[shobhit.shri]

Congratulations Vasanthn. Just joking, but you should have kept Zen. At a philosophical level, having both Zen and the Zest in your life would be a great combination

More than that, I am really curious about the excel that you maintained about your Zen ownership. Did you really entered all expenses that you incurred on your car? With a little analytics and excel-magic, this could be a treasure-trove for great insights about car ownership. Any chance you could share it?

[deepfusion]

Congratulations Vasanth for the ZEST.

I suppose, you have a strong thing going for cars starting with 'Z'.

And what a wonderful review. Keep the thread updated, mate.

[Latheesh]

Congrats

Hope issues you reported earlier during PDI is taken care by dealer

[AMDB9]

Congratulations on your new car.
Zest is certainly the best compact sedan, available in our market and no wonder it was team-BHP car of the year. Is there any reason that you did not select the AMT version?
Wish you have many safer miles with the car.

Regards,
Ragav J

[Turbo_asd]

Congrats on the acquisition. The Zest is truly a wonderful all rounder that has changed the way people perceive Tata as a brand.

Originally Posted by vasanthn21

Honda Amaze: Noticeable turbo lag, excessive engine noise and bland interiors stopped me from finalizing this. But in my personal opinion, Amaze is the best looking compact sedan in the Indian market. Honda's SAs behaviour was most rigid when it came to test drive. "Sir you can only drive till here, you should return to showroom" (despite not even having completed the suggested test drive route map as shown in the showroom)

Noticeable turbo lag? I am surprised. Most would agree that the 1.5 I dtec is extremely tractable in nature and turbo lag is inexistent. Please do give a brief test drive experience. I'd love to hear about it.

[balajisv]

Congratulations Vasanth on your Zest QJD!
Being a Revotron owner myself, I can only reiterate how good this car is on the compact sedan segment.
Wish you happy miles!

[NST440]

I must congratulate you on your sensible purchase. Zest is a great product and Tata is providing good quality product at a nice price point. I wish you and your family have miles of smiles with your new acquisition and the bond of your Zen carries forward with the Zest, it is quite noticeable that you love buying the cars starting from the letter Z, who knows your next purchase may be a Zonda.

Wish you the very best.

[vasanthn21]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Congrats vasanthn21 on your latest acquisition and a Zest-cridlble report at that.

I was under the impression that the Diesel Zest did not have a DRL integrated into the bumper. Have Tata started providing this now as a standard equipment on higher models ?

Considering your registration plate and the Tata Showroom (Lalbagh road?) that you bought the Zest from, you must be in South Bangalore. Photoshoot meet sometime ?

Thanks! DRL is/was a standard feature on the XT variant.
Yes, Prerana Lalbagh road. I stay near the NICE junction on Kankapura road. PM me your number, and lets meet some time.

Originally Posted by madhu33

Ah finally, A Zest ownership report.
A well compiled one i must say (with the limited time you have been with her)
Regarding the missing boot cladding, it's the same with the new Honda City now a days.
I wish you many happy miles with your Zest.
Please keep the thread regularly updated.

Thanks! I will try to keep the thread updated. Yes, I know the City also does not have boot cladding, just that I dislike it.

Originally Posted by Wanderers

Hi vasanthn21

Congratulation on your new sets of wheels.
I believe yours is the first ownership review of Zest Diesel.

Thanks! Yes, I think this is first review of Zest Diesel here. I searched for "Zest review" almost every day in the forum and saw only one other than the official review.

Originally Posted by damodar

Hi did you check the underseat storage tray below the front passenger seat? It's pretty decent can hold around 4 1litre bottles.

Yes, currently the user manual is there. The space there is good, but a bit impractical for water bottles IMHO especially when I am driving alone.

Originally Posted by saket77

Hey Vasanth,

Congrats on the new car. Zest is a good choice for sub-4m cars. However, still Amaze is one of the better examples of boot-integration.

Tata has certainly put a lot of effort on the Zest and it shows everywhere. The interiors look cozy and I like the front end too. Good choice and I hope that it serves you well for coming years. Tata have made massive improvements, be it manufacturing or after sales; this is what I get through this forum and I wish that your experience is on the same lines.

You will enjoy the increase in ground clearance (compared to Zen) and it will quite a relief crossing speed breakers without scraping the underbody but you will surely miss the free revving engine of the Zen. It must be tough for you to let the Zen go. I too feel emotional to let that go. Not that we haven't sold our cars before but Zen (jelly bean) is so special to me that despite getting another car, I am hanging off to it and hope to keep it for long, although my usage is pretty low. It is though little tough to maintain 2 cars, esp. giving time to both.

Finally, appreciate your time to compile this well written and detailed report. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Regards,
Saket

Thanks Saket! Oh, I loved the jelly bean Zen even more than my model of Zen. Try to drive her around at least once a week if you are not doing it already. Yeah, it was very tough for me to let my Zen go.
Yes, I am enjoying the increased ground clearance. You would know that feeling, whenever you cross a high speed breaker in your Zen and there is a chance of the underbelly scraping, there is a knot in your stomach for 2 seconds.
The interiors of Zest feel like a different world to me, especially upgrading from a Zen.

Originally Posted by nishchal316

Hi vasanthn
Congratulations on your new ride. Thanks for those informative videos you have posted. I have heard the music system in the car and the quality of sound it produces is really commendable. Its one of those things which people do want to upgrade in their cars but with this particular music system i don't think much people would require doing so.

Thanks Nischal! Yes, I hear the same thing. I am told most people will not require an upgrade of the ICE.

Originally Posted by RGK

Wonderful review Vasanth. This is a very good opportunity for Tata to come back and compete successfully with international players in this crowded segment. So far they are good and hope to do well post sales.
Happy and Safe Motoring!!!!.

Thanks RGK!

Originally Posted by ShankarG

Congrats for the new car and wish you many happy road trips.
Zest is a really good product from Tata Motors and so it also was the TBHP car of the year.

The boot cladding indeed looks tiny. just be careful that any of your standing luggage do not get entangled in the open spaces at the top after a bumpy ride. may be a temporary fix can be some plastic sheet attached through a tape.
Also please get that fuel lid cover checked with the service guys. it should be in perfect alignment with the body. There might be some fix required to the lock. If water is going inside, it might be a problem during rains.

Hope you have a great time with the car. Keep on updating us with the experiences.
thanks

Thanks Shankar! I checked the fuel lid cover on a few other Zests in the yard, and all of them looked similar. Other Zest owners - please check and confirm this. Unless you see it yourself you will not realize how flimsy it feels. The fule lid cover on my age old Zen had better quality even when I sold her.

Not sure if it will be a problem during rains though. I am wuite sure water will not enter the fuel tank.

Originally Posted by shobhit.shri

Congratulations Vasanthn. Just joking, but you should have kept Zen. At a philosophical level, having both Zen and the Zest in your life would be a great combination

More than that, I am really curious about the excel that you maintained about your Zen ownership. Did you really entered all expenses that you incurred on your car? With a little analytics and excel-magic, this could be a treasure-trove for great insights about car ownership. Any chance you could share it?

Thanks Shobit! Your comment about Zen+Zest made me go .
Yes, I have maintained all the expense on my Zen in an excel file. PM me your email ID and I can share it.

Originally Posted by Samar117

Congratulations on the Zest! Here's to wishing you many many more miles with the vehicle. I am sure after the interiors of this car, you would find the interiors of the Duster to be a bit 'agricultural'. The rings in the headlights and the projectors look really awesome.
For all the negativity about Tatas, let me tell you our 5 year old Manza has done it's job faithfully and is still doing so, and the A*S*S isn't much of a problem either.
Congrats once again

Thanks Samar! Yes, The interiors of a few other cars look bland when compared with this. But, Duster is car that should be loved for its ride, handling, ground clearance, SUV feel and buch looks. And interiors was not on my requirement list. I guess, any car's interiros would look nice whilst upgrading from Zen.

Originally Posted by deepfusion

Congratulations Vasanth for the ZEST.

I suppose, you have a strong thing going for cars starting with 'Z'.

And what a wonderful review. Keep the thread updated, mate.

Thanks deepfusion! Please pray that a good 7-seater is launched in the next 6-7 years with a name starting with 'Z' . I hear TATA is working on a compact SUV on the Zest platform.

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Congrats

Hope issues you reported earlier during PDI is taken care by dealer

Thanks Latheesh. One issue reported was taken care to my satisfaction, they did try to address the other issue but it was not upto my satisfaction. But, it was not someting I could't live without so I went ahead with the purchase.

Originally Posted by AMDB9

Congratulations on your new car.
Is there any reason that you did not select the AMT version?
Wish you have many safer miles with the car.
Regards,
Ragav J

Thanks Ragav. Two reasons for not going for the AMT - (1)AMT would be useful primarily for my wife and the only thing she is uncomfortable with in a manual vehicle is half-clutch especially on uphill roads. and the major benefit of conventional auto is that it doesnt roll back on inclines, and drivers don't have to worry about half-clutch. With AMT, the vehicle does roll back, and it is a little tricky. So it did not make sense to my wife (2) If I may quote from the official review "
" This isn't a quick gearbox either and its response times are slow. Not a problem in the city, yet can be one on the highway. Overtaking in automatic mode can be a slow & tedious affair". Basically, I felt the in gear acceleration of manual was far better than the AMT.

Originally Posted by Turbo_asd

Congrats on the acquisition.

Noticeable turbo lag? I am surprised. Most would agree that the 1.5 I dtec is extremely tractable in nature and turbo lag is inexistent. Please do give a brief test drive experience. I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks Turbo_asd. I know that there is an entire paragraph praising Amaze's driveability and lack of turbo lag in the official review. But my test drive experience is this - After crossing an average speed breaker on a flat road in 2nd gear, I pressed the accelerator and the engine didn't respond to my throttle input at all, after about 2 seconds the engine responded. Do you think my experience is a one-off case? I wouldn't know as I have not driven Amaze after that.

Originally Posted by balajisv

Congratulations Vasanth on your Zest QJD!
Being a Revotron owner myself, I can only reiterate how good this car is on the compact sedan segment.
Wish you happy miles!

Thanks Balaji!

Originally Posted by NST440

I must congratulate you on your sensible purchase. it is quite noticeable that you love buying the cars starting from the letter Z, who knows your next purchase may be a Zonda.

Wish you the very best.

Thanks! Zonda!! keeping fingers crossed!

[CountMe91]

First of all, Congrats on your new car! We had a similar Zen MPFi model in Vxi trim which we traded last year with the Wagon R. Would have loved to retain the car if we had extra parking space. Parking spaces are scanty in our area and it did not make sense to maintain two petrols in the family. The Zen was such a brilliant car - we had taken it to all type of terrains and it had always brought a smile to our face after each ride. The only grouch was with the Low GC which would kiss speed breakers when loaded. Plus long driving added to fatigue owing to low seating posture. The Wagon R fared better in terms of these points. But I do miss the low end grunt in the sweet free revving 1 litre MPFi engine. All the best with your new Zest.

[Nissan1180]

Congratulations !
Your report is fantastic.
One aspect of the Zest that I really like is the engine bay. It is well designed, with a lot of vacant space that makes maintenance access easy. To get a better picture, you could look at the pictures of the engine bay of the Xcent and Zest. The Xcent is very compact in comparison.
This is not something that you'll have to bother about now. However, 5-6 years later if you decide to get your car serviced at a FNG, the Tata will be simpler to operate upon.

[ambivalent_98]

A good comprehensive review. Thanks for sharing and good luck with the new kid on the block from Tata. Drive safe....!!!!

Looks like Tata have come a long way in terms of quality control and sales. Keep adding to the thread about your experience with post sales service and other general feedback.
For a change good to see that an Indian company is trying to get better

[dreamliner17]

Congratulations on your new purchase vasanthn21 !
A very good upgrade from your old Zen and wish you enjoy every moment in the Zest !
The Zest , indeed, ticks all the boxes and offers a great package with all the safety gizmos that you can expect in a car of this segment ! The 1.3 MJD, the fantastic interior space, airy cabin and comfortable ride will put a smile on your face for many more years !

Just an observation. TATA has given the rev-counter right upto 8k RPM. Wonder why they didn't change it for the diesel ZEST.

[vinayasurya]

Originally Posted by dreamliner17

Just an observation. TATA has given the rev-counter right upto 8k RPM. Wonder why they didn't change it for the diesel ZEST.

In Zest and Bolt, the needle changes to red while nearing the redline. This allows them to use same rev-counter for Petrol and Diesel.

[Ferruccio]

Congrats. Very comprehensive, interesting reading and lovely snaps.

Originally Posted by madhu33

Regarding the missing boot cladding, it's the same with the new Honda City now a days. .

I am fairly sure that even the Corolla lacks boot cladding and even a boot lamp.
At least the lamp is there on Zest.

[balajisv]

Originally Posted by vasanthn21

Yes, Prerana Lalbagh road. I stay near the NICE junction on Kankapura road. PM me your number, and lets meet some time

Thanks Balaji!

I visited Prerana Motors today and the SA (Kaushik) informed that he interacted with you as well.
He was pretty impressed seeing your detailed review on tbhp!!