The sedan's music system is quite good but I feel that the one in the Skoda Slavia with a subwoofer sounds much better.

BHPian isotope729 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Test drove the Virtus 1.0 AT yesterday afternoon. I wanted to TD the 1.0 MT but it wasn't available.

A few observations and my experience that's based on my current 2012 Tata Manza.

• The cherry red looks awesome in real life, I also liked the blue.
• The AT works buttery smooth in both bumper-to-bumper traffic and on open roads.
• I would have preferred wider ORVMs, they were a bit small for my liking.
• The driving ergonomics are perfect, no other words.
• Quick acceleration to close those traffic gaps is delightful. I manually changed gears a few times, and it was smooth.
• The boot opens and keeps hanging in the top position. I was hoping it would lock itself. You have to manually push it to the lock position.
• The fuel panel can be opened when the car is unlocked, just requires a small push to open it. There is no mechanism from inside the car to open it. I take it that one would have to be careful if the car is unlocked to ensure no one messes with the fuel filler.
• The Highline variant does not get a sunroof, and gets manual controls for the ACC. The Topline variant gets the sunroof and touch controls. I would have preferred manual controls as the touch controls require the driver to take their eyes off the road.
• The music system is quite good, the car has a rich sounding 8 speakers including 2 tweeters. The equalizer was set to manual. The thump on bass-heavy songs that I played was good but not overbearing. The Slavia with its subwoofer sounds much better. The difference was like the Sony bass-heavy headphones versus Sennheiser headphones. I don't know how the Slavia system without the subwoofer sounds though.

The SA was enthusiastic about showing off the car and its features. Their uniforms are smartly casual, and that created a relaxed atmosphere in the showroom. At least for me, it created a space for relaxed communication. For comparison, the Skoda showroom was more business-like. Nothing bad with either approach, but I preferred the VW approach. I'm getting the 1.0 MT test drive tomorrow, so will update with pictures. I couldn't get pictures yesterday.

Please excuse my language, no offence to anyone.

I feel that the Slavia is like a trophy girlfriend, there is a lot of attraction, some mystery (in a good way) since you don't know each other fully well, you want to spend as much time together as you can. You know someone will be jealous (how did he wind up with her?!). The Virtus, on the other hand, feels like a girlfriend of several years. You know she has the grace and maturity, there's a certain warmth that only she can bring, and gives you space to be on your own while you know she will always have your back. You know someone will remark "they make a great couple".

Here's what BHPian TechnoBloop had to say about the matter:

• Point number 6 - I guess that problem is only there with test drive cars. My relative in Kerala got his Virtus recently, the boot opens and locks at the top position, no wobbling. Checked one out myself in the showroom too!
• Point number 8 - Highline gets both Manual and Automatic AC option, as per the choice of the customer.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Tata Motors is in the process of revamping its passenger car lineup. With the new design strategies moulding the current crop of Tata cars, it looks like the Manza and Vista have been laid to rest.

According to report by Business Standard, Girish Wagh, senior vice-president of programme planning and management for passenger cars at Tata Motors has stated that the Vista and Manza have been phased out of production. Tata revamped its product range with products like the Zest and Bolt by offering a different range of powertrain options and new features.

Neither one of the cars have been sales benchmarks, but they took attention away from the already slow moving Vista and Manza, which were expected to be phased out ever since the Zest and Bolt were revealed before the 2014 Delhi auto expo. Though the discontinuation of the Manza and Vista hasn't been formally announced, neither model is listed on Tata Motors' website.

The Indica and Indigo compact sedan cater to the taxi market and Wagh stated that both models are still driving enough sales in the commercial segment. Tata Motors has opted against selling its new generation cars to commercial buyers and will offer separate products for the segment. The Indian automaker is now banking heavily on the all-new Tata Zica to be a turning point for its passenger car segment, with the car expected to be launched in January 2016.

The Tata Manza has been finding it very difficult to keep pace with its rivals. In the April-September 2014 period, Tata Motors managed to move just 776 units of its largest sedan, which is a nowhere close to the 35,047 units of the segment-leading Honda City. Even the not-so-strong selling Nissan Sunny has managed 2,739 units. During the same period last year, Tata Motors sold 1,054 units of the Manza. This drastic drop in sales could result in Tata Motors pulling it out of the Indian market.

If media reports are to be believed, the demand for the Manza has dried up. The company is focussing on the recently launched Zest compact sedan, which has garnered a lot of interest and orders from the public. At present some variants of the Zest have a delivery period of six months.

The Manza was the first car to be launched by the former Managing Director of Tata Motors, the late Karl Slym. It shared its platform with the Vista positioned above the Indigo and Indigo XL sedans and with its large size and spacious interiors coupled with decent levels of equipment and acceptable levels of quality, offered a lot of car for the money.

Tata Motors, however, has not revealed any plans to pull the plug on the Manza.

Source: Business Standard

In an attempt to revive sales of the Tata Manza, prices across the entire range have been slashed. Tata Motors is also offering what it calls as the Club Class Buyback Assurance with a guaranteed 60 % resale value after three years. The ‘Buyback’ will be applicable only if the car is purchased in the next two months. 

The ‘Buyback’ is conditional to the vehicle having valid insurance, and not having suffered a major accident. It is not known as yet if Tata has kept a limit on the number of kms driven by the vehicle for the offer to be valid. Sales of the Manza have been on the decline for quite some time. It remains a competent sedan, but suffers from image issues, quality niggles and fierce competition from newer sedans. 

The Tata Manza range sees price cuts ranging from Rs 28,000 to Rs 50,000. The base Manza LX QJET 90PS BS4 will cost Rs. 5,99,500 (Ex-Showroom New Delhi) compared to Rs 6,49,337 earlier. Tata has decided to discontinue the pointless top-line EXL variant, with leftover stocks being available at dealers for discounts up to Rs 70,000. The EX is the new range topper at Rs 8,14,409 compared to Rs 8,43,264 earlier (Ex-Showroom New Delhi).