Re: Tata Harrier Automatic vs Hyundai Creta vs Kia Seltos vs others Hello,
I am late to the discussion, but still posting this.
I was in the market for a car for almost 1.5 years now. I wanted to buy a car and not necessarily an SUV in the 18 - 24 lacs bracket (on-road). This is the maximum I can spend in terms of the budget. Now coming to the cars:
1. Verna diesel automatic (SXO)- Deep inside, I am very old fashioned. I still think a sedan looks better than a tall SUV and the ride/ handling will be better. Took a TD and found that the Verna felt "meh" to me. It did not impress me with anything. Drive, handling, interior look and feel - nothing. I felt it was not worth 18 lacs on road Kochi. Ruled out.
2. Creta diesel automatic - I understand that many have now started to put up with the Creta's looks. I still think it looks ugly. The interiors too did not impress me. Ruled out.
3. Seltos diesel automatic (GT) - The car looks fine to my eyes. It was overdone when it was launched, but now with more overdone cars, it looks great. The interior quality was good and gave me a "feel good" feeling using the car. The wiper stalks, switchgear etc. were well put together. Attention to detail was also great and so are the feature list. Took a TD and noted that the engine is refined and smooth (unlike my Figo diesel) and shift quality was good. I felt that the car is only adequately powered for its size - the engine gets stressed when you put the foot down for an overtake, and gearbox keeps it on the boil when you need power. Nothing worrying, but felt as if the engine is at its near limits of performance. The worrying part is the ride quality - it felt stiff and road imperfections are felt inside the cabin. I had to slow down on patchy roads, which I did not enjoy. Safety rating bothers me - How can you bottom out front airbags in a crash! That coupled with unstable body shows poor engineering.
Handling was good for an SUV. The size of the car was also perfect. It was not bulky, but had adequate space. Shortlisted.
4. Tata Harrier (XZA) - The beast of the lot here. The car is in line with full size SUVs. Noted nothing wrong with the interiors - it was good and pleasant. One thing which grabbed my attention of the TD car was that the engine start stop button and the driver side door handle (inside) had its paint wiped out due to usage (not scratch). This meant poor quality. Switches, stalks etc. felt okay and not as good as Seltos. Also, a lot of features were lacking compared to the Seltos. The infotainment and instrument cluster displays looked and seemed okay to me, but for some reason, the graphics felt as if it was from a previous generation car. The quality of the screen (regardless of the fact that you won't look at it while driving) looks kind of boring in this age.
Drive was good. Car was powerful and felt that the car had a lot of power in reserve (unlike the Seltos). Harrier never had to rev the engine too much to get going in daily use. It was calm and composed. However, the cabin gets a lot nosier when revved and the engine refinement/ insulation is not as good or close to Seltos. Handing was also as expected, but the suspension tuning was out of this world! It was perfect for our roads - not too soft (like Hector) nor too firm (like Seltos). The size bothers me a bit - our locality has narrow roads. But road presence helps - other smaller cars/ autos gets intimidated by the Harrier and gives way! It is not crash tested, but I feel it will fare much better than the Seltos, considering the D8 platform (This is not a plus for Harrier at the moment, unless it is tested and proven - I am an auditor by profession. So I won't/ can't go by hypothesis).
I've been reading about so many niggles and troubles with Harrier ownership - small issues with infotainment to larger issues with engine start/ stop. I just don't have the time or patience to deal with ownership issues. The nature of my work is such that I can't spend time on these things. I need the car when I need it, in the perfect condition for a weekend drive. This is the biggest let down with the Harrier. Shortlisted
5. Kushaq - out of the picture. I'm not buying a DQ200 gearbox car. We have one at home and every time I take it out for a long drive, I get a question in my mind - "would I get stranded?" The 1L torque converter variant is not for me. The battle is between Harrier and Seltos as far as I am concerned. I request your valuable inputs here.
Waiting for things (COVID) to settle down actually reduces the sale value of my existing car. It also increased the cost of these options as car manufacturers are steadily increasing prices (due to steel price surge?). So, the cost of ownership of a new car is on the rise day by day. According to me, the combined price increase (due to depreciation of my existing car and price increase of new car) goes above 1.25L in the last 1.5 years. |