[vasanthn21]

Originally Posted by nijelj

Would you let us know where you exactly saw the Rust in these cars? I can check on mine and let you know.

Hi Nijeli, I have marked the areas in which I observed rust in both the test vehicles.


On my way back from work, I dropped into Prerana motors (Lalbagh road, Bangalore) and checked for rust in the vehicles in the showroom, and none of them had rust. In fact, the area under the two bolts were painted to match car color. The bigger piece I have marked in my pic was painted black and did not have any rust. On enquiring I found that the test drive vehicles are pre-production vehicles, and hence these parts are not painted resulting in the rust. This is not the case with vehicles on sale. So, NO REASON TO WORRY.

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by PVPal

of all the cars we have seen stranded on the highways, we have been unlucky to count 99% of them to the Tata

Totaly disagree. Older vehicles if not maintained properly get stranded. . Many Tata vehicles are used by Cabbies with out proper maintenance. I myself have seen quite a few Tata cars stranded by the road side, but saying 99% is a little too much. You see lot of them because, as a matter of fact, there are lot of old Tata vehicles that are still in service. To me it is the sign of long term durability for Tata vehicles.

[PVPal]

As I said, we were unlucky to count 99% as Tata cars. May not be true for others in their own experience/observations.

Having said that, cabbies and tourist drivers tend to overuse (avoiding the use of the word "abuse") any car at their disposal. Be it the Alto's, WagonR's, Renault's, Mahindra's, Toyota's, etc.

As we may know, a majority of such vehichles tend to clock 1 lakh km in a year regularly. So labling only Tata cars as old or overused is like making the argument of mistreated/overworked vehicles as only Tata vehicles; this is a bit of a stretch in my opinion.

In any case, we are seriously considering buying the Zest. So, keeping our fingers crossed, like we would do for any brand that we would buy.

[pawarsw]

Hi,

Yesterday I took test drive of zest XT Revotron. Few obeservations,

1. Ride and Handling is good.
2. Pickup is also good, comparing competions, but I thinks turbo/140 nm torque is not giving extra punch. Steering is light and accurate.
3. HK music system is best, but I think new I20 music sytem is also close match with zest.
4. Car height is really helps in/out from car.
5. Low beam projector is impresive but high beam is not that powerful.
6. Few rough edges is still in the interior. Tata needs further improvement.
7. Door shuts with typical Tata vehicles sound, it feels like their is some metal to metal contact.
8. Plastic quality/texture wise i will rate xcent is way superior than zest and dzire and zest is in same.
9. Internal space and seats is truly fantastic. no complaint at all.
10. Seen few zest in stockyard with some rust on disc brake.
11. SA told me that hereafter all zest will come with 18 spoke alloy wheels


All three my collegue got their zest with grey fabric material door insert. Anybody have any idea about this. Tata provide as option or they stops beige fabric door insert? Even my SA dont have any idea about this.

[itsashishsharma]

Originally Posted by pawarsw

Hi,

Yesterday I took test drive of zest XT Revotron. Few obeservations,

1. Ride and Handling is good.
2. Pickup is also good, comparing competions, but I thinks turbo/140 nm torque is not giving extra punch. Steering is light and accurate.
3. HK music system is best, but I think new I20 music sytem is also close match with zest.
4. Car height is really helps in/out from car.
5. Low beam projector is impresive but high beam is not that powerful.
6. Few rough edges is still in the interior. Tata needs further improvement.
7. Door shuts with typical Tata vehicles sound, it feels like their is some metal to metal contact.
8. Plastic quality/texture wise i will rate xcent is way superior than zest and dzire and zest is in same.
9. Internal space and seats is truly fantastic. no complaint at all.
10. Seen few zest in stockyard with some rust on disc brake.
11. SA told me that hereafter all zest will come with 18 spoke alloy wheels


All three my collegue got their zest with grey fabric material door insert. Anybody have any idea about this. Tata provide as option or they stops beige fabric door insert? Even my SA dont have any idea about this.

After/from October, they have changed the door fabric shade from beig to a darker, coffee one.

[pawarsw]

Hi,

I have shortlisted zest XMS and Xcent S 1.2(O). I am looking for
1. Family sedan with good drivability.
2. I will expect atleast 14-15 kmpl FE.
3. ABS is must.
4. Having plan to use car atleat 7-8 years, so relibility needed.
5. Petrol makes sense as monthly run is below 1000 km.

So please let me know expert opinion to shortlist one out of above two.

[narayan]

Originally Posted by pawarsw

Hi,

2. I will expect atleast 14-15 kmpl FE.

I personally feel your FE expectation out of a sedan is a bit too high. anyway not sure of the driving conditions in your city but unless you have near to highway conditions achieving that figure with a/c is a bit difficult so don't be disappointed later. also given that your running is just 1000kms, dont be too worried if you actually get 2-3kmpl lower. it would hardly make any difference as long as the car keeps you happy on your other requriements

[Bridge]

Originally Posted by pawarsw

Hi,

I have shortlisted zest XMS and Xcent S 1.2(O). I am looking for
1. Family sedan with good drivability.
2. I will expect atleast 14-15 kmpl FE.
3. ABS is must.
4. Having plan to use car atleat 7-8 years, so relibility needed.
5. Petrol makes sense as monthly run is below 1000 km.

So please let me know expert opinion to shortlist one out of above two.

1. All four in this segment are family sedans so you can pick any
2. As suggested, your expectation is a lil on higher side. Though I got FE of 15.1 on a test drive XT, the drive was 40% highway and 60% city. And the mode I used were Eco and City. You may experience varied FE in Zest on each mode. However, if FE is something of prime importance, I would suggest you look at Dzire.
3. All Zest has ABS. If not mistaken even XE has it.
4. Reliability, for obvious reasons, not proven with the Zest. If you want time tested car, Dzire is again a place to be. However, I think Zest is a different car and maybe it is getting benefitted from the acquired JLR. I have booked XMS.
5. Absolutely, only petrol makes sense nowadays. As per a back of the envelop calculation, break even comes on a diesel car after about 50k KMs, considering a petrol will give an FE of 13 and diesel one will give an FE of 18. If you think you can drive 50, KMs early (and this is a relative term), you should go for diesel.

[safari_lover]

Originally Posted by PVPal

As I said, we were unlucky to count 99% as Tata cars. May not be true for others in their own experience/observations.

I am very curious on the 99% part since you've reiterated it. How did you keep a count of the number of vehicle breakdowns against different manufacturers? Is it over a period of single journey or many?

[condor]

Originally Posted by PVPal

Only one question that stops me and my wife is long term reliability; of all the cars we have seen stranded on the highways, we have been unlucky to count 99% of them to the Tata

Interesting observation. IMO, you could stay away from Tata cars - I hope any Tata car you may get doesnt add to that statistic ..

[madhu33]

Originally Posted by PVPal

Please read what I have written carefully. I said:
May I suggest that I stick to my experience and you may kindly not suggest what we do henceforth.

You seem to have taken offence in my statement .
Well to clarify,if you read my post again, i really mean , that your observation of 99% broken down vehicle being Tata cannot be correct.
It simply cannot happen in any permutation combination.
I really request you to do observe carefully henceforth to get rid of this misconception from your mind.
(this is to help you further decide in favour of the Zest)

And indeed i really mean that 99% of the towing vehicles are the TATAs.
I say this not to offend you, but if you observe this henceforth, you might concur with me.

Originally Posted by safari_lover

I am very curious on the 99% part since you've reiterated it. How did you keep a count of the number of vehicle breakdowns against different manufacturers? Is it over a period of single journey or many?

+1.
Anyways now this seem to getting OT . There are many threads for bashing TATA.
Let us keep this thread related to Zest.
This also reiterate my feeling that most of the bashing comes from people who actually have hardly used a TATA car.

Originally Posted by condor

Interesting observation. IMO, you could stay away from Tata cars - I hope any Tata car you may get doesnt add to that statistic ..

Well yes a sensible perspective that i would say, especially , if ever, i have any such perception about any brand, i would never even waste my time on the TD as well.

[SaurabhAgrawal]

Originally Posted by SaurabhAgrawal

Pleasantly surprised when I got a call from Prerana Motors' Customer Relations today. They are monitoring this thread and wanted to help me with the engine stalling issue! They're sending a technician home to inspect the car tomorrow morning. I hope the intermittent problem does happen in their presence. Will keep you guys updated.

UPDATE: As promised, a couple of engineers/technicians from Prerana Motors visited today morning. We did a cold start of the car and took a drive of 4 kms where both, the technicians and I, drove for 2 kms each. Unfortunately, the problem of engine stalling did not happen then.

However, the technician said that they've received 2-3 similar complaints recently from Zest owners. As far as I understood, he said that the problem in other owners' case was identified with the clutch pedal calibration, which was done in the factory without taking the thickness of floor mats into account.

They connected their laptop to the car. They also had a measuring tape which they strapped to the steering wheel and the clutch pedal. Then they flashed the ECU and re-configured it. Apparently, an adjustment of ~5mm was required. Hoping this resolves the issue, but I can only be sure if it doesn't re-occur in the next few days.

In this whole operation of ECU flashing, the gear indicator disappeared from the digital display on the dashboard. They tried re-flashing the ECU, but in vain. They've promised to come back on Monday morning to fix this new issue, and also verify if the clutch pedal is fixed.

Overall, I'm impressed with the proactive Customer Care of TML. They discovered my problem with the car through this forum, contacted me, and passed on my details to Prerana Motors for further action, who are also doing everything in their capacity to solve my problem.

[pareshraheja]

Originally Posted by SaurabhAgrawal

Overall, I'm impressed with the proactive Customer Care of TML. They discovered my problem with the car through this forum, contacted me, and passed on my details to Prerana Motors for further action, who are also doing everything in their capacity to solve my problem.

A little OT - Remember a similar incident with Prerana in the year 1999, Nov. Although it wasn't a breakdown or an issue with the car but, with the delivery of the car.
Had booked the Indica Diesel DLE variant and the car was to be delivered on 21, my parents anniversary. This was the first time we were buying a new car in the family. Prior to this it was always a used car

But, on 19th got the dreaded news that the car cannot be delivered. Was very irate and went to their showroom. Those days Prerana had just one outlet and their owner Mr. Shenoy was very much in office. After letting of some steam headed to his cabin and explained the background as to why I was desperate for a car on 21st. Our old car was sold of to make way for the down payment of the new car.
Unfortunately, the car was stuck on the upper deck of the trailer as the hydraulics had failed. Frankly, cannot blame it on Tata or Prerana, just our bad luck.

So, now what should be done was the expression on my face! Mr. Shenoy saw the look on my face and extended his gratitude by offering his Tata Estate with his driver for the whole of 21st Nov.

I was bowled over by this gesture and decided to always buy a Tata car from Prerana. Except for my Palio all FIAT/Tata cars in friends & family were bought from them.

[shashi63]

Originally Posted by PVPal

Only one question that stops me and my wife is long term reliability; of all the cars we have seen stranded on the highways, we have been unlucky to count 99% of them to the Tata

Mr.Pal Sir,

Interesting post. All positives but you end on a negative note.

May I, without hurting your sentiments put down my observation.

a) 160k plus kms with Tata cars personally for me and never a break down (TOUCHWOOD!)

b) Since you have been observant in spotting 99% cars which seem to break down being TATA you would also have noticed that most Taxi operators use TATA. Why? If they breakdown so often why would they do so? Do you think any taxi operator would keep running cars which break down? He would go out of business! The Plain and Simple reason is that Tata cars provide the lowest cost of running in terms of service and running. Most of these cars run years without the mandatory service and I often see on the Mumbai -Pune Express highways the old Indica's running with black smoke being emitted.. That does not mean the car is bad but it only shows that the car is made to run and run! Sit inside an Indica and you will feel it is solid and safe, try running a Dzire at speeds of 120 and see what you feel inside. Sit inside the Zest and you feel safe and enclosed. No other car in its category makes you feel secure. Feel the doors of a Amaze or Dzire or for that matter Xcent and you will know the difference. Tata make honest cars at a honest price!

Finally don't crib and try to find a reason not to buy a TATA.. Go ahead and buy any car you want, don't find an excuse not to buy TATA.

Buy a Tata and you will be surprised!

God Bless!

Drive Safe!

[highwaylover]

Took delivery of my Red XT RT from Prerana Motors on Wednesday. It was quick and smooth. Opted for Gold AMC and Extended warranty.

Went to 3M JP Nagar yesterday for under body protection and gloss black vinyl for the roof.