Tata Zest Test Drive and Review

[jagrover]

Hi Guys,

Is this Zest having dual horn? or single horn?

Ravi Nalla

Dual horn. Two different sounds heard from inside and out. Zest has got that.

 

[sureshbawa]

Hi, I also took my took my XMA on Oct 18th, from Tejaswi Motors, Hyderabad and also did not get any freebies except 5 ltrs of fuel.

In the 70 KM I drove, I am already faced with couple of AMT gearbox issues.

1) In my apartments, I had to park my vehicle directly facing the wall, and as I was not superstitious, I directly reverse my car whenever I have to take my car out (many like to go fwd first, but not me). Till now every time, like 4 or 5 times I guess, whenever I put Zest XMA into 'R' it still shows 'N' only, and then I had to move the gear lever to 'A' and stay couple of seconds, then move it 'N' stay couple of seconds and then when I move it back to 'R' then only it gives me that 'bing' sound and recognizes the gear shift correctly to 'R'.

In fact, I just read on another forum that a guy who bought XMA on the same day 18th Oct in Bangalore is also facing with a similar issue. He explained that when he is changing from 'R' to 'A', it is kept showing as 'N' for him and so he had to move the gear lever from 'A' to 'N' and then back again to 'A' then only it shows properly as 'A'.

I had read many reviews before buying XMA and to my utter surprise only after buying the car and facing with this issue, I had come across that someone had already reported this issue on TAI on 27th Sep itself, you can find it in the following post.

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...i-xcent-vs-ford-figo-sedan-17.html#post408564

2) 2nd problem is a very important problem for me or in fact in anyone else is facing this......

When we are going in either 3rd or 4th gear and had to stop the car rather quickly (not a complete sudden break/halt but quickly), then the gear is going from 3->2->1->N...... yes it is actually going to Neutral though the gear lever in still sitting pretty in 'A'. Then what happens, obviously the car does not move even if you try to rev hard. So I had to move the gear to 'N' and then back to 'A'.....no even then it is not changing to 'A' with 1st gear. Only after I try couple of times like moving the gear back and forth between 'N' and 'A' only then it changes the gear to 'A' with 1st gear.

Surprisingly I did not face with this issue in the first 25 KM. After that in the next 15 KM I faced this 4 times.

Today (Oct 20th) when I was taking my car for the first time to office, gosh! in the first 4 KM it moved to neutral 3 times....and annoyingly once at U-turn and once at Red-light and people at the back were cursing me as I could not change it immediately to 'A'. But, lucky me! it did not give me the trouble for the next 13 KM until I reached office.

I immediately called in informed my dealer and told him that I will try for one more day and if it still gives me the same trouble, I told him that I will dump the car at his showroom.

So, my question to you is, did you face with any of these two problems?

Thank you......

After posting the above msg, I found the root cause for the first issue "gear not changing". My friend and I, both have Santro AT and as I was showing this new Tata Zest XMA to him, he had mentioned that the gear lever is missing the safety switch that prevents accidental changing of gears, which is present in Santro AT. That's when I realized that actually in Tata Zest XMA the safety switch is the 'break pedal' indeed.

So unless we fully apply the break, our new Tata Zest XMA will not honour the change in gear (though one can still move the gear lever back and forth easily). So I am happy that I found the reason/solution to change the gear properly is only by fully applying the break.

But as I was going home, explaining the same to my wife, and realized that this easy changing of gears without pressing any safety button (I mean the freeness nature of gear lever moving between gears easily) could actually lead to problems......imagine a situation where one had applied the break fully at a red-light and waiting for green, and a kid or co-passenger by-mistake (unintentionally) could move/push the gear-lever forward and that will move the gear leaver first into 'N' and then to 'R'. As I had already applied the break fully, the car will honour the gear change and will register it as 'R' and if the green light comes, I will immediately accelerate hoping to move forward but instead I will surge back and hit the vehicle at the back.

Yes, I know that Tata Zest makes a small 'bing' sound when we put the gear lever into 'R', yet one might not hear it properly if he is not expecting the gear change, also that feeble 'bing' sound might be lost if we are listening to our favourite music. So, theoretically this freeness nature of gear-lever could lead to accidents.

As one said, "if there is 1% chance of something can go wrong, then there is 99% probability that it will go wrong". So we must be more careful while driving XMA.

 

[slashinv]

Just now, I have returned after applying for car loan at Bank of Baroda. They are offering 10.5% interest with no prepayment penalty plus no processing charges.

I also had a detailed talk about disbursal of loan. They have told me that as soon as dealer informs me that your car has arrived at stockyard, only then will they release the DD amount and that too one day before delivery and that also when I will inform them. So you can go ahead and apply but let the bank know that you want disbursal next month and so on.

Thanks Friend ! did you directly approach bank for car loan or you went with the loan agent introduced by the dealer ? as far as timing of the loan disbursement is concerned, I feel it's better to go for outsider loan agent or directly approach bank, because the loan agents introduced by the dealer might have some kind of 'arrangement' between them and they may get loan disbursed as and when they want. That way I will not have any control over entire transaction.

I have decided to go for SBI car loan. read their T&C on website. will soon talk to the bank or the agent at branch

 

[cherryleo]

Yes, I directly approached the bank and don't trust dealer's agents for a single word. All dealer and their SA and agents are born liars IMHO.

 

[vijay]

slashinv, i suggest you visit the bank directly and would get in touch with the car loan department directly.
You dont need the agent from the dealership people for getting your cars loan.

 

[mail2gsyadav]

I had mailed "Mud in Engine Bay" issue to customercare. They directed it to TSM and TSM called me up. He said that TML has not received any such complaint. When I explained him that you have reported it and got the acknowlegement from dealer, he was still reluctant to accept it.

Then he asked, did I face this issue. I told I haven't because of very less running and no raining in Delhi. But, I am worried it may happen to me anyday. Then he told, "if this happens to you, you can contact to customercare and they'll route it to the technical team. I have updated you what I know about this issue".

Request all Zest owners to share whatever official communication have been done regarding this issue.

 

[drdpk]

today bought my red beauty at home. check everything in detail, no issue found. also installed reverse parking camara. delear not just regret for delayed delivery of my car but also gave me car floor mats, hanuman ji temple, car freshener and a diary free of cost. its my happiest day of life.

 

[Dr. Paawan]

Re: TATA Zest XT RT

Finally got the delivery on Dhanteras !!!

Car delivery at Oberai motors, Dehradun was butter smooth. SA Mr. Anoop Manchanda was very good and professional during the whole process.
TATA rocks.

I have covered 40 kms yesterday. Ride is smooth. People looking curiously. Much to our surprise, while on our way to home, a school van crossed and one of the little kid shouted " GOOD GAADI" . Felt very good that moment.
pics attached.

 

[cherryleo]

Congrats Sir for your Zest and it will be grand diwali celebrations for you. Do share pics with us.

 

[drdpk]

today bought my red beauty at home. check everything in detail, no issue found. also installed reverse parking camara. delear not just regret for delayed delivery of my car but also gave me car floor mats, hanuman ji temple, car freshener and a diary free of cost. its my happiest day of life.

sharing some pics on day of delivery of my car. yestrerday just after bringing my new car i could not resist my desire to go for long drive with my new car. even after worse traffic situation on dhanteras in delhi, i enjoy a lot my driving. clutch is very light, driving hight adjustment give a commanding view of road, but never forget to adjust steering wheal too, otherwise you may not see driver's information display properly. its music system's sound quality is even better than my philips home theater.

 

[Ravi Nalla]

sharing some pics on day of delivery of my car. yestrerday just after bringing my new car i could not resist my desire to go for long drive with my new car. even after worse traffic situation on dhanteras in delhi, i enjoy a lot my driving. clutch is very light, driving hight adjustment give a commanding view of road, but never forget to adjust steering wheal too, otherwise you may not see driver's information display properly. its music system's sound quality is even better than my philips home theater.

Congrates!

 

[savage_soul]

today bought my red beauty at home. check everything in detail, no issue found. also installed reverse parking camara. delear not just regret for delayed delivery of my car but also gave me car floor mats, hanuman ji temple, car freshener and a diary free of cost. its my happiest day of life.

Good to see you happy after such a horrible experience. TML is improving.

 

[don.lohith]

Congrats @drdpk. May you have troublefree miles with her.
Happy revving.

 

[mail2gsyadav]

Congratulations. Finally, you got her. Many happy and troublefree miles.

 

[slashinv]

@drdpk - many congrats !! Zest has added colours to your diwali celebartions !
Wish u many happy miles !