The Elusive Full Beam

OK, I have news and not a great one. I am frustrated. Simply, the 4 headlamps of Vista dont necessarily translate to better night vision of the road ahead. The headlamps suck, and bigtime. Yesterday was my 4th Visit for the same issue. Instead, now, the low beam alignment is also gone and high beam continues to focus on tree tops. I feel the previous alignment was better!

Very frustrating. Night time, i dont think i can cross 40-50 KMPH safely. The other problem is, headlight alignment switch only applies to low beam and not to high beam.

Next service, I will give it another shot. If these guys (Concorde) are not able to do it, I will take it to AutoMatrix and give it a shot.

My experience yesterday was sub standard too! I go to concorde and the security tells me to pull into the workshop. Cars are parked so hapizardly, that to reach the workshop I lost 20 mins from the entry gate. When I reach workshop, they just ask me to drive to QRS (Quick Repair Service) bay for which I did not have to drive through all this mess. Finally once I am in QRS, the guy tries to adjust beams and screws up low beam as well. I was able to realize only when i drove in the night that it was messed up. He claimed that it was perfect now.

Whoa.. I think following are the options in front of me:

1. Give two more tries to have the headlights focused and aligned properly - one at concorde and one at AutoMatrix.
2. If that fails, I have two options:
2a.Go for some really powerful foglamps (is that what you call them? the ones installed on the bull bar like Hella etc)
2b. Go for a mod on the original and get a pair of projector headlamps.

- Aravind

Summary of Issues and Good things faced so far in the One Month of Ownership

Issues First:
- A/C Vent not moving up and down - Fixed
- Grinding noise from Front right wheel - Fixed
- Dashboard plastic sheet has come off - New Issue, will fix in second service.
- Full beam is a sore point in Vista. The headlamp level adjustment is only for low beam. All my enthusiasm about 4 headlamps fizzled out because the full beam adjustment is still not to my satisfaction. Even with 2 or 1 person in the car, the full beam will blind the pilot of the aircraft flying in the sky but not light up the road ahead. With 4-5 persons, dont use the full beam, it is of no use. This is a very very irritating thing for me, because spotting a speed breaker at 80 KMPH in the night and slowing down in time is simply impossible with these high beams. I think H4 bulbs are better or TATA should have head lamp leveler adjustment for full beams too.


Good Things:

- Good riding comfort
- Ability to take on bad roads
- Feels stable at 140 KMPH (on a straight road)
- 80 - 100 KMPH feels stationary and absolutely free of stress
- Good mileage
- Super duper A/C which chills in peak summer.

Tale of 140 KMPH, One Grounding and Dashboard Plastic

On 31st Mar, my drive to sullia was progressing as usual. Suddenly my wife tells me to take a look at the speedometer and the speedo is showing 140 KMPH. RPM is 3000+ . But car was stable and did not realize that we were cruising at 140.

FE from that trip (90% A/C) was 18.9 KMPL. In the previous trip, my nephew and niece wanted to play in the river at Sullia and i was ferrying them to the river. I drove over a sand dune and lo, the car scraped the ground right at the center, but luckily on the frame where the jack is normally placed. Thanked stars for that.

Hmm, Now to the "niggling" issue: Yesterday I observed that the dashboard plastic (black color) has come off from the dashboard. I realised that the black plastic feel of the dashboard was achieved by gluing the black textured plastic material and was not part of the mould itself. Will have to fix this in the next service (5000 KMs). Car has already clocked 3300 KMs in one month.

So far so good, nothing major to worry about..

- Aravind Kamath

First Service Update

Completed 1st Free Service on Mar 21st. Got engine compartment waxing, 3M paint protection done. Cost about 3500/-. Asked the high beam adjustment to be done, it was done, but I need to have it adjusted again. It is not to my satisfaction. Car runs great as usual.

First Long Trip - 650 Kms Covered Over the Weekend

Indie completed the first long drive from Bangalore to Sullia via Mysore, Madikeri and back. Here are some of the highlights:

- I struggled to get the synchronization going between me and the machine. The turbo would kick in and the car would take off but negotiating the traffic on Mysore road with the turbo coming in was a challenge initially.
- Once the turbo kicks in, the car simply develops phenomenal power
- Completed the entire journey with A/C on, absolutely no power drop
- topped up about Rs 800/- worth of normal diesel in sullia. Premium Diesel is NOT recommended for Vista.
- During the onward journey, the time taken was 6 Hours and 5 minutes to cover 325 Kms. Started at 7 PM and reached at 1:05 AM with two breaks of 10 Mins each.
- While coming back, I was completely in sync with the car behaviour and the journey was really amiable. We completed 325 Kms in 5 Hours 25 Mins with one break of 25 Mins. Man, this was my best ever from Sullia to Bangalore.
- Comfortably passed Innovas, i20s, Swifts and loads of other makes without having to sweat it out. Not to say that those vehicles are not capable, may be individual driving style, but Indie was able to cruise at 120KMPH at about 2500 RPMs and the cabin noise was very minimal. The car did not feel stressed.
- During my onward journey, it was quite unnerving while manouvering the car at 100+ speeds. I realized that the steering wheel of indie is tuned differently as compared to my A-Star. Indie steering wheel is hyper sensitive where as A Star steering wheel is not so sensitive. I feel Indie steers more for the same rotation of the steering wheel as compared to A-Star. This steering behaviour during my onward journey was part of the "did not feel in sync" with the car experience. However, on my way back, I got used to it and was steering it appropriately without going through "Oh My God!" moments.
- Headlights are not meant for night driving : went over one speed break each during my onward and return journey at 40-50 speeds as the poor headlights ensured that the speed breakers were visible only at the last moment. Not to mention that the speed breaker warning signs were not placed on the shoulders as well. Upgrading to Philips ExtremeVision +100% 55W H1 and H7 today!
- Overall, the experience was super.

The Grinding Noise - Terminated!

In my earlier post I had mentioned about the grinding noise emanating from the front right wheel. Today I showed up at Concorde and as usual had a tough time parking the vehicle. Once I found the parking spot, I went in and met the lady who had helped me last time around. She promptly took me to the express service bay and asked the mechanic there to help me.

The first mechanic takes the car for a drive along with me and is kind of not sure whether he is hearing the noise or not. He said it is coming from the engine and that is a normal sound. Actually, I told him that it is not normal and it is coming from the wheels. He then puts up the vehicle on the hoist and they lift my Indie. He rotates the wheels and it does not make any noise. But the noise while driving was so loud that I simply did not agree that there is no noise.

Then shows up this guy who helped me last time with the A/C vents. I should make a special mentioned about this person - John, he walks up to me and smiles and asks me what the problem is. When I described the problem to him, with the vehicle being on hoist still, he just walks out, comes back with a screw driver and pulls back a L shaped metal cover which is protecting the CV joint. He pulls the vehicle down from the hoist and says "Let's drive". We go for a test drive and Lo! the noise is gone.

The noise was coming due to this L shaped brass cover touching the Brake Rotor from the inside (the engine side).

This guy John seems to be a fantastic guy who kind of knows where to look for things based on the description of the problem. This guy gives me confidence that I will have a decent ownership experience all the way upto the extended warranty period - 4 Years/1,50,000 Kms whichever is earlier. 4 Year looks to be realistic to me :P. I think whenever I go there for service, I will specifically ask for John!

My Indie is learning to rock, actually rocking, again!

- Aravind

And One Design Flaw

Today, I went to the gas station to have the diesel filled up and then routinely wanted to set the tyre pressure. Just figured out that those plush looking wheel covers hide the air valve and to fill air, he had to remove the wheel covers. Hmm, I think the design needs to be changed or I will drive without the wheel covers.

I think, I need to wipe out my previous car ownership mindset and kind of retune my mind for Vista Ownership!!

- Aravind Kamath