[TrackDay]

Originally Posted by Rollingwheels26

Harrier fan boy in a quandry:
Would appreciate inputs from all and sundry since I am at my wits end since the last one week as to what car to decide upon and unable to think of anything else !

Although I am not in the market for an SUV, the Harrier/Safari always had my attention. Those are really good looking SUVs and manages to turn heads every time. Regarding your dilemma, there are two sides to that coin. On one hand you might have to face the issues/niggles as some have reported. If you have a reliable FNG/service center or someone who can take care and resolve issues then things will smooth. On the other hand if you don't buy it you will face regret for not going for it. If you feel your bitten by the large SUV form factor why not consider a used Toyota Fortuner ? In Bangalore you could easily find one in your budget. A true blue reliable SUV with the guts to really go anywhere.

[TROOPER]

Originally Posted by Rollingwheels26

Harrier fan boy in a quandry:

From one fanboy to another, just go buy the Harrier.

You don’t want to be stuck with a pseudo Seltos or Creta which sag from behind when loaded. Or stutter on bad roads. And I’ll trust Tata with safety over these tincans any day. They can never match up with presence, ride and comfort offered by the Tata stable boys. As a Hexa(which behaves more like an SUV compared to the pseudos) owner, I could never consider the Seltos or Creta as an SUV, let alone the Kushaq . And Skoda makes Tata’s customer care look like saints. I mean, if Zac Hollis leaves by any chance VAG is back to the mid 2000s in no time.

Harrier seems mechanically solid. I feel it’s the infotainment system which is a hit or a miss. I’m sure Tata will resolve any niggles with updates.

My two cents. Before cutting the cheque, keep the sales advisor aside and have a chat with the GM of service at your Tata dealership. If he seems like a genuine dude, go for it. Everything depends on your relationship with the GM. If it’s good, you’ll enjoy the ownership. Do a very strict PDI of the car. Don’t let anything by.

On a recent 18 month service of my Hexa in Mangalore, I found that Silver AMC (second service) doesn’t cover wash and vaccum. May sound silly from my end but Tata charge 1200+ gst for the same. Had a chat with the GM, who explained nicely why it’s not covered and said he’d look into it. He got the same done for free. This was because we’ve had a cordial relationship for the past year and half. I always make a point to have a quick chat with him whenever I visit the centre. And guess what, although I’m based in Mumbai, I’ve decided to get every major service done in Mangalore. Visits will be timed accordingly. So no, it’s not like every TASS is a black sheep.

If you have a good TASS in Bangalore, just go for it. No point driving boring cars. Owning fun cars takes some effort. Don’t forget to share pics .

[IP_Man]

Originally Posted by Rollingwheels26

Would appreciate inputs from all and sundry since I am at my wits end since the last one week as to what car to decide upon and unable to think of anything else !

Kia and MG are good cars but I'm not convinced about their suspension quality for the Indian roads.

Since TATA is an Indian company, they know how to tune suspension for the Indian road but getting non-lemon niggle free car is like winning lottery, considering their pathetic quality control.

If you are considering Harrier, my advice is take your own time to check allocated car throughly (TBHP has very good pre-delivery inspection list) and take test drive of the allocated car before signing on the dotted line.

[charanreddy]

Let me offer an ‘out of the box’ suggestion. Since you are willing to spend close to 24 lakhs, why not get the Innova Crysta 2.4 VX manual or the 2.4 G AT. I know that the lower variants are not close to luxury but Innova is very close to being the last name in reliability. Plus if you keep the cars long you will appreciate the peace of mind and highest resale values. It may not pull your heart strings like the Harrier but it does almost everything better than the harrier or so I have been told by a few acquaintances who have picked the Innova in that budget:

[ike]

Originally Posted by TROOPER

My two cents. Before cutting the cheque, keep the sales advisor aside and have a chat with the GM of service at your Tata dealership. If he seems like a genuine dude, go for it.

This is the same as hedging with Zac Hollis while getting a Skoda isn't it? The GM wouldn't be around forever. He/she might move on to a different brand or dealership.

[TROOPER]

Originally Posted by ike

The GM wouldn't be around forever.

True. But neither will the niggles.

There’s a chance a brand new Harrier could come with some QC issues. A competent TASS will do well at clearing the issues. Add to that I’m not really seeing a lot of Harriers stranded on the roads. I would pick a Harrier which could have its infotainment hang rather than a Hyundai/Kia whose ABS could go faulty without notice.

Tata’s unreliability is starting to get blown out of proportion. I’ve seen enough Hexas which have done north of 1 lac kms in the past 3-4 years. With hardly any issues. They neither seem to show their age.

It’s the quality control and after that the customer executives in the company who are incompetent and doing a really bad job.

End of the day, it’s like a coin toss between Skoda and Tata. But even if I wasn’t a fanboy and asked to pick, I would pick Tata. The devil you know is better than the one you don’t.

[FloatingCanvas]

Originally Posted by ike

This is the same as hedging with Zac Hollis while getting a Skoda isn't it? The GM wouldn't be around forever. He/she might move on to a different brand or dealership.

If the GM leaves and you aren't happy with his/her successor, you can always find another service center that is better. A bit of extra work, but might be required like once in a decade.

On the other hand, Zac Hollis seems to be only person responding from Skoda for all online queries. It's become his USP and he, the brand's. If he leaves, finding a replacement who'd better him seems bleak.

[Sentinel17]

Originally Posted by Rollingwheels26

Harrier fan boy in a quandry:

Dear Fellow BHPians I have been trying to solve a quandary for the last few days and am unable to do so. I am at my wits end and finally have decided to seek opinions from all of you.

https://www.cartoq.com/one-family-4-tata-harriers/amp/

Oh boy,if only you had half the luck this man has.
Maybe this can help sort your issues?
4 Harriers.Definitely a large sample size.Again,this isn't the initial batch of Harriers.So you can be a little more assured.

[ike]

Originally Posted by FloatingCanvas

If the GM leaves and you aren't happy with his/her successor, you can always find another service center that is better.

Not always. In the tier 3 city that I live in, there is just 1 TASS. Whether you like the GM or not, you have nowhere else to go. The GM and the dealership of course take full advantage of this.
My point here is that you should be able to trust the brand to be able to help resolve issues rather than individuals, whether it is head of marketing or GM of service.

[abhishek46]

The majority of the issues found in the Harrier are in the Infotainment, Creature comforts areas.

Given your high focus on safety, as a whole, you should go ahead for the Harrier.

You may as well avoid the higher variants altogether.
XM variant seems to be having the bare minimum electronic stuff.
A ton of the problematic areas are simply absent in the XM variant! (The smaller Infotainment system is heard to be much more reliable)

[FloatingCanvas]

Originally Posted by ike

Not always. In the tier 3 city that I live in, there is just 1 TASS.

That's a fair point, which I didn't consider.

While it would be great to have such a setup in place, it's rather unfortunate that not many companies seem to have as much say over service centre behaviour as say, Maruti does.

With the service centres being the primary point of contact for customers throughout, it is definitely crucial to have a smooth process in place.

Tata definitely has improved on this front over the past few years. While still lagging behind Maruti and Hyundai, they are better than they were. Another aspect is that even if their hospitality isn't up to the mark sometimes, the company always does tries to resolve the issues without blaming it all on the customer.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by Rollingwheels26

Harrier fan boy in a quandry:

I would avoid the Harrier, because just like you I hate niggles. Some of them in Harrier have been pretty serious too. And having first hand experience of dealing with Tata ASS, I never recommend Tata vehicles.

Why not consider the MG Hector? From whatever I have read, people have seldom faced reliability issues / niggles. I am also part of Hector's owners group( close friend is admin) and people are a very happy lot. With the bigger 18 inch wheels even the ugly side looks are now sorted to an extent. It has the core strengths of Harrier as well, being perhaps a tad more spacious, segment best boot, cushy low speed ride, pretty responsive steering, a punchy diesel with good nvh management. It's very well loaded with features as is common knowledge. Only thing I wish was better was a better high speed ride. But other than that, IMO it's a great vehicle for someone looking for long mile munching at utmost comfort.
Do take a test drive before finalizing.

[giri1.8]

Interesting to NCAP rating being used against the Korean brands, while Tata themselves decided not to send the Harrier for testing!

I used to be a Tata fanboy too, until I bought their Tigor

[blackbeast]

Originally Posted by Rollingwheels26

The harrier is certainly impractical but you know what they say- Love is blind and in this case certainly stupid

I gravitated towards them only for the fact that they are the only reliable pseudo SUVs in the 20L range.

Rollingwheels, 2 cents from my side.

Harrier is most practical of the lot out there, it beats the competition on space comfort & performance. If harrier were as reliable as korean twins, it would be priced at 30L+ alongside compass. Hence, you get a bargain upfront for the all the misery (surely)you will face on your visits to TASS. Point is that it is an extremely VFM car and the rest are overpriced.

In my opinion, people who call these crossovers as "pseudo" suvs are usually the herd pseudo aspirants who do not end up buying a proper SUV which are priced around 45L currently unless they go used car route or settle for utility car like a thar. So, do not pay heed to it. Both the korean twins do their job very well and i advice take the Ncap ratings with a pinch of salt.

Thing i can vouch for kushaq is, it will be cheaper to maintain than the koreans contrary to what people percieve skoda to be excluding DSG issues.

what ever car you pick you'll reap in some and you lose in some. All of them are pretty great. My choice would be to buy a compass perferably manual.

[abhatt]

Originally Posted by Rollingwheels26

Harrier fan boy in a quandry:

Would appreciate inputs from all and sundry since I am at my wits end since the last one week as to what car to decide upon and unable to think of anything else !

RollingWheels26

Huge Harrier fan here. Chased it for more than 18 months waiting for things to get better. Almost gave SA the token money.

One day decided to give the New JC a look atleast. Next day took my father to finalize and everything changed. Ended up spending 3l more and letting automatic go. Jeep Compass Blue Limited Manual it was.

All the Harriers I test drove had problems with start stop buttons blanked out, spotted dashboards, broken seat buttons, brown leather washed out, dashboard panel print destroyed by stickers. As soon as you step into Jeep Compass it smells and feels luxurious. Electronics which cost so much in modern cars is a big big miss with Harrier.

I miss Harrier but everytime i look at my Jeep Compass i feel proud although Harrier would have given me a bit more space which i miss. Also Jeep is a bit heavier on the pocket with maintenance.