Just got to know that Tata has launched 90HP Quadrajet Vista with Manza dashboard! I think Tata definitely has a winner on its hand! It must be much more exciting than the current 75 PS QJT model. The sad part is, the tata vista website does not have even a single line about this launch!!!!! Why are TATA product launches so quiet all the time? Why no advt campaign! I am even hooked on to the Tata Vista facebook page, but hey, i do not remember seeing anything there either! A unrelated google search threw up a third party automobile website which spoke about this!!!! I think TATA needs to change their publicity guys or do something about it immediately.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Fourth Free Service Update
Gave my inddie for 4th free service on 5th Dec. Two issues i reported to my service advisor:
1. Clutch judder in first gear while releasing the clutch
2. Not the feeling the turbo kick the way i used to feel in 3rd gear at 2000 RPM.
Car was promised to be ready by 5 PM. Car was indeed ready before 5 PM. Both the issues i had reported are well taken care of. The clutch judder has greatly reduced. The turbo kick is back. The whole experience was good. I think I must say that Tata customer care and service has greatly improved and is in the same league as that of my previous experiences with Hyundai and Maruti. I have always dealt with Concorde and not sure if the experience varies with other dealerships - but Concorde is getting better with each visit. The service cost me 1900 - this includes 2 full wheel caps which fell off when the car encountered the mega crater and wheel alignment and wheel balancing and other minor things.
By the way, i also got a follow up call from Concorde Customer Care asking me if everything was ok with my car two days after the service and she also mentioned that if i need any tweaking with the recent service, they will send out the mobile squad to my residence or office and have it set right. Wow! now that is really gooood.
So far, no reason to regret my choice; all reasons to feel happy about the choice so far. I think what I have is a most value for money hatch, cheap to maintain, with decent road manners - handling, braking, acceleration etc.
1. Clutch judder in first gear while releasing the clutch
2. Not the feeling the turbo kick the way i used to feel in 3rd gear at 2000 RPM.
Car was promised to be ready by 5 PM. Car was indeed ready before 5 PM. Both the issues i had reported are well taken care of. The clutch judder has greatly reduced. The turbo kick is back. The whole experience was good. I think I must say that Tata customer care and service has greatly improved and is in the same league as that of my previous experiences with Hyundai and Maruti. I have always dealt with Concorde and not sure if the experience varies with other dealerships - but Concorde is getting better with each visit. The service cost me 1900 - this includes 2 full wheel caps which fell off when the car encountered the mega crater and wheel alignment and wheel balancing and other minor things.
By the way, i also got a follow up call from Concorde Customer Care asking me if everything was ok with my car two days after the service and she also mentioned that if i need any tweaking with the recent service, they will send out the mobile squad to my residence or office and have it set right. Wow! now that is really gooood.
So far, no reason to regret my choice; all reasons to feel happy about the choice so far. I think what I have is a most value for money hatch, cheap to maintain, with decent road manners - handling, braking, acceleration etc.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Tale of 5 Days, 1975 KMs
Excellent roads, very good roads, good roads. Bad roads, worse roads, no roads at all. Seen all of that, been through all of that in my recent 5 days 1975 Kms trip to north karnataka.
We started (my wife, father and mother) @ 5:45 AM on 15th Aug. Reached Bangalore back @ 9:30 PM on 19th Aug. The route covered was bangalore-tumkur-chitradurga-haveri-hubli-naragund-bijapur-sindagi-jeratagi-ganagapur. A short trip from ganagapur-gulbarga and back.
On the return journey the route was Ganagapur-jeratagi-sindagi-bijapur-naragund-hubli-yellapur-ankola-kumta-honnavar-bhatkal-kundapur-udupi-mangalore-puttur-sullia-madikeri-mysore-ramanagar-bangalore.
15th Aug, 5:45 AM we started from bangalore in my inddie and stopped at Kamat at Dobbspet by 7:15 AM. Left Dobbspet by 7:45 AM and reached hubli by 11:45 AM. In between, took one break to stretch legs which lasted 10 mins. Had light food at Kamat Cafe @ Deshpande nagar and left Hubli by 12:45 PM and refuelled to tankfull which consumed 22.2 Ltrs (1000 Rs) and reached Bijapur by 4:15 PM. In between, took one break to stretch legs lasting about 10 minutes. Stopped at sindagi for one more 10 mins break and reached jeratagi by 5:30 PM. Made the left turn and reached Ganagapur which is 22 KMs from Jeratagi by 6:15 PM. Entire journey was with 100% AC on.
Roads were Excellent from Bangalore to Hubli, Very Good from Hubli to Navalgund, Bad in few stretches upto Naragund and Very good from Naragund to Jeratagi. Jeratagi to Ganagapur is a single road but well surfaced. Went over atleast 4 unmarked mega speed breakers at 60-80 KMPH and my inddie held up well. Blr to Hubli, easily 120 KMPH can be held consistently. Hubli to Jeratagi easily 80-100 KMPH can be maintained but the unmarked speed breakers will give you your gotcha moments.
Next day, started from Ganagapur to Gulbarga for a silly reason - the nearest ATM to withdraw cash is available only in Gulbarga. This stretch there are no roads :) It took me 1 Hr30 minutes to cover 40 KMs while going to Gulbarga but on return journey took me only 1 Hr 10 minutes as frustration took over and i did 60 KMPH on virtually no roads. I comfortably passed Boleros, Trax and NEKRTC buses :) :). Inddie's underbelly got hit once, stopped to check for damage, found none, continued with 60 KMPH.
On 17th Aug, started at 6:15 AM from Ganagapur and reached Bijapur at 8:00 AM. Went to a hotel called Royal Comforts in front of Gol gumbuz and had good breakfast. Left Bijapur at 8:30 AM and reached Hubli at 12:30 PM. Went to my brother's in-laws place had lunch and left Hubli at 2:30 PM. Reached Ankola by 4:30 PM. Stopped at Kamat for a quick tea break and started back at 4:45. The worst roads we encountered in this stretch from Ankola to Kundapur. In April End, it took me 2 Hours 15 Mins to cover the same distance, however, this time it took 4 hours to cover the same. Reached kundapur at 8:30 PM. Had dinner at a hotel just outside kundapur. Continued journey towards Sullia. Got good stretches albeit with detours after kundapur. Around 10:30 PM, when i reached NMPT panambur, the excellent 6 lane stretch started. Felt happy. This happiness lasted only 5 seconds as this "Excellent" stretch managed to do what the "No Roads" did not do. There was a mega crater, well cut using man made tools, left open with no signage, into which my inddie's left wheel landed directly at 80 KMPH. There was a swift dezire taxi ahead of me, which swerved at last moment and I could not avoid the 4'X4' square hole. The car came out of the ditch with a loud thud which woke my wife, father and mother who were sleeping blissfully, and the worst happened. The front disk bent beyond repair and the tubless tyre blow went off. The rear left tyre disc had a small dent but the tyre still held the blow. Pulled over, changed the front left wheel with the spare one and continued and did not want to take a risk of continuing beyond mangalore, stayed at mangalore. The time was 11:30 PM. Next day, 18th Aug, went to automatrix, had suspension checked up, it turns out all was ok, bought a new disk and the whole thing cost me Rs 1381/-. Cant believe, this is cheaper than maruti. The impact with which the car hit the edge of the ditch was so huge, that i was thinking that the front struts would be gone. I was super pleased with Inddie. This repair took about 4 hours as the engine guard dent due to the grounding near gulbarga was also fixed. Then continued the journey and reached sullia on 18th. Dropped my parents in sullia, took rest over night and started back to blr on 19th.
Roads from Hubli to Ankola are very good, ankola to kundapur is worst. Kundapur to sullia is good but laden with diversions and few stretches of bad roads.
Complete journey was with AC on and the mileage i got was 18 KMPH.
- Aravind
We started (my wife, father and mother) @ 5:45 AM on 15th Aug. Reached Bangalore back @ 9:30 PM on 19th Aug. The route covered was bangalore-tumkur-chitradurga-haveri-hubli-naragund-bijapur-sindagi-jeratagi-ganagapur. A short trip from ganagapur-gulbarga and back.
On the return journey the route was Ganagapur-jeratagi-sindagi-bijapur-naragund-hubli-yellapur-ankola-kumta-honnavar-bhatkal-kundapur-udupi-mangalore-puttur-sullia-madikeri-mysore-ramanagar-bangalore.
15th Aug, 5:45 AM we started from bangalore in my inddie and stopped at Kamat at Dobbspet by 7:15 AM. Left Dobbspet by 7:45 AM and reached hubli by 11:45 AM. In between, took one break to stretch legs which lasted 10 mins. Had light food at Kamat Cafe @ Deshpande nagar and left Hubli by 12:45 PM and refuelled to tankfull which consumed 22.2 Ltrs (1000 Rs) and reached Bijapur by 4:15 PM. In between, took one break to stretch legs lasting about 10 minutes. Stopped at sindagi for one more 10 mins break and reached jeratagi by 5:30 PM. Made the left turn and reached Ganagapur which is 22 KMs from Jeratagi by 6:15 PM. Entire journey was with 100% AC on.
Roads were Excellent from Bangalore to Hubli, Very Good from Hubli to Navalgund, Bad in few stretches upto Naragund and Very good from Naragund to Jeratagi. Jeratagi to Ganagapur is a single road but well surfaced. Went over atleast 4 unmarked mega speed breakers at 60-80 KMPH and my inddie held up well. Blr to Hubli, easily 120 KMPH can be held consistently. Hubli to Jeratagi easily 80-100 KMPH can be maintained but the unmarked speed breakers will give you your gotcha moments.
Next day, started from Ganagapur to Gulbarga for a silly reason - the nearest ATM to withdraw cash is available only in Gulbarga. This stretch there are no roads :) It took me 1 Hr30 minutes to cover 40 KMs while going to Gulbarga but on return journey took me only 1 Hr 10 minutes as frustration took over and i did 60 KMPH on virtually no roads. I comfortably passed Boleros, Trax and NEKRTC buses :) :). Inddie's underbelly got hit once, stopped to check for damage, found none, continued with 60 KMPH.
On 17th Aug, started at 6:15 AM from Ganagapur and reached Bijapur at 8:00 AM. Went to a hotel called Royal Comforts in front of Gol gumbuz and had good breakfast. Left Bijapur at 8:30 AM and reached Hubli at 12:30 PM. Went to my brother's in-laws place had lunch and left Hubli at 2:30 PM. Reached Ankola by 4:30 PM. Stopped at Kamat for a quick tea break and started back at 4:45. The worst roads we encountered in this stretch from Ankola to Kundapur. In April End, it took me 2 Hours 15 Mins to cover the same distance, however, this time it took 4 hours to cover the same. Reached kundapur at 8:30 PM. Had dinner at a hotel just outside kundapur. Continued journey towards Sullia. Got good stretches albeit with detours after kundapur. Around 10:30 PM, when i reached NMPT panambur, the excellent 6 lane stretch started. Felt happy. This happiness lasted only 5 seconds as this "Excellent" stretch managed to do what the "No Roads" did not do. There was a mega crater, well cut using man made tools, left open with no signage, into which my inddie's left wheel landed directly at 80 KMPH. There was a swift dezire taxi ahead of me, which swerved at last moment and I could not avoid the 4'X4' square hole. The car came out of the ditch with a loud thud which woke my wife, father and mother who were sleeping blissfully, and the worst happened. The front disk bent beyond repair and the tubless tyre blow went off. The rear left tyre disc had a small dent but the tyre still held the blow. Pulled over, changed the front left wheel with the spare one and continued and did not want to take a risk of continuing beyond mangalore, stayed at mangalore. The time was 11:30 PM. Next day, 18th Aug, went to automatrix, had suspension checked up, it turns out all was ok, bought a new disk and the whole thing cost me Rs 1381/-. Cant believe, this is cheaper than maruti. The impact with which the car hit the edge of the ditch was so huge, that i was thinking that the front struts would be gone. I was super pleased with Inddie. This repair took about 4 hours as the engine guard dent due to the grounding near gulbarga was also fixed. Then continued the journey and reached sullia on 18th. Dropped my parents in sullia, took rest over night and started back to blr on 19th.
Roads from Hubli to Ankola are very good, ankola to kundapur is worst. Kundapur to sullia is good but laden with diversions and few stretches of bad roads.
Complete journey was with AC on and the mileage i got was 18 KMPH.
- Aravind
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Completed 3rd Service - 10000 KMs
Completed 10K KM service yesterday. Gave the vehicle to my regular service advisor. Following work was done:
- Oil Change (first time since buying the car)
- Clutch Bleeding to address clutch play. The clutch play is as good as before now.
- The plastic on the dashboard has been "pasted" back to the dashboard with some kind of glue. Not sure about the longevity. Looks like a substandard job :)
- Routine maintenance activity like air filter cleaning, lights checking etc etc.
- Wheel balancing and oil filter change
- Cost me 700 Rs as I am covered under AMC.
Overall impression, the service was great.
Have two long drives in the pipeline for the next month. One will be around 700 KMs and another one will be 1700 KMs
- Aravind
- Oil Change (first time since buying the car)
- Clutch Bleeding to address clutch play. The clutch play is as good as before now.
- The plastic on the dashboard has been "pasted" back to the dashboard with some kind of glue. Not sure about the longevity. Looks like a substandard job :)
- Routine maintenance activity like air filter cleaning, lights checking etc etc.
- Wheel balancing and oil filter change
- Cost me 700 Rs as I am covered under AMC.
Overall impression, the service was great.
Have two long drives in the pipeline for the next month. One will be around 700 KMs and another one will be 1700 KMs
- Aravind
Friday, July 6, 2012
High Beam issue is resolved!!
Tuesday 3rd July, night 11:03 PM, i put in a query @ customercare.tatamotors.com. I ask if this long pending high beam issue is something that I need to live with or is it something that can be fixed. 11:04 PM I get an sms with a complaint number for tracking purpose stating someone will get in touch with me soon.
Wed'day 4th July morning 10:00 AM I get a call from Concorde motors bangalore. My service advisor requests me to come down there at 4 PM. I show up at 4 PM. A senior mechanic from electricals dept is engaged. he brings in a screw driver and a set of hex bolts. Fixes the issue in 5 mins.
The high beam is really working as it should now! More importantly, I am really happy the way this whole thing was handled by tata. I got very good response and follow up too! Thumbs UP!
- Aravind
Wed'day 4th July morning 10:00 AM I get a call from Concorde motors bangalore. My service advisor requests me to come down there at 4 PM. I show up at 4 PM. A senior mechanic from electricals dept is engaged. he brings in a screw driver and a set of hex bolts. Fixes the issue in 5 mins.
The high beam is really working as it should now! More importantly, I am really happy the way this whole thing was handled by tata. I got very good response and follow up too! Thumbs UP!
- Aravind
Saturday, June 23, 2012
8500 KMs Update
Inddie is holding up well. have clocked 8500 KMs so far. The only thing i noticed was that the engine oil looks really dirty. As per TATA service schedule, the engine oil change is due at 10000 KM. Not sure if all diesel engine oil will look so dark/charred after 8000+ KM running, but in petrol it never used to look charred. No issues though - NO black smoke (except during hard acceleration - which is normal of any diesel engine), no engine overheating. But the oil has turned black. The long drives have dried up. So I think it will take another month to reach 10000 KM.
Monday, May 28, 2012
1600 KM Round Trip, Second Service Update
Gave the car for second service on 17th May 2012. The darn full beam is still not fixed. On the verge of giving up on the full beam. Very very very disappointed with that. The problem with H1 and H7 bulb assembly is i cannot go for 100/90W setup. The best i can do is 80W each and that would be slight tricky.
Anyways, over the last week end, completed a 1600KM round trip on my inddie.. The ride was supremely comfortable for my parents in the rear bench and was truly sedan class. The car behaved very well on the highways.. With 100% AC, keeping inddie between 80 and 100 KMPH returned a FE of 18.75 KMPL. With 100% AC, pushing inddie upto 120 KMPH, sudden acceleration and deceleration to accommodate the two lane NH 17 from mangalore to goa yielded a healthy 17.5 KMPH.
Anyways, over the last week end, completed a 1600KM round trip on my inddie.. The ride was supremely comfortable for my parents in the rear bench and was truly sedan class. The car behaved very well on the highways.. With 100% AC, keeping inddie between 80 and 100 KMPH returned a FE of 18.75 KMPL. With 100% AC, pushing inddie upto 120 KMPH, sudden acceleration and deceleration to accommodate the two lane NH 17 from mangalore to goa yielded a healthy 17.5 KMPH.
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