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-   -   Tata Altroz 1.5L Diesel : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/226764-tata-altroz-1-5l-diesel-official-review-9.html)

One needs to have an extended test drive of Figo TDCI to really understand it's prowess. Altroz or Tata 1.5 Diesel in general are well tuned however falls behind 1.5 TDCI with driveability, on the road power, NVH, FTD and FE. Overall as a package Altroz is a way superior car over Figo. The built and features on Altroz are quite modern and VFM. One can take it that the price paid for Figo is purely for the engine + GB, Chasis and the low cost of ownership. Features, built, part quality are inferior to many modern day hatchbacks.

I upgraded from Tata Tigor to Ford Figo, in terms of ownership experience, Ford simply is a decade ahead in terms of QC. Everything works as intended, which was never the case with Tata.

P.S: biggest negative against Ford is their future plan for India. Doesn't make any sense to buy their car if they are planning to leave.

Engine I agree, but gearbox I don't think so. Just because the clutch is harder than most cars and has a longer throw.

A nice GB + engine combo in the segment definitely goes to Polo tsi.

But then they don't have a diesel! Figo excels only w.r.to diesel, petrol motor is just about average. Figo is smaller, lighter and feels nimble. Altroz is focused more on comfort. Figo in its current avatar meets requirement of niche customers and folks who are happy with Ford.

I agree with Prasanna here. The Ford 1.5 is very good, no doubt about it. But I feel it is over-rated.

Having extensively driven my father-in-law's Freestyle and a friend's Ecosport, both fairly new and well maintained, I must say they're good when looked independently. But when I bring my Seltos into the picture, I found the driveability and NVH was much better in my car. And the older Hyundai 1.4D has even better driveability in my opinion, as experienced on the Creta. Given that Creta and Seltos are slightly heavier than the Freestyle, I was expecting things to be different.

That said, the FTD and FE are better on the Fords.

Here's my observation that I shared after spending a week with the Ford.

Long story short, I went ahead and got my first ever set of 4 wheels and I bought a variant of a very popular premium hatch that nobody is buying, the 1.5 Revotorq diesel in the XZ trim. This is going to be a short post that gives some initial impressions in the form of what worked and didn't work at over 1000 kms of driving on congested metro roads, fast winding ghats and long straight 2,4 lane state and national highways of Kerala. May be, this might help at least 1 guy/gal sitting on the fence make a final decision.

Before that, let me get the problems straight out of the way first :

1. The car was readily available with the dealer (Sree Gokulam Motors Edapally Cochin) at their yard, manufactured in Jan 2021, this car was booked and canceled by 2 customers before me. Still full payment to registration took more than a week and it got to the point where I completely started losing it. I had to sit on the heads of the entire sales team and create a huge issue to get them to register and deliver the car to me which they eventually did on July 8 2021, Friday. Lots of goof ups at many points. Not getting into the details.

2. The car comes with ambient lighting on the front footwell, center console and the dashboard island around the Harman infotainment system. The car was delivered to me with the one on the dashboard island not working. Is it a big deal ? May be nope. Was I disappointed ? Hell yeah !!. Got the PDI in charge involved, he had no clue and passed it on to the service center. Promised to rectify at first service. Already informed the service manager that I am not taking the car post first service without a fix on this. He agreed.

3. There is a bonnet switch underneath the hood which helps to identify if the hood is open or not. Started malfunctioning the the day after delivery. PDI team says its a design defect and TML is not ready to fix it. The weight of the bonnet pushes the switch out of its position and PEPS system starts malfunctioning. I disconnected the connectors going to this switch since I figured I don't really need this feature ( No errors on the cluster). Problem solved !!! Again referred to service center. I said I will give them a chance, if they don't fix it, I will leave the connectors disconnected forever. Is it a big deal ? Nope. Am I still disappointed ? Yes.

If anyone from Tata Motors is reading this, please find competent people for your QC team and have complete control over your dealers. A section of them are completely ruining it for you.


Whew !!! Now, with that out of the way :


What worked :

• The entire driving dynamics and performance package : To be honest, I bought this car solely due to this factor. I didn't buy it to make a statement ( vocal 4 local), for the features, for the 5 star safety (ok, that is very much welcome), or for the looks. Everything right from the tight chassis, amazing body control, sorted, matured and a very European suspension to the well weighted steering, powerful brakes, comfortable seats, upgraded Michelin Primacy 4ST and the 1.5 L diesel unit with superb drivability and awesome outright punch. Gets to unmentionable 3 digit speeds in no time that too while maintaining segment leading FE figures. I think even Tata doesn't know how well they have done this. To me, this is the best interstate touring machine currently in hatchback guise. Period. Hats off !!! :Cheering:

• Absolutely solid feeling from the outside and inside : Very confidence inspiring and contributes to that big car feeling. Again unseen in this segment. Top class paint and plastic quality on the outside and special mention to the door opening and closing action. Its an event in itself for me when I approach the car, open the hefty doors slide in and close it with that amazing sweet THUD !!! Something I had really wished for.

• Spot on ergonomics : Again something I take very seriously. Everything falls right onto hand including power window and mirror switches hand brake lever across the console on the passenger side( found it a bit odd at the start but its acceptable now), the AC controls and the seating position. Special mention to the audio controls on the centre console, especially the knob on the right which you can use to navigate the system like the ones on big cars ala iDrive controller. Deleted from the latest batches. I am lucky !!

What didn't/might not work :

• I have reliability concerns in the long term : Not with the mechanicals but with the electronics on board. Fingers crossed here. Got the 5 year/unlimited kms extended warranty package eyes closed.

• Possibly poor A.S.S experience : Already got in touch with service manager of Focuz motors, expressed my concerns and he has assured things will be taken care of. We will see. Dealing with incompetent dealers is nothing new here. Already done it with Maruti and doing it with Bajaj. Mentally prepared for Tata as well. Bring it on !!! :D

• Some very sad QC misses : Even thought standalone parts quality is top notch, the fit is poor in some areas, misaligned glovebox lid and squeaking panel on drivers door for example. There is a rattle coming from the centre of the dashboard and I am hoping it is the loose coupler for ambient lighting. Not appreciated !!!

I did not see a single real life ownership thread on the diesel. May be I will start one post putting in some more kms. I will try to keep it updated as time passes for the benefit of existing and prospective owners maybe.

Congratulations Aswin!

I couldn't find any ownership review for Altroz Diesel.

My friend finalized on Altroz XZ Diesel and we couldn't get a test drive for 8 days now. Not even single dealership in entire Bangalore could arrange a TD for Diesel.

Have few questions for you, hope you don't mind.

1. Does it have lag on lower rpms? Especially on 2nd gear?
2. How is the NVH inside the cabin? Does the diesel clatter bother too much?
3. Braking performance is as good as petrol? Diesel is 100 kgs heavier than petrol.
4. When does actual turbo kicks in? Some say 1250 and others say its 1500 rpm.
5. Can you put the price breakup? (Completely optional)

Here in Bangalore there are no discount and max they can give is 15k on insurance and dealer discounts.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Karthik. Sorry I completely missed this post.

No issues with TD in my case. Dealers in Cochin have diesel TD cars ready so didn't face any difficulties at all. Keep pushing. Most dealers are lethargic. I am still surprised because during TD phase most of them are very responsive. Please do try again.

My answers below after 1200 kms behind the wheel :

1. The lag is below 1000 rpm only. There is considerable hesitation if u let it fall to 1000 rpm or below. Hope you are aware that the throttle is also having a minor lag at this point( below 1000 rpm). It was really annoying. They fixed it with an ECU update. It's still there. However the car starts responding right from 1200 rpm, turbo starts spooling by 1500 rpm and post 1600, it starts pulling hard, though in a linear fashion. This is applicable even in fifth gear. So absolutely happy on that front.

2. NVH inside the cabin is fine for me till 2500 rpm. Post that it starts getting noisy which is anyway expected. The insulation is absolutely brilliant. If you have AC on with the Harman system playing this is not a problem at all. However, yes, the NVH is definitely on the higher side when compared to 1.5 units from Hyundai/Kia and Ford. I am not bothered at all with this.

3. I have only driven the base petrol and that had puny tires too. It was satisfactory. In this case, I upgraded to Michelin Primacy 4ST straight out of the showroom. The grip is phenomenal and braking is powerful with fairly progressive bite too that too when braking from triple digit speeds. I cannot comment on braking with stock tyres since I hardly drove 10 kms with it.

4. The turbo definitely wakes up post 1200 rpm. The response at this point is very evident. This is what makes city driving effortless along with the very light clutch. However like I said, the push back to the seats starts from 1600, especially when you floor it.

5. No issues in posting the price breakup. It is anyway available in public domain. This is for Kochi.

Ex Showroom : 9,07,777
Road tax : 1,00,710
Fastag : 600.

Insurance part is completely subjective. I have my own channel for insurance through which I get extremely competitive quotes. Skipped the dealers offer since it was not at all acceptable to me even after their discounts. I also used my sister's employee credentials to get a cash discount since she is with Tata Consultancy Services. There were no other possibilities for discounts.

Hope this helps. Will be happy to answer more questions.

Cheers !!!

Thanks a lot for your time and input. This really clears my doubts, especially on lag. You are lucky to have proper test drive before booking, however here in Bangalore all TATA dealers are sharing only one diesel test drive vehicle. I have contacted 6 dealership and nobody knows where the test drive vehicle is. No one even bothered to revert back since 13 days.

Also, I noticed the ugly rear wheel arch gap on petrol model and SA promised that it is not the case in diesel variants. Is that true? Sorry for bugging you with so many questions, there is no other ownership review for Altroz Diesel in our forum.

Thanks again. :)

Congratulations from a fellow XZ D owner. Mine got built on 30th April 2021 and is one of the last cars to have volume and other rotary knob. Don't remember why it's used for. rl:


After almost two months and some 3k kms on odo. I'm very satisfied with the car. We have a nexon too bought a month earlier and Altroz feels a lot better in ride quality though Nexon is taller. I agree Tata needs to get their QC sorted. My left rear door was rubbing slightly at the floor and even after fixing it, it still doesn't close with a light thud.

Anyway wish you many happy miles!

Hi,

I believe what you saw in the showroom is a base variant with puny 14 inch wheels. Ofcourse wheel arches will look really ugly with that kind of setup. Petrol or diesel, get the top end variant only that comes with 16 inch alloy rims and 195 section tyres would be my suggestion. They fill the gaps nicely and look fab.

The 14 inch setup has no place on a car like this to be honest.

Cheers !!!

The 1.3 MJD was an extremely reliable engine. I wonder if the Revotorq can match that. Since Tata was using the MJD, I'm pretty sure they copied something of it into this new engine.

200 NM is the official figure. I'm sure it can handle 20-25 % more without a problem.

Planning to take this risk if I do get this car.

A bit OT, but I see this everyday. On board my ship I have to keep sending mail to various parties and sometimes I need the information from my subordinates. I usually have to correct every sentence for this mistake. lol:

The dealer will never agree. You would have to find a "Bakra" who was buying a petrol and convince him/her that the 185 tyres will give better mileage.

This is one comparo, I need to do. Already scheduled the TD of the Altroz D and iTurbo, and the Figo TDCi next day.

All they needed was a new dashboard and instrument cluster.

If that's the case then the Altroz is a better buy other than the fact that the Figo Titanium Blu is way cheaper.

+1 on that. Talking of resale, what would be the resale of an XZ+ is say 5 years?

But it will make sense to buy a mint condition Figo at a throwaway price after they leave. Just like how you can buy mint condition Cruze's these days for a couple of lakhs.

The 1.3 MJD engines were purchased. Tata have their own beautiful 2.2 litre Common Rail engine used in many models. When they know this one inside out, why would they take the unnecessary extra effort to modify the 1.3 MJD ? Downsizing the 2.2 could be easier.

Overall in most ways - the 1.5 CRD engines have converged in designs more or less no matter what manufacturer. Its no rocket science anymore, especially with engineers in key positions also switching jobs during usual career lifecycle, knowledge flows. Certainly the 1.3 MJD is/was quite the pinnacle of small-diesel-engine (SDE) engineering and a lot of learnings from that must be getting used in other engines being made. A compact turbo charged engine capable of as high as 90PS and nearly 200Nm torque was and still remains remarkable given how reliable it also is.

As for the reliability - while not as punchy as the 1.3MJD - Tata has been making very reliable NA as well as turbo diesel engines on the 475IDI / 1.4 TDI platform since many years, even before the MJD arrived to our coasts. They have been doing abused taxi duties since decades without creating any troubles at all. The same engine had been upgraded to BS4 standards with CR4 common rail implementation. Given the experience with 3.0, 2.2 (AVL I believe helped in designing this), 1.4 etc turbo-diesel engines, making a reliable 1.5 wouldn't have been a big ask for TML, (and for Mahindra as well for that matter - theirs seems to be quite bullet proof too in the Xuv3oo and Marazzo).

The 1.3MJD was certainly a benchmark. Though we did want a 1.5 litre TD with CR for the smaller cars.

Tata's 475TDI and the 483TDI have been used widely. Last known, our 2000 Indica with the 475 TDI and the Victa with the 483 TDI - both had crossed the 2L mark.