[gischethans]

I started my driving journey in 2020 during the COVID times (Read: Covid times - Bought a car, became a BHPian) with an Alto 800. My wife and I became better drivers in the car and the vehicle served us well over these years. The odometer read ~66150 km when we bought and it was sold at ~90700 km.

Introducing our Tata Punch

Our Tata Punch Creative variant in Orcus White colour (Dual Tone) entered the home for the first time on 31 July 2023.

Likes -

• The bold looks with large tyres - mine gets 16-inch alloys
• Spacious interiors
• High seating position that offers amazing visibility
• Harman music system

Dislikes -

• No TPMS even in the highest variant. My advisor told me that even Harrier does not get it
• I would have loved the presence of a hill-hold assist in the car. I get nervous on encountering hill starts
• Lesser rear visibility due to thick C-Pillar leading to blind spots. I think this could be mitigated to some extent using the Park Assist option which turns on the rear camera even while driving forward.
• No 60:40 folding seats in the rear

Now let me take you through the journey of how it materialized -

The new vehicle itch

• While our Alto was reliable throughout, I hated its low seating position and ground clearance.
• Scraping the bottom was a regular thing if not driven carefully when moving over badly designed speed breakers and bad roads, especially with rear-seat passengers.
• Night driving was a nightmare - leave cars, even Activa's headlamps used to blind me all the time.

Ever since childhood, I have been an SUV fan with Tata Safari (maroon colour) being my favourite! I always used to tell my family that our next car would be an SUV. While I used to talk about going for a new car often, on 14th July, I announced that I would go for test drives the next day and the family must be ready to experience any vehicle(s) that come home and give feedback!

Vehicles considered

I considered only three vehicles due to the availability of dealers and service centres in my town. I was not willing to spend more than 10 lakhs. Whatever car I bought, I wanted cruise control and a decent music system. The need for cruise control was badly felt during my recent trip to Bengaluru through the new Mysuru - Bengaluru expressway.

1. Maruti Brezza was my first choice given its 1.5 L engine option and my positive experience with Maruti service in the last 3 years. While I was aware that it would go beyond my budget, I still visited Abharan Motors, Karkala for a test drive. While they did not have the TD vehicle on that day, to their credit, they arranged it for me (even after telling them that I would not be able to go for it) and gave me a thorough test drive. It was the top variant and the advisors, Deeksha and Srinivas did a fantastic job by patiently explaining and letting me experience all the key features in the car such as hill hold assist and a 360-degree camera.
2. Tata Punch I was sure about Tata Punch fitting in my budget but did not do any homework regarding what to expect in which variant. The customer advisor, Pawan at Cauvery Tata, Karkala explained the features and gave me a quick walkthrough of the AMT Adventure variant, and Accomplished Dazzle variant and I got a test drive in the top Creative DT manual variant. They happily obliged when I asked if we could drive the car home for my family to experience it. I fell in love with the car as soon as we hit the tarmac and it didn't take my family long either! I confirmed my booking orally and paid the booking amount the next day, on 16 July.
3. All-new Hyundai Exter I did not want to leave out Exter and as luck would have it, Kanchana Hyundai Karkala had just received the display vehicle and I could check it out. They had the CNG variant. I definitely liked the vehicle and they called me up on Monday and insisted that I take a test drive before the vehicle leaves town. I liked the ride as well but my mind was set to go for Punch. Exter actually had all the features I had wanted including TPMS and hill-hold. The dilemma remained in my mind for a few days but I decided to drop it due to 15-inch wheels and probably lower ground clearance on load.

[gischethans]

Booking and Delivery

Variant Selection
Even before the test drives, I had asked all the dealers about buying insurance from outside and they were good about it. During the test drive, I discussed variant-wise features with Pawan and he later sent me the brochure. At one point, it seemed as if I would be going for the Accomplished variant with the Dazzle pack as that would have given me the necessary and good-to-have items in the list, namely, alloy wheels, cruise control, and LED DRLs. But I soon realized that it lacks auto headlamps, rain-sensing wipers and more importantly the rear wiper, wash, and rear defogger. Having read DIY: Adding a rear wiper & washer to my 1st-gen Maruti Suzuki Ertiga thread recently I knew how difficult it would be to add such features if it feels like having them. Therefore, I felt it would be wise to get all the bells and whistles right from the factory.

Hence I chose the top, Creative Dual Tone variant in black and white. The colour choice was made in view of long-term maintenance. Punch only comes with a 1.2 L engine variant with petrol as the fuel option. So no choices to make there. On the safety front, we have two airbags - one for the driver and another for the co-passenger.

Booking Experience

• The booking amount of ₹11,000 was paid on 16 July in view of the impending price hike by Tata Motors on the next day. I was told about this on the 15th itself. Pawan explained how I could go for a customized accessories list instead of their standard list which included a significant number of Chrome items along with essentials like door visors and mud flaps. He shared the accessory video and I could find the accessories brochure online which made my choices easier. While buying accessories outside could work out significantly cheaper, buying and installing them in a small town like mine would be a hassle. I do not have the bandwidth to scout around in Mangalore / Udupi for the same. Hence I decided to go with the dealer.
• I also sold my old Alto 800 to them. It was a 2017 model with me being the second owner. While the evaluators appreciated my car's maintenance in all respects, they were ready to pay only 2.2L for the same. I was expecting 2.5L. Even Maruti guys quoted 2.2L. After some negotiations, the value was upped to 2.3L by Cauvery Tata.
• I was clear about buying the maximum possible extended warranty as well. The standard warranty covers me till 2026 i.e., for 3 years or 1 lakh km. The extended warranty is for 2.5 lakh km and ends in 2028.
• I did not opt for the AMC as Pawan suggested the regular servicing cost would be more or less the same. I anyway have the option to add it later.

I did not get any noteworthy discount and the on-road price came close to 11L which was paid after a satisfactory PDI.

The Insurance
The dealer had expressed difficulty in matching the online quote I got from ICICI Lombard and therefore I bought it directly from the insurer after the PDI. I bought every possible add-on except the key protection. I used to have it with my Alto 800 but while I tried availing it for the damaged transmitter, I learnt that the cover can be availed only if both the keys are lost. On top of that compulsory deductible is also applicable for it.

The insurance cost me ~₹34k. Insurance add-ons bought -

• Zero depreciation
• Consumables
• Return to invoice
• Engine Protect
• RSA
• Legal liability to paid driver

I wanted to transfer the NCB from my old car to this one while buying the policy but that is not as easy as it is said to be. I had approached Digit (my Alto's insurer) on finalizing the Punch's booking but was told that either the own damage part will have to be cancelled or I would have to pay the NCB difference to avail of the certificate. The dealer's insurance desk suggested that I could wait until Alto's transfer including insurance is completed so that I need not bear these charges. That sounded reasonable to me. I did not want to leave the new owner in the lurch by cancelling the own damage cover.

The Alto's transfer is currently in process at the RTO and once the insurance is transferred to the new owner, I would be requesting the NCB certificate and submitting the same to ICICI Lombard for a refund.

PDI Process

I had insisted on paying only after a satisfactory PDI and the dealer was happy about it. I was told that they would arrange my transportation to the yard at Padil, Mangalore once the car reaches there from the factory. The wait was a little long due to a delay in truck allotment from Pune and the good news of the car reaching the yard came on 27 July. The car was at the Cauvery Tata showroom premises in Mangalore and it was an exciting feeling to see it in person.

First Look


The MID


The BS-VI Phase II Engine bay


16-inch alloy shod with Apollo Alnac 4G

I had gone through the Team-BHP checklist but did not carry a printed sheet. I made it a point to validate the VIN and confirmed that the vehicle was manufactured in July 2023. I also checked all throughout, started the engine and moved a bit forward (there was little space) etc. A customer advisor from the dealership was assigned to me and he gave a walkthrough of the car's features in detail and even paired my phone to the infotainment system. I took a good number of photos as well.

Soon after the PDI, I discussed my accessories list with Mr Francis, the accessories in charge. They had a Punch Camo variant as the display car with all the accessories installed. That helped me understand how they would look on my car. He also asked if I need underbody coating which I had missed but decided to include immediately. These are the accessories I finally opted for -

1. Door visor
2. Car cover with duster combo
3. Skid plates - front and rear. I was rather disappointed to know that they only serve ornamental purposes and don't offer protection to the engine as such.
4. Scuff plates
5. Seat cover
6. 3D Mats - cabin and boot
7. Mudflaps

I had my laptop with me and transferred the funds soon after. I also tried asking for payment by credit card but that did not work out due to 2% charges. The delivery was promised at the earliest subject to me providing them with the insurance copy, RTO formalities, mainly, the payments, number allotment and HSRP arrival.

Delivery

While the SMS for RTO payment with registration number details landed in my inbox on 28 July, the delivery could not happen on the weekend due to HSRP. I turned lucky here as the numbering series had changed and I got a 00XX registration number! The much-awaited call from Pawan came on 31 July morning and I was asked to come to the dealership that evening to take delivery of the car.

The dealership had arranged for cake cutting followed by a key handover. Paper formalities did not take long. Pawan explained the paperwork and I ensured that accessories were installed. I was also given a walkthrough of the features. The underbody coating was not done and they assured to take care of it during the first service.

In pic: Yours truly with family. The key was handed over by Team Leader Vishwanath and Pawan beside him. Besides Pawan, Vishwanath was also very helpful with inputs throughout my purchase journey.

[gischethans]

The second day with Punch

As it was already evening on the day of delivery, we had driven the car home and decided to get the Pooja done on the next day i.e., 1 August at Madhur Mahaganapathi temple near Kasargod, Kerala. I enjoyed every bit of the drive and coming from a smaller car, this car felt spacious and significantly powerful. Navigating bad stretches was not a problem at all.

The Shocker

After the pooja and lunch at the temple, we headed to my sister's house and later drove to my in-laws. While on the way from my sister's place, I got a call from her that my brother-in-law had noticed some oil where I had parked the car. I wasn't too worried but decided to check as soon as I reached my in-laws' residence by opening the bonnet. There were no warning lamps in the MID. To my utter disbelief, there was a good amount of oil spillage on the gearbox (I realized it was the gearbox later) below the engine. My father-in-law also joined me in diagnosing the issue. Both of us could not find the source of the leak. It did not appear to be from the oil sump at the bottom and I had not experienced any underbody hit en route.

I immediately called up Pawan who redirected me to the service team at Cauvery Tata, Mangalore. I was asked to check the oil level using the dipstick and it was horrifying to notice no drop of oil there. I could barely feel the oil in the stick even after repeatedly inserting it. I got on a video call with the technicians and they were horrified as well. I was told towing would be arranged as the engine must not be started in this condition. Reasonable in normal circumstances but who wants to experience it on the second day of ownership?

Having read various horror stories in Team-BHP I insisted on not being charged for anything and towing must happen on a flatbed only. The time was around 6 PM by now and I was in Kerala with the dealership in Karnataka. Though the distance was ~35 km, the Tata RSA team was not in favour of doing that. Multiple calls ensued and the RSA team managed approvals for towing to Mangalore. But I would have to pay border charges and excess towing charges. At this point, Cauvery Tata guys suggested that it would be wiser to get the car to the nearest dealership in Kerala, KVR Dream Vehicles, Kasargod and whatever the outcome, once the car is certified to be driveable, I could bring it to them for a second round of checks. I felt this was the right thing to do and got in touch with the RSA team once again.

The time was 9 PM by now. They had closed my previous ticket as my decision was unclear and I had to explain the issue all over again. I kept insisting on a flatbed but was asked if the steering is locked. To me, it seemed locked and I was told that the car will have to be towed and cannot be loaded onto a truck in that condition as it would be necessary to steer it a bit. I refused to try starting the engine and they finally offered to arrange a technician from KVR, Kasargod to unlock the steering and then load the car. This gave me a lot of hope and at once I felt that Lord Ganesha is here to save me. A technician visit would mean a better diagnosis and hopefully a solution without towing involved. The RSA guy could not get in touch with them immediately and I told them it can be taken care of the next morning.

By 10:30 PM, I got a call from the RSA team stating a contact has been made with the dealer and their technicians would contact me the next morning.

[gischethans]

Diagnosing the oil leak

As promised by the RSA, I got a call from the KVR Tata guys the next morning i.e., Wednesday, 2 August. They were only told that steering unlocking needed to be done and were wondering why. I explained the issue and requested them to take a look. I also said I would be more than happy if they could identify the source of the leak and plug it in so that I could drive to Mangalore instead of Kasargod. I also requested them to carry the engine oil so that we could top up if necessary. They asked me for photos and were taken by surprise when I mentioned there was no trace of oil in the dipstick. They insisted oil might be present but invisible to eyes as the vehicle had not run much. But they decided to visit us anyway.

In less than two hours they landed in a Nano and got onto the job. It was their turn to be surprised to see no oil in the dipstick now! But they could soon identify the source of the leak as the oil switch on the engine's side. It could be confirmed once they topped up some engine oil and started the engine. To their credit, they had suspected that possibility and had brought a spare with them. In addition to engine oil, they had also brought gear oil. The air filter had to be removed for easy access to the part. The part turned out to be a little looser than expected and they doubted the sensor in it as I had not seen any warning light the previous day.

The part was replaced and more oil topped up. They also told me it was possible to unlock the steering by pressing the start button twice instead of starting the engine by pressing the clutch. I am glad that the RSA guy could not suggest that - had he done that, the car would have been on a flatbed.

I was advised to visit a service centre to ensure perfect engine oil levels and I did that the same afternoon. I went to Cauvery Motors, Mangalore and also got the pending underbody coating done.

[gischethans]

Experience so far - 700 km and counting

As I work from home, the car is used only on weekends or holidays. Drives are mostly on state highways when compared to national highways.

Driving Report

Visibility

• Coming from a smaller car, I love the driving experience in Punch. The high seating position with large mirrors offers good all-around visibility.
• With a height-adjustable driver seat, my wife does not need an extra cushion anymore

The Engine
1.2L NA engine has proved sufficient to me so far. I have not hit triple-digit speeds in this car yet (I seldom do that even otherwise) but based on speeds of up to 80 kmph the engine noise is not prominent inside the cabin. I have kept the revvs at ~2000 rpm except under rare circumstances.

Steering, Clutch and Gearshifts

• The steering size is adequate and offers tilt adjustment as well. The Electronic Power Steering's feedback is good and it weighs up at higher speeds!
• The clutch isn't too hard and does not tire your feet. I am still getting used to the dead pedal usage but it's certainly comfortable.
• The gear lever has a spongy feel and took a while for me to find the right positions, especially the second gear when downshifting. Apart from that the engine is responsive. The MID shows shift indicators and I believe it would be useful for new drivers.

Braking
At times, I felt the brakes are a little slower to respond - I don't know if that is because of the ABS. But I could always stop in time.

City driving

• I have driven only in the city mode so far and did not feel the lack of power anywhere. Negotiating bumper-to-bumper traffic on broken roads (due to ongoing roadworks) was not a problem.
• The high ground clearance helps a lot while negotiating unscientific speed breakers and potholes and I remember my struggle when I see smaller hatchbacks and sedans taking them slowly and at angles.
• Sometimes I feel Punch has a better-turning radius than my Alto. Turned better in some tight spaces where I used to struggle with Alto.

Highway driving

• Ride quality - the vehicle feels planted on good roads and isn't too bouncy on bad roads thereby giving confidence to the driver. One does not realize the distance covered - my wife was surprised when I told her that she has already covered over 25 km in her first drive on the excellent Agumbe - Thirthahalli stretch.
• Cruise control - I did not get many opportunities to use it as the traffic in our region is not sparse like in the plains. But whenever I did, I came out impressed. I can only imagine how features like adaptive cruise control would make a driver's life easier on long drives.
• Hill climbing - We drove on Agumbe Ghats and the car didn't break a sweat with AC turned on during the uphill climb. I had to use the first gear only once when the bus in front of me slowed down to negotiate a hairpin bend. However, when I had to stop and start on a similar incline elsewhere, it was slow to gather pace and turning off the AC helped. A hill hold feature would have been a nice plus as it takes the stress out of the equation.
• Night driving was never this easy in my case. High beams no longer blind me like they used to earlier. On the other hand, with headlamps plus fog lamps, Punch illuminates the road well. I am considerate of other road users and switch to low beams when I see oncoming traffic. I was under the impression that low-beam to high-beam switch and vice-versa would be automatic with auto headlamps but that does not seem to be the case.

Fuel Efficiency
My fuel efficiency has been hovering at ~15 kmpl (MID readings) with a mix of city and highway driving. Highways were mostly single or two-lane state highways. I believe this is on the lower side and hope to see it improve after the first/second service. On the MID, I have seen a maximum fuel efficiency of 17.5 kmpl so far. By the way, the infotainment system rates my driving at 4.9 consistently.

Other observations

• The Android Auto kept disconnecting frequently. I am suspecting my cable and have ordered a new one.
• My DDPAI Mini's (dashcam) adapter kept popping out of the 12 V socket. I had to use a small piece of paper to hold it in place.
• The doors are heavy and passengers sometimes find it difficult to disembark if they have things in hand and the car is parked on an incline. It feels like the door has not been unlocked! But everyone is liking the 90-degree opening doors! Ingress/egress was never so easy.
• All of us are liking the cooling provided by the AC. I generally set it to auto mode and turn the knob to 25-26 degree Celsius. The auto defaults to 23 degrees. I wish there was a way to set the default here.
• Cooled glovebox and puddle lamps are a plus. I am also concerned about battery consumption with all these add-on lamps. There seems to be no way to turn off the cabin lamp when the door is open. Wish there was an on/door/off mode there.
• I wish there was a driver armrest with some storage underneath
• We are loving the Harman music system
• Storage space has proved to be sufficient so far but we are yet to take long road trips

I will let some pictures do the talking now.

The Interiors

Driver-side armrest with ORVM and power window controls. Only the driver-side window rolls down automatically after pressing the button for a few seconds. The longer button when turned on locks the passenger power window controls.

Bottle and umbrella holder on the driver-side door. My trifold umbrella kept popping out though. I was told even a wet umbrella could be placed here and drain holes will ensure water doesn't collect inside. All doors get bottle holders.

The rear seat gets a foldable armrest


Scuff plate


Tata Motors celebrating 50 lakh cars badge on the right rear door




From our Karkala - Horanadu - Sringeri Trip

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Raghu M]

Congratulations on the purchase sir. A very good, simple yet detailed review. That's a happy family with the new car. Wish you miles of happy driving!

[PaddleShifter]

Many congratulations and wishing you a happy ownership experience. The smiley you added to conceal the tiny baby’s face is cute. It is disheartening to see the 50 lacs sales badge and QC issues in the same post. Many TATA ownership threads highlight one or the other issue post delivery. I hope most TATA cars are delivered niggle free soon, some day. We are trying to delay it as much as possible but may need a compact car next year. Punch and Ignis are my recommendation but the 1.2 in Ignis seems to be slightly better than the TATA’s while everything else is better in Punch.

[raptor_diwan]

Congratulations on your new car! It looks stunning with the glossy black roof and DT.

Originally Posted by gischethans

The Android Auto kept disconnecting frequently. I am suspecting my cable and have ordered a new one.

Is there no wireless Android Auto? I'm surprised to see such a feature is missing.

[gischethans]

Originally Posted by raptor_diwan

Congratulations on your new car! It looks stunning with the glossy black roof and DT.

Thank you very much!

Originally Posted by raptor_diwan

Is there no wireless Android Auto? I'm surprised to see such a feature is missing.

Looks like it isn't present. I couldn't get that to work and got that confirmed (Tata Punch Review) from the Punch review thread.

[DriverNo.420]

Hearty congratulations for the car and a nice upgrade. I feel like it was a heart over head decision to go for Punch instead of Exter. Both are great products undoubtedly.
Don't like to mention this, but there is rarely ever a Tata thread in here which doesn't have a major problem or a niggle. Yours was the most serious one I saw recently . If not for the presence of mind in the moment, that leak would've caused severe mental agony and financial losses possibly. That engine would've been blown up no questions about it. Glad you prevented that from happening. Wishing you lots of happy years and memories with the new member.

[buzzy_boy]

Many congratulations on the new car. If I were someone from Tata motors reading this, I'll immediately get the OPs car, replace the engine, get the RC updated, and throw in some goodies free of cost.

Absolute disgrace. It's all well harping about vocal for local, but there's no reason why their quality should less than the global standards.

[greenhorn]

That switch you showed is the sensor that triggers the oil pressure warning light on the dashboard. The way it's supposed to work is that it illuminates at start but turns off once normal oil circulation starts.


The challenge is that when there is a wiring complaint or if it falls open circuit, it will not illuminate at all, and it's easy to miss that there is something wrong. It is dependent on you checking if all the lights illuminate at startup. Even me as a long term owner totally missed that my light was not turning on for several years now, and noticed only because I got a code from an obd scan about a dashboard light malfunction. Thankfully there were no further issues, and I just got it fixed last month because a lot of workshops were hesitant to look into it giving lots of excuses ( said ECU issue, wiring issue, speedometer issue, not worth fixing etc) until a competent tata tech (very hard to find)looked at it.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=qXXwfB1qMXI

You can see the light turn on at the bottom right momentarily at startup. Please ensure it works fine post your repair, and do verify if your startup checks are working correctly as per your user manual

[gischethans]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

That switch you showed is the sensor that triggers the oil pressure warning light on the dashboard. The way it's supposed to work is that it illuminates at the start but turns off once normal oil circulation starts.

The challenge is that when there is a wiring complaint or if it falls open circuit, it will not illuminate at all, and it's easy to miss that there is something wrong.

Thank you @greenhorn for sharing this. I will definitely keep an eye on all those lights. The technicians who visited me had shown me where to look for the lights - like you said as it turns off, it took them 1-2 attempts to show it. They did it as they also wanted to confirm if I had seen that while on the move the day before, which I had not!

[gischethans]

1500 km update

Travelogue and random panic mode activation

I had postponed our travel to Gokarna once the decision to welcome Punch home was made. While the trip was for a religious event, my wife had drafted a plan to visit certain places on our way back - Haigunda, Sharavathi backwaters, Mangrove boardwalk and Apsarakonda Marine Park.

In the meantime, we were facing a unique problem with the Punch which was the random activation of panic mode. Due to this, while parked the car's indicators used to flash and the horn used to blow continuously. This behaviour is expected only when the lock and unlock buttons are pressed simultaneously on the smart key. The issue had occurred while at home once and then at Kumta where we had stayed at a hotel. The front desk had to interrupt our sleep at midnight to shut it down. I wouldn't blame them as it's simply too loud. We faced the issue multiple times on our way back when we had parked the car. Again, it must be noted that it did not happen every time the car was parked and there was no specific pattern about when would that happen - like a certain amount of time after parking.

Apart from this, the car performed really well and to test the performance I tried hitting triple-digit speeds for short duration on empty stretches of the highway. The passengers barely realized the speed and the vehicle definitely felt under control with steering weighing up with speed. In contrast to what initial Punch reviews state, NVH was at very reasonable levels. Looks like things have been refined well in BS-6, Phase 2 engines. In fact, I feel the AC sound is more than the engine's inside the cabin which is very evident when we start after parking under the hot sun.

Door open status
During the journey, I hit a sudden bad stretch at relatively higher speeds which resulted in a violent shake and cabin light powering on. Before I could realize what happened, the speaker announced driver door open. While I am not happy about the driver's door opening due to such a jolt, I am also glad that the system was able to recognize it and alert me. Similarly, at other points, it could alert us when other doors were not shut properly like the left rear passenger door. The MID has a tiny indicator that shows door open status but I had probably not paid attention to it and I don't exactly remember if the cabin light was on at that point.

Pictures