Why I bought Tata Altroz iTurbo: 6 months & 6K km ownership experience

The benchmark for this purchase was quite high as we already had the Ford Fiesta Classic Petrol and a Type 3 Maruti Esteem.

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Sometime late last year, the YOLO bug bit me, exacerbated by the pandemic and a mini quarter-life crisis of sorts. I was on the lookout for a safe, comfortable, reliable, and quick-ish hatchback or sedan under 10 lakhs.

I'd like to think of myself as an enthusiast who derives more joy from pushing a car through the corners than from a fast quarter-mile time. The benchmark was quite high considering we own a Ford Fiesta Classic Petrol, which is, by far, one of the best handling cars ever to have been sold in India. A few years ago, I also acquired a Type 3 Maruti Esteem, which is still rapid and can change direction pretty quickly.

I briefly considered looking into the used car market and zeroed in on a few Lauras, but with reliability one of my key criteria (my father occasionally drives it and I wasn't keen to test his patience with a broken-down car), I turned my attention towards a new car.

SUVs or anything that had a lot of body roll was ruled out, as were unsafe and/or poorly built ones.

I had the likes of the Altroz, i20, and the Polo on my shortlist, but one was quickly removed as the VW dealers were clueless about when the Polo would arrive at their stockyards. The i20 N Line seemed very promising, but I wasn't too keen on the iMT, which, reviews had said, was slow, while I was also skeptical about buying a car with new tech. The DCT was way above my budget and was quickly ruled out.

I primarily work from home and most of my driving is done over the weekends or outstation trips, which meant that petrol was the best option for me. Test drove the Altroz and was impressed with its high-speed ride and the build quality of the car. The iTurbo engine isn't as quick as the Polo's or i20's, but it's good enough for someone upgrading from an 84 bhp car from the 2000s.

It also seemed great VFM as it offered a lot of goodies for just over 10 lakhs for the top-end XZ+ model. The XZ+ model has a cooled glove box, auto headlights and wipers, auto-folding ORVM, steering-mounted controls, and Cruise Control. The IRA is a useful feature, which tracks every drive, allows you to remotely open/lock doors, switch on the headlights, and also allows you to track the location of the car.

I've had the car for six months and have put 6000 km on the odo, with around 4000 of those kms coming on the highways. The car has served me well so far and I haven't encountered any issues.

There's been just one addition to the car since I took delivery. I changed the stock MRF tyres to the Michelin Primacy 4 ST, which has made quite a big difference to the braking of the car, as well as tyre noise.

Completed two services of the car and got the underbody rust coating during one of the services. No fluid changes so far in either service.

On the highway, the car is decently quick and can easily sustain triple-digit speeds for hours. But, Sport mode is a must on highways as the City mode doesn't have the grunt to make easy overtakes. Engine noise can creep in at high RPMs, especially when there's no music playing. I quite like the intake noise.

There's ample space at the front and back and four can travel in comfort. Luggage space is decent too for 3-4 people. The AC cooled very quickly even when the outside temperature was 36-37 degrees (Xpress Cool is a useful feature), while the cooled glove box is a great boon on long drives.

The steering weighs up decently well at high speeds, although no comparison to the Fiesta and Esteem's hydraulic units. But, it's one of the better power steering units in cars under 10 lakhs. It's pretty adept at handling the twisties, but it doesn't have the composure of the sedans, which I expected.

One aspect of the Altroz that I don't quite like is the gearbox. It can be clunky at times, especially when shifting to 1st gear. The service engineer has assured me that the gearbox will become smoother over time, which I'm not quite sure I believe.

Fuel economy is decent for a turbo petrol. I get 12-13 in the city and around 16-17 on the highway. It drops drastically if you employ a heavy foot, though.

The things I like

• Superb AC
• Ample space
• High-speed ride quality and straight line composure

The things I don't like

• Clunky gearbox
• Engine noise at high speeds

What's next for the car?

I plan to add some sound dampening to eliminate the engine noise. I also want to remap the car to extract a little more power, which this engine can (the JTP tune would be ideal), different exhaust tips for a throatier exhaust note, and lower springs.

I want this to be a reliable, everyday car, so I won't go the full hog with the performance mods - and also there are a few plans to make the Esteem a little more rowdy to satisfy the tuner car desires.

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