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Life with a Tata Altroz DCA: 2 years and nearing 12,000 km

30th September 2024, 18:31 by Kanad Kalasur

The DCA gearbox still continues to charm us with the seamless gear changes. We have made it a practice, whenever the car will be stationary for more than 30 seconds, we shift it to "N".

BHPian W.A.G.7 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Thanks for the two replies above. We will definitely take care next time. Anyway, it's time for an update and some pics of course.

The car is doing it's daily job extremely well. No squeak, no rattle, everything has been put together solidly.
Tyre's are good, and holding well through all the monsoon abused roads. In fact I am surprised that they haven't worn out yet with the insanely dirty quality of roads that we have left after the rains took their toll on the roads.
The automatic headlamps work like a charm. So do the rain sensing wipers. The Garve Tata service center hasn't done any ECU update yet, for the rear wipers to sweep in tandem with the main ones.
The seats are holding well, although the cloth upholstery is showing signs of dirt and dust accumulation. Looks like a thorough interior job is now really needed. We will probably get it done after the monsoons complete their activities.
The plastics are good quality ones and they have held up well in the last two years.
All buttons still work great and we love the physical buttons. Work great means that they still have the same tactile feedback as we had when the car was new.
The engine is an under powered workhorse. Yes it's under powered without a doubt but it does it's assigned job extremely well. The lack of power is felt on the highways but for the layman, the power will be sufficient for within the city driving.
The fuel efficiency hovers between 9 and 10 kmpl within the city. There's a parallel thread somewhere on Team Bhp where someone found out that a faulty thermostat assembly will cause the fuel efficiency to drop. We have sourced the part for the Altroz from Boodmo but we haven't got the time to get it changed. And yes, as mentioned in that thread, the temperature always seems to be below the 90 degrees celsius threshold.
On the highways though, the fuel efficiency straight away increases to between 15 and 16 kmpl. Funnily enough this engine isn't meant for the highway spirited driving yet it always manages to deliver pretty neat fuel efficiency for a heavy and under powered hatchback.
The paint quality is solid. No chips, flakes, peeling or fading observed anywhere. The sparkle effect in the grey colour looks especially good when the car has been washed properly and wiped clean.
The DCA gearbox still continues to charm us with the seamless gear changes. We have made it a practice, whenever the car will be stationary for more than 30 seconds, we shift it to "N".
Gear shifts are smooth and you can hardly make out the changes. It's only when you hear the engine RPM increase or decrease, you know the gears have changed. We tried the manual mode on the highway once again but heck no. It always ends up confusing us, so we switch back to the "D" mode once again.
One thing we sorely miss is the gear indicator. It will really be a useful feature in the car to see the gear in the instrument panel.
The Harman Kardonn system is fantastic. Neither of us are audiophiles but we really love the clean bass and notes with the default settings. We just like our music the way we want, and this system doesn't disappoint in any way.
Surprisingly it has the feature of Apple car play / Android auto but that works only when you connect your phone with a cable. And we always forget to get the cable when we start any journey. And we remember it only when we are minimum 5 kilometres away from home!
Overall, we are satisfied with the purchase so far and in the last two years and one month the car has completed 11,825 kms. Barring a few things, overall I think this is a solid hatchback for the cityscape or as a secondary car.
I sincerely wish Tata would mate the DCA gearbox with the 1.2 Turbo Petrol engine and that would make a great "Hot Hatch" for those on a budget.

Looks good from any angle!

This one is a long hatchback, with a big front overhang

This is the angle that I love best

A random shot somewhere around Satara city

The flowing lines and a subtle use of chrome make it look good!

Thankfully there's no overload of chrome anywhere

Front view at a scenic location with no crowds. This place is on the opposite side of Kaas plateau which is now too overcrowded.

Another random shot of the beautiful nature. If you look outside of Kaas plateau in Satara, there are countless such places.

Yo! My wife is happy with the money spent on the car!

Wet look finish of the grey colour is good

Alloys have a nice, simple, and a clean design

The best angle to look at!

Overall Fuel efficiency (which included getting stuck in a mammoth traffic jam after Khambatki tunnel) of the car after the entire Pune>Satara>Pune trip.