Owning a Harrier #Jet edition; Likes, dislikes & review after 20,000 km

While my experience with Tata service has so far been positive, I still see a lot of unhappy owners on the Harrier owner's group.

BHPian ike recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

The odo is now at 19.950. It has been a good 10 months with the car.

The likes so far:

• Exclusivity. I have seen thus far only one jet edition in ten months, and that was a safari. Not seen another Harrier till now.
• The car drives really well. The low end(which was pathetic in my previous car, the S cross 1.3) is really good. I reach cruising speeds in the blink of an eye. If you are taking off from a red light and in the front, no bikes are able to keep up.
• Ride. It is comfortable and I don't slow down for bad roads as much as I did with the S cross. Uneven roads are also a non issue.
• The white leather seats look really good. They have been easier to maintain than I expected. Wife and kids have cooperated a great deal in not soiling them so far.

Dislikes:

There's no way to know what % the DPF is clogged. I believe Kia has it and it would be great to have since the CEL(that has a mind of it's own) I believe is sometimes triggered by the DPF because I have mostly gotten it after 500 - 1000KMS of city driving. So far I have got the CEL on about 3 times and resolved on it's own all 3 times.

• Paint peeling off from the alloy wheels. All four alloys have had paint peeling off from them. I can't really see any reason other than poor QC on the factory floor.
• No memory function for the driver seat. The driver ergonomics are not that great, we have people complaining about the dashboard fouling with their legs. The seats not remembering my position creates problems for me because I struggle to find my driving position in any car.
• Apollo tyres. I have been looking after them well but 3 incidents of tyre bursts have been reported in the last 30 days in the Kerala Harrier owners whatsapp group. All of them on stock apollos and the most recent one is a 6 month old car with 7k KMS on the clock, and all 3 cases there was no external impact, the tyres gave up at high speeds. I drive a lot on the highways even during the summer and this is concerning.

Tata Service

This was by far my biggest worry when going in for a Tata and it's been a good experience so far(touches wood frantically). It is reassuring that they are open to feedback too. The issues I have had are a blown headlamp bulb that they have replaced under warranty and a roof liner soiled during service that they corrected after reading about it on the forum. While my experience so far has been positive, I still see a lot of unhappy owners on the Harrier owner's group. Hopefully it gets better.

These are the stats from the recent highway drive:
Onwards. Was an early morning start as usual and was trouble-free in terms of traffic.

Return stats. I overslept and could start only well past daybreak. It was a long weekend too and there was significant traffic for the initial 200 KMS. There are far too many noobs out in the highways especially if it is an extended weekend.

Had this Bhpian in an OG S cross 1.6 with me from the outskirts of Salem till Walayar. I was alongside you in one of the traffic jams in the service road but I saw you had a lady passenger and didn't want to spook her by gesturing.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.