Tata Aria Pleasure 2014: Buying & Ownership Review

[muztariq]

A nice ownership thread. Enjoyed going through it. I am also from Hyderabad and another proud owner of a Tata Safari 2.2 VTT. Would be starting a thread soon about my vehicle.

In the pics, Aria does look like an elevated Indica Vista. But, when you see it in person, the monster looks very different from any hatch for that matter.

I must admit, driving the 2.2 VTT engine is extremely enjoyable. The interiors of your Aria are icing on the cake.

 

[roadracer]

Wonderful review. Please keep delighting us with your updates.

 

[abhijeetp]

A nice ownership thread. Enjoyed going through it.

Thanks muztariq.

Wonderful review. Please keep delighting us with your updates.

roadracer, thanks for reading. As I say, 'Pleasure' is all mine!

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Another round of update from me

I Got the third service done last month. Couple of days before the service while coming back to Hyderabad from Pune I started noticing loud wheezing sound noise whenever the rpm reached around 2000. It was much louder than the faint turbo wheeze that we normally hear. To minimise use of turbo I drove the car so that rpm did not exceed 1700-1800. Max speed was restricted to around 80-90.
Dropped the car for service, I was told the noise was due to crack in the pipe that connects the turbo with the intercooler. Concorde did not have the part in store, so they temporarily taped the part, but the sound actually worsened after this. It took almost 10 days for Concorde to get the pipe and it was replaced under AMC.

My ARIA has completed one year and 16000 km. What an evenful year it has been!

To summarise the year- On an average we have done one longish trip every 4-5 weeks. Just listing out the trips we did this year.

Hyderabad-Kurnool-Belum-Hyderabad (Aug)
Hyderabad-Pune-Mumbai-Hyderabad (Sep)
Hyderabad-Kolhapur-Malwan-Goa-Hyderabad (Oct)
Hyderabad-Pune-Hyderabad (Nov)
Hyderabad-Srisailan-Hyderabad (Dec)
Hyderabad Nagarjunsagar-Hyderabad (Dec)
Hyderabad-Mysore-Ooty-Hyderabad (Jan)
Huderabad-Pune-Hyderabad (Mar)
Hyderabad-Pune-Mumbai-Satara-Pune-Hyderabad (Apr)

Its on the highways that ARIA feels at home. I am not anyway saying its bad in cities, its a very capable car anywhere, but its just an amazing vehicle to travel cross country for the whole day!

Onto fuel efficiency -
15900 KM in one year.
Fuel purchased - 1264 litres
So my aggregate average inclusive of city and highway driving for the complete year is 12.6, which I feel is really good for the vehicle of ARIA's size and weight.

I have also had my share of the 'famous' tata niggles-

Parts changed in the year (under amc/warranty)
1. One reverse sensor replaced.
2. Turbo-Intercooler pipe replaced.

I also had one mishap that caused a crack on the grill for which I changed the grill. This was claimed through insurance.

Only grouse I have is TASS do not seem to have spares in stock. They order on need basis, so for any small fix that needs a part to be replaced it takes over a week! For all my three issues that needed a replacement, it took 1-2 weeks for TASS to source it.

Apart from this, absolutely no issues, not even a rattle - ARIA Pleasure has indeed been most pleasurable. Its surely living upto its name :-)

Thats it for now.
Thanks for reading!

 

[Iron Rock]

This is very encouraging to hear!
I have always liked the Aria!

Wish you many more safe miles!

 

[vikyjoshi]

Aria is a fine vehicle. I had always loved the vehicle inspite of its striking similarities to indica vista. And this has been proved by your ownership.

sorry for the OT below:

However, I still dont think it will in its current form a sales chart rocker. Its that kind of vehicle whose many good deeds have been eclipsed by its smaller bad deeds and have been termed as a failure.

Only way for this vehicle to resurrect is via the Hexa route. Wish TML do not mess the Hexa on pricing and loading it with much needed bells and whistles.


Coming back to your vehicle. Can you tell me how much did you spend on the maintainence on your vehicle till date? That should also prove the worth of the vehicle for the uninitiated.

How are the state of tyres, how long do you think they would last?

 

[abhijeetp]

Coming back to your vehicle. Can you tell me how much did you spend on the maintainence on your vehicle till date? That should also prove the worth of the vehicle for the uninitiated.

How are the state of tyres, how long do you think they would last?

I have AMC which had cost me 14k where all expenses are covered for 2 years/30K KM. I have been charged so far 146 Rs in the second service and 103 Rs in third service for distilled water, wash liquid and some door cleaning.
I think even without AMC the charges would not be high. I remember rkg mentioning in this thread that he had to pay around 3.5K Rs for third service without AMC. So the maintenance charges are normal.

Tyres dont show any unusual wear. The treading depth is uniform across the tyres. I think it should last minimum 50-55K KM.

However, I still dont think it will in its current form a sales chart rocker. Its that kind of vehicle whose many good deeds have been eclipsed by its smaller bad deeds and have been termed as a failure.

Only way for this vehicle to resurrect is via the Hexa route. Wish TML do not mess the Hexa on pricing and loading it with much needed bells and whistles.

+100 to your thoughts.

However, I feel Tata might keep manufacturing both ARIA and HEXA. Something exactly similar to Safari still being sold along with STORME. Tata might price HEXA slightly above the ARIA since its supposed to come with more power/torque and would be 6 speed transmission.

Tata can use ARIA (Pure and Pleasure variant) to try and get some sort of presence in the premium taxi segment that innova owns. In Pune-Mumbai I do see number of facelift ARIA taxis.

But as you said, pricing of Hexa is the key! It looks stunning and has the potential. Had the photos of Hexa been leaked last year, I would have surely decided to wait :-)

 

[rkg123]

Photo of the propeller shaft greasing point in ARIA. Service center guys are stating that there are no greasing points. Then i had showed them customer service manual, where it is clearly mentioned that greasing has to be done at every 15K interval . Then they found out the greasing nipple and did the needful.
Posting the photos for public benefit.

 

[vishnu vichu]

Photo of the propeller shaft greasing point in ARIA. Service center guys are stating that there are no greasing points. Then i had showed them customer service manual, where it is clearly mentioned that greasing has to be done at every 15K interval . Then they found out the greasing nipple and did the needful.
Posting the photos for public benefit.

Great effort there mate!

Wonder how do these illiterate guys are getting employed

 

[abhijeetp]

Updating after some time now. Closing in on 20000 KM, currently Odo is at 19500

Did 2 long distance trips in past 2 months.
1. Hyderabad - Pune - Hyderabad
2. Hyderabad - Belgaum - Badami - Hyderabad

During these journeys got Fuel efficiencies ranging between 13.4 to 14.5.

Sharing few snaps during this period.


At Kotepally reservoir near Hyderabad.


On road to Belgaum


Waiting at railway crossing near Badami


At Badami

 

[vikyjoshi]

Your Aria looks very good. especially at Nagasamudram lake. So any issues you are facing? How is mileage, and over all performance?

 

[navnit013]

Sometimes I wonder, if "reclaim your life" should've been the brand add. Never been an ad campaign that clicked.

Reclaim your life theme, with different products can definitely renew/generate interest in TATA again.

 

[abhijeetp]

Your Aria looks very good. especially at Nagasamudram lake. So any issues you are facing? How is mileage, and over all performance?

Thanks Viky.

On highways I am getting between 13.5-14.5.
Recently I calculated average for complete city run. One tankfull-tankfull for a complete city run of 365 KM's the fuel filled was 29.84 ltrs. This gave a very decent Fuel efficiency of 12.2. My travel in city is mostly around Kukatpally-Hitech City stretch during normal office hours. I try to not give any throttle input when driving in bumper to bumper.

Regarding issues- I have just couple of irritants so to say. If I leave the steering the car ever-ever-so-slightly drifts to left. I think this issue persists in number of safari/storme/arias. I do keep on checking the tyres for any unusual wear and tear. So far the tyres look fine. I have got used to this now.
Another issue is the OEM wheel caps are loose and can come off very easily if the cars goes over huge potholes at speed. This is not a concern in cities, but whenever I go on highways, I just put a round of sellotape on the wheel caps! You can see this if you zoom into one of the photos that I had uploaded.
Bit crude but does the job.

Sometimes I wonder, if "reclaim your life" should've been the brand add. Never been an ad campaign that clicked.

Reclaim your life theme, with different products can definitely renew/generate interest in TATA again.

Interesting suggestion there! Really agree, dont think there were any better advt than 'reclaim your life'.

 

[Shail1061]

Now Tata Have stopped renewal of GOLD AMC.

 

[abhijeetp]

Another update from our Aria-

The ODO is currently at 23900. No issues to report.

Last week came back from a memorable 3251 KM road trip across Hyderabad-Salem-Rameshwaram-Kanyakumari-Kovalam-Alleppey-Kumarakom-Thekkady-Kurnool-Hyderabad over 10 days with 3 adults and 2 kids.

Fuel Efficiency for the complete trip was 13.2 with front AC on 100% of the time and rear AC on for more than 75% of the time.

On the first day of our trip covered 810 KMs from Hyderabad-Salem in 12 hours including an hour for break.
On the return journey covered 925 KMs from Thekkady to Kurnool in 14.5 hours with an hour and a half break in between. Started at 9 Am and reached Kurnool at 11:30 PM.
With a little early start, I think its possible to do Thekkady - Hyderabad run on the same day. Travelling with 2 kids we cannot start the day very early, so normally our travel would start only after 9 A.M.

Aria is definitely one of the very few cars in which you would not mind doing even a 1000 KM drive in a day!
Some snaps -

The magnificent Pamban bridge


We were lucky to see a train crossing the bridge on 2 out of the 3 occasions that we went on the bridge.


At the Kovalam beach

 

[abhijeetp]

An update after a long time.
This week got the 30K service done. I have an upcoming trip of around 2000 KM starting this weekend, so got the 30K service done little early. The odo is now at 29500 in exactly 2 years.

Following things changed
1. Engine Oil (7.5 Litres) ,
2. Oil Filter,
3. Fuel Filter,
4. Filter element ,
5. Air Filter (Was charged 692 Rs + taxes) As per the service book the Air Filter element is to be changed at 45K. I was told the Air filter was very dirty and so they changed it. The average should improve with this. Since its not part of 30K service change, its not covered under gold AMC and I was charged for it. Rest of the things were covered under AMC.

I thought even the Engine coolant is to be changed as the service book mentions it to be changed every 60K or 2 years whichever is earlier. But the SA said they change coolant at 60K and is not required to be changed now. Did anyone change the engine coolant at 30K/2 Years?

Anyway the car does seem more smoother. Concorde has even managed to fix the very slight left pull which has been there from the start. Will keep an eye on this on my upcoming long drive.

About fuel consumption, So far 2289 Litres filled for 29373 KM- Giving an average of 12.8 overall which I think is splendid..
On my last highway trip to Belgaum I had got 15.1.

Another bout of heartburn this week-Got a crack on my windshield. I had gone to drop my family at Begumpet railway station, on returning saw the crack. Looking around, noticed there was a mango tree nearby, I guess some idiot might have thrown stone at the mangoes and must have caused this.
Its a small crack about 1.5-2 inch length in front of passenger seat. Does not affect the view while driving, but will probably get the windshield changed!