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Troubled by the transmission issues in our new Tata Nexon DCA

17th September 2024, 13:41 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

I had a loss of power and the vehicle was not accelerating. I could hear weird grinding noises from the car and no shifts were working. I tried the paddles and there was no response.

BHPian sreejith.j recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

The Road to Nexon

My wife used to have a Wagon R AMT which had covered only 8K kms in a period of 5 years. We sold that car post covid as the running literally had come to zero. Fast forward to 2024 wife needed a car to commute to office and also for some personal reasons. She is only comfortable with Automatics and our search for AT cars began. We ideally looked at only CSUVs as we are more comfortable with them especially ingress considering our parents. I had completely ruled out AMT cars as the experience with WagonR was pathetic considering the gear shifts. I am a fan of the DSGs of the VW group and have them already.

The first car we tested was Nexon. We went to Kropex on Hosur Road. It was literally a fish market with a lot of people around. We were quickly assigned a SA and he showed us the car. We liked the car and asked them to get one home for a test drive. Following this we left the dealership. We next went to the VW showroom which is next door and saw the Taigun. The car was impressive and I was already sold on the DSG. This was before the price cut and SA had informed us there were discounts possible if we were interested. I asked them to arrange a test drive as well and later on the same day we ended up in the Suraksha Nexa which was on the other side. We saw the Fronx over there. The dealership was quite empty on a Sunday afternoon and we immediately took a test drive of the car. The car was impressive and performed well, The AT gearshifts were not as impressive as the Dual clutch ones. We kept this option open as I had always read about the service issues of TATA. However, the safety ratings of Fronx are not published yet and being a Suzuki I did not have much hope.

The next Monday the Kropex SA promptly followed up and got a car to test drive. The drive was good. The DCA performed Seamlessly and the features were impressive. The 360 camera, Blindspot camera and Audio setup was great as well. The only drawback I saw was that fuel efficiency on the MID was showing a measly 8 KMPL. The SA said that this being a demo car is used aggressively and we would ideally get about 10 to 12 in the city which seemed believable.

Next on the list we considered both Venue and Sonet. I know that they are essentially the same cars however, I felt that they have a different character and to some extent, I felt even the body shell is different. The Venue seemed better built and doors seemed a little more heavier than the Sonet. Both the cars drive pretty similarly but on the features, Sonet takes the lead. The SA at KIA was very persuasive also and when I asked him about safety and how it compares with Nexon which has a 5-star, he informed me that the car has all the features to prevent an accident and the 5-star is not needed also. I was laughing inside but kept my composure with him. However, I guess what he said is absolutely true and I realized this later as you folks would be able to read further in my review.

The Decision of Nexon

Well, after testing all these cars Nexon checked most of the boxes and it seemed like a no-brainer to go for it. I did read some reviews on TBHP on the DCA issues, and services horrors but when further reading into them it seemed that TAMO has fixed the issues and the car seemed to be niggle free. We then went to Kropex to make the booking and proceed with Nexon.

The SA was cooridal and brought the Sales Manager to the discussion as I wanted to see if there is any better deal they could offer also. The SM was a gentleman and assured us they would provide the best deal they can and enquired which leasing company we were going with. My wife's company has partnered with Orix and I informed the same. However, the buck stopped there as Kropex no longer accepts bookings for Orix due to some pending payment issues it seems.

We then checked with Orix who informed us that Bellad Auto/Key Motors is the new preferred dealer. I initially checked with Key Motors as they were near to my house, however, the SA I was assigned had a huge ego and was not even responding and was adamant on pricing. They were not even ready to match the corporate discount offered by Kropex. We then got in touch with the Corporate Sales Manager at Bellad as the contact was provided by Orix. He promptly transferred our query to Vignesh who was the Team lead for Sales. He sent us pictures of the White Nexon DCT fearless S+ which was in stock. We did not like white color however we were informed that there would be a delay of two months which didn't seem to be true though. We agreed to the car in the white color as my wife needed a car to commute and her mother was diagnosed with Stage 3 Cancer and we needed a safe and sanitised self-used car and did not want to depend on taxis.

Finally, the car was booked and we transferred the initial booking amount to block the car and initiated the leasing process also.

We were assigned a SA. I contacted him for PDI. However, they told me third parties are not allowed to inspect the car and hence I could not book the third party app. I had to make a trip across the city in BLR traffic to go see the car. The car was dirty and covered in dust. I roughly inspected the panels to see if there is any transport damage and any signs of repaint. I could not make out much as it was covered with a thick layer of dust. I further checked the ODO and took photos and also confirmed the VIN number. There were panel gaps I had noticed but I didn't make a fuss about it as a lot of it has been said by multiple reviewers.

We gave Orix a go-ahead, post which the PO was released and we got the insurance also through the company's provided which was 50% of the cost of the insurance offered by Bellad with the same features including RTI.

Once the PO was received by the Bellad team there was no communication or update from them. We had to follow up multiple times to know the status. We finally received the message from VAAHAN portal and realized that the vehicle is getting registered. However, we were able to take delivery of the vehicle only 1 week post this as the dealer informed us that there was a delay in receiving the HSRP number plates.

The Delivery Experience

The delivery of the car was scheduled for 5th June evening and we were asked by the SA to reach by 5.30. I roped in my brother to drive our car and took our family to delivery as our kids were excited about the new car. The kids even named the car Panda, after Po (Kung Fu Panda movie). We reached the dealership and it was a sleepish scene over there. The receptionist came to us and we informed them that we were here for the car delivery. She asked us to wait and informed us that someone would attend to us as our SA had gone out for a test drive for some other customer.

We obliged and waited. I saw the car getting cleaned at the delivery area and took a stroll around it. I was surprised and shocked to see that there is a paint chip off on the bumper of the brand-new car. They touched it up with a paint brush which made it look worse than my 3-year-old's drawing. I then took a close look at the bumper and it seemed like there was repainting done. There was overspray on the plastic components and didn't seem like a factory finish job.

I immediately called and asked the same to the Team leader who was dealing with us. He said his supervisor would immediately assist us. This experience had already become pathetic as the attitude of the staff at the dealership was as if they were doing us a favour by letting us buy this car. I did not want to take delivery, However, I saw that my confrontation is making my family uncomfortable and I did not want to spoil a car-buying experience for them. However, the experience was pathetic. The supervisor agreed to the damage to the car and promised that they would resolve it in the first service and repaint and make it perfect. I have attached the pics however it's more evident in person than in the pics.

We finally took the car delivery and to be honest it was the worst ever delivery experience I ever had.

The First Drive

Even with all the shortcomings of the dealership, the car was amazing and made us forget all the negatives. It has adequate power right in the City mode and we never felt the need to even shift to sport mode.

The gear shifts are seamless and we didn't notice any lags. I felt it was comparable to the VW DSG shifts and it was choosing the right gears.

We first drove to the nearby fuel pump and filled up the tank post which we left to our house. The drive was uneventful and the kids were excited about the new car especially our younger one who is only 3 years old and already wants to drive the car

The only thing they disliked was that they had to wear seatbelts even when sitting in the car as the car has sensors even for rear seats and the warning was annoying.

The initial drives

Wife was happy with the new car and was comfortable driving it. The 360 camera also helped her in navigating smaller roads. I was happy that she is independent now and can go anywhere and would not need to take cabs when I am not around. She started taking the car to the office herself and her confidence in the drive had increased.

The drives were good and the A/C was a chiller even in hot weather and sunny conditions. The seat ventilation is a great feature for sunny days in the crawling BLR traffic conditions. Soon we completed the 100 KMS mark. However, surprisingly fuel efficiency was extremely low. When I did the next tank-full and calculated we hardly got about 6 KMPL which was abysmally low. We hope that the car would return better mileage after the first service is completed.

Positives

Futuristic design
360 camera
Good ride handling
5 star safety rating
Ventilated seats

Negatives

DCA reliability
Low fuel efficiency compared to other CSUV
Iffy Tata service
Plastic quality of interiors
Panel gaps
The infotainment unit has bugs and flickers

We had the car for almost a week and then I got a call from the first SA we had spoken initially to check whether we are going ahead with the booking and TAMO is currently offering a 1.5 lakh discount on the car net. I was shell-shocked realizing that we had already lost money. I connected with the Sales Manager of Bellad to check and he confirmed that there are discounts being offered currently with the 7-year anniversary and we cannot get it.

I recollected some of the posts made by other members on the Jimny thread and I was in the same predicament. We then shot an email to higher management at TAMO. The only thing that yielded was a call from Bellad saying that they cannot offer any discounts as it is an offer from TAMO and they have no role in it. We just documented the pathetic experience we had with Bellad and ended the follow-up as no one in TAMO is willing to listen to customers' voice.

The first long drive

We offer prayers at Tirupathi once a year and this year we had a darshan slot booked on 15th July. We usually do a quick one day and night stay trip and off late after the roads are improved it's a quick and pleasant drive always. This time my wife made a little more elaborate plans as we planned to take Nexon and she could share driving also. We had made a plan to include 6 temples in a span of two days.

We started off on 14th June at about 8.00 AM in the morning as we had to get our kids ready and we left from our Home. We did not encounter much traffic in BLR as it was a Sunday morning and crossed KR Puram pretty quickly. The car was performing well and I was driving initially as we had to reach the first temple before 3.00 PM. We had a good time left and were on track and there was no need to hurry. I was driving sedately and was only doing smooth acceleration as we wanted the car to run in well. The odo was only 267 KMS when we left from home and we ideally wanted to take the first 1K kms slow with slow run-in and not high RPMS. We quickly reached our first stop for breakfast which was Paakashala at Mulbagal. We had a quick breakfast and continued our trip.

We crossed the KA border and entered AP. The drive was going well and I was occasionally doing 100 to 120 with no high RPMs. I noticed a shuddering whenever the car was doing above 100 and was a little worried about the same in a new car. It seemed like a braking shudder but I was not even braking. I assumed it might be the pads getting some fade and continued to drive.

We were crossing Palamner and there is a small ghats area and the roads are a little twisting. There was some truck traffic and I was navigating through those and suddenly I had an error on the dash which said Transmission error Contact service center. I had a loss of power and the vehicle was not accelerating. I could hear weird grinding noises from the car and no shifts were working. I tried the paddles and there was no response. I had trucks nearby and was on the right side of the road with a car which has no throttle response. Luckily I was able to navigate and parked the vehicle on the left side of the highway. I turned off the car and tried restarting the car and the dash showed the gear position as "F" and it was not slotting into any gear.

I was shocked and was thanking God that we are safe and didn't get rear-ended. This is when the dialogue of the KIA sales man came back to me as a Deja Vu moment where he said that we have all features that prevent an accident and this makes us almost 5 stars. It's hard truth to realize that passive safety features make sense only when the car is reliable.