Is it True That Tata Cars Don't Have Longevity & Starts To Degrade in Long Run?

[RageshAntony]

Lot of car mechanics telling that Tata cars dont have longevity and starts to degrade wholly after 2-3 yrs of usage.

Why tata cars have low reputation and less sales. ? I heard lot of talks that Tata cars are made from low quality material. So after 2 years of usage , that car starts to loss its quality. So don’t buy Tata. Go for other company cars.. Is this ideas are true ?

The problem is I going to buy new car and finalised between Tata Zest XT diesel and Ford Figo Aspire .

When I ask to compare above two , many private car workshop workers told that " Tata cars don’t have longevity and starts to degrade wholly after 2-3 yrs of usage. So go for ford. "

But the Tata zest got good reviews of the internet . But all reviewers telling the interiors of Tata made from cheap quality materials ..

SO I confused.. Pls tell the truth

 

[generalmax]

Re: Is it true that Tata cars don't have longevity and starts to degrade in long run?

That is sick!.Those mechanics are living before the millennium.I would have supported that statements earlier.Now,Tata is making Land Rover and jaguar cars!Do you think they will make cars so bad.This were all stories floated Maruti sales advisers .Don't worry!Go ahead with Tata Zest!

 

[mukesh]

Re: Is it true that Tata cars don't have longevity and starts to degrade in long run?

I am using Safari Storme and it will complete it's 3 years in January, i am not facing any issues with it and the truck is as good as new.

 

[vikyjoshi]

Re: Is it true that Tata cars don't have longevity and starts to degrade in long run?

my Dad had indigo purchased in 2006-7 and sold in was 013 after driving for more than 1,35,000 KM. it was driven by mutiple people, company drivers, me, my brother (who learnt driving in that car) but still held pretty well till we sold it off. Yes the car had few niggles around the accessories.

Fast forward in 2013 I got myself Storme. This was top notch car from Tata stable. its more than 2 years, with 22k KM on ODO, and the car is feeling just like new. Not a single mechanical issue, the accessories like buttons, lights, switches, ICE plastic and fitting absolutely intact. Single hand driven and is jsut like new.

I have been using Uber and Ola taxis recently and have been in multiple Tata vehicles (Vista and Indica) most of them doing close to a lac of KM) the engine sound very good and the internal fixtures also holding out quite well. This shows the improvement that tata have done in their quality department.

Now that is not the case that cars start to age in 2 year. So I can very well suggest you the Zest.

 

[krishnavamshi24]

Re: Is it true that Tata cars don't have longevity and starts to degrade in long run?

I had an Indica Xeta Petrol, yes you heard it right petrol the car was very good there were a few niggles but there is no car out in the market that niggle free. I owned the car for seven years and it was a pleasure no issues what so ever.

 

[incarnation]

Re: Is it true that Tata cars don't have longevity and starts to degrade in long run?

we have owned

TATA Sierra 1997 still own ODO Reading 2,32,000 original spec engine. Highly reliable car
TATA SUMO 2000 a work force machine never said no to any thing sold when the odo was 1,58,000 mainly used for fetching items for our wqork.
TATA Indica 2002 DLS owned till it was 1,28,000 9 This car had a few problmes but those were solved in the consecuitve models or facelifts.
TATA Indica 2007 DLS owned by Brother in law Sold when ODO was 97,000 the car was niggle free sold because he felt it was a age old design.
TATA NANO 2011 CX still own and is a daily commuter for my dad. ODO 23k

TATA NANO LX 2012 still own and is a daily commuter for my sister done about 29k used for some long rides as well and is holding up well.

Its not the cars that are at fault its the peoples perception about TATA that is wrong. i dont deny that customer experience of TATA is nothing to boast about but that is because of the dealerships and not the product in itself. however those are the things in the past. right now a lot of structuring has been done the way TATA works or the TATA Dealership works. one can see a huge amount of positive change.

to summarize TATA was/ is never a bad product. One should own one before being judgmental, also the poor customer feel due to dealership is not actually the fault of the product in itself

 

[TSIVipul]

Re: Is it true that Tata cars don't have longevity and starts to degrade in long run?

@TATA OWNERS:
Personally I have noticed that these Tata TDi engines do last quite well. I have been into Indica and Indigo cabs with 6 figure odo readings and every time the driver was like "Saarji the engine and gearbox are untouched.

@Ragesh:
This information is absolute crap. Recently when I visited Delhi, I took an ola cab which happened to be an Indigo XL; the one with long wheelbase. The car was around 7 years old and believe me, there was nearly no sound except the engine hum. Slightly more than 2 lac kilometres on odo and the driver told me that only the clutch has been replaced; that also just ones. Maybe because his car always plies on the expressway itself.

 

[Akash1886]

Re: Is it true that Tata cars don't have longevity and starts to degrade in long run?

I want to be clarified on the below questions!

* How qualified are these mechanics to make a statement like this?

* If the longevity of TATA vehicles are questionable then why even after 10+ years, TATA products are favorite in commercial space?

* Are the spares for TATA cars not easily available?

Now coming to the thread's purpose, Longevity largely depends on the driving ability of the driver/owner and the upkeep in due course. If someone is not that enthusiastic about the upkeep of the vehicle and doesn't know the culture of accurate/responsible driving then blaming the product and highlighting the product's shortfall is senseless. I would like to add, it can be agreed that no vehicle is 100% error proof, but these errors become more apparent when the due/proper care of the vehicle is not taken.

I will not quote any other example but mine itself, I have a SX4 which stood unused for 1.5 Year till December 2014. It wasn't taken care of by anyone in my family/relatives. It was in worst condition when I saw it.

​

This car could barely move forget about starting and prior to this 1.5 year, it had been standing earlier for more than a year as well. So when sent for repairs, the mechanics never commented on the longevity of the vehicle and that it was impossible to make it run again. The question about the longevity of any vehicle is raised by those who either don't know about vehicle or either are not capable of rectifying the errors and maintaining a car. Had I taken this car to a un-knowledgeable mechanic, I would have been given the lame reply, "Sir Gaadi bech do" "Isme kuch nahi bacha hei" (Sir sell the car, there is nothing left in it). But, this is where difference of knowledge comes into play. A capable mechanic shall never raise or make such loose remarks.

I would quote an example here, Mahindra Logan/Verito, this car has almost nil presence among personal car buyers because of various factors but it is a massive hit in commercial sector simply because its comfortable and reliable. But if a uneducated person handles this car and keeps it unused for long, then do you think he has the right to question its longevity as a product?

Coming to TATA's longevity, I would like to say, had the TATA passenger vehicle's longevity been questionable then for more than decade TATA Indica and its facelifts and vehicles like ARIA, Indigo would not have survived in commercial/fleet business. Commercial Fleet owners are the ones who test the cars to their limits, so had those TATA cars faired badly in the driving then why would they still keep it with them? It is a known fact, personal car buyers do not associate with TATA because it has a TAXI image. Which means, people dont doubt the product rather they doubt the brand image. It is the brand image of TATA which has degraded and not the product's longevity.

This makes us return to the fact that, no product's longevity can be questioned as we the buyers/drivers have to be responsible enough for maintaining the cars in best of shape. If the owners aren't capable or mechanics are not capable of taking care of a car then they have no right to denounce or doubt the longevity of any product. If one keeps even a Maruti in poor state, it will be unusable after a period of time.

Regards

Akash

 

[AppU]

Re: Is it true that Tata cars don't have longevity and starts to degrade in long run?

I own TATA Vista VX from Apr 16 2012 to till date and nearing 92,000 kms without any issues/Niggles(Touch-wood). We all are fully satisfied with the comfort provided by Vista.
for more details:http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...and-new-sedan-class-3-6-years-90-500-kms.html

3.5Yrs and 91,500Kms,Still strong(Stopped to click a snap, after driving 110+Kmph for continuous 1hr) What else we need to answer for longevity/Long Run

by reliability wise it is super strong and ready to hit the road at any time.

Previously I had a Indica DLS and ran over 1,25,000Kms and still the car is running with my Dad's friend.

If you want to go with Zest, Go for it and enjoy the ride.

 

[ss80]

Re: Is it true that Tata cars don't have longevity and starts to degrade in long run?

This thread is of great interest to me, to see views of both Tata users and others too.

The answer for your question lies in the usage, maintenance of the car & Service center/spares support and little on the car maker himself. I am giving a small comparison between Maruti & Tata, just for reference, no offence to anyone.

The situation TATA's have landed in,
1. For some very strong reasons, TATA cars have always been the favorite for cabies.
2. These cabs are abused to the core, by different drivers and not usually serviced at TASS.
3. We see more commercial cars having breakdown, than white board ones. For a very obvious reason, high usage in a short time.

Some numbers now:
My office cabs usually Indica's do 5 trips (to&fro) in a 24hr span everyday, 7days a week. Each trip is about 10kms to 60kms in distance, hence they easily travel 300kms in a day, mostly within city and in off peak hours (bpo).

Most cabbies use the normal Indica's with no turbo charger and ac hardly used. They service their cars, once in a month regardless of how many kms they clock. Here starts the issue, ideally for their kind of abusive driving style, alignment needs to be done once every 15days, which they dont do at all (till significant steering issues pop up). Oil used is a normal mineral oil, which loses all its quality within 5k kms of usage, where as these guys punch all the way till 9000kms before they change engine oil. The cab agencies offer free engine oil, oil filter every month to the cabs they attach to these BPO's hence the driver waits for the free oil, not ready to spend from his pocket.

So this is what happens with cabs
1. High kms between oil changes
2. No regular wheel aignment/balancies
3. No TASS service, only local mechanics work on these.
4. Brake pads wont be checked till they make screeching noises
5. Rear dampers die out within first 6 months, they dont change it, as no one complains about it. Bouncy ride is part of cab business.
6. Due to ill service schedules, too many of them have breakdowns, spoiling the brand image in public.

Now when you see such horribly maintained cabs day-in & day-out almost everyone starts to think that TATA cars are not reliable. The fact is TATA cars are reliable, their service is what sucks big time.

I have spend close to 1lakh on my previous 2 Maruti 800 restorations, I never struggled to get any part, reason being MGP supplies almost everything and you have multiple outlets too.

I am trying to get the plastic cladding for my nano (front seat ones) for the last 20days, no place to find it. The people working at these outlets (Prerana Spares Depot on mysore road) are not interested to listen to you. Just because you are asking some rare item.

The TASS on the other hand has this strange behaviour.
My Issue: The ac coil/heater element one of the two is leaking and making a mess of the carpet. I called twice to AAdya Motors near my home, they dont have service appointments for next 2days as they are over booked + no cars are taken for service after 11am, as they have parking issue. No technician/Service advisor free to talk to you over phone to even get a basic idea of what would it cost to get the issue resolved.

No glovebox available, they wont give you the speaker mounting spacers (plastic ones) unless you buy the speaker itself from them, even though I mentioned that I already have speakers. They dont sell parts over the counter, they dont even have stock of Nano foot mats, battery clamp, fender indicators! Getting a half engine from TATA (like MGP) will only be a dream, if need be.

1. Will I ever buy a TATA again! HELL NO!
2. Are Tata cars reliable on the long run - YES THEY DEFINATELY ARE, but most owners dont retain the car for that long, as they dont get good support like Maruti.
3. Ideal way of using TATA cars - BUY THEM, DRIVE MAX KMS in a short span and sell them. Dont even dream about owning a TATA for 20yrs, this is not a Maruti 800/zen/esteem.
4. Most maruti's are parked outside home, or are driven very little (less than 5000kms) in a month and are serviced twice a year. Hence people own it for a longer time and less kms used. So anyday a 10yr old maruti looks better than a 5yr old TATA.
5. Tata Cars are made out of thicker sheet metal, stronger welds, you can feel it everywhere in the car. I feel they are safer too, from build quality point of view.
6. Probably the most abuse friendly cars to be seen on Indian roads.
7. I have travelled in so many indica's (office cab) which are only 3 - 5yrs old but have clocked close to 3+lakh kms. I doubt if a similar swift desire/swift/i10/i20 would hold everything in place after 2lakh kms in such a short span.
8. At production stage - TATA guys lack serious Quality checks like Maruti, usually ill fit & finish, huge and uneven gaps in doors, trunk etc is a signature of TATA build. They might pass it on, saying in the event of a crash the doors still work/dont get jammed.

In short -
High usage short term - Tata is the best
Less usage long term ownership experience - Maruti/Hyundai/Honda etc
Tata Spares - Cheap, but availability is not assured, neither is the ETA
Ford Spares - Costly, but available on order
Maruti Spares - Okayish pricing, 100% availability across country and for most cars including for ones, out of production.


If your questions changes to-
1. Will you own a TATA car for a decade - NO, not a wise thing to do.
2. Can you own Zest for 5years? - Yes.
3. Can you drive a lakh kms within a year? - 100% (I have seen plenty of them)
4. If I am going to drive less and want to own it for a longer term - Yeah probably you can for 5-6yrs after that you have long wait times for spares/have a very trust worthy TASS. If not take a huge loss and sell it for dirt price.
5. Spare parts quality are anyday lesser (inferior) than a competing Maruti/Hyundai product - but so is the price too. You get what you pay for.

 

[Crazy cat]

Re: Is it true that Tata cars don't have longevity and starts to degrade in long run?

We've owned an Indica dicor in the past relplaced it with Vista mjd. Component quality is the worst I've seen in any car. There has been plenty of warranty replacements. And you need a good service centre or it'll make your life hard with the car.
What's good is, it's spacious and comfortable on all roads and mechanically it is reliable even for long journeys. I'm more comfortable in taking vista on highways than Sail U-va, which has stopped during journey on two occasions, despite having the same engines.

 

[TSIVipul]

Re: Is it true that Tata cars don't have longevity and starts to degrade in long run?

@SS80:
Only high usage and poor maintenance aren't just the reasons for this failure.

Innova, Liva, Verito, Etios, Swift, Ertiga, Xylo and DZire are also catering the cabbies. Why don't we see them rattling like hell at times? Why don't we see a large number of Innovas broken down but Arias can be seen?

Believe me, I have seen more broken down Aria and Safari on the roads than the Innova. This is when we have Innova maybe ten times of these vehicles.

What you think is the reason behind this? I don't deny that Tata cars last long but they can't stand abuse like others do. No offence to anyone but the fact is that in the hands of an enthusiast even a dead car also gets a life. Look at a normal Joe who sometimes skips services, doesn't pay any attention if everything is okay under the hood and don't follow any precautions while driving. This is where the difference appears.

I have previously owned an Innova, most of its parts (whenever replaced) costed more than the corresponding part for Safari BUT Innova needed less than minimal replacements and parts do last really really long; I literally can't say the same for Tata.

I have owned a Safari in past. My chauffy was driving when the elephant skidded the hell out of his nose to hit a Wagon R crossing into our lane. Instantly there was a conclusion drawn that it has poor brakes (it had in 2007-08, no doubt on that) the SUV went to A.S.S. and some minor parts were missing. The vehicle spent around a month in A.S.S. and returned back with rattles and all. Went back to A.S.S. and again some part coming.. The only thing that changed is that the car never returned back. It didn't had even 8500 kilometres on odo when it was last time driven by me.

I have a similar story about XUV too. The parts were available and A.S.S. was also very competent and quick. What went wrong? The car itself. There used to occur some minor issue from some corner. The car gave way at the end in an event that got my father annoyed so much that the vehicle never returned back from the A.S.S., its new owner took it from there itself.

Final verdict:
Lemons do exist but most of the Tata cars are actually abuse friendly but not to the extent of others. I have seen their engines lasting quite long and they offer a brilliant ride too. Where the Tata cars take beating is the uncompetitive A.S.S and that also at some places only.
They are now improving and I mean it. The petrol engines from their stabe are still below the mark (yes, I mean it. The Revotron is nothing special and nor it is the king of anything) go with then only if you need a diesel (Honda, Hyundai and MSIL provide way better options in petrol). But the A.S.S. is still a gamble IMO.

Ehh..this is coming from a spoilt Toyota owner BTW. Those guys have really overshadowed everything IMO in terms of A.S.S.. In fact once they delivered my car by the night time just because I requested them that I need it today itself. The day Tata or any other A.S.S. reaches this level, then only this Toyota fanboy will buy other brands.

Tata = Low cost spares... Ehh.. Short life too!! Better spend double and enjoy 8-10 times life.

 

[kasscon]

Re: Is it true that Tata cars don't have longevity and starts to degrade in long run?

@SS80:
Only high usage and poor maintenance aren't just the reasons for this failure.

Innova, Liva, Verito, Etios, Swift, Ertiga, Xylo and DZire are also catering the cabbies. Why don't we see them rattling like hell at times? Why don't we see a large number of Innovas broken down but Arias can be seen?

Believe me, I have seen more broken down Aria and Safari on the roads than the Innova. This is when we have Innova maybe ten times of these vehicles.

What you think is the reason behind this? I don't deny that Tata cars last long but they can't stand abuse like others do. No offence to anyone but the fact is that in the hands of an enthusiast even a dead car also gets a life. Look at a normal Joe who sometimes skips services, doesn't pay any attention if everything is okay under the hood and don't follow any precautions while driving. This is where the difference appears.

I have previously owned an Innova, most of its parts (whenever replaced) costed more than the corresponding part for Safari BUT Innova needed less than minimal replacements and parts do last really really long; I literally can't say the same for Tata.

I have owned a Safari in past. My chauffy was driving when the elephant skidded the hell out of his nose to hit a Wagon R crossing into our lane. Instantly there was a conclusion drawn that it has poor brakes (it had in 2007-08, no doubt on that) the SUV went to A.S.S. and some minor parts were missing. The vehicle spent around a month in A.S.S. and returned back with rattles and all. Went back to A.S.S. and again some part coming.. The only thing that changed is that the car never returned back. It didn't had even 8500 kilometres on odo when it was last time driven by me.

I have a similar story about XUV too. The parts were available and A.S.S. was also very competent and quick. What went wrong? The car itself. There used to occur some minor issue from some corner. The car gave way at the end in an event that got my father annoyed so much that the vehicle never returned back from the A.S.S., its new owner took it from there itself.

Final verdict:
Lemons do exist but most of the Tata cars are actually abuse friendly but not to the extent of others. I have seen their engines lasting quite long and they offer a brilliant ride too. Where the Tata cars take beating is the uncompetitive A.S.S and that also at some places only.
They are now improving and I mean it. The petrol engines from their stabe are still below the mark (yes, I mean it. The Revotron is nothing special and nor it is the king of anything) go with then only if you need a diesel (Honda, Hyundai and MSIL provide way better options in petrol). But the A.S.S. is still a gamble IMO.

Ehh..this is coming from a spoilt Toyota owner BTW. Those guys have really overshadowed everything IMO in terms of A.S.S.. In fact once they delivered my car by the night time just because I requested them that I need it today itself. The day Tata or any other A.S.S. reaches this level, then only this Toyota fanboy will buy other brands.

Tata = Low cost spares... Ehh.. Short life too!! Better spend double and enjoy 8-10 times life.

I have seen lots of Innova broken down as well but most of them or all of them were cabs. Yes it's a reliable vehicle but you are paying that kind of cost.

Innova costs way above Tata Aria or Safari or XUV 500 and what are you getting??

Yes, two years ago Tata ASS was one of the worst however check now and you will see a huge difference and they are working hard to achieve one of the best service. Even the quality of the products increased significantly which can be seen in Zest, Bolt, Safari and Aria.

If you talk about taking abuse... Talk to any BPO cab driver and they are now saying that Tata is the best. I got feedbacks from lot of cab drivers that Sumo is the best. Lot of them said that choosing xylo or travera over Sumo was a big mistake.

The words were " Sumo to solid gaadi hai baaki toh 60% bhi nahi hai aur upar se sasti bhi aur spare part bhi sastaa"

 

[incarnation]

@ ss80 try CONCORDE instead of prerana they will have the spare. don't spoil your ownership just because of A.S.S.

I have a TATA Sierra and the ASS doesn't support it at all and i mean it doesn't support any spares for Sierra still you get spares but that doesn't stop me. parts are available if you know how to find it.

AUTO MATRIX in Mangalore is doing a fab job in keeping their customers happy. Even they don't support Sierra But they do a good job in handling the customer complaints of the present line up. no false expectations set. delivery on time. very transparent i like their approach.

 

[RageshAntony]

Thanks to all of you. Yes. It is true .. Lot and lot of Tata cars running on roads with odometer clocked at 1L km.

Tata is the first company in India to produce commercially and practically successful tiny car the "Tata Nano". It is an excellent product. It offers good quality of ride and stability for its price. From nano's success we can judge the quality of Tata