Tata Zest Test Drive and Review

[drdpk]

Do we have a switch to turn on the camera or it will start automatically when we put the car on reverse gear? I am new to the "rear view camera as accessory" concept. Also if there is a switch can we turn it on while on moving on other gears (apart from reverse), just like in Volvo buses.

No, their is no switch, it will automatically start in reverse gear.

 

[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.

suresh,
The problem is quiet evident. their will be a switch for recognizing the position of the gear lever that should be defective. pls get this checked and it should be ok.

Till then, worst case scenario can you not try changing it manual mode and then move the vehicle

Hi Duca,

Thanks for the reply. I am both Happy and Sad now. Tata tech team had listened to my concern and attended to it exactly the way I wanted to. As the problem is coming only when the car engine is cool, they had come to my home on Saturday morning, test drove the car himself and boooom...... at 2 traffic red-lights when he slowed down my car, though the gear-lever was in 'A', the car switched to 'N' and refused to move even when accelerated. Tata Tech guy took photos of MID gear-indicator along with traffic red-light, called his senior, explained the scenario. Sunday after-noon they called me and sent me a Tata Manza car as a replacement and took my Zest XMA for repair.

Latest Update at 2PM on Oct 27th: Today morning when they tested my car, they admitted that even they had faced with this neutral issue more than couple of times and apparently coordinating with main Tata Plant folks and trying to resolve this issue.

Looks like I have got a manufacturing defective piece

 

[wincythomas]

Hiii guys,
Finally took the delivery of my Unicorn (White XT QJD) on 24th

6. The lane changeover feature is very handy in the highway, but could have been 6-8 blinks instead of 4.

Congratulations Duca !!!!

Could you please tell me more about this lane changeover feature ??? This one is news to me. Is this feature specific only to QDJ XT??

 

[sureshbawa]

Sorry sureshbawa for late reply, i just saw the thread now with diwali in :) Happy diwali and motoring with your XMA. Happy to catch fellow XMA owners and experts with this forum, really this forum has lot information with internet on Zest.

I till now done around only 100kms with my XMA mostly city drive once with elec city flyover ride, but planning to do along drive in coming weekends.

I got the brake logic with delivery itself, so i always press brake with gear levers changing!

I am not expert driver so penning issues i feel with car till now.

1) Response of brake and accelerator is slow and especially with lower gears.
With bangalore b2b traffic, i felt it difficult because of this it goes back if its in a slope and hand brake/left leg temp on brake helps me tackle this.
2) Gear shift is very evident when you drive and lower gears if you brake it sometimes create ABS kind of effect like internally could feel breaking applied multiple times to make vehicle stop with a jerk and its not immediate too. so sudden braking with b2b traffic i am in danger to hit someone back if it screws up like this very well there.
3)Reverse i am feeling difficult for precision as i need to press accelerator for slow movement and i am still moving with jerks back which was smooth with manual as it moves smooth without any accelerator needed in reverse. I am yet to fit reverse camera/sensors too :(
3)the steering wheel hides instrument cluster and couldn't see indicators some times, though i adjusted it much its still an issue.
4) side A pillar is hiding much if you are actually taking a right turn hiding bikes in parallel very much.
5) How to park in a down facing slope, i tried to put hand brakes and park in A/R mode, still i see it moving down. Finally i moved the car to different parking area as i couldn't make it stop there.
6)Also feel hill assist is missed with this automatic, as i need always brake/hand brake till AMT makes car move. Not sure how good will be a hill drive as i am yet to try one.
7)Engine noise is too much outside with lower gears though good is not felt inside. It makes me feel like AMT is making engine cry and worried about engine life as XT i see is butter smooth with manual. Though i feel convenient with AMT drives in city this made me feel whether i should have went for manual as it might have effect on engine with long run.

Other than above issues i feel its breeze to drive and i am yet to try full sports mode or manual mode.

Hi uniquebee,
Thank you for the reply, unfortunately I have to agree with all the 7 issues that you had mentioned above, as even I had also faced the same.

I own a Santro AT (actually I do not know how to drive a manual car) since April 2008 and it had already clocked 74K, and I must say AMT is definitely not as comfortable and smooth as fully automatic transmission. But, theoritically AMT should give almost as good a mileage as a manual would, where as fully automatic will surely have a dip in mileage by more than 30% (my Santro AT gives only 10 KMPL). Also, full automatics cost easily 20 to 30% more than manual, whereas AMTs cost only about 10 to 15% more.

Lets hope XMA does well in the long run.

 

[sureshbawa]

Once you cross 1000km you will see a change in engine sound and low end sluggishness will go away completely. In fact I drove a brand new XMA then drove the test drive XMA which had done 1450 km. The test drive vehicle responded beautifully in lower gears and engine sound was negligible. So don't worry about your car, if in doubt drive the dealer test drive XMA.

Hi KSDR,

I must agree with you, because I test drove XMA almost 20 KM and definitely that test XMA vehicle felt much smoother and that's the reason precisely I bought XMA. Even now, when my colleagues who are great 'Maruti DZire' devotees argue with me, I keep telling myself that my XMA car should become smoother after the 1st service.

And, by the way did you also buy XMA?

 

[sureshbawa]

Though we can pair 10 mobiles to Zest audio system, looks like at any given point of time only one phone can be configured to receive calls thro' car's Bluetooth/audio system.
I have 2 phones (one personal and one office given) and I would like to receive and answer any of the 2 phones thro' car. If that is not the case, then what's point of pairing 10 mobiles.

Someone please clarify. (Oh! by the way I own XMA version)

 

[shobhit82]

Hi Duca,

Thanks for the reply. I am both Happy and Sad now. Tata tech team had listened to my concern and attended to it exactly the way I wanted to. As the problem is coming only when the car engine is cool, they had come to my home on Saturday morning, test drove the car himself and boooom...... at 2 traffic red-lights when he slowed down my car, though the gear-lever was in 'A', the car switched to 'N' and refused to move even when accelerated. Tata Tech guy took photos of MID gear-indicator along with traffic red-light, called his senior, explained the scenario. Sunday after-noon they called me and sent me a Tata Manza car as a replacement and took my Zest XMA for repair.

Latest Update at 2PM on Oct 27th: Today morning when they tested my car, they admitted that even they had faced with this neutral issue more than couple of times and apparently coordinating with main Tata Plant folks and trying to resolve this issue.

Looks like I have got a manufacturing defective piece

Did you get a chance to check if TATA received this complaint from other owners also. Its really sad to see such issues coming at the very beginning . It creates a doubt about a hassle free long term ownership . Looking at the feedback of XMA , I think I should cancel my booking and wait for few months.

 

[mail2gsyadav]

Could you please tell me more about this lane changeover feature ??? This one is news to me. Is this feature specific only to QDJ XT??

Wincy, If you'll push the turn indicator stalk slightly, indicator will blink 3 times and stalk will come to its original position automatically.

Page51 of Owner Manual mentions this:

"6. Lane Change Signal:
To signal a lane change, move the
lever up or down to the point where
the indicator light begins to flash, but
the lever does not latch. The turn
signal will flash three times automatically."

 

[Ravi Nalla]

Hi Guys,

i faced a different issue(may not be a issue) on my new Zest. In traffic sudden release of clutch engine offed. When i try to start engine its not started. then i removed the key and tried then it is started. Is this behavior is normal(or specific to tata cars)? i am very new driving, please provide info if any body knows about it.

Ravi Nalla

 

[vr14ever]

Hi TAI-gers,

This is my first post after I joined TAI today even though I was a guest user since couple of months
I wanted to buy my first car and considered every car right from Alto to Polo depending on many parameters. After weeks of research and confusion and apprehension over spending 8+ lakhs of money, finally I booked Tata Zest QJD on 25th Oct.

Choosing colour was/is a big headache as everyone in the family including me liked white. My wife disagreed & said anything but white Finally ended up booking Sky grey! which was never in my mind.

Then went through the forums and found this is the most difficult colour to maintain!! Also Heat problem, poor visibility and scratches being other issues with black. For me, safety is the utmost concern overriding looks and also don't want to keep washing my car multiple times in a week.

Now I have almost decided to change the colour to white or silver. White is having many +ves except for every cab being white.

I have just paid booking amount and of course SA guys at True Sai works, Hosur were polite and honest. So will it be easy/possible for me to change the colour now?

Also your views on ease of maintenance of white car please?

 

[wincythomas]

Hi Guys,

i faced a different issue(may not be a issue) on my new Zest. In traffic sudden release of clutch engine offed. When i try to start engine its not started. then i removed the key and tried then it is started. Is this behavior is normal(or specific to tata cars)? i am very new driving, please provide info if any body knows about it.

Ravi Nalla

Hi Ravi
Based on my experience during the test drive. In my case too the engine stalled. Then I tried to start the engine by twisting the ignition key. To my amusement (thanks to the low NVH of the car) I couldn't figure out that the engine was already running.
So chill, if you have Revotron Engine it could be because of the low engine noise inside the cabin that you felt that the car has not started.

 

[350Z]

Our official road test is up. Here's the only review of Zest you'll ever want to read: http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...811-tata-zest-review-test-drive-pictures.html. Let's resume our discussions in this link. Closing this thread so that we can maintain a single thread for all discussions on Zest for convenience of readers. Thanks!

Drive Safe,
350Z