[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by DCEite

Point to note: Xcent is last as per the poll here, but it's second best if we consider the actual comments by members in this thread.

What does that signify? Maybe, that we have fanboys of Amaze and DZire.
(No offence to anyone).

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Deservedly so, for the diesel especially with that pedestrian engine under the hood and oddball looks. Dzire is wider and hence looks planted, Amaze is better proportioned. The petrol Xcent on the other hand is pretty competent, good engine and nice interiors.

I have another funny observation to add -

Went through all of the posts till now.

1. Zest leads without a doubt.
2. Xcent comes in second.
3. DZire comes in a close third. (Honestly its pretty tight between Xcent and DZire. Didnt have full patience to count exact numbers here!)
4. Not even one, I repeat, NOT EVEN ONE post favours the Amaze till now.

But Amaze has 32 votes as of now, 9 votes ahead of Xcent and only 6 votes behind market favourite DZire.

Now, for the interesting part -

Out of those 32 votes for the Amaze, an overwhelming majority of 56% are Honda brand owners (18 profiles), 4 of them own Amaze as well and are active forum contributors, yet - I do not see any posts in justification of this vote count.

I suggest we seek to understand this behaviour first, before suggesting why Xcent / any other product is trailing in this poll and its 'deservedly so'!

IMO, the poll shouts -
1. National Pride and recognition for the giant leap made by TATA. Huge VFM.
2. Maruti brand image and recognition of its VFM approach, customer centric nature and service standards. DZire is an excellent all rounder as well.
3. Honda brand name and brand recognition among existing customers. Voted for the big H, nothing much to add.
4. Hyundai competes as an upcoming Korean brand, with quality of products that are upto par or even better than the competition.

And now - I prepare to get If thats what it takes to get some justification posts for those 32 votes, so be it!

[madhu33]

Nice observation indeed by Crazy driver.

As far as my vote to Zest goes , it was not out of any patriotism or brand loyalty towards TATA. But more because of the specifications, features,test drive experience and overall look and feel of the car.

[cpbopanna]

The Zest sounds indeed amazing. However so does Amaze! (Pun intended)

On a more serious note, it is high time the Tatas undertook a paradigm shift in their approach to service quality. It is not the cost of ownership but the peace of mind that Maruti, Honda and Hyundai provide.

The Tata service centres are simply not geared up to meet a car buyer's requirement.
What is the point of manufacturing a paper tiger? It ticks all the right boxes, delivers value-for-money, but will we ever undertake a last-minute long journey in a Tata car as we would in a Maruti/Hyundai/Honda?

In a Tata truck, maybe; but in a car, personally, I wouldn't!

[theexperthand]

Originally Posted by cpbopanna

will we ever undertake a last-minute long journey in a Tata car as we would in a Maruti/Hyundai/Honda?

In a Tata truck, maybe; but in a car, personally, I wouldn't!

If you ask this question to people who have brought Tata cars in last few years, the answer might surprise you

Personally, all I do is just pop the hood to do a visual inspection of engine, coolant, windscreen washer liquid and a general visual inspection of all tyres and a quick check of all electrical systems - but then, I do it irrespective of which car \ bike I ride. Some old habits die hard.

--Anoop

[arulpeem]

Originally Posted by cpbopanna

, but will we ever undertake a last-minute long journey in a Tata car as we would in a Maruti/Hyundai/Honda?

In a Tata truck, maybe; but in a car, personally, I wouldn't!

I will and I have been for the last 4.5 years and I have never ever had a let down. I have two vehicles and together I have crossed 1.2L KMs in the last 4.5 years. The service was a sore point till a couple of years back, but now it has improved and it is no worse than many others.

[madhu33]

Originally Posted by cpbopanna

The Tata service centres are simply not geared up to meet a car buyer's requirement.

Have you ever visited any TASS ever ?
My 1st car was Alto which i owned for 3 years and discarded as it started to show age
My Second car was a swift which i owned 3 years discarded as it started to show age
My 3rd car is a Manza (now 3+ years, still feels like new).
The experience with the Manza is much better in most of the aspects.

Originally Posted by cpbopanna

but will we ever undertake a last-minute long journey in a Tata car as we would in a Maruti/Hyundai/Honda?
In a Tata truck, maybe; but in a car, personally, I wouldn't!

Well, many of my Sundays the Manza gets driven to various places.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by cpbopanna

but will we ever undertake a last-minute long journey in a Tata car as we would in a Maruti/Hyundai/Honda?

I have taken 'n' number of last minute long distance surprise journeys in old Sumo, Tata Estate , and Tata mobile in the past (both on and off-highway). None of them let us down except AC issue in Estate once.

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by cpbopanna

The Zest sounds indeed amazing. However so does Amaze! (Pun intended)

What is the point of manufacturing a paper tiger? It ticks all the right boxes, delivers value-for-money, but will we ever undertake a last-minute long journey in a Tata car as we would in a Maruti/Hyundai/Honda?

May I ask you, how many Tata cars have you driven or being driven in till date? I hope you are not making this baseless statements based on here-say.

[cpbopanna]

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

May I ask you, how many Tata cars have you driven or being driven in till date? I hope you are not making this baseless statements based on here-say.

Suffice to say that I have not made statements based on here-say.

I have driven the Gen-1 Tata Indica (carburetted, 4-speed) to the current Vista. The Indica is still my favourite, as a Taxi. I don't fancy owing one

[Anoopscv]

Why all Sub-4 metre car ads put on display the blue colour?

[ajaypjayaraj]

Originally Posted by Anoopscv

Why all Sub-4 metre car ads put on display the blue colour?

Display a bright blue colour and call it "sporty"
Give beige or dual tone on the inside and call it "luxurious"

Customer should believe that he is getting everything possible in a car when he is buying the sedan which is 4M long. Just marketing techniques I guess.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Anoopscv

Why all Sub-4 metre car ads put on display the blue colour?

That's not an Xcent ad. That was one of the colours displayed on stage for launch. I believe black and silver was also on display on the same stage and you should be able to get similar photographs in other colours if you google a bit.

Hyundai chose red colour to showcase the Xcent on television and brochures. However, as mentioned in my ownership thread- they seem not much interested in highlighting the car as the work done by them on the brochure and website materials can only be termed as pathetic.



Sent from my iPhone using Team-BHP

[D4D]

Originally Posted by cpbopanna

but will we ever undertake a last-minute long journey in a Tata car as we would in a Maruti/Hyundai/Honda?

In a Tata truck, maybe; but in a car, personally, I wouldn't!

As your signature indicates, if you can put your life on a jeep, you can put it on a tata car too.

Tata cars still have a long way to go before being as reliable is Toyota or Maruti Suzuki.

These cars have niggles(only niggles), I agree, but their quality control is improved in the last decade and will improve further.

Remember: There are lakhs of taxi drivers earning their bread using Tata vehicles- Sumo(not so much now), Indica, Indigo.

[i10]

In recent months, I did notice a lot of taxis plying Dzire and Etios. On talking to some of them I realized it was because it was getting expensive to maintain the Indigos so they were switching to peace of mind. They didn't have much opinion on the new Tata cars (most weren't aware), but even their mindset was that "I have got a good vehicle now, low maintenance"

[Turbokick]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

I have another funny observation to add -

Went through all of the posts till now.

1. Zest leads without a doubt.
2. Xcent comes in second.
3. DZire comes in a close third. (Honestly its pretty tight between Xcent and DZire. Didnt have full patience to count exact numbers here!)
4. Not even one, I repeat, NOT EVEN ONE post favours the Amaze till now.

But Amaze has 32 votes as of now, 9 votes ahead of Xcent and only 6 votes behind market favourite DZire.

Now, for the interesting part -

Out of those 32 votes for the Amaze, an overwhelming majority of 56% are Honda brand owners (18 profiles), 4 of them own Amaze as well and are active forum contributors, yet - I do not see any posts in justification of this vote count.

I suggest we seek to understand this behaviour first, before suggesting why Xcent / any other product is trailing in this poll and its 'deservedly so'!



And now - I prepare to get If thats what it takes to get some justification posts for those 32 votes, so be it!

Probably one of the reason why I didnt vote for any other car mentioned above. These polls are more indicative about how upbeat people are about newly launched vehicle than what they actually be buying when it comes to the final decision.

Few things worth noting :
1. Dzire has got more votes than Amaze. Interestingly the Poll which had Dzire and Amaze as competitors had Amaze overwhelming majority with 60+% votes. But that was during the initial days of Amaze launch. Once the initial hype settles down , we are more aware about the real pros and cons of the product. Till then its more like paper comparison.


2. Owners voting for their cars can be an ego boosting effort. But again truly satisfied owners might not really want to opt for the new option available. Say a Xcent owner who vouches for the top notch quality of Hyundai can be skeptical about Tata or an Amaze owner with the phenomenal fuel efficiency and driveability on offer would just be fine with Honda only. Car owners voting for other cars can actually be a weak case for the product itself !


3. Voters voting for common brand can be a significant thing to consider ! Say a satisfied Maruti Wagon R owner finds the service,convenience and resale provided by Maruti to be phenomenal and hence his inclination for Maruti product i.e. Dzire. Thats a real positive thing about the manufacturer as it is successful in keeping its customer base under its roof even if they want to upgrade. Because its not just the product that gets the mark but the total package that matters to many. Probably the reason why Dzire sells so well.


4. Though its difficult to analyse, voters from common brand voting for different brand product can relate two things :

a) Either the product they voted for is way too superior to outweigh the common brand inclination ( Say a Maruti Alto owner voted for Zest instead of Dzire because he finds Zest to be a much better package than Dzire and he can ignore the Maruti advantage)

b) Bad experience provided by the brand/car they own has left a bad taste (Say a Hyundai i10 owner voted for Honda Amaze instead of Hyundai Xcent since he found the inconsistent fuel efficiency and high maintenance cost provided by Hyundai to be distasteful)


Just my personal opinion on this matter.