[5kmiles]

I purchased this car from Tayal Motors in May and have done around 6000kms. Car holds very strongly for the reasons I bought it in first place -
1. great space,
2. excellent comfort with above avg ride, great to be driven around in and enjoy deep slumber.
3. long list of features at a great price - love most of the comfort and safety features, more so since I upgraded from plain jane WagonR
4. hated looks of Dzire - its only strong competition,
5. excellent economy - around 16 kmpl in mixed driving, 20+ on highways
6. at par performance with decent grunt for my usage, have done 135-140kmph on Eways and car acquits itself well. Not a linea or a Vento, but ok for what I paid for it.
7. Almost everyone who rides with me, seems to like the car very much and appreciate 'space + features at great price' in particular.

General Problems - sort of part of the package:
1. Tyre noise on the higher side at slighly higher speeds. Would switch to Michelin XM1 around 20K kms.
2. Steering does not have chrome Tata logo. Plastic one looks real cheap.
3. Slightly bouncy rear on uneven surfaces
4. No power below 1500rpm makes life difficult sometimes
5. Manufacturing defect - horn panel slight up on left side, visible to discerning eyes.
6. Manfaturing defect - very very minor shade difference between front bumber and body. Visible under bright sunlight only. PDI should be done in bright sunlight for companies like Tata.
7. High beam seems set a little lower than required - personal opinion.

Technical Issues already faced:
1. Metallic sound, like enging knocking, at lower rpms (no, it is not low enough for engine knocking) started at around 2k kms. Became more and more consistent, even started in stationary vehicle, as kms increased. Tayal motors tried to fix thrice. On second service, did some adjustments to some pipes which has eliminated noise under 90% conditions. Now I hear it only when braking and coming to a stop slowly.

2. On pressing the indicator stalk a bit in any direction after the max position, interior illumination and headlights go off. PRoblem with combination switch. Will be replaced in a week - some other people reported this problem as well.

3. Left power window switch gone - replaced.

4. Minor cranking sound from front right suspension - gone after second service - at least for now.

5. Bluetooth disconnects under music streaming afer abount 30 seconds or so - need to debug myself first.

6. Very small rust marks under the hood around the plastic beads on which the bonnet rests. Tata's service manager (or whatever) will check this + other manufacturing linked issues when he visits the dealer next time.

7. On refilling tank till autocut after distance-to-empty shows 0kms, it takes only around 36 litres of fuel. With a tank of 44 litres, I am puzzled about this aspect. Fuel level indicator is almost kissing base mark when refilling is done. Any ideas?


All in all, turning out to be as expected. Car is great on what it promised upfront. Possible challenges of owning a Tata are manifesting through an very average dealer - Tayal Motors. It was a risk I took in lieu of not paying 1.4L extra for Verna (w/o air bags) - and it is still early to say that decision has panned out badly.

[mohandas]

Is this petrol or Diesel?
Nice write-up. But a pic of your Manza would do this better .
Some of the issues that you have said in this thread is very common and has been reported by others too.

[nkrishnap]

First of all Congrats on the Manza. Enjoy many more miles with the car. Do post the photos.

Well documented review there! The niggles can be sorted out, but not without time and effort from yourself due to the incompetency of the service people.

[snan]

Typical Tata Manza review..atleast it delivers on what it promised !.That is the good part. Hope you enjoy many many miles with her. Minor niggles would occur - as long as nothing serious I think it might turn out to be an overall sweet deal !

[5kmiles]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

First of all Congrats on the Manza. Enjoy many more miles with the car. Do post the photos.

Well documented review there! The niggles can be sorted out, but not without time and effort from yourself due to the incompetency of the service people.

Incompetency of very tall order, in fact. Sent my driver to get service done but still had to spend couple of hours in the evening to get things pushed along. If I had not gone, would have had to leave my car overnight for bits and pieces work.

Originally Posted by mohandas

Is this petrol or Diesel?
Nice write-up. But a pic of your Manza would do this better .
Some of the issues that you have said in this thread is very common and has been reported by others too.

It's a diesel. Pics are on the home machine, writing from office . Will definitely post. Saw some of the issues being already reported. Think that the electronic components associated with the switchgear on the stalks are particulalry poor quality. Another Manza owner had issues with turn indicators.

[kaushikr]

Congrats on the Manza and a thanks for the crisp review. The quality of TATA cars are improving.. though they are yet to eliminate all the niggles.

Originally Posted by 5kmiles

7. Almost everyone who rides with me, seems to like the car very much and appreciate 'space + features at great price' in particular.

[VEA]

Couple of questions to 5kmiles

Do you hear a scraping noise from the front suspension while going over speed breakers? I do.
Have you ever noticed the steel rims out of shape after hitting a pothole? i have seen it 4 times within 20k kms!
I cannot adjust the height of the high beams. Is it the same in your manza?

[thegame]

Originally Posted by 5kmiles

7. On refilling tank till autocut after distance-to-empty shows 0kms, it takes only around 36 litres of fuel. With a tank of 44 litres, I am puzzled about this aspect. Fuel level indicator is almost kissing base mark when refilling is done. Any ideas?

I guess that is normal for all cars. I own a Spark and I can fill approximately 10 ltrs after the auto cut off. The fuel meter shows full tank till I exhaust the additional 10 ltrs.

[condor]

Originally Posted by 5kmiles

7. On refilling tank till autocut after distance-to-empty shows 0kms, it takes only around 36 litres of fuel. With a tank of 44 litres, I am puzzled about this aspect. Fuel level indicator is almost kissing base mark when refilling is done. Any ideas? .

Pls do not take the DTE = 0 as your reference. IMO DTE is just an indication. Unlike a bike which has a physical position of the fuel tap to indicate reserve - and hence provide a physical point of reference, the DTE indicator / reserve light coming on is NOT a valid reference for calculating FE in a car.

When you want to measure FE In a car, fill up the tank to the brim - you should be able to see the fuel in the neck. Run hte car, and then fill up again - upto the same point you filled previously.

Like mentioned by @thegame, cars take a lot of fuel after auto-cut off. My Ikon takes about 5 liters. But the Sumo takes about 1 liter (again depends on air inside)

[NFS-II]

Originally Posted by VEA

Couple of questions to 5kmiles

Do you hear a scraping noise from the front suspension while going over speed breakers? I do.

This seems to be typical problem with both Manza and Vista. I had to get the bushes repalced in my Vista twice to get rid of this problem.

[5kmiles]

Originally Posted by VEA

Couple of questions to 5kmiles

Do you hear a scraping noise from the front suspension while going over speed breakers? I do.
Have you ever noticed the steel rims out of shape after hitting a pothole? i have seen it 4 times within 20k kms!
I cannot adjust the height of the high beams. Is it the same in your manza?

There is no scraping noise. However, when moving on up and down surfaces, front right suspension (occasionally) makes a small cranky sound - a miniaturized version of bigger crashing sound on Indicas and Indigo-eCS etc. Else, there is no problem with suspension so far. I did hear another customer complaint of scraping sound when I was at Tayal Motors in Faridabad. He mentioned that this problem has been already found on few Manzas.

Originally Posted by VEA

Couple of questions to 5kmiles

Do you hear a scraping noise from the front suspension while going over speed breakers? I do.
Have you ever noticed the steel rims out of shape after hitting a pothole? i have seen it 4 times within 20k kms!
I cannot adjust the height of the high beams. Is it the same in your manza?

My apologies for missing on the other Qs as submitted the response in a jiffy. Steel rims are in shape - though one has minor crack, thanks to roads that are more like moon's surface.
I think beam adjustment is for low beam only (at least in Manza - not aware of other cars). Low beam adjst works fine for my car.

[ravikn]

Good to see you posting the problems of the manza. It really helps the prospective buyers to take a decision before going for this vehicle. Was just wondering if you verified the predelivery check list posted in the forum before taking the delivery of the vehicle.

Do post some pics of your car.

[abhi1309]

Tata still seems to be way behind in quality. Driving a car should not be such a problem in todays world. I mean why are the niggling issues even there? They shouldn't be. When none of the other cars have them. I have driven my Fiesta for almost 60000 kms without a single issue like this. I mean zero issues. Just nothing. I just start and drive off. Nothing is NOT not working in the car. Ever. Just 6 monthly services that cost Rs. 2500 maximum.

I guess you really need to spend money for quality, no matter how great the Manza has been, it is that only compared to the previous Indigo but not the international brands. Experience of making automobiles is something there is no substitute of. That will haunt Tata and its search for quality control for a long time to come. I wonder what will happen when this Manza is 60000 kms old. They keep on running for years no issues, all tatas do, but how do they do that, the condition of electrical's, how does the body hold up to abuse, thats all a major disappointment. Anyway its way cheaper to buy so its okay actually

[ACM]

Abhi

With the Manza the buyer is also getting a corolla / civic sized car with an unbeatable rear bench. It meets different requirments from those met by the fiesta - a drivers dream car. Depends on the buyers priorities. Yes it would have been ideal if these issues didn't exist at all, but even Ford and GM learnt this pretty late in the game from the Japs.

[abhi1309]

Originally Posted by ACM

Abhi

With the Manza the buyer is also getting a corolla / civic sized car with an unbeatable rear bench. It meets different requirments from those met by the fiesta - a drivers dream car. Depends on the buyers priorities. Yes it would have been ideal if these issues didn't exist at all, but even Ford and GM learnt this pretty late in the game from the Japs.

Agreed, and yes the requirements are also different. It will be great when Tata cars are as trouble free as others. And at the prices that they sell these cars, it would be a force in the market. It is good if the expectations are already set. Like in this case, 5kmiles already knew what he is getting into and expected these issues.