My Precious Blue Diamond: Tata Nexon XZA+ AMT D

[J.Ravi]

Blue Diamond's smart key battery called it a day yesterday by sounding continuous alarm after I unlocked, entered the cabin and started the engine. When I pressed the lock and unlock buttons, the alarm stopped and everything was normal. This happened for the second time in the last two months. First time, I attributed this alarm to the then drained 12V battery. When it is repeated for the second time - when the 12V battery is fully charged - I knew it's time for replacement of the smart key battery. Drove about 5 km in the neighbourhood before returning home. Everything worked alright. Today, when I checked the smart key by pressing the unlock button, the key fob LED indicator flashed a few times, indicating weak battery. So, replaced the smart key battery, costing ₹ 150 after 26 months from the date of purchase of Blue Diamond. Now, the smart key works fine with its LED indicator flashing once, when any one of its buttons is pressed. The wearable wrist band's battery was replaced earlier after one year. Now, it is also working fine.

 

[mayankdixit]

Blue Diamond's smart key battery called it a day yesterday by sounding continuous alarm after I unlocked, entered the cabin and started the engine. When I pressed the lock and unlock buttons, the alarm stopped and everything was normal. This happened for the second time in the last two months.

Why should there be a continuous alarm when only key fob battery is down ? I can't understand that. Did it sound when you tried to enter the car by turning the key,because central locking wasn't working ?

 

[J.Ravi]

Why should there be a continuous alarm when only key fob battery is down ? I can't understand that. Did it sound when you tried to enter the car by turning the key,because central locking wasn't working ?

Central locking/unlocking was working, but no alarm. Door got unlocked, when I touched the door sensor and I entered without alarm. When I cranked, the speedo/rpm pointers did a quick sweep without alarm. When the engine started, I heard a thud and suddenly alarm too started along with that. But the engine was idling at 900 normally with the alarm blaring. Ditto in the previous time too. When I pressed lock and unlock buttons sitting inside the car with engine idling, the alarm stopped. Then onwards, everything worked flawlessly. When it repeated for the second time, I knew it was something to do with the smart key battery. When I checked, the LED indicator on the key fob flashed a few times thus indicating weak battery. The continuous alarm warning for weak smart key battery was not mentioned in the owner's manual. So, I was taken aback when the alarm started blaring.

 

[J.Ravi]

Today, I test-drove the BS6 2020 170 PS Harrier. Last year, I test-drove the BS4 version on 5 Feb 2019, when I visited Concorde, Mysore Road, Bangalore for the third service of Blue Diamond. At that time, I felt "Let me see who brings the combination of diesel+AT+cruise control first, Harrier or XUV 300". Now that Harrier won the race that too with a powerful 170 PS engine, I wanted to test-drive it. Here are some old pics from this very same thread.

So, yesterday, I expressed my wish for a test-drive in Prerana Motors website and the sales executive was in front of my house at 12:30 pm with the XZA+ DT variant of Harrier! We went for a long TD on busy, congested road, rough patchy stretches and beautiful IRR. I tested all the drive modes and cruise control. Beautiful. Excellent, thanks to the independent front and semi-independent rear suspensions. Although Harrier costs twice my Blue Diamond, it lacks full size spare wheel, 4 boot hooks, 4 coat hangers and height adjustable front seat belts, which my Blue Di has. Rear disc brakes and front parking cameras are real misses for this ₹ 25 lakh-SUV. Anyways, I like Harrier and it could be Blue Di's successor in 2021. Presently, ₹ 80 k discount is on offer for XZA variant and no discount for XZA+ with panoramic sunroof due to high demand, as per the sales executive. Here are some pics clicked today.

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

Even I have my eyes on Harrier as well as Seltos , but both car should rule out the niggles, former having more!!!

 

[J.Ravi]

Harrier

I like BS6 2020 Nexon more than BS6 2020 Harrier. The face-lifted Nexon is safer and feature-rich compared to Harrier. We have to pay ₹ 25 lakhs for the Land Rover platform + Hyundai auto gear box + 170 PS Fiat engine + Lotus-tuned rear suspension. The only negative that I can attribute to Nexon is AMT. Harrier's gear-shifting is seamless without any jerks or head-nodding. If Nexon diesel gets torque convertor automatic transmission, that would succeed my Blue Diamond!

 

[deville_56]

Padmini is the vendor. They used to make horns and misc parts for Maruti. They could've removed the eyesore vendor branding on OE parts like Ford do, especially on a premium product.

 

[J.Ravi]

Padmini is the vendor.

Thanks for the information. I just mentioned it in lighter vein.

 

[J.Ravi]

Finding a successor to Blue Diamond has become a tough task with many contenders!

Yesterday afternoon, me, wife and son visited Sireesh Auto, Rajajinagar, Bangalore amidst rains to test-drive Thar. While waiting for the vehicle, we explored Thar, XUV 500 and XUV 300 in the showroom.

Entering to and exiting from Thar's rear seat were tasks that should be performed carefully. Being a six-footer, I felt some difficulty, but wife and son did it easily. But after sitting on the seat, it was comfortable. However, there were exposed fasteners that one should be aware of. Lack of front arm rest, dead pedal, handle on the A pillar for entering the driver seat were glaring omissions that will make the driver fatigued in a long drive. Bonnet was heavy and sturdy. Doors closed with thud.

My attention was caught by the plush new XUV 500. It now comes with AT, BS6 155 PS, 360 Nm torque engine and 235/65R18 tyres in W11 [O] variant with all bells and whistles. We had one in W8 variant in 2013-18. I remembered our Ladakh drive in 2017 when, it had tankful at Naggar and drove all the way to Leh non-stop without refuelling at Tandi, thanks to its 70 litre tank capacity! I found myself clicking photographs! I knew new generation XUV 500 will be coming in 2021. Even then, XUV 500 tempted me to consider it to come home again.

We also explored XUV 300 for its 7 airbags, all disc brakes, dual zone climate control, heated ORVM, etc. But the only negative was small boot [257 litres]. My wife did not like it. So, it got dropped out in the first round itself.

By this time, we were informed that the TD vehicle was ready. We test-drove Thar Diesel MT hardtop variant in and around Rajajinagar. For the first few km, I drove, then my son did the test-drive. Earlier, I had the lurking fear that Thar might not be suitable for city roads and highways, but it was not so in reality. With the driving a few km in bumper-to-bumper traffic amidst rain, now I am certain that I could drive it easily and comfortably on the city roads and highways. The view was commanding. I felt as if I drove a truck! The vehicle responded to the steering commands after a second or so. The two tone horn was nice. The brakes were similar to the ones in XUV 500. The hardtop roof did not leak even in heavy rain during our test-drive, but I could hear the rain water pounding on the roof top. We returned to the showroom, thanked the sales executive, collected the price lists of Thar, XUV 500 and XUV 300 and returned home.

I liked Harrier, XUV 500 and Thar equally. My wife liked Harrier and XUV 500 more than Thar. My son too liked Thar and he wanted to test-drive other cars before taking a decision. If my son decides in favour of Thar, I may go for Harrier or XUV 500. If he decides to buy some other car, then it is Thar for me. Or who knows, there may two Thars in our home, one MT, and another AT! Now, read the first sentence again!

 

[deville_56]

Finding a successor to Blue Diamond has become a tough task with many contenders!

Yesterday afternoon, me, wife and son visited Sireesh Auto, Rajajinagar, Bangalore amidst rains to test-drive Thar. While waiting for the vehicle, we explored Thar, XUV 500 and XUV 300 in the showroom.

Entering to and exiting from Thar's rear seat were tasks that should be performed carefully. Being a six-footer, I felt some difficulty, but wife and son did it easily. But after sitting on the seat, it was comfortable. However, there were exposed fasteners that one should be aware of. Lack of front arm rest, dead pedal, handle on the A pillar for entering the driver seat were glaring omissions that will make the driver fatigued in a long drive. Bonnet was heavy and sturdy. Doors closed with thud.

My attention was caught by the plush new XUV 500. It now comes with AT, BS6 155 PS, 360 Nm torque engine and 235/65R18 tyres in W11 [O] variant with all bells and whistles. We had one in W8 variant in 2013-18. I remembered our Ladakh drive in 2017 when, it had tankful at Naggar and drove all the way to Leh non-stop without refuelling at Tandi, thanks to its 70 litre tank capacity! I found myself clicking photographs! I knew new generation XUV 500 will be coming in 2021. Even then, XUV 500 tempted me to consider it to come home again.

We also explored XUV 300 for its 7 airbags, all disc brakes, dual zone climate control, heated ORVM, etc. But the only negative was small boot [257 litres]. My wife did not like it. So, it got dropped out in the first round itself.

By this time, we were informed that the TD vehicle was ready. We test-drove Thar Diesel MT hardtop variant in and around Rajajinagar. For the first few km, I drove, then my son did the test-drive. Earlier, I had the lurking fear that Thar might not be suitable for city roads and highways, but it was not so in reality. With the driving a few km in bumper-to-bumper traffic amidst rain, now I am certain that I could drive it easily and comfortably on the city roads and highways. The view was commanding. I felt as if I drove a truck! The vehicle responded to the steering commands after a second or so. The two tone horn was nice. The brakes were similar to the ones in XUV 500. The hardtop roof did not leak even in heavy rain during our test-drive, but I could hear the rain water pounding on the roof top. We returned to the showroom, thanked the sales executive, collected the price lists of Thar, XUV 500 and XUV 300 and returned home.

I liked Harrier, XUV 500 and Thar equally. My wife liked Harrier and XUV 500 more than Thar. My son too liked Thar and he wanted to test-drive other cars before taking a decision. If my son decides in favour of Thar, I may go for Harrier or XUV 500. If he decides to buy some other car, then it is Thar for me. Or who knows, there may two Thars in our home, one MT, and another AT! Now, read the first sentence again!

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Next generation XUV500 is around the corner.

 

[J.Ravi]

Cobra Dual View Dash Camera
At last, I installed the Cobra Dual View Dash Camera in Blue Diamond, presented by my daughter. I shot some test videos and still images after unpacking and setting in January 2020. Road tests are pending.

At last, I downloaded the recordings, watched and edited two of them. Here are some sample videos recorded by Blue Di's dashcam.

 

[Nairrk]

It looks front camera clarity is better than rear camera.

Is the camera comes with features like WiFi & Voice control. If not, how did you download video?
Also, does it have a snapshot feature?

 

[J.Ravi]

It looks front camera clarity is better than rear camera.

Yes. Front: 1080P. Rear: 720P. Super HD resolution at 1296P is available while in single cam mode. Next time, I will disconnect the rearcam and test the front camera's clarity.

Is the camera comes with features like WiFi & Voice control.

No to both.

If not, how did you download video?

Removed the dashcam, connected it to my laptop using USB cable, copied the video files on the laptop, saved and edited them.

Also, does it have a snapshot feature?

Yes.

 

[Nairrk]

Removed the dashcam

I think, every time you need not to remove the camera instead you can remove the SD card and copy the contents to the laptop using an SD card reader.

 

[J.Ravi]

Another day. Another car. Another test-drive. This time, it was Creta 1.5 Diesel MT SX variant [one below the top variant]. But, it is smaller than my Nexon, width-wise [1,811 mm vs 1,790 mm]. It does not have drive modes that Nexon has from the lowest variant. Comfort-wise, we did not feel any difference between the two. But, Creta is costlier than Nexon by ₹ 6 lakhs. We did not like it. So, Creta is out of my list in the first round itself. During the test-drive, I casually broached the sensitive subject of insurance. The sales executive told that in-house insurance from the dealership was a must. When I asked him whether it was Hyundai's policy, he became defensive and told us that it was his company's policy and he would get prior approval for arranging insurance ourselves! These Hyundai and Kia dealers have similar attitude when it comes to insurance. If they can take the customer for a ride, they will surely do it.