Minor quality issues with Tata Harrier

The Tata Harrier is an excellent product no doubt. It offers Land Rover Discovery Sport levels of experience just like VW and Skoda which offer BMW and Audi levels of experience.

Also the Harrier is very safe. But it has a lot of cons too. It's fit and finish is below average and stands nowhere close to VW, Skoda and other carmakers.

Some panel gaps can be seen at the outside of the Harrier not only in real life but also in pictures and videos as well. Motorbeam and Faisal Khan clearly stated that. Also interior fit and finish is very inconsistent. The worst part about the interior of the Harrier is that the door pads opposite the outside rear view mirror or around the window is splitted from the window frame and there are many rough cut edges and panel gaps too which are shocking and underwhelming for a 25 lakh rupee car.

You can see it in the pictures. Even my Skoda Rapid which costs 12 lakh has better fit and finish than the Harrier. The Rapid's door pads opposite the ORVM or around the window is properly attached to the window frame unlike the Harrier. Also it has 0 panel gaps. Not only Rapid even other cars like Polo, i20 and Duster, their door pads opposite the ORVM are properly attached to the window frame.

Tata should improve the fit and finish of their cars. It's not only Tata even their high end brand Jaguar Land Rover has fit and finish issues. The Jaguar F pace's exterior has a ton of panel gaps and it's interior quality and fit and finish are below average.

Another horrible point of the Harrier is the steering. The steering is supremely heavy at low speeds and at high speeds I.e above 80 km/h it gets super light and over sensitive and feels very similar to Hyundai, Kia steering. This is quite shocking considering the fact that Tata's cheaper models like the Nexon and the Altroz have excellent steering feedback and weight at high speeds.

Also Tata's dealers are below average. It's not only Sunderdeep Paaji who faced it and rejected after this. Many people have faced pathetic sales experience of Tata Motors. Their dealerships are unattractive, their salesman aren't properly uniform in their dressing and personality as what Sunderdeep Paaji said. Also those dealers never deliver cars properly and say some shifty reasons just like what the Teambhpian said. 2 years back a youtuber named Chirag Khanna bought a Tiago from Tata's Malwa dealer in Delhi. That dealership is nothing but rubbish. He booked an Orange Tiago but they gave a Grey Tiago without informing him and they delivered it to him in a late and improper manner. He made a live video about Tata's dealerships in Tata's Malwa dealership. That manager shouted and slapped him in the video and he was about to break the camera.

You can watch the video through this link 

Click Here

This shows the horrible behavior of Tata dealer. Also DDS made a video of Tata's dealers too. He said that in one of the Tata's stockyard 6 Harriers which were about to be delivered were in terrible condition as they were dusty. Also DDS Ravi's friend too bought a Harrier at that time. The dealer experience was so horrible that they had to cancel the booking at one dealer and had to book at another dealer. That dealer said that the Harrier's waiting period is 4 months. So in order to reduce waiting period they demanded Ravi's friend 1.5 lakh for AMC package and huge unnecessary accessories.

But that's a fraud as what he said. 1 lakh for accessories is too much as aftermarket accessories are far cheaper too. So they had to cancel the booking and book it at another dealership. DDS spoke these things in his video. You can watch the video through this link.

Click Here

Such dealerships and their attitude and behavior are unacceptable especially for cars which cost more than 15 lakh. This is why the Hexa failed and the Harrier even though it is selling good, it's sales are that great though. Let alone the Seltos and the Creta, it's sales aren't up there with it's main rival the MG Hector because of Tata's horrible dealerships which do not inspire potential customers enough confidence to spend their hard earned 20-25 lakhs on Tata brand.

Tata should seriously improve their dealerships, fit and finish, service and durability of their cars. Of course many people especially die hard Tata fanboys will screw me being against Tata but I ain't against Tata at all. It's just that I am disappointed by their dealerships, fit and finish and service. Even an new entrant MG can offer excellent deals and service centers then why can't Tata offer?

Tata should learn from Skoda and understand what premium experience means. Skoda's dealerships are actually the best in the industry. Last year when me and my dad went to their dealership to look for the Octavia, we were about to leave the dealership as we couldn't afford the Octavia but they politely suggested us to look for the Rapid. We were impressed by the Rapid and the entire Skoda brand. They also told us that Skoda is owned by VW who owns Audi, Bentley and Porsche and Lamborghini. They also said that Skoda, VW and Audi are partners and their branding and technologies are the only differences.

They also showed us the engine of the Octavia to show the Audi logo. Audi logo was present on it. They also told us that the Rapid's DSG gearbox is used in many Audi and Porsche cars. They also told is the Octavia is based on the Audi A4 and the Kodiaq is based on the Audi Q7. Thus we were attracted by them and happily bought the Rapid. The uniform of their salesman is top class and they remind me of Mercedes-Benz showrooms and their salesmen. This is what a dealership should be and I humbly request Tata to learn from Skoda and vists their dealerships and improve their dealerships. If dealerships are good then people will be confident enough and happy buy that car from that particular dealership.

I am writing this not only to potential buyer but also to die hard Tata fanboys as well. Safety and build don't mean only Tata. Even Mahindra, Ford (except Figo), VW, Skoda, Maruti Suzuki Brezza and Maruti Suzuki S cross and Toyota (except Glanza) are also great in terms of safety but these brands have far better dealerships. It's my humble request to Tata Motors and make sure this message is sent to Tata Motors and their general managers. Faisal Khan is just blindly promoting the Harrier and he is not saying about the annoying things about the Harrier. He says that the Harrier's steering has good feel and feedback at higher speeds and it has good weight at high speeds but it's not true at all. Not only teambhpians even normal buyers are also facing above mentioned steering issue of the Harrier. This shows the how paid promotion Faisal Khan does.

- Ishaan Revankar

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