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-   -   Tata Altroz 1.2L Turbo-Petrol Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/232217-tata-altroz-1-2l-turbo-petrol-review-28.html)

I went in for a Stage 1 remap. Stage 2 involves a downpipe, which I wasn't too keen on. With the remap, I can stay at a higher gear than from stock, turbo kicks in earlier and there's a noticeable surge. I think the remap may have breached the torque limit, but damage to the gearbox will happen only if you're doing a lot of pulls and putting pressure on the gearbox.

The process is a half-day job. I had left it with them for longer as I got it serviced and had some paintwork to be done too. Cost was 26k for the stage 1 remap.

Been a while since this post, so many things happened till now, got a job and became kind of busy. Been wanting to post but couldn't find the time to, until just now. The issue propped up again multiple times and I followed up with the service center each time, but they couldn't repeat the issue. I solely used the city mode after that and only switched to sport when in need of a quick overtake.

Around a year passed, but just yesterday the issue showed it's ugly head once again even though I was on sport for only a brief duration. As usual I stopped the car, restarted it and it drove normal again except today, the car actually overheated when I was en route to Trivandrum from Palakkad. Coolant was actually leaking and the vehicle showed warning chimes as well.

This time I was not on sport and wasn't driving aggressively (kept the rpm under 2000) when it happened. Called the RSA and they promptly arranged a towing service free of charge (we did purchase the premium plan for 1 year duration).

Thankfully it happened near a residential area and quite a friendly family just nearby the spot came to help us out with lunch and offered us to stay at their place until transport was arranged which they were kind enough to help us out with as well :).

I really wish everything gets sorted out, this has been a major pain :Frustrati, I don't even know if the sport mode issue is related to the engine overheating. Support from Tata has been decent so far hope it continues that way. Will keep this updated.

Rough man, I hope it gets sorted out. It's very rare for me at this point that it doesn't bother me at all.

Although I've been told by many other folks from the community that this is a result of a faulty Accelerator Pedal position sensor.

Please try to get this replaced and your problems should go away (fingers crossed). It's a cheap replacement as well (if they refuse to cover this under warranty).

Hope this helps :)

A quick three-year update since I bought the iTurbo. The car has clocked 22k since I bought it in December 2021, most of it driven in the city. I haven't encountered any issues so far, apart from an annoying rattle from the dashboard, which I plan to get fixed in the next service.

Here's the list of mods/changes I've made to the car since purchase:

Michelin Primacy - Replaced it right from the showroom. Superb braking, low noise. One puncture so far. The stock XZ+ iTurbos came with 195/55/16, which are a little sharp for our pathetic roads. Will switch to 185/60/16 when I change the tyre next time. The Racer as well as the diesel Altroz come with this size.

Momo Concave Wheels - The stock ones looked a little too plain Jane for me. Got the old ones exchanged for the Momos. No complaints. Got it resprayed recently after a few curb scratches. The original colour was Matt Black, this is Metallic Carbon Gray. Got the calipers painted golden.



Code6 remap - Like most BS6 cars, the stock car is a little sluggish in low revs. Decided to get the Code6 remap after the expiry of my warranty. The best mod I've done to date. The car has oodles of torque and I can now stay a gear higher than usual.

Bigger brakes - Like fellow member @CannedShroud, I decided to switch to bigger disc brakes, which was a fairly straightforward process. The iTurbos came with smaller 235mm discs, that weren't supremely confidence-inspiring. These bigger discs, which come in the Diesel, CNG, and DCA Altrozes are superb. This is what should have come out of the factory.

Sunfilm - Recently added the SolarGard sunfilm, which is a Saint Gobain product. This is 75% and got them for all windows and the front and rear windscreen. Visibility is good and it keeps the car cool. Will report back during the summer.



Damping - One common complaint with Tata cars is sound insulation due to the rather noisy engine. Remedied it somewhat with damping sheet on all four doors and the boot. Noise has reduced quite a bit. The place where I got it installed also has underbonnet damping sheet, which will reduce noise and heat. Considering that, but will have to do some research to see if it can keep the heat in check.

Headlights - Stock headlights in the Altroz are pretty inefficient. Changed them for LED bulbs. They are quite an upgrade, but also considering new projectors.



Also, did a few "ricer" mods which I may cringe at and remove in the future lol:

The car was dechromed when it was given for a remap at Carmed, Bangalore. They did a good job, and I like how it has turned out. Another very "ricer" mod is the front splitter that I added. It looks nice, but I want side skirts to complement it, which I'm finding tough to find. Also, added a rear matrix turn signal indicator-cum-brake light. I don't know if I like or hate it yet :P



Haven't done much to the interior aside from new floor mats, dashcam, and wireless Android auto adapter.



The car has served me well so far. It's easy to chug around the city, has superb straight-line stability on the highways, and handles decently well too. Fuel efficiency isn't great; sub 10 kmpl in Bangalore traffic. Another issue is the gearbox. It just doesn't slot properly, primarily between the first two gears. It does get easy to change after you get used to its idiosyncrasies.

What's next? I may go stage 2, but I don't want a droney exhaust note when I go for a downpipe. I'd also like some coilovers because I feel the chassis has more potential. But, unfortunately, no one makes them. I've tried sourcing the Racer's front springs, which is the only difference in the suspension between the iTurbo and Racer, but no luck so far.

Would also like to figure out if the new Altroz's touchscreen display can be fitted into my car.

Tastefully done! I always believed that the Altroz had the best ride quality and only of it had a bit more power via a remap, then it would be a complete all rounder. It's good to see someone trying it and succeed! Did you get a chance to check how many horses you got extra?

I think it lacked low-end torque. It had ample power in the mid-range to cruise on the highway. With the remap, that's now remedied. No, I haven't yet dyno'd it. Will do it if I get a stage 2 remap done.

Could you please advise the Michelin Primacy tyre size you went for when you swapped the stock tyres?

Mine is XZ+ and it came with 195/55/16, and I retained that size for the Michelins. But, the ride can be a bit harsh. For my next tyre change, I'm planning to go to 185/60/16 for a little more comfort. The Diesel Altroz and the Racer comes with this tyre size, so I think it'd do a good job.

This is a 3 Year ownership review of my Tata Altroz i-Turbo petrol (purchased in Oct 2021) which has run around 46000 KMs. I am planning to keep updating this thread on a 6 monthly/yearly basis, so that the information helps others. In my review, I have tried to cover the long term ownership aspects which may not be immediately visible to a prospective owner. This was my first car.

Summary Likes and Dislikes

Overall: I love the car - it has turned out to be a great first car.

What I like:

• Smooth engine and easy drivability in the city
• Feels well built and solid
• Looks that can kill - easily the best looking hatchback at the time I got it IMO
• Really stable at high speeds. Its a delight to drive on the highway in sports mode and it feels like I am in control of the car.
• Well made, spacious interiors with a premium feel
• Light clutch and spacious boot

What I do not like:

• The fuel tank size is 37L which is lower than others in the segment.
• Poor OEM headlights. Needs an upgrade if you drive frequently at night.
• Lack of auto-dimming IRVM. This is a daily necessity for me as 50% of my driving is night driving
• Lack of Active TPMS - I believe this is solved in newer versions of the car.
• Connected car features are useless - don't even bother
• 7 inch touchscreen is slow in performance and responsiveness, but is functional.

Detailed Review

Context and Purchase Experience
This is as of Oct 2021, and I was looking for a car under 10-12L budget. My requirements were as follows:

1. Primary usage was city driving, since my office was in Noida and I was located in Gurgaon. This means that on office days the car was going to run for 80kms in the day.
2. Easy to drive: I was going to be a new driver with a lot of daily driving, so I needed the car to have good drivability.
3. A proper 5 seater with spacious boot and comfortable interiors for those occasional roundtrips and airport pickups
4. Mid-size for easy maneuverability. I was a new driver and I wanted a car that can easily move about in city traffic, is not too difficult to park and can make those occasional tight turns in Delhi streets easily without too much hassle
5. Manual transmission: my dad believed that you only know how to drive a car if you can comfortably drive a manual.
6. Safety: I have always found roads in India to be dangerous and full of risks at every moment. I have also observed that it is impossible to control all factors as a driver - therefore I wanted a car that was reasonably safe and built to protect its occupants as much as possible in case of a mishap.
7. Low waiting period: My office was opening up soon in Hybrid mode and I needed the car within 1-2 months.
8. Petrol model: This is because I live in Delhi NCR with its anti-diesel agenda, and also because BS-VI diesel ownership comes with its own hassles which I as a newbie did not want to deal with. I was okay with higher running costs with my driving pattern.

I had my eyes on Nexon since a friend in my office had the same car and I had experienced it. Other cars that were shortlisted were i20, Jazz, Baleno, Magnite and Brezza. The buying process can be a separate post in itself, but I will provide a quick summary of the decision making process to help fellow people in similar boat.

Baleno: Rejected because of its sheet metal quality and extremely unsafe perception (This was pre-facelift. I have heard from fellow owners that the post-facelift version is better).
Brezza: Did not feel like value for money vs. other options
Magnite: Engine and transmission were awesome, but felt like there were compromises on other fronts and I uncertain of Nissan. Also, it had a long waiting period at that point in time.
i20: Simply overpriced for what it offered.
Jazz: Great car and I really liked it, but it is a very old car and at that time people were uncertain for how long Jazz as a model will continue, which proved to be right as it was discontinued soon.

Ultimately, I visited the Tata showroom with half a mind to book a Nexon, but ended up booking an Altroz instead. The Altroz was parked next to the Nexon in the showroom and had its own style, appeal and character. I loved its interiors vs. Nexon. I did not care much about the SUV vs. Hatchback conundrum. My only concern was the NA engine, but the SA told me that Turbopetrol engine from Nexon is available in Altroz. Altroz also lacked a Sunroof at the time, but it didn't matter much to me. I went ahead and made the booking.

Driving Experience
Altroz is a great all-rounder car. It is not the fastest car, but is very practical and peppy, tuned for balanced performance across city and highway driving. The i-Turbo is faster than a lot of other cars in its segment, but do not expect it to be in the same league as i20 N line or Polo. On paper, this engine is in a lower state of tune vs. Nexon, but Altroz seems to have higher responsiveness (esp. in Sports mode) vs. Nexon, maybe due to lighter weight.

For city driving, Altroz is practical and convenient.

1. Altroz has an extremely light clutch, which makes it great in traffic if you really want to go for a manual car.
2. Gear shift is ok - nothing great, but nothing bad. However, I do like the feel of the gear in my hand.
3. There is decent power in lower gears and I do not need to shift to 1st too often, which makes driving easier.
4. In Bumper to Bumper traffic, Due to its strong build, Altroz can easily handle minor hits with other cars (which is too commonplace these days). I have had scenarios where someone hit the rear, and there is no visible mark on the car - can't say the same for the hitting car though.
5. The light steering and decent turning radius makes it easily drivable.
6. I like the positioning of the horn buttons on the steering - makes it much easier to honk which is needed a lot inside the city.
7. I hate the aggressive Auto start/stop system and I turn it off everytime I drive. I wish there was a setting to turn it off permanently.
8. City mileage for me in Delhi NCR has been in 12-14 Kmpl range. I drive with a soft foot inside the city.
9. Note that Sports mode is jerky for the city in 1st gear.

For highway driving, Altroz focuses on stability and control - my observations noted below.

1. Great for cruising. Gets to 100/120 kmph without much strain on the engine even on city mode. On Sports mode, it is even more responsive.
2. Don't expect to hit Top speed records on this one as things start getting noisy beyond 140, but it feels like it can ride on 100/120 kmph all day.
3. Extremely stable at high speeds. Can handle road undulations like a pro and still remain in a straight line without complaints. You feel the solid build of the car as it speeds up.
4. EPS Steering weighs up nicely as the speed increases. I like the tuning.
5. Remember to keep tracking of fueling stops because 37L tank is smaller than it should be IMO.
6. Highway mileage for me has been in 17 to 20 kmpl range. I drive with a moderately heavy foot on the highway - usually in sports mode.

Practical Utility:
Altroz i-Turbo is a very practical, all-rounder car.

1. I like the 345 L bootspace which is also designed in a very practical way. Can easily take 1 large suitcase and 2 medium suitcases
2. The driving seat height can be adjusted to a good degree which helps a lot for short people driving the car.
3. The AC is a chiller!
4. Auto-wipers work like a charm - best implementation of the feature in my experience.
5. The Glovebox is huge and can hold a lot of stuff - plus it is cooled.
6. Height adjustable seat belts are helpful.

Service Center Experience:
Unlike most Tata's, this one has been reliable throughout with no major niggles till now (touchwood!). I have not had to visit the service center out of schedule so far.

1. Arya Tata has provided good service so far. I always avail the Pick-up and drop from home option and it has worked out well.
2. Being a Tata car, it requires servicing every 6 months vs. every 1 year for Marutis/Hyundais of the world.
3. Cost per service has mostly been in the 3-5K range for Minor Service (6 months after Major Service), and 8-9K range for Major Service (Every 1 year).
4. I have not had to get any repairs done from the Service Center yet, so cannot comment on that experience. Standard run-of-the-mill stuff has been done well

Miscellaneous Trivia and Tidbits:
I am noting down a few interesting tidbits/quirks of the car here:

1. The radio is always on by default and there is no way to turn it off except keep the volume zero for radio.
2. There are a lot of Peacock motifs in the car at different points, including the glovebox. I appreciate the nice little touch there by Tata designers.
3. I got the stock Ecotread car tyres replaced with Continental UC6 tyres at 30K mark. The car mileage dropped a bit, but the overall driving, and handling experience became much better. I specially appreciate the wet grip that these new tyres have provided to the car.
4. While Auto-wipers are great, I have no idea why the rear wiper is not connected to that auto-control. This is a miss on Tata's part.
5. I have needed a headlight replacement almost every year or so (so 3 replacements). I am not sure whether this should be expected, but it feels frequent to me - one or the other headlight always goes kaput every year.
6. Mileage is 1-2 kmpl higher with XP95 petrol, so I have started using that. The engine in sport mode is a lot smoother with this fuel as well. I am not able to feel any difference in performance in city mode.
7. In the city mode, turning on AC has a minor but noticeable impact on acceleration - I was surprised by this since I thought this does not happen in modern cars anymore. There is no effect in sports mode.
8. I believe the Sports mode has some bug in ECU which sometimes can cause the car to go into "Check-engine" mode. It has happened once with me, and simply restarting the car in city mode fixes it. Service center said it is due to some sensor issue on the pedals.
9. Sometimes, there is a lack of power on pressing the accelerator pedal in lower gears (first and second gear). This only happens in city mode - very rare but annoying.
10. There is just 1 light for reverse indicator, which is not obvious due to the design. I am indifferent about it but it is a bit funny.

Overall, Altroz i-Turbo is a great and practical car. It's a shame Tata has removed this model now and is only selling Altroz Racer, which, despite all its improvements, is a step back from this car IMO because of the hideous front bonnet strips, and the lack of city mode. In my view, Tata is failing to acknowledge that premium hatchback segment, however big or small it is, has almost no competition and Maruti is taking all the money with it (i20 is too pricey to be a legit competition to Maruti here). They can win this segment by providing a VFM offering here, with power and safety as their differentiators. Just my 2 cents :)

Feel free to ask here if you have any follow-up questions about the car. Leaving you with a few photos of the beauty - enjoy!

Great long-term review! Agree with most of your points. I've got my car remapped, and the jerkiness in sports mode has all but gone. City mode is also pretty decent, with loads of torque down low.

Agree with the noisy engine bit. I've got damping done, which has somewhat reduced the noise.

Yeah, it's a shame the iTurbo was removed. Pretty decent VFM for what it offered.

My TATA Altroz 1.2 iTurbo – Honeymoon Period & Struggles

It all started in January 2022, when I had to replace my trusted, fun, and frugal Swift ZDI with a safer, highway-capable intercity car. With a budget of ₹10 lakhs in hand, the Tata Altroz iTurbo ticked all the boxes: 5-star safety, striking design and looks, fun to drive, and decently frugal. After a one-and-a-half-month wait, I took delivery of my Harbour Blue Altroz on 11th March 2022. The delivery was smooth, and the service executive handled the process very efficiently.

So, the honeymoon period began. Here’s what I loved:

1. Black-themed interiors
   
2. A steering wheel that feels great to hold
   
3. Excellent steering response and suspension tuned for spirited driving
   
4. Great looks, enhanced by the beautiful Harbour Blue color

As in any marriage, the honeymoon phase had its moments to cherish. But as the months passed, the excitement faded, and the typical TATA issues began surfacing and the struggles. I faced four major problems during my 3+ years of ownership:

1. 08-Apr-2025: Cylinder head assembly failed – replaced under warranty (paid ₹3,934 for consumables)
   
2. 21-Jan-2025: Steering rack assembly replaced under warranty (paid ₹6,401 for consumables)
   
3. 09-Oct-2023: Gearbox replaced under warranty
   
4. Mid-2023: Clutch assembly replaced due to persistent engine noise, even when idling

Fortunately, I had diligently opted for the 5-year extended warranty, which helped cover the cylinder head, steering rack, and gearbox replacements. However, despite these repairs and the new cylinder head, the fuel economy dropped to 9 KMPL in moderate suburban traffic—earlier, it used to deliver 12–13 KMPL.

In addition, I noticed oil drops under the car and scheduled another visit to the workshop to get it addressed.

As a seasoned TATA car owner, I no longer take these issues to heart. Instead, I’m following up diligently with the TATA service center and the regional TATA Motors representative, maintaining a complete email trail documenting the history of my vehicle.

Thanks for the response CannedShroud, I did follow up with the Tata service to change the pedal position sensor but then they took the car for a day and said there are no fault codes with that sensor. Upon my insistence on the next service, they replaced the “neutral position sensor” and said that should fix the issue.

I tried sport mode occasionally after the fix, and the issue didn’t occur but then again I am scared of using it regularly. What if that issue shows up again in the middle of an overtake?

P.S. I LOVE the mods you did to your Altroz, would love to meet one day haha!!