Tata Zest Review & Pictures: Zestful Endeavour

Chetz · Sep 30, 2015

Hi Everyone ,

I had a nice one week family (4 members with full boot luggage,95% of the journey was in ECO mode without AC.) trip to my native , total distance traveled was ~ 1280.
As most of you are already knowing ride quality ,comfortless, boot space everything is top class in this car, no need repeat pros and cons of this car again [:)]

.

Few points to share with you folks are below.

Later,I was driving my car on very bad road with lots of ups and down on the road. Suddenly my car music stopped playing and did not start for a day. It was difficult for me to enjoy the drive without good music. So I called one of an ASS person and got to know fuse would be a reason for this issue.I checked the fuse connection below the steering and connected the same fuse back, this resolved the issue and music system started working fine. Similar issue had happened with EPAS steering system also. Because of some loose connection EPAS failure indicator light was glowing on the cluster ,it was coming on and off and steering was becoming very rigid. This was a major issue which made me to get the car checked with a Garage guy. Some lose connection in the wire he told. This problem reappeared again recently and problem.
While I was driving in the city EPAS warning light started illuminating as shown in the image below.Now i left the car in an ASS center.
EPAS failure or non-function is a dangerous problem which can lead to an accident.I was lucky to reach back home without any accidents.

Next interesting point is mileage of Zest RT, it is a very sensitive engine ,mileage drops to very low value if you do not drive as engine wants you to drive.
Mileage can vary from 8KMPL to 18KMPL.
During my 1250 journey I received 15.8 KMPL as explained in next few lines.

->Trip reset at petrol bunk
->First ~20 KM ,city drive in traffic and few signals –ECO mode – MID Mileage shown is 11.6KMPL
->Next ~330KM national highway ,tolled road drive, average speed ~105KMPH -ECO mode - MID Mileage increased -14.6KMPL
->Next ~70KM state highway ,average speed ~ 70KMPH – ECO mode - MID Mileage increased - 15 KMPL
->Next ~60KM , in the town through small roads, ghats and many stops and starts –ECO mode- MID Mileage decreased -14.6 KMPL
->Next ~250KM , in village road ,muddy road, ghats and many stops and starts –ECO mode- MID Mileage decreased -13.5 KMPL
-> Next ~100 KM ,state highway average speed ~80KMPH –ECO mode- MID Mileage increased -14 KMPL
->Next ~350 KM ,National highway average speed ~80KMPH –ECO mode- MID Mileage increased -16 KMPL
->Next ~50 KM city traffic with slow-moving traffic –ECO mode- MID Mileage decreased -15.8 KMPL

If you look at this figure during return journey on highway of around 350 KM ,car gave around 18.5KMPL so that MID value increased from 14(when KM ran was ~800KM) to 16.

On this same highway while going I got around 14KMPL(driving at 110) and while coming back around 18KMPL(driving at <80)

Mileage at 853KM was 13.7 KMPL and Mileage at 1275KM is 15.8 ,both are shown in below images.

When you are in ECO mode overtaking is not easy, car makes you feel lack of power, I was overtaking an auto but quick overtake was not possible,I had to down shift the gear. One has to cross >16000 RPM to feel the power ,same time >2000 will bring mileage down.

In this trip i had a weird experience at one place of NH-4,when I was driving at ~80 just before a mountain my car started making a very loud noise ,I had no clue what made car to give a loud groan.It was very loud and made me to stop the car. When I stopped the car at left side of the highway to see the problem I started hearing the same sound from other few moving cars next to us Some people were like me who stopped the car to check the sound. Few people who were driving on that road with a high speed were literally panic and went below the car to root cause the issue. After checking the car they were continuing the journey without a clue [confused]

. The place was very scenic with nice wind blowing across. We had our lunch from packed box there and seeing many car’s drivers experiencing the same boom box noise over there.

During this trip I clicked few photos and some are here in a quick collage.

zestian · Sep 30, 2015

veb1242 said:

Ask for free insurance. Trust me they will come down to 7.0 L. Do bargain. I got free insurance. I brought from Cargo Motor Gandhidham Gujarat.

TheMotorRomeo · Sep 30, 2015

Chetz said:

Chetz,
Could you please report this to TML.
They must know about it.

rajeshnaik21 · Oct 12, 2015

Hello All, My first post here after reading all this while.
I own a Zest RT XMS bought over a month back after doing a lot of research and test drives of cars in similar segment. Zest seemed to be a value for money proposition and especially it comes loaded with all the minimal aspects I was looking for , like Airbags, ABS, enough space and good music system to name a few. Zest ticked all these boxes.
I have clocked just 650 Km on the odo so far and the experience is good barring few small niggles.
Coming to the positives, the car is spacious enough and gives a good view of the road when driving. It's like a mini SUV.Driving dynamics are good if you drive in a sedate manner in city mode. It doesn't offer outright power, but one can comfortably cruise once it picks up speed.
The mileage unlike what people complain about is acceptable so far. It started from around 9.2 KMPL when I took the delivery to 14 KMPL in city and 16 KMPL on highway. It even touched 18.2 KMPL on the MID once on the Mumbai Pune highway.
Coming to the few niggles I faced. The car moves ahead without any acceleration in 2nd and 3rd gear in a medium accelerated manner. Took the car to the service centre Fortune cars in Nerul but was told that this is normal in a turbocharged engine. Not sure whether this is normal...Anyone with Zest RT having a similar experience?
Second thing is once I was stuck in a uphill traffic on Mumbai Pune expressway and even riding the car in first/second gear, there were jerks without a sudden release of clutch or acceleration. The engine stalled many times during this period of about 15 minutes.
Apart from this, nothing major which I can mention under the niggles.

AppU · Oct 12, 2015

@Rajesh: may I know, what is your previous car? If I'm right, you would have owned a Petrol car.

Actually what you have mentioned about niggle is not a Niggle.
It may need some time for you to get used to the clutch. Be happy and enjoy the driving [:)]

rajeshnaik21 · Oct 13, 2015

AppU said:

I have been driving petrol Alto K10 and Swift Dzire Diesel (old version) earlier.
May be what you are saying is true. Because the problems have not been recurring often. And again I am not too sure that the problem is because of not getting used to the clutch.
Will post my experience again over a period when I cross few hundred km more.
Thanks for your view. [:)]

incarnation · Oct 13, 2015

@rajesh what Appu Meant to say was Diesel engines have more torque hence it moves on it own slowly. as a petrol car owner you might not know this. i think this is what he wanted to convey.

All diesel vehicles move on thier own if you dont appply brakes when on a flat road and a lower gear. its quite common. nothing to worry about it.

rajeshnaik21 · Oct 14, 2015

incarnation said:

Ok, but then my Zest is a RT Petrol engine and it moves as if I am gently accelerating (without actually doing so). I can feel it the most when I go to small lanes where I have to actually use the clutch and brake to slow it down. [confused]

eigenvalue · Oct 14, 2015

rajeshnaik21 said:

To answer your question in simple terms, its all torque chum, and all the above answers were trying to communicate the same to you. The very term DIESEL confused you I suppose, as diesel were traditionally the torque leaders. Naturally aspirated petrol engines (read no tubo/super chargers for the uninitiated) do produce very low/comparitively low torques when compared to their diesel siblings in the same segment. i.e if you are on comparo between swift , the swift diesel produces 190Nm@2000 rpm whereas the swift petrol produces 115Nm@4000rpm (remember these are engine torque specs and not the torque measured at the wheels). So what does these weird numbers signify?...simple torque makes you roll the car on the road, the higher the better. In day to day observation we tend to use the cars in and the around vicinity of 2000rpm so diesel car drivers surf in the top of their torque curves, whereas the petrol car drivers struggle until they rev up their engines to higher rpms. The story is clear until right now with Naturally aspirated petrol engines. When you add a turbocharger (even a supercharger too) to a petrol engine it generally produce a increase in torque figures and depending on the engine design requirements can be made available in the usable rpm range say 1500-3500 rpm. So in zest RT you do surf either in the top of the torque curve or in the whereabouts of the peak (1500-3500 rpm), and hence experience the vehicle movement even with zero or nil accelerator input.

Hope I did solve your confusion(if not I aggravated it, not intentionally but collaterally [evil]

)

crank · Oct 14, 2015

The ECU of the car might be programmed to maintain a particular rpm (minimum rpm) at specified gears even without acceleration to prevent engine stalling

rajeshnaik21 · Oct 15, 2015

Thank you Eugenvalue and Crank. Completely clear now with such a detailed and informative explanation Eugenvalue. Needs no further explanation. [:)]

veb1242 · Oct 18, 2015

Hello guys,
I bought tata zest xt revotron on 14th oct. I am facing problem.
When i lock the car with remote, after some time (say half hour or one hour) the alarm goes on (same alaram when we open boot without unlocking the car) . this alarm goes on until i press the unlock button from the remote. This alarm thing happens only sometime ,when i lock the car. Today itself it happened twice.
I am new to the system of car, as this is my first car. If somebody knows why this alarm goes on ,help me .. I am annoyed now. Please help me.

don.lohith · Oct 19, 2015

Welcome to TAI veb1242. If the alarm is going when you open the boot lid without unlocking its perfectly fine. The alarm is doing its job.
However if you unlock the car and then open the boot lid it should not. If its alarming then contact your dealer.

veb1242 · Oct 19, 2015

don.lohith said:

Hi don.lohith, its not about the boot unlocking when car is locked. What I was trying to say is that the alarm sounds like same when we open boot when the car is locked.

the problem is alarm goes on after some time ( uncertain time) even when the car is locked, with the doors and boot properly closed.
for eg. yesterday i parked my car in my parking shade around 12PM (locked with remote). Then suddenly around 1:30PM the alarm goes on. I went to car and pressed the unlock button to stop the alarm and locked it again.
guys need your help plz.

Godfather · Oct 19, 2015

veb1242 said:

Hello there,

How many times have you faced this issue? I guess it should be a minor one which can be easily rectified by TASS. Just speak to your service adviser.

Tata Zest Review & Pictures: Zestful Endeavour

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