Tata Xenon 4x4 Road Test Drive Review

[Markiv]

Posting pics of my friend's scorpio getaway with stickers and mine is bland :-(
Im hesitant to do some experiment with stickers and it turns out stupid.

Is there a place in bangalore where they would show me on the computer first and then i order?

Hi Incarnation, Its a 4*4 3 Litre Dicor.... the 2.2 litre was supposedly 2 lakhs costlier ( that was supposedly smoother engine). This costed me around 9.5 on road bangalore.

Plus another 1.5 for my urges. ;-)

Yes it came with stock 16 inch wheels and tyres (215.75.16). I changed to 15 inch steel wheels (infiniti brand) and tyres to 265.70.15 (yokohama geolander AT) .

The reason i went for 15 wheels and such a tyre was because i wanted more tyre and less steel for a smoother ride as i was raising the vehicle.

I did raise the suspension to ARB Old manemu shocks which raised it by 3-4 inches. one reason was a smoother ride and the other was because wider tyres tend to rub against the body while turning ( a problem i faced with my previous xenon) now i don't have problem .

the side step is a genuine Tata accessory and it costed me around 11.5K

I had to cut the mud flaps and a bit of fibre body to enable undisturbed turning, the net effect is that my car gets a lot dirty during monsoons.

 

[ksdr]

Hi Incarnation, Its a 4*4 3 Litre Dicor.... the 2.2 litre was supposedly 2 lakhs costlier ( that was supposedly smoother engine). This costed me around 9.5 on road bangalore.

Plus another 1.5 for my urges...;-)

Yes it came with stock 16 inch wheels and tyres (215.75.16). I changed to 15 inch steel wheels (infinity brand) and tyres to 265.70.15 (yokohama geolander AT) . The reason i went for 15 wheels and such a tyre was because i wanted more tyre and less steel for a smoother ride as i was raising the vehicle..

I did raise the suspension to ARB Old manemu shocks which raised it by 3-4 inches. one reason was a smoother ride and the other was because wider tyres tend to rub against the body while turning ( a problem i faced with my previous xenon...)now i don't have problem .

the side step is a genuine Tata accessory and it costed me around 11.5K

Hi can you tell me where did you buy the steel wheels and the ARB suspension? Are there different damper options available with ARB for xenon?

 

[Markiv]

The ARB suspension costed around 42( from everything 4wd in bangalore)
The Leather seats(Ovion) around 40 (from car trendz in bangalore)
The infinity steel wheels around 30 for a set of 4 ( car trends)
The tyres around 36 ( car trenndz)
The side step around 11-12 ( tata accessory)
The bed liner around 19 ( tata accessory)
The music around 40 ( car trenndz)

now I'm broke ;-(

attaching some pics below....

 

[ksdr]

The ARB suspension costed around 42( from everything 4wd in bangalore)
The Leather seats(Ovion) around 40 (from car trendz in bangalore)
The infinity steel wheels around 30 for a set of 4 ( car trends)
The tyres around 36

Thanks for your detailed awnsers. One thought which came to my mind was, what if you had opted for one size smaller tyres like 255/70 r15?would that have avoided cutting of plastic liner and also throw less muck ?

 

[Markiv]

i had 255/70/16 on my previous xenon and it created problems for that as well.(without raised suspension) (without cutting the fibre part and mud flaps)..

But i feel even with raised suspension, cutting the fibre part would be necessary anyways...whatever tyres you put other than company tyres

For the record, company tyres were 215.16

 

[incarnation]

Nice bro. for the kind of money you spent on it, you were supposed to be broke.

The side profile of the car looks awesome it only looks bland from the front. so try and put a bull bar and fog lights as well as like vicky suggested why dont you have a look at the tuff truck concept. the below images are just to give a fair idea as how does it look from the front if done like this and also side stickering as you wanted to see first and then go for it.





Just a thought why dont you add roof rails. it would enhance the look as well as add roll bars at the back of the trailer. that would really enhance the look. add it when you are not going Bankrupt

 

[Markiv]

s, i ve seen the tuff truck concept. it's good. but it looks overdone , in my opinion. i prefer the shining black and subtle mods and still it should stand out in a crowd. (i don't want to be centre of attraction on road)....

see the below pics and tell me what you think of the
1. spoiler.
2. Roll cage with LED
(tata has a original accessory which i put for my older vehicle, now aim looking for a change like this one )
3. side stickering
4. front bumper alteration with the fog lamps ( i want a change from the usual bull bar and fog lamps concept)

pls give you input. thanks.









Yes , I did think of the roof rails and ordered for them in Tata ( but they have no stock since long) , also i asked for rain visors ( again they had no stock)....all these because i feel the xenon looks thin on the top.

i also asked for the side cladding ( again they have no stock)

They have the back chrome bumper ( i am yet to decide)

see the pics and suggest

the last two pics are of a mazda and fortune taken at the "everything4wd" showroom at bangalore.. just fyi

 

[vikyjoshi]

Side cladding is good but only if it matt black in colour.

The rear bumper with chrome looks good. Ensure it does not rust, else it will look bad.

I would suggest you remove front chrome and keep only the tata logo as chrome. Then you can put projector Headlamps in the lights like in Storme.

Put LED lights or LED bar on the top of the vehicle. Modifying the bumper is good to have but if it goes bad it will be expensive proposition. the person doing it must be an artist.

Regular front bullbar would be worth while addition but not like the ones on the toyota vehicles. try some thing that is more subtle, yet strong.

 

[incarnation]

spoiler of that kind would definitely add to the drag than improving anything so that would be a a No IMO. The last Toyota looks Funky i would go with such looks also the LED Strip is avaialble on Ebay. and yes the LED strip would look awesome. the images are just to give you ideas about side panel stcikering.

 

[Markiv]

Thanks guys for the inputs, the first two pics posted by incarnation look good n classy..i shall do something on those lines. i need to find out a sticker guy (with patience) who will take my xenon pic and do a photoshops nd show me first..

The chrome bumper is available off the shelf in TATA and it costs around 13 or 14. its good quality, i may go for it after i finish all other stuff

The Tata roll cage ( which was on my last vehicle and pics i have not posted here) costs around 19 and is in silver grey/black combo. I am tempted to try something even if it costs a couple of grand more ( like in the pic i posted earlier with LED bar inbuilt)

The Evrything4wd store offered me a xenon metal bumper (like the one on the fortuner), it looked awesome in finish and quality (he quoted around 70, so i ran from the showroom)

Am thinking of buying a regular TATA xenon bumper , second hand from the famous "Shivajinagar Gujri" and try out my experiments with a local tinker. If it doesn't turn out good, I'm back to original :-)

LED Bar lights on the top ,, shall do after i get the roof rails.

I had a fake air vent and a hood deflector (Tata) on the bonnet of my earlier vehicle, may go for the air vent again, but maybe not for the hood deflector...

The snorkel for xenon is also available at a couple of places, but shall do that after i finish other mods and decide whether it would be too gawdy

thnx again for the inputs.

 

[incarnation]

I knew when i posted those images that you are gonna like it. you are the one who like subtle yet complementing changes. Snorkel would only be of a good use if you planing to do ultimate offroading in water level above 3-4 ft or else its just a show off accessory. Roll bars would be a worthy addition as well as a good metal bumper however 70k seems like a cost of a second hand Car for me. good that you ran away from that store he would sucked you dry in no time if you stayed.

Mark i must say you ignited the fire in me for a xenon.. you know i have read almost all the reviews available online for this car, almost bought a second hand xenon when the owner said he had a discussion with his son and will keep it , after that it just made me stay away from it. and that bug is again biting me i can feel it.

 

[Markiv]

Yep, the xenon is a one of a kind lifestyle vehicle.

I was advised against the famed Dicor engine,it's mileage, I was advised against upsizing the tyres , etc. the neighbourhood tempo drivers were wondering why I was coming in competition with them, but I know I wanted it.

On the road, it catches more attention than any other vehicle. And the head turners include people from a bmw car, a fortuner, a Scorpio, a vento, a bike, auto, bus ...all alike. Not just in the city, it's a head turner in the country roads as well.

For me it's a second vehicle which I use only on weekends, my usage is very less, so I'm sort of ok.

My friend bought a scorpio getaway and I can say it's a much more refined vehicle in terms of engine or gearbox..but this one gives you that macho butch monster truck looks.

Think that the pick up truck concept is yet to catch up in india and Indians are still crazy about suv or wannabe suv

Till then guys like me are few in between and enjoy the attention..when I load bycycles in the bay or when friends sit in the bay for a small drive to the paani purishop at the end of the mohalla.

Incarnation, donno what your usage pattern is, but this one is definitely a good weekend show off vehicle (I drive a sedate corolla altis to office every day, so it's like the old English movie Dr. Jekyl and Hyde.. Where I'm one guy during the week and a transformed guy in the weekends ;-)

 

[incarnation]

i know lifestyle truck concept hasn't entered India yet. it will but when it comes we will be a decade older. My daily drive is the first monster from TATA stable the TATA Sierra which you see in my avatar pic. i drive atleast 25-30 kms per day and minimum of 400 odd kms on weekends. my ride is getting older so have lots of plans. waiting for some moolah to decide which way to head.

Also i have a bull so monthly one weekend i ride atleast 600 odd kms on it.

 

[navnit013]

Before doing anything more, just sit back and think if you want it to be functional OR "looks are all that matters".

If you want functional mods, then first thing you want is a winch. Next would be a pair of fog lamps or a LED bar. Avoid rear bumpers as they are likely to be a nuisense when off roading. You've already mounted a side foot step though which will be a hindrance. Go for sump guard. And a differential guard. and scuff plates for intercooler and rear mounted tyres. Also do silicon gel coating for all the open wires underneath, specially the ones that connect to actuators for 4wd transfer case and other sensor wirings to protect it form water related issues.

If all that matters is looks, the go gung ho. Sky is the limit.

 

[Markiv]

Thnx for the suggestions. As you said, shall have to decide whether I'm doing it for the looks or functions. (now I'm confused)

Thinking aloud, I would have bought a thar or Gurkha if I was a hard core off-road enthusiast. Xenon has a long wheel base and not likely to be a success off-roader. So, I guess I bought it just for the kick and looks and that unique factor. Now that I have bought it, why not a bit of soft off-roading once in a while (last week I did a bit of off-roading at a coffee estate at yercaud, driving on 4L , and it was fun). But I don't see myself driving in 3 foot water bodies using a snorkel etc..I had to put the sidestep because it was becoming a nuisance getting in and out bcos of the raised height.

I may go for all that technical protective stuff under the belly , etc, but for a winch, I need a bumper( I'm scared to enquire the price of a bumper). In fact , "sky is the limit" if you want to be a hard core offroader (just visit these 4-5 off-road shops in bangalore which I've been to) aka everything4wd, hot tracks ( I went to him for the carry boy accessories), swastikfabs etc.

So , as the saying goes, jeeps are built over a time...let me build this over a time rather than going overboard in the first two months itself. ( anyways I'm broke now). And let's see how this transforms. Maybe a bit of off-road, maybe a bit of utility ( I do take the bikes once a while), maybe a bit of "looks" as well, shall keep you posted on the developments.