TATA Manza Petrol ABS and accessories initial review

boomboom · 13th April 2010, 20:57

Intro - First, let me thank the BHP ians for their numerous contributions for helping me choose a car. Initially, I had Manza, Dzire, Fiesta and City in mind. I went through several forums and short-listed Manza and Dzire. Finally, I must admit that you guys helped me tilt my decision towards Manza.Color and Insurance - I bought a petrol ABS one – known as Safire 90 Aura ABS. Initially thought of picking up the top model, but the price difference of 60K for 2 airbags and couple of meaningless stuff like 2 mm thick chrome inserts in the door handles didn’t make sense. Choosing the color was again an uphill task and decided for breeze blue – a color not that common and kind of struck a chord in the first sight itself. When I started shopping for Insurance, I found that all companies had a lower quote for the same IDV and vehicle. The cheapest premium available was 12,654/-, a whopping 3,100/- cheaper than the original 15,754/- and naturally went with that.

Dealership – First, spoke to Concorde in Bannerghatta Road, as they were the closest to where I live. As usual, there were no offers and moreover, they weren’t even willing to throw in any freebies. After Concorde, I moved to Prerana at Lalbagh Road. Though there were no offers, they were ready to throw in some freebies like sun film, Teflon, perfume, door mats etc. Also, I felt the Prerana guys were more attentive and eager to get the business, while Concorde was more of order fulfillment type and that extra zing was somewhat missing – my individual opinion though. So finalized the deal with Prerana.Initial days – I have clocked 350 KM as we speak. I must say that the inside space is very much comparable to sedans of 2 higher categories. It has that airy, cozy and luxurious touch to the cabin. Driving is nothing sensational though, I’d say a little more is desired from a pick-up and acceleration point of view. Having said that, the engine refinement is really good and noise levels are tolerable. So overall, it has been a pleasurable driving experience so far. The only couple of improvements that I can think of are the side mirrors’ smaller size and quality of internal plastics in some of the places. Some practical features like the real-time fuel efficiency meter on the dash really helps me rectify my driving style (though have to sacrifice fun driving for FE).

Accessories and Cost – Following are the accessories and their respective cost that have already gone in the car.

Freebies from Prerana
Mud Flaps
Floor Mats
Idol
Perfume
Sun film upgrade - Charcoal Light - 800/-
Teflon Polish

Extra Accessories

Leather Upholstery 26,000/-
Alloy Wheels 19,290/-
Hand Rest 3,600/-
Wood finish 7,500/-
Reverse Sensor 4,000/-

Accessories review from Prerana – One should never spend a penny, buying any accessories from the dealer sitting inside a new car dealership – lesson learnt the hard way. I should have restricted my investment to the freebies from the accessories dealer in Prerana. Here’s the detailed run-down of the stuff I bought / got for free.

Mud Flaps – Basic black one
Floor Mats – Extremely basic and really dull looking, planning to change
Idol – Yellow colored 2 cm plastic Ganesha, looks really tacky, planning to change
Perfume – no fragrance at all, unless physically held against AC vents
Sun film – Free sun-film was extremely dark, had to pay 800/- to get a lighter shade
Teflon polish – Looks good, too early to comment about the durability
Reverse Sensor – This is working fine (except for the heavily oriental accented English when put on reverse). The one with 4 sensors, same as mine is available for 2.8K to 3K outside.
Wood finish – This was done by Stanley and must say they have done a superb job. They actually sent over different panels for me to choose the color and then it was done the next day. All of this happened while the car was waiting to be registered and delivered. However, it can be done for 6.5K/7K if approached to Stanley directly.

Other accessories review –
Alloy Wheels – Surprisingly, there is no Manza variant that comes with alloy wheels. Also, the dealer in Prerana discouraged me to go for anything else but the OEM alloys that didn’t look worth 21K. I researched a bit and decided on Neo. The only drawback is for 108 PCD (strangely Manza’s specification) there were none of the alloys available at 15 X 5.5J, except for the OEM. So, after lot of searching, settled for Neo Xtreme black machined 15 X 6J for 20K. The distributor for Neo in Bangalore is MV Enterprises, owner Manoj Agarwal, who also helped me get them fit in a nearby tire store and got me 1,500/- for my existing rims. I had to pay 790/- for air nozzles and weights, so the net cost came to 19,290/- which was very competitive I’d say and Manoj was really helpful and a great guy to deal with.

Leather Upholstery and hand-rest – I am again thankful to you guys for helping me choose Karlsson. I wouldn’t have known them without Team BHP. I called and chatted with Sajith, a week before the actual delivery. He was extremely helpful and cleared a lot of my doubts during the first call itself. I also gave him an additional responsibility of finding hand-rests for the two front seats. We chatted during the week, several times to finalize things and finally met on a Sunday to choose the leather, design etc. I think we spent about 3 hours running different scenarios with different combinations. Finally, I decided on a combination that could not be done later because of the Manza seat designs; Finally, went there one more time and decided on crème leather with chocolate design, all in 1.5 mm thick Scandinavian leather. I must say, he did a fantastic job. The only thing that was not up to my expectation was the hand-rest alignment. I know it was a very difficult proposition as they were not meant to be there originally and Sajith was really apprehensive doing the job. He was also discouraging me to go with the current design and was suggesting me to do the whole car in crème with chocolate piping. End of the day, I think it came out really well and overall it was a job well done by Sajith and team.ResourcesPrerana Motors’ sales, Manjunath – 96868 60245
Neo distributor in Bangalore - MV Enterprises, Manoj Agarwal – 93419 50831
Karlsson, Sajith – 98450 24245

Next – Request help on Euro IV upgrade - the dealership told me to get it done during 1st service and will cost about 2K. This is nothing but a formality, as it is already compliant. Also, does it make sense to put performance filters – some details including costing, availability and places to go in Bangalore with telephone numbers. Any specific filters for Manza ?

Photos and thoughts please – Here are some of the photos (questionable quality though). I’d request and welcome your thoughts, comments, suggestions, advices and criticism for my first long post in this forum.

driving_smartly · 13th April 2010, 21:39

Congratulations

Very nice description and writeup. Manza looks much better with those mods being done, specially the Leather seat covers and wooden finish on central console and door handle. There are not many petrol manza's review, we all hope you will keep posting the pros and cons of manza regularly.

Drive safe

DieselAddikt · 13th April 2010, 21:57

Car looks great Sir. Congratulations. I am not a fan of the wood finish though. The arm rest is a nice feature. Good that you got it. Eager to know the driving impressions about petrol Manza. Happy driving.

safari_lover · 13th April 2010, 22:20

The leather upholstery looks very nice.
Congratulations on the new car.
Wishing you miles of happy driving.

Amartya · 13th April 2010, 22:29

Really looks good. I can see what you meant by the alignment of the armrests not being perfect. Well, other than that it certainly looks great.

Congratulations.

Akhil@Bengaluru · 13th April 2010, 22:30

Congrats on the beast.
You will really enjoy driving Manza, Have just clocked 5200 kms in my Manza and i have really loved each bit of it. Take it on highway and you will love it.
You have done many thing which i needed to do on My Manza

like alloys seat covers and arm rest.
Do post with your driving experience.

And what is that Euro IV upgrade? Do you mean your car is not Euro IV and you can get it upgraded to Euro IV?

boomboom · 13th April 2010, 22:49

[quote=Akhil@Bengaluru;1836980]

And what is that Euro IV upgrade? Do you mean your car is not Euro IV and you can get it upgraded to Euro IV?

Any cars before 01-Apr was non Euro IV. Having said that, lot of these cars would be technically compliant, but sold as Euro III. The dealer informed me that they will do some tweaking and certify it as Euro IV - cost approx 2K, hence wanted some advice.

lamborghini · 14th April 2010, 02:57

Boomboom: Congrats on the car. Looks amazing in blue, and I especially love the leather. Wish there were some good leather stores in Mumbai as well, apart from stanley and G Sport which are there everywhere.
I see you have an interest in photography as well. I really like the clarity of the pics.
Which camera did you use?

The alloys look stunning, and the only thing I am not a big fan of is the wooden finish. But then again, that's just me, and I am not a big fan of the wooden finish in many cars (even as standard). I guess it has got more to do with my age, and preference for sporty over luxury.

Hope to hear more from you, as the new Tata cars are ones I am really interested in. I really want to know how reliable they are, and how the A.S.S. works, as till date we have had a mixed bag of experiences with them.
Our pre-2000 indica was fairly trouble free (but we sold her within 3 years), but the company Indigo is known for giving problems frequently.

mjothi · 14th April 2010, 06:35

Congrats. I like the hand rest for front seats. How much did it cost?

And is it comfortable to use gears when this in place? I always thought this will be good on a auto transmission than manual. Especially a place like bangy traffic.

rishab.k · 14th April 2010, 10:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by boomboom

Any cars before 01-Apr was non Euro IV. Having said that, lot of these cars would be technically compliant, but sold as Euro III. The dealer informed me that they will do some tweaking and certify it as Euro IV - cost approx 2K, hence wanted some advice.

If you check the Tata motors website they have the price list for both BS III & BS IV Manzas & there is a price difference of about Rs. 10,000/- between them.
How is he claiming to do it in 2000 bucks?

raghu230506 · 14th April 2010, 10:49

Congratulations on your new Manza.

Nice color choice.

Car looks amazing in the alloys and as well the interiors, great job done.

Drive safe and have fun.

Quote:

The distributor for Neo in Bangalore is MV Enterprises, owner Manoj Agarwal, who also helped me get them fit in a nearby tire store and got me 1,500/- for my existing rims.

Why did you dispose the OE rims? it comes handy some times.

Was it 1.5k for all the rims or per rim?

nkrishnap · 14th April 2010, 10:50

Congrats Sir!.

The car looks great with the alloys. The interiors look even better.

Enjoy many more miles with your Saffire

Dippy · 14th April 2010, 10:51

Congratulations on the car! Please note that Team-BHP does not permit booking / buying experience threads in the Test-Drives section anymore. For the benefit of members & guests alike, it is now imperative to include a complete report on the car (the driving experience / comfort / features, what you like, what you don't like etc.).

This thread is temporarily closed. Please PM me or report this post once you are ready to update with a complete driving report; that's when it shall be re-opened. Thanks for your support.

13th April 2010, 20:57	#1
boomboom Newbie Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2 Thanked: 0 Times	TATA Manza Petrol ABS and accessories initial review Intro - First, let me thank the BHP ians for their numerous contributions for helping me choose a car. Initially, I had Manza, Dzire, Fiesta and City in mind. I went through several forums and short-listed Manza and Dzire. Finally, I must admit that you guys helped me tilt my decision towards Manza.Color and Insurance - I bought a petrol ABS one – known as Safire 90 Aura ABS. Initially thought of picking up the top model, but the price difference of 60K for 2 airbags and couple of meaningless stuff like 2 mm thick chrome inserts in the door handles didn’t make sense. Choosing the color was again an uphill task and decided for breeze blue – a color not that common and kind of struck a chord in the first sight itself. When I started shopping for Insurance, I found that all companies had a lower quote for the same IDV and vehicle. The cheapest premium available was 12,654/-, a whopping 3,100/- cheaper than the original 15,754/- and naturally went with that. Dealership – First, spoke to Concorde in Bannerghatta Road, as they were the closest to where I live. As usual, there were no offers and moreover, they weren’t even willing to throw in any freebies. After Concorde, I moved to Prerana at Lalbagh Road. Though there were no offers, they were ready to throw in some freebies like sun film, Teflon, perfume, door mats etc. Also, I felt the Prerana guys were more attentive and eager to get the business, while Concorde was more of order fulfillment type and that extra zing was somewhat missing – my individual opinion though. So finalized the deal with Prerana.Initial days – I have clocked 350 KM as we speak. I must say that the inside space is very much comparable to sedans of 2 higher categories. It has that airy, cozy and luxurious touch to the cabin. Driving is nothing sensational though, I’d say a little more is desired from a pick-up and acceleration point of view. Having said that, the engine refinement is really good and noise levels are tolerable. So overall, it has been a pleasurable driving experience so far. The only couple of improvements that I can think of are the side mirrors’ smaller size and quality of internal plastics in some of the places. Some practical features like the real-time fuel efficiency meter on the dash really helps me rectify my driving style (though have to sacrifice fun driving for FE). Accessories and Cost – Following are the accessories and their respective cost that have already gone in the car. Freebies from Prerana Mud Flaps Floor Mats Idol Perfume Sun film upgrade - Charcoal Light - 800/- Teflon Polish Extra Accessories Leather Upholstery 26,000/- Alloy Wheels 19,290/- Hand Rest 3,600/- Wood finish 7,500/- Reverse Sensor 4,000/- Accessories review from Prerana – One should never spend a penny, buying any accessories from the dealer sitting inside a new car dealership – lesson learnt the hard way. I should have restricted my investment to the freebies from the accessories dealer in Prerana. Here’s the detailed run-down of the stuff I bought / got for free. Mud Flaps – Basic black one Floor Mats – Extremely basic and really dull looking, planning to change Idol – Yellow colored 2 cm plastic Ganesha, looks really tacky, planning to change Perfume – no fragrance at all, unless physically held against AC vents Sun film – Free sun-film was extremely dark, had to pay 800/- to get a lighter shade Teflon polish – Looks good, too early to comment about the durability Reverse Sensor – This is working fine (except for the heavily oriental accented English when put on reverse). The one with 4 sensors, same as mine is available for 2.8K to 3K outside. Wood finish – This was done by Stanley and must say they have done a superb job. They actually sent over different panels for me to choose the color and then it was done the next day. All of this happened while the car was waiting to be registered and delivered. However, it can be done for 6.5K/7K if approached to Stanley directly. Other accessories review – Alloy Wheels – Surprisingly, there is no Manza variant that comes with alloy wheels. Also, the dealer in Prerana discouraged me to go for anything else but the OEM alloys that didn’t look worth 21K. I researched a bit and decided on Neo. The only drawback is for 108 PCD (strangely Manza’s specification) there were none of the alloys available at 15 X 5.5J, except for the OEM. So, after lot of searching, settled for Neo Xtreme black machined 15 X 6J for 20K. The distributor for Neo in Bangalore is MV Enterprises, owner Manoj Agarwal, who also helped me get them fit in a nearby tire store and got me 1,500/- for my existing rims. I had to pay 790/- for air nozzles and weights, so the net cost came to 19,290/- which was very competitive I’d say and Manoj was really helpful and a great guy to deal with. Leather Upholstery and hand-rest – I am again thankful to you guys for helping me choose Karlsson. I wouldn’t have known them without Team BHP. I called and chatted with Sajith, a week before the actual delivery. He was extremely helpful and cleared a lot of my doubts during the first call itself. I also gave him an additional responsibility of finding hand-rests for the two front seats. We chatted during the week, several times to finalize things and finally met on a Sunday to choose the leather, design etc. I think we spent about 3 hours running different scenarios with different combinations. Finally, I decided on a combination that could not be done later because of the Manza seat designs; Finally, went there one more time and decided on crème leather with chocolate design, all in 1.5 mm thick Scandinavian leather. I must say, he did a fantastic job. The only thing that was not up to my expectation was the hand-rest alignment. I know it was a very difficult proposition as they were not meant to be there originally and Sajith was really apprehensive doing the job. He was also discouraging me to go with the current design and was suggesting me to do the whole car in crème with chocolate piping. End of the day, I think it came out really well and overall it was a job well done by Sajith and team.ResourcesPrerana Motors’ sales, Manjunath – 96868 60245 Neo distributor in Bangalore - MV Enterprises, Manoj Agarwal – 93419 50831 Karlsson, Sajith – 98450 24245 Next – Request help on Euro IV upgrade - the dealership told me to get it done during 1st service and will cost about 2K. This is nothing but a formality, as it is already compliant. Also, does it make sense to put performance filters – some details including costing, availability and places to go in Bangalore with telephone numbers. Any specific filters for Manza ? Photos and thoughts please – Here are some of the photos (questionable quality though). I’d request and welcome your thoughts, comments, suggestions, advices and criticism for my first long post in this forum. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by Jaggu : 13th April 2010 at 21:15. Reason: Please post under relevant subforum. Thanks
	() Thanks

13th April 2010, 21:39	#2
driving_smartly BHPian Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: MH43 & MH14 Posts: 518 Thanked: 305 Times View My Garage	Congratulations Very nice description and writeup. Manza looks much better with those mods being done, specially the Leather seat covers and wooden finish on central console and door handle. There are not many petrol manza's review, we all hope you will keep posting the pros and cons of manza regularly. Drive safe
	() Thanks

13th April 2010, 21:57	#3
DieselAddikt BHPian Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Harrisburg, PA Posts: 588 Thanked: 952 Times View My Garage	Car looks great Sir. Congratulations. I am not a fan of the wood finish though. The arm rest is a nice feature. Good that you got it. Eager to know the driving impressions about petrol Manza. Happy driving.
	() Thanks

13th April 2010, 22:20	#4
safari_lover Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Bengaluru / Bagdal Posts: 1,135 Thanked: 685 Times	The leather upholstery looks very nice. Congratulations on the new car. Wishing you miles of happy driving.
	() Thanks

13th April 2010, 22:29	#5
Amartya Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Evanston Posts: 1,748 Thanked: 736 Times	Really looks good. I can see what you meant by the alignment of the armrests not being perfect. Well, other than that it certainly looks great. Congratulations.
	() Thanks

13th April 2010, 22:30	#6
Akhil@Bengaluru BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 100 Thanked: 4 Times View My Garage	Congrats on the beast. You will really enjoy driving Manza, Have just clocked 5200 kms in my Manza and i have really loved each bit of it. Take it on highway and you will love it. You have done many thing which i needed to do on My Manza like alloys seat covers and arm rest. Do post with your driving experience. And what is that Euro IV upgrade? Do you mean your car is not Euro IV and you can get it upgraded to Euro IV?
	() Thanks

13th April 2010, 22:49	#7
boomboom Newbie Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2 Thanked: 0 Times	[quote=Akhil@Bengaluru;1836980] And what is that Euro IV upgrade? Do you mean your car is not Euro IV and you can get it upgraded to Euro IV? Any cars before 01-Apr was non Euro IV. Having said that, lot of these cars would be technically compliant, but sold as Euro III. The dealer informed me that they will do some tweaking and certify it as Euro IV - cost approx 2K, hence wanted some advice.
	() Thanks

14th April 2010, 02:57	#8
lamborghini Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 6,113 Thanked: 5,760 Times View My Garage	Boomboom: Congrats on the car. Looks amazing in blue, and I especially love the leather. Wish there were some good leather stores in Mumbai as well, apart from stanley and G Sport which are there everywhere. I see you have an interest in photography as well. I really like the clarity of the pics. Which camera did you use? The alloys look stunning, and the only thing I am not a big fan of is the wooden finish. But then again, that's just me, and I am not a big fan of the wooden finish in many cars (even as standard). I guess it has got more to do with my age, and preference for sporty over luxury. Hope to hear more from you, as the new Tata cars are ones I am really interested in. I really want to know how reliable they are, and how the A.S.S. works, as till date we have had a mixed bag of experiences with them. Our pre-2000 indica was fairly trouble free (but we sold her within 3 years), but the company Indigo is known for giving problems frequently.
	() Thanks

14th April 2010, 06:35	#9
mjothi Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 3,287 Thanked: 231 Times View My Garage	Congrats. I like the hand rest for front seats. How much did it cost? And is it comfortable to use gears when this in place? I always thought this will be good on a auto transmission than manual. Especially a place like bangy traffic. Last edited by mjothi : 14th April 2010 at 06:36.
	() Thanks

14th April 2010, 10:50	#12
nkrishnap Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 3,983 Thanked: 7,407 Times View My Garage	Congrats Sir!. The car looks great with the alloys. The interiors look even better. Enjoy many more miles with your Saffire
	() Thanks

14th April 2010, 10:51	#13
Dippy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 7,558 Thanked: 2,462 Times	Congratulations on the car! Please note that Team-BHP does not permit booking / buying experience threads in the Test-Drives section anymore. For the benefit of members & guests alike, it is now imperative to include a complete report on the car (the driving experience / comfort / features, what you like, what you don't like etc.). This thread is temporarily closed. Please PM me or report this post once you are ready to update with a complete driving report; that's when it shall be re-opened. Thanks for your support.
	() Thanks