[Nikhil Beke]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

How are the fuel efficiency figures? If that is consistent chances are your vehicle is fine as is.

Keeping a tab on them- but the sample space is rather small at the moment, considering that car has done only about 3.5K kms. I have noticed a drop by about 1kmpl, but that's more likely to be due to traffic congestion (recent metro construction along my travel route) and increased AC usage due to summers.

[Nikhil Beke]

My 4 mth old XZ iturbo Altroz did 230km on highway on Sunday, and was seemingly alright. When tried starting the car on Monday morning, failed to start- was just making clicking noises. The windows could be rolled down, the lights were working- so thought it wasn't a drained battery issue- no icons were there in the instrument cluster, apart from immobilizer. As per the SC advice, called RSA. The person came over with a battery and jump cables in 1hr, but seeing the electronics working, just disconnected battery terminals and then reconnected, rebooting the ECU (confirmed as my trip A/B fuel economy was reset to 0).When asked about diagnosis, he said it's a software issue. Planning to speak with my SA at SC today. They had already reflashed ECU once around 1mth back when I had got check engine light and ISS had stopped working.
Other recent observations(may be unrelated) are decreased fuel efficiency in city- has gone to 9-10kmpl (from >11 few months back, not sure if it's AC effect for to summers) and a noisy (loud) engine/AC compressor at cold starts, with vibrations felt at gearstick and pedals for first few kms after cold start.

[Kosfactor]

@Nikhil - going from your previous posts to now - There could be a battery status sensor on the positive terminal of the battery, it's either that unit malfunctioning or the terminal was loose , this would also explain why ISS was not working.

Go to a battery shop and have them check the battery once, costs ~50 Rs and won't void your warranty.

[vinodh_eee]

I am looking to purchase a hatch, primarily for city use and have short-listed Altroz. Does anyone here has any recommendations for good dealers and SA in Bangalore. Thanks in advance.

[SavoyWalrus]

Originally Posted by vinodh_eee

I am looking to purchase a hatch, primarily for city use and have short-listed Altroz. Does anyone here has any recommendations for good dealers and SA in Bangalore. Thanks in advance.

I'd say KHT Motors. Their service is pretty good (some say the best in Bangalore) and I found their sales executives to be helpful. The Whitefield showroom can be a little crowded, especially over weekends.

[UtkarshC]

Originally Posted by Nikhil Beke

The person came over with a battery and jump cables in 1hr, but seeing the electronics working, just disconnected battery terminals and then reconnected, rebooting the ECU (confirmed as my trip A/B fuel economy was reset to 0).

Did your car crank up immediately & normally as soon as the battery terminals were reconnected?

[Nikhil Beke]

Originally Posted by UtkarshC

Did your car crank up immediately & normally as soon as the battery terminals were reconnected?

Yes, and it continues to work well. Yet to get it checked for battery related issues, as suggested by @Kosfactor.
Also, it now occurs to me that in the whole frenzy of the morning work, I don't exactly remember if the immobilizer icon was blinking. It may be that the immobilizer failed to turn off.

[SR7]

So I am looking to buy a hatchback in the near future (~1-3 months). It will primarily be used for city runs, especially by my better half to ferry our 3 y.o on school runs & weekend drives to our family house on ECR (highway runs). I’m looking at a full package hatch, i.e good structural safety, isofix, 6 airbags, ESP, preferably AT with all necessary features.

Altroz has good structural safety but lacks 6 airbags & ESP, not to mention an AT on the i-turbo (though AT on the 1.2 NA is ok). i20, Baleno & Glanza have 6 airbags, ESP with good features but lack structural safety, however reports ‘claim’ the facelifted Baleno & Glanza have a reinforced structure & may score even 5* on the GNCAP tests (probably a reason for the 6 airbags + ESP in the facelift for the updated GNCAP testing protocol?). Jazz is a good fuss-free product, but is old & doesn’t have isofix. We already have a Polo, used primarily by my brother.

I visited a Tata dealership for a quick look at the Altroz & the SE convinced me to take a TD of the i-turbo (I was not planning on tone). The car felt pretty ok to drive in city traffic, I have only read in reviews that the 1.2 NA was sluggish. However, on finishing the TD, I noticed the drive modes showing only Eco & City modes when pressing the button. Didn’t think much about it then. I again asked the SE if the vehicle was a XZ+ iturbo and he replied in the affirmative though he paused briefly before replying. I remember telling him the Nexon Dark had better looking seats than the plain fabric seats of the Altroz & if it would be available as an aftermarket accessory.

I saw the Team BHP review of the Altroz i-turbo mentioning that the car comes with only City & Sport modes, with the brochure mentioning the XZ+ i-turbo gets black leatherette seats. Did the SE try to pass of another trim of the TD Altroz as the XZ+ i-turbo? Due to my lack of time, I didn’t pay attention to the badging on the rear of the TD car!

[AbhishekNigam]

Originally Posted by SR7

I saw the Team BHP review of the Altroz i-turbo mentioning that the car comes with only City & Sport modes, with the brochure mentioning the XZ+ i-turbo gets black leatherette seats. Did the SE try to pass of another trim of the TD Altroz as the XZ+ i-turbo? Due to my lack of time, I didn’t pay attention to the badging on the rear of the TD car!

iTurbo comes with City and Sports mode whereas NA gets Eco and City mode.

You get dark interiors in XZ+ iTurbo Dark edition and normal ones in non dark editions.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by SR7

I saw the Team BHP review of the Altroz i-turbo mentioning that the car comes with only City & Sport modes, with the brochure mentioning the XZ+ i-turbo gets black leatherette seats. Did the SE try to pass of another trim of the TD Altroz as the XZ+ i-turbo? Due to my lack of time, I didn’t pay attention to the badging on the rear of the TD car!

What you drove was a 1.2 N/A model. No Tata car today comes with badging anywhere. If the TD car had fabric seats, it must either be XZ or lower variant or a car from the initial production batches (2020 IIRC).

I recommend Altroz DCT if your usage is typically in city.

Originally Posted by AbhishekNigam

iTurbo comes with City and Sports mode whereas NA gets Eco and City mode.

You get dark interiors in XZ+ iTurbo Dark edition and normal ones in non dark editions.

All top end cars, irrespective of engine, come with black leatherette seats in XZ+.

In the iturbo/dark edition, the contrast white stitching of regular XZ+ seats is replaced by contrast blue stitching.

A reference image of my Altroz XZ+ diesel's leatherette seats with contrast white stitching (click to view clearer image)

[SR7]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

What you drove was a 1.2 N/A model. No Tata car today comes with badging anywhere. If the TD car had fabric seats, it must either be XZ or lower variant or a car from the initial production batches (2020 IIRC).

I recommend Altroz DCT if your usage is typically in city.

All top end cars, irrespective of engine, come with black leatherette seats in XZ+.

In the iturbo/dark edition, the contrast white stitching of regular XZ+ seats is replaced by contrast blue stitching.

A reference image of my Altroz XZ+ diesel's leatherette seats with contrast white stitching (click to view clearer image)

Attachment 2309361

Exactly.

1. The seats of the TD vehicle were lighter in colour
2. The dashboard had volume controls below the AC vents instead of the ALTROZ badging (how I wish they hadn’t removed it, hate the touch controls for volume in my Crysta)
3. Drive modes were ECO & CITY

So should have been an older, lower trim with an NA engine! Wonder why the SE said it was an XZ+ i-turbo! Cruise control buttons were present on the steering wheel & the infotainment system had all the bells & whistles, a look at the brochure says these are present on even lower trims. Must have been an XZ MT trim with NA engine that I had driven.

I had low expectations from the NA engine due to reviews and am driving only ATs now, so a short TD in an MT could have felt differently for me as it felt sprightly, a notch or two lower than as a Honda City MT but I could do only ~40 kmph in traffic.

Will see again at a different dealership at a time with lesser traffic density. Meanwhile the Nexon package is also tempting with a more premium looking interior with ventilated seats for around 2-3L more! But wonder if my better half would be ok with it given the higher seating position & additional width of the Nexon. She is not as comfortable with the Elantra AT itself compared to the City MT & Polo MT she was driving earlier.

My better half prefers an MT. For me the ease of at AT, that too a DCT is alluring. Traffic in the city is horrible and will be kinder on my left knee . Only question is long term reliability - Jazz, i20, Baleno & Glanza will give fuss free ownership & will be abuse friendly. Will the Altroz hold up against these slick Japanese / Korean machines? Older platform for the jazz & safety ratings of the rest are the only factors keeping me away from them for now.

Wouldn’t Tata update the Altroz & probably Nexon too with 6 airbags & ESP soon given that MoRTH is pushing for it & GNCAP too have different test criteria with compulsory ESP, pole tests etc. moving forward? Surely they would have designed the architecture of these two vehicles to accommodate 6 airbags.

What is the FE your Altroz returns in peak city traffic and on highways?

[SavoyWalrus]

Sometime late last year, the YOLO bug bit me, exacerbated by the pandemic and a mini quarter-life crisis of sorts. I was on the lookout for a safe, comfortable, reliable, and quick-ish hatchback or sedan under 10 lakhs.

I'd like to think of myself as an enthusiast who derives more joy from pushing a car through the corners than from a fast quarter-mile time. The benchmark was quite high considering we own a Ford Fiesta Classic Petrol, which is, by far, one of the best handling cars ever to have sold in India. A few years ago, I also acquired a Type 3 Maruti Esteem, which is still rapid and can change direction pretty quickly.

I briefly considered looking into the used car market and zeroed in on a few Lauras, but with reliability one of my key criteria (my father occasionally drives it and I wasn't keen to test his patience with a broken-down car), I turned my attention towards a new car.

SUVs or anything that had a lot of body roll were ruled out, as were unsafe and/or poorly built ones.

I had the likes of the Altroz, i20, and the Polo in my shortlist, but one was quickly removed as the VW dealers were clueless about when the Polo would arrive at their stockyards. The i20 N Line seemed very promising, but I wasn't too keen on the iMT, which, reviews had said, was slow, while I was also skeptical about buying a car with new tech. The DCT was way above my budget and was quickly ruled out.

I primarily work from home and most of my driving is done over the weekends or outstation trips, which meant that the petrol was the best option for me. Test drove the Altroz and was impressed with its high-speed ride and the build quality of the car. The iTurbo engine isn't as quick as the Polo's or i20's, but it's good enough for someone upgrading from an 84 bhp car from the 2000s.

It also seemed great VFM as it offered a lot of goodies for just over 10 lakhs for the top end XZ+ model. The XZ+ model has a cooled glove box, auto headlights and wipers, auto-folding ORVM, steering-mounted controls, and Cruise Control. The IRA is a useful feature, which tracks every drive, allows you to remotely open/lock doors, switch on the headlights, and also allows you to track the location of the car.

I've had the car for six months and have put 6000 km on the odo, with around 4000 of those kms coming on the highways. The car has served me well so far and I haven't encountered any issues.

There's been just one addition to the car since I took delivery. I changed the stock MRF tyres to the Michelin Primacy 4 ST, which has made quite a big difference to the braking of the car, as well as tyre noise.



Completed two services of the car and got the underbody rust coating during one of the services. No fluid changes so far in either service.

On the highway, the car is decently quick and can easily sustain triple-digit speeds for hours. But, Sport mode is a must on highways as the City mode doesn't have the grunt to make easy overtakes. Engine noise can creep in at high RPMs, especially when there's no music playing. I quite like the intake noise

There's ample space at the front and back and four can travel in comfort. Luggage space is decent too for 3-4 people. The AC cooled very quickly even when the outside temperature was 36-37 degrees (Xpress Cool is a useful feature), while the cooled glove box is a great boon on long drives.

The steering weighs up decently well at high speeds, although no comparison to the Fiesta and Esteem's hydraulic units. But, it's one of the better power steering units in cars under 10 lakhs. It's pretty adept at handling the twisties, but it doesn't have the composure of the sedans, which I expected.



One aspect of the Altroz that I don't quite like is the gearbox. It can be clunky at times, especially when shifting to 1st gear. The service engineer has assured me that the gearbox will become smoother over time, which I'm not quite sure I believe.

Fuel economy is decent for a turbo petrol. I get 12-13 in the city and around 16-17 on the highway. It drops drastically if you employ a heavy foot, though.

The things I like:

- Superb AC
- Ample space
- High-speed ride quality and straight line composure

The things I don't like:

- Clunky gearbox
- Engine noise at high speeds

What's next for the car?

I plan to add some sound dampening to eliminate the engine noise. I also want to remap the car to extract a little more power, which this engine can (the JTP tune would be ideal), different exhaust tips for a rortier exhaust note, and lower springs.

I want this to be a reliable, everyday car, so I won't go the full hog with the performance mods - and also there are a few plans to make the Esteem a little more rowdy to satisfy the tuner car desires

[W.A.G.7]

Congratulations, on your new car! Please post some more interior pics. The car is beautiful to look at, whichever angle you choose.

We test-drove the iTurbo version and it felt pretty good performance-wise. I wish they had given us the beautiful DCA gearbox with the iTurbo. This car would have then substituted the Polo GT-TSi.

Ultimately we ended up booking the DCA version (non-Turbo) just for the convenience of the auto gearbox. Our DCA Altroz is expected to arrive around mid-August. I will be posting a review later in this month, when the car arrives.

[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

Anyone knows if either a Diesel or iTurbo has been remapped?

Asking again in case anyone has done it

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

Is the ECU of the Altroz the same as that of the Nexon?

Also waiting for someone to answer this.

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

To anyone who is looking at iturbo variants, I suggest you to test drive the diesel too. It's just about 20k more expensive than the iturbo.

Since I shelved my Altroz plans by buying the Nexon EV, I'm now eagerly waiting for someone who has bought an iTurbo and is not happy with it or going abroad and planning to sell. Hoping to get a good deal

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Birdie confirms that the testing of the Altroz AT has entered it's final phase.
Automatic will be in petrol only. No diesel.

Apparently the birdy missed one crucial detail. No Turbo.

Originally Posted by Piyush Kanthak

Altroz is a premium hatch, all we want is a CVT due to it being smooth, reliable and easy to maintain without significant drop in mileage.

CVT is the last thing you would want in a premium hatch. The rubber band effect is really bad.

Originally Posted by one-77

Well if we look at it that way, CVTs have a rubber band effect. Torque converters have low fuel efficiency.
There’s nothing that’s perfect.

DCT/DSG is almost perfect.

Originally Posted by SavoyWalrus

I think a remap to get a little more low-end torque and clearing one or two weak spots during acceleration would make it perfect. And maybe a different end can to make it sound a little more aggressive

Eagerly waiting for someone to do this. I had inquired about this but no one has done it. The guy was asking me to find out the details of the ECU. If it's the same unit as the Nexon, it can be done.

[SavoyWalrus]

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

Eagerly waiting for someone to do this. I had inquired about this but no one has done it. The guy was asking me to find out the details of the ECU. If it's the same unit as the Nexon, it can be done.

Wolf Moto and Code6 both have remaps for the Altroz petrol and turbo petrol. The turbo petrol is the same engine-gearbox combo that was available in the Tiago JTP and Zest, so it's available.