News

How our buying decision swayed from Harrier to Hector in last moments

2nd January 2023, 10:01 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

I was already negotiating with two Tata dealers when one of my friends suggested having a look at the MG. I didn't know my family will fall in love with it.

BHPian over.drive recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

We've not had any car purchases in the last many years. We'd acquired a few pre-worshipped cars in the 2012-15 period starting with the BMW 530d E60, a Mercedes Benz E280, a Toyota Fortuner and finally an Audi Q7. We still have those cars with us.

Toyota, goes without saying, has been very reliable and easy to maintain. I've not had to do anything more than routine servicing in all these years. With the German trio though, it has not been smooth sailing. They are an absolute joy to drive but do come with their fair share of problems, especially as years go by. They are complex cars to maintain and components (electronics ones mostly) start failing one after the other. At one point, my Audi's dashboard, with its array of warning lights, looked more colorful than the Christmas tree we'd readied that year. I'll pen the ownership experience for those cars in a separate post probably.

The decision to buy a new car was not pre-planned. In fact, it was one of those spur-of-the-moment decisions made during a highway drive with my father. What started the discussion was a Dark Edition Tata Harrier that zoomed past us on the highway that caught our attention. It got the discussion going on how brands like Tata, Hyundai, MG, Kia and so on were offering good products at competitive prices and how easy these cars are to maintain (compared to luxury brands). Long story short, by the time our discussion ended we were contemplating getting a Tata Harrier.

In the next couple of days, the local Tata showroom was approached and they sent the test drive vehicle to our house. We liked the Harrier very much for its size and presence. Availability of a Diesel Automatic was an added advantage. The XZA+ variant appealed to me the most. The only concerning aspect was the after-sales service and the never-ending list of niggles that were being reported since launch. With every new variant released by TATA, I'd hope these issues would be resolved for good. But then I would read owners report one issue or the other with their brand-new cars. So that was in the back of my head.

I still decided to go ahead with the Harrier and started negotiations with two dealers in my city. That was when one of my friends, during a casual conversation, suggested I take a look at the Hector and its new Plus variant. He connected me to a friend of his who'd purchased a Hector 1 year back. The gentleman had very good things to say about the car.

I was not very keen on MG in the beginning but started reading up on it. Finally decided to call the local MG Dealer to see if they could arrange a test drive for Hector Plus (as I had already seen the Hector before). The MG dealer was very prompt in bringing the test drive vehicle home.

What is the harm in seeing the vehicle once before rejecting it, I thought. Little did I know that my family was going to fall in love with the car when they would see it. It would be an understatement to say the Hector Plus managed to sway our decision in its favour with ease, despite the lack of a diesel automatic variant. One thing everybody agreed to is that it looked and felt more expensive and premium than it actually costs. It also felt really easy to drive in the city. The ride was really comfortable. The list of equipment on this one puts cars 2-3 times its price to shame.

I was trying hard to find negatives with the car (as I liked Harrier more). For every issue, I stated about the Hector Plus my family members were justifying why it was a minor one or not applicable to us. The MG sales advisor's job became a whole lot easier with my own people advocating for MG.

Who needs tech in a car!
A car is supposed to be fun to drive, not a tablet on wheels!
Don't be blinded by bling on offer!

Well, all that is easier said and nice to read in the comments section of youtube videos. The tech, the features and the gimmicks have a considerable contribution when it comes to making a final decision, especially when you are buying a family car and your family members are not 'enthusiasts'. It was a dilemma choosing between the Hector and Harrier.

The amount of love and positive feedback I have seen for Tata products, especially for the Harrier, on social media is just staggering. I love the Harrier too. But when the time finally came to make a decision, the Hector appealed to us slightly more (and apparently many others going by the monthly sales figures at that point).

So the decision was made and we finally booked the Hector Plus Sharp Diesel MT. I managed to get a good deal on the car as it was the year end and also because the revised model was launching in a few weeks and MG was trying to clear their inventory fast. The car was delivered within around 2 weeks of booking. The dealership and delivery experience was generally satisfactory.

I've driven the car for about 11000 km in the last 1.5 years. Below are my observations based on my usage so far:

Hector Plus is a 4-seater car for all practical purposes. The normal Hector or the 7-seater version would be ideal for those who wish to carry more than 4 people in the car. I chose the Hector Plus 6 seater because I wanted rear Captain seats and I rarely travel with over 4 people in the car. For occasions when I do, I have other cars.
Some other factors for choosing the 6-seater Hector Plus are its design (compared to the standard Hector), interior color theme and some minimal feature upgrades.
The car has a very comfortable ride. I use it for commuting in the city and occasional (Kerala) highway drives. I feel relaxed even after several hours of travel in the car.
The quality of the build feels ok, nothing great.
Performance is adequate for the city and long drives. The only negative I'd say about the capable 2.0 fiat diesel engine is that it gets pretty noisy at higher RPMs. If you don't push the engine too hard and are slotted in the right gear then this is a great car for cruising.
The infotainment system takes a considerable 15-20 seconds to boot up. The delay is annoying as you can't use any of its features (including turning on the AC) while the system is turning on. The system is also slightly laggy and many times you have to press a button more than once for it to register.
The car has a 360-degree camera and it is a great feature to have. However, there is a slight lag in the system. So when you are reversing, the view you actually see on screen does not really update as fast as you want it to. The delay is just in milliseconds, but still could be of concern if you are moving fast into an obstacle.
I have arranged my music on my USB drive into folders and sub-folders. The infotainment system for some reason does not display folders. I don't know if I've missed some settings, but I see the system display all the songs (several hundred) in my pen drive as one alphabetically sorted list without any folder arrangement. This is really annoying.
The buttons on the steering wheel, central console and doors are backlit. They look cool at night while offering practicality.
The car stops displaying Distance to Empty when the range goes below 100 Km. This is really annoying and kind of beats the purpose of having the feature at all.
The clutch release on the vehicle needs getting used to. Chances are that if you're driving the vehicle for the first time you will stall the engine. This has happened to almost everyone who has driven the car for the first time. Also, I feel the lightness of the clutch pedal seems to be diminishing.
Fuel efficiency on long drives is pretty decent. I manage to get around 18 Km/L with a light foot. Fuel efficiency numbers in the city drop down to around 10-12.
The speakers by Infinity are excellent. The quality is as good, dare I say even better than the speakers on some of the premium cars I have experienced.
A few times I have come across bugs with the software on the infotainment screen. Nothing that a switch-off and switch-on can't resolve.
Updates to the infotainment software are done over the air. Very convenient.
The experience at the service center has been good so far.

Really happy with the purchase. If only, MG could care to offer an automatic variant on the diesel it would have been an awesome package.

Have read reports about Wuling Almaz being launched in the Indonesian market with a Hybrid Powertrain. That could be a game-changer for MG if they bring it to India. Hope it happens soon.

Wishing all Bhpians a happy new year!