concerned the first few times and got the same answer - that they will repaint the area. Once a plastic dampener from the 60-40 split seat latching mechanism was lost (during the service I think) and it started creating very embarrassing rattle over every tiny pothole - went to at least 3-4 FASS outlets in Bangalore and in Kochi - none figured out the source or the cause. I had to persist and schedule for their vendor expert from Pune/Bangalore to arrive at my office. He diagnosed it as a missing dampener which is worth just 5-10 bucks! The dampener wasn't even a genuine accessory! They shipped it from Pune plant and it still is with me even though the car is already sold.

One of my friend's Ritz's bonnet and bumper were heavily damaged due to a careless Maruti ASS mechanic who was already inform that the there was a brake failure. He has been complaining about how bad his gear box is, how bad the the suspension is and it is a never ending story despite several visits all ASS outlets in Bangalore. Sometimes I think that I should have taken Tata Tiago instead of Hyundai Santro thinking about the GNCAP 2 Star vs Tiago's 4 Star. Every car/brand has its own advantages and disadvantages.

The point I was trying to make is - stories differ from dealer to dealer. We should just pray and minimize our visits to ASS and limit it to major repairs and services. Always ensure to have an inspection on the interiors and exterior immediately before signing the acknowledgement post the service/repair work - that gives you a better traction on resolving the glitches. The same FIAT service dealer in Bangalore is now running MOPAR dealership which services the much celebrated Jeep Compass. The management and even mechanics are till date the same old ones who were there during the FASS days (One of them had broken a glow plug of my Punto and it got rectified for the second owner who is my friend in his first visit to the same outlet. It was supposed to be a complete remove and refit of the engine head and some lathe work - but the dude managed to remove the broken glow plug somehow!). Some of old the service managers and mechanics today are working for other car brands including Hyundai, Maruti and Toyota. IMO - quality of ASS depends solely on dealerships and not heavily on the car brand. The companies give direct training only for one or two supervisors in the workshop - they don't get time to pay attention for bodyshop works, wheel alignment, balancing and other minor jobs.

But again, appreciate your post and wish you happy motoring and best of luck to your car.

Originally Posted by Nayan

About suggesting to others after purchasing a Tata car - I will always recommend against buying a Tata Car, especially a costly one (like more than Rs. 15 lakhs). I sincerely pray that as an Indian company, Tata should succeed and become an aspirational brand. But, that time has not arrived yet. Let them improve their QC, dealers and TASS quality, then one might consider.

Again IMHO, the advise should be to check how good the service outlets are in their respective towns. Pre-sales have no relation to ASS. If Sales experience matter to them, ask them to check if good dealerships are available. They can check reliable sources like TeamBHP to know it. I'm part of all India Telegram and WA groups of Tata Hexa and I haven't come across many disappointment stories which qualify for me to suggest others to stay away from Tata Motors. In fact I have helped and assisted 20+ of my friends to buy Tata, FIAT, Hyundai etc. Love Cars, Live Cars.

[ramki.grandhi]

Dear fellow BHPians, I have some questions to ask.

Is Tata planning a facelift for the Harrier in the near future (say 2021 end), or is it the right time to buy one? Do we have any insider information regarding a petrol version of the Harrier?

Thank you in advance.

[abhatt]

Originally Posted by ramki.grandhi

Is Tata planning a facelift for the Harrier in the near future (say 2021 end)

No insider info from my end but its obvious that a new variant with additions of Safari will be available soon. My guess is before the end of this year. Again its just a Guess.

[advenk999]

Hi Nayan,

First of all, congrats on your Harrier! It's a looker and TATA products have come a long way despite certain edges that are rough and need refinement in terms of execution.

The Kryotec 2.0 diesel mill is really nice and has a lovely torque band. I'd classify it as a pretty well refined engine. That said, this is a beautiful product and I wish you the happiest of miles with it.

Tata dealerships in general are quite good when it comes to the sales part. The customer experience along with the test drive and interaction with the sales teams is a memorable experience. But that's where it all ends.

The after sales aspect is where the brand can be a hit or miss depending on the dealership and where you get it serviced. A friend's Tigor with a fried clutch had to wait for 3 whole weeks to get the car fixed in place and yet delivered with scratches on the dashboard and gearbox trim. The clutch failed for the second time at 13k kms and the dealership blamed it on his poor driving skills which is not the case.
Even after offering up to pay for the third clutch and not creating much of a scene for scuffed interior trims (my friend is too nice a person), they took their own sweet time to do the replacement and did not respond or give updates on the timeline of work to be executed.
Only after writing in to TATA directly did they come under the spotlight. A directive to refund the payment for the third clutch along with interior trims replacement was sent from the management and a complimentary full body detail was added in too.
The car is now flawless at 25k kms. The management is great in that sense. It's unfortunate that the dealerships are left loose and are brought to their necks only when the management steps in.

Glad that your issue is resolved. I hope you can put all this behind and enjoy a mechanically sound and well engineered car.

Wishing you the very best!

A.

[nda992]

Originally Posted by Nayan

And regarding Tata as a company. I am 100 % sure that if there is any business house which has helped India the most, then it is Tata and Tata only. Others are nothing as compared to them. Right from the generation of employment to nation building, there is no match to Tata’s selfless contribution. Even today, highest share of their profit goes for charity and many charitable institutes will stop functioning if Tata Trust decides to stop their funding and concentrates on profiteering.

Very nicely put across. My generation (late '70s- early '80s)will surely agreee that Tata products were omnipresent in our lives, right from salt to steel. I recall the famous book "Made In Japan: Akio Morita and Sony" where the author wrote that when the then Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's ending the war after the Atomic explosions, the author (then a Naval officer); wore his full uniform with sword and stood in attention in front of the radio! . This was the level of patriotism of the future business magnate. I still get goosebumps recalling those lines.
Tata too, has rendered yeomen service to our nation, right from giving us a national Airline to indigenous steel production to transportation.. The list is endless.

[naivedyanm]

I am glad Nayan's issue was taken up. However, I would like to mention the kind of experience I had here in Telangana which was pretty good and what confusion seeped in later.

I went to Select Motors who had opened up their branch 2-3 weeks before my visit sometime in Nov. '20. The SA Lead (Mr.SR) was very courteous and proactive. I felt I got a good deal as I went for an exchange too. The exchange evaluator and SA both were in sync and I had a very hassle free exchange as well as RC transfer for my old vehicle. Apart from this transfer, the actual vehicle deal was pretty good and swift. My only issue was the absolutely laid back attitude of the accessories guy who was hardly interested in discussing/selling and if led to me not taking any accessory whatsoever apart from sun shades

Post purchase, I received a call from TaMo call center about my feedback for purchase experience. This is the point where my appreciation was assumed more like a complaint. There were few queries about 'usage of technology' during deal, any complains etc. Where I did mention my experience. The SA was in touch with me throughout my deal via call/whatsapp. Thats all he had and he used it to the best of it nothing other than that. Or how fast was my delivery and what all documents I received during my delivery. I had a delivery in less than 30 mins to be honest but other than TR and insurance, did not have invoice, and it took more than a week. Again for this, I did not hold him responsible as I knew where the delay is and how much he had struggled to get it done. Some similar things that I mentioned, led TaMo to put up a complain for him (Mr. SR)
And after my feedback I received a call from Mr. SR that I have complained about him. I genuinely felt sorry for the guy and clarified to him thay my prime issue was with accessories and accounts and not him. I do not know how far he considered it to be true. But it did not go as I expected it.


Note: have dealership experience of Maruti-Suzuki, Fiat, Honda, VW, Hyundai and I would say the experience with Tata was not that bad, almost in similar league I felt. In fact few times at Maruti I felt their attitude was too high as they hardly care you buy or not some other will come and take it. I had heard stories and seen videos of customer arguments, fights at Tata dealership so was having very low expectations but I felt it depends on who is the SA(serv. Advisor) and how he tackles issues.

[Big Smoke]

Dear fellow BHPians, I am facing a strange issue with the cruise control (henceforth CC) of my car. Kindly help me out with your valuable inputs.

Introduction: I own an XZA+ variant. It's a Dec 20 manufactured vehicle, bought in Jan 21. It has run 3400 km to date. It is my first vehicle that comes equipped with Cruise Control .

Issue: While CC is engaged, after I press the brake pedal to slow down, the CC always gets cancelled. The exact message displayed is "Cruise Control Cancelled". However, please note that this does not turn "Cruise Control Off". It means the small CC icon is still displayed in the MID, and one can re-engage the CC by simply clicking on the button used to increase the speed.

Previously, this was not the case. While using CC, after I braked, the car used to automatically re-accelerate to the set cruise speed after releasing the brake pedal. That is exactly how CC should work. But as I have described, it is not the same case anymore.

In the present situation, the dedicated CC OFF button on the steering wheel (the one below the speed adjustment button) has become redundant.

My ordeal to use CC goes this way-

I press the CC ON button (the one above the speed adjustment button), then set the required cruise speed. CC works alright. Then in case I brake, MID displays "Cruise Control Cancelled". The CC icon continues to be displayed in the MID. The speed display goes away.
In order to re-engage CC, I press the speed adjustment button upwards (to increase speed). CC comes back on, MID re-displays the CC speed.
When I want to turn CC Off, I have to press the CC ON button again, and MID shows "Cruise Control Off". In case I press the CC OFF button to turn off CC, it simply doesn't work. It is almost like a dummy button now.

I believe I have been able to successfully describe my problem to you. This is quite an annoying issue. I use CC primarily in the city, so as to be careful not to overshoot the speed limit. And city driving involves frequent braking. It becomes an irritating ordeal in a matter of minutes.
Above all, I believe it is a problem with some settings in the car, which I am not able to figure out. This is an abnormal behaviour of the CC.

My car's next service is scheduled in Jul 21. Currently, the Covid situation in Kolkata is steadily deteriorating. The condition throughout India is out of control. I am not willing to visit the ASS now, neither do I want to send the car. I am not even sure the ASS are open, since WB Govt. has passed strict instructions for only essential services to be open. The situation in July remains to be seen. Hence, I would like to solve this situation at home itself.

Originally Posted by Shubhendra

Yes, i have had worst experience with one dealer at Kolkata.

Please post the name of the dealer. I believe it is important for the forum members to know, me included. It would help us be vary and possibly avoid this dealership's ASS. If possible, also elaborate on your unfortunate experience.

Thanks in advance.

[Shubhendra]

Originally Posted by Big Smoke

Please post the name of the dealer. I believe it is important for the forum members to know, me included. It would help us be vary and possibly avoid this dealership's ASS. If possible, also elaborate on your unfortunate experience.

Thanks in advance.

It was year 2010 and dealer was located around Exide. I dont know the name. He scratched my Safari's entire right side while trying to park in one of the service bays. My clutch was replaced in warranty and they forgot to properly connect pipe for hydraulic clutch, resulting me stranded at Naxalite area near Sasaram at mid night. I dont know the service quality now at that center.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by Big Smoke

Issue: While CC is engaged, after I press the brake pedal to slow down, the CC always gets cancelled. The exact message displayed is "Cruise Control Cancelled". However, please note that this does not turn "Cruise Control Off". It means the small CC icon is still displayed in the MID, and one can re-engage the CC by simply clicking on the button used to increase the speed.

This is how cruise control is supposed to work. It cancels when brake is applied. It has to be reactivated/resumed after you brake or clutch.

Previously, this was not the case. While using CC, after I braked, the car used to automatically re-accelerate to the set cruise speed after releasing the brake pedal.

This is a major issue, if true.

Edit:

All cruise control systems must be capable of being turned off both explicitly and automatically when the driver depresses the brake, and often also the clutch. Cruise control often includes a memory feature to resume the set speed after braking

Source: Wiki

Check your user manual and see how the system should behave.

[Big Smoke]

Originally Posted by ashis89

This is how cruise control is supposed to work. It cancels when brake is applied. It has to be reactivated/resumed after you brake or clutch.

Oh well, that is news to me! As I have mentioned, this is my first experience with a car equipped with Cruise Control. Whatever knowledge I have gained is through reading about Cruise Control in the forum. Hence, I knew otherwise.

This is a major issue, if true.

It is no more the issue.

Thanks for the information.