Sold my Tata Hexa, bought an Innova Crysta: Experience after 6500 Km

After experiencing Tata Service centres for the last few years, I am very happy with my ownership of the Crysta so far.

BHPian swarnava.ch recently shared this with other enthusiasts.'

Quick Update on Recent Trips and How the car is performing:

The Odo stands at around 6500 km so far. I have not been able to make many trips due to family commitments.

I did a small trip to Ooty travelling from Bangalore via the Masinagudi 36 hairpin roads. Years ago, I had done this climb on my humble Ritz petrol 1.2L and it was a struggle to remember. The Ritz would roll back and struggle like anything. This time I was a bit anxious and wanted to check what the mighty 2.4 can do on the climb or whether it would struggle as well. I must say, I am pleasantly surprised by the performance of the engine and the gearbox. Just in the D and Eco mode, the car was effortless to pull on the curves and climbs with 3 people and luggage. I even stopped at a point just to check if it was only due to momentum or sheer power but the hill hold assist helped here. On some steeper curves I had put on Power mode to be on safer side.

There was a strange thing that happened. At around 5800 km on my Odo last month, I got the first DEF fluid low warning, that I can only drive 2400 km more and then on it kept the warning in the MID every time I drove the car and kept showing remaining km. It got irritating so went to Toyota ASS but as luck would have it, they were out of DEF fluid and asked me to either come the next day or fill up at a petrol pump. I read in a few forums that after the first warning, I can fill up around 10 lit of DEF fluid but when I purchased 10 lit and tried to fill, only about 8 lit of fluid could be filled and had to get the remaining 2L back home.

Lesson learnt – after first warning, only fill 5L and after second warning then go for 10L. I am curious – isn’t 5800 kms too less to get the DEF fluid warning ? Should it not last 10k km ? What has been the experience from others ? Is it because I drive mostly on highways ?

How’s is the famed Toyota experience so far ? Is it really a Battle Tank ?

Well let me share some perspectives with my experience so far. My 1 year service is coming up in July already and the kms are far too less for a diesel car.

• The cup holder attachment in the second row which is in the walkway to the last row is broken already. It was very flimsy to begin with as the plastic felt cheaper. Its not a big deal, will get it fixed next time.

• I had pointed out this early as well in my ownership review, when you drive the car in heavy rains and slush, due to the air flow at the back, except for the wiper part, the remaining hatch door area and glass is completely dirty and makes rear visibility a problem. Even with heavy rains, water would not directly fall on the glass area so the dirt sticking on the glass remains despite rains.

• I see a slight tilt in the steering when the car is moving forward. Very minute and only observed by me. So the steering is turned 5 to 10 degrees (roughly) to the right when the car goes straight. May be I need to get alignment done during the 1st year full service. What worries me is that I had hit an unmarked rural speed breaker at some speed while a drive at night, I just hope that’s not the reason for the misalignment.

• The front tyres with 33 PSI always look a little underinflated and I am always worried due to the thin sidewall but still keep the recommended tyre pressure.

• I have not been able to breach the 13 kmpl at all in last few Tank fulls. I have tried many tricks but no luck. What I realize is that if you drive with cruise control set at 80 – 90 at 6th gear, at the slightest of road incline changes, the gear will drop to 5th to go back to the set speed aggressively. Moreover, when you are accelerating, you have to leave the acc pedal just a bit after you reach the desired speed, momentarily, so that the GB shifts to a higher gear otherwise the car holds on to the lower gears.
• Finally, after experiencing the Tata Service for last few years, I am very happy with my ownership so far. At least no unwanted visits to the ASS (Touchwood). Now I understand why Toyota owners fall in love with their cars. I will update next on the service experience after the yearly servicing.

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