Tata Zest Quadrajet XT (Buzz Blue): Ownership Review

[Harish83]

Hi Harish,
Great ownership review there.
The ford aspire trend diesel and XMS diesel both are of the same price. Really confused at this juncture. Ford seems to have improved in their after sales department.
Would like to take your view over this.
My driving would be 60% city and 40% highways.
I wish to keep the car for 5 years.

Bro, Here is my opinion below.

In the engine dept, I'm completely for ford aspire. the 1.5 CC and 25kmpl wins hands down.
Lot of boot cubby holes and a nice car.

But I dont advice buying any car without ABS in the current scenario.
Also Corner stability and EBD plays a good role in drive quiality.
Also you might be missing out on a good infotainment system with the version of aspire you are looking for.
I personally believe 15 inch tyres makes a lot of difference in ride comfort than 14.

All said, If I were you and given a choice now, I might go for an Aspire top end and change the tyres to 195/65/R15

And if budget was a concern, I would stick to my Zest :)

 

[kishore108]

Thanks for your reply.
At the end of the day how do you find a TDCI and 1.3 Quadrajet fare while driving in Indian city conditions.
You obviously are facing denser traffic being in bangalore.
How do you find the driveability in heavy traffic conditions ?

 

[Harish83]

havent driven the aspire yet, so cant comment. But on research finds the aspire much better in all depts of engine. Please go through the below link. I think it will surely help you make the decision.
Ford Figo Aspire vs Tata Zest diesel comparison | Car News | Entry level saloons | Autocar India

I would again recommend zest if your budget is fixed around 7 L.
Mainly because of lack of ABS in aspire.

If you can stretch, go for Aspire Titanium.

 

[kishore108]

havent driven the aspire yet, so cant comment. But on research finds the aspire much better in all depts of engine. Please go through the below link. I think it will surely help you make the decision.
Ford Figo Aspire vs Tata Zest diesel comparison | Car News | Entry level saloons | Autocar India

I would again recommend zest if your budget is fixed around 7 L.
Mainly because of lack of ABS in aspire.

If you can stretch, go for Aspire Titanium.

Just went through the link you have sent. The presenter claims to have turbo lag in the zest. Do you find that as an issue in traffic , especially in the first and second gears ? do you find the need to downshift very often ?

 

[krishnavamshi24]

Turbo Lag is there in all fiat based diesel's, even the swift. The tuning in zest is good enough and it is not so noticeable.

 

[Godfather]

The turbo lag was minimal according to me when i did the Test drive of Zest. I felt it was slightly better than swift.

 

[Harish83]

Just went through the link you have sent. The presenter claims to have turbo lag in the zest. Do you find that as an issue in traffic , especially in the first and second gears ? do you find the need to downshift very often ?

I dont feel the lag much in Zest. May be because I was driving a dezire before where the lag is very notable.
Compared to Aspire, there might be lag. But among the filat multijet1.3, zest is tuned better to minimize the lag. It cant be considered as a deal breaker to me.

 

[kishore108]

Thanks guys, will give another test drive of the diesel zest. Will update my experience.

 

[vikyjoshi]

Thanks guys, will give another test drive of the diesel zest. Will update my experience.

Hi Kishore, I have TD the Zest and have found no such lag as mentioned. Obviously you are not driving race car the acceleration is pretty linear and that could be attributed to the so called Lag in the car.

As you mentioned, yes TD Zest Diesel, I am sure it will not disappoint you.

I dont know which part of city you live in and where you want to go to test your car. However, all the showrooms, Concorde, Mallik and Tejaswi are situated in a fairly traffic prone areas. try to TD in worst time of the day ie when office goers are in a rush to hurry home. It will definitely help you assess the performance of the car.

 

[kishore108]

I drove my relative's car (zest qjd) at evening time near sanathnagar. I live near sanathnagar. Yes there is noticeable lag as for me, may be because I have been mostly driving petrol cars till date for most of the time. Will update once I get another TD.

 

[ratheesh]

Driving Petrol car is the culprit for me too, i drove primarily my petrol Santro, never a diesel and when my brother asked me to drop him in his Beat diesel ... I was like why is this car not moving when i press acc ... after some time a sudden rush which made me feel uncomfortable to drive. But once i got used to the lag ... my mind adjusted to it and i then knew when the power comes at what point and adjusted accordingly. But after a long time driving petrol and go back to diesel i feel a little meh. I started hating diesel when all my colleagues praising the turbo. I never drove diesel on highways. I think I might change my view if I drive one.

 

[kishore108]

Driving Petrol car is the culprit for me too, i drove primarily my petrol Santro, never a diesel and when my brother asked me to drop him in his Beat diesel ... I was like why is this car not moving when i press acc ... after some time a sudden rush which made me feel uncomfortable to drive. But once i got used to the lag ... my mind adjusted to it and i then knew when the power comes at what point and adjusted accordingly. But after a long time driving petrol and go back to diesel i feel a little meh. I started hating diesel when all my colleagues praising the turbo. I never drove diesel on highways. I think I might change my view if I drive one.

Santro is a benchmark for low end torque. There is however a huge gap of margin between 4th and 5th gear. But you get power on tap and quick overtaking is simply superb. Adding to that its low kerb weight and smaller size makes it a pleasure to drive. Only thing however is its capacity to handle the highways. At the end of the day, its a 1.1L and it does have its shortcomings.

 

[Harish83]

Comparing diesel and petrol cars doesn't make any sense for me.
To comment on a diesel we should surely test ride it on a highway.
I think this 'Lag' is something we notice only while driving a new car.
our driving gets automatically adjusted to the kind of engine we are driving.
So you will never notice if there is a lag or do we change gears often or not.

TD both your choice on a Highway. If in Bangalore, ask them for a TD in Nice road.

 

[kishore108]

Comparing diesel and petrol cars doesn't make any sense for me.
To comment on a diesel we should surely test ride it on a highway.
I think this 'Lag' is something we notice only while driving a new car.
our driving gets automatically adjusted to the kind of engine we are driving.
So you will never notice if there is a lag or do we change gears often or not.

TD both your choice on a Highway. If in Bangalore, ask them for a TD in Nice road.

Its not about comparison, usually we tend to notice the difference between the vehicle we previously used, to the one we test drive.
Since you used to drive a dzire/swift diesel it doesn't make much of a difference. Thanks for your inputs, i am from hyderabad by the way.

 

[Harish83]

Its not about comparison, usually we tend to notice the difference between the vehicle we previously used, to the one we test drive.
Since you used to drive a dzire/swift diesel it doesn't make much of a difference. Thanks for your inputs, i am from hyderabad by the way.

you are right. we tend to compare.
My FIL drives a dzire petrol.
When I used to drive it occasionally, I feel lack of power often.
Overtaking on highways gone risky several times due to miss timing rising from the power difference.

Take a wise decision. and please don't buy any of them without ABS and Airbag.