Tata Altroz XZA – Petrol – 12500 km – Ownership Review

Hi Volklub
Starting this conversation with a vote of thanks for such kind of platform for normal driving enthusiasts to post views of the wheels one owns.

I would like to start with a small background about myself and my driving experience. Cars owned at home since my childhood:

1. Maruti 800 2nd gen and 3rd gen.

2. Daewoo Matiz (learnt driving on this) and a friend's 1st gen Santro.

3. Hyundai i20 1st gen (sold it last month after 15 years of ownership)

All owned by my Father in Prayagraj (UP)

Then my own first car and following ones are below: 

4. Renault Kwid (bought at launch, exchanged with Nios after 4 years)

5. Hyundai Grand i10 Nios AMT (still owning) Trained my wife to drive on these above two cars.

6. Tata Altroz DCA (XZA)

These 3 cars in Pune Maharashtra. 

Tata Altroz Review:

Having driven the Kwid manual in Pune traffic I made up my mind about having an automatic with my next car.

Honestly I was looking for Tata Punch amt for purchase but a back to back test drives of punch amt (Creative) and altroz dca (XZA) just made my mind to go for altroz.

Reasons:

1. Almost same on road price

2. Poor Amt of punch compared to nios amt.

3. Poor NVH than Altroz

4. Poor suspension than Altroz.

Decisive point was the Altroz suspension which I will always be ga-ga over.

Considered latest i20 also but was not entertained properly by 3 dealers in Pune, including 1 from whom I got my Nios. And also the fact that I wanted to try something new since Nios and i20 had same engine. And altroz felt more value for money in terms of features.

My basic requirements from the car were as below:

1. Rear viper washer

2. Rear adjustable head rest (for pet seatcover hook)

3. Auto AC

4. No sunroof

5. No wireless charger.

It was all there with the Altroz.

Positives:

1.Extremely wonderful sales experience. I loved the way they provided me the test drives of punch and altroz( initially i was sure to buy the punch). But the ride comfort and rich in cabin experience of altroz changed my mind to Altroz- I already have a hyundai grand i10 nios AMT(2020 model), but when i drove the altroz the ride quality, suspension and the heaviness of the car just blew my mind.

2. Engine: refined as compared to punch with better NVH than the latter.

3. Amazing sound system

4. Super chilling AC( still not able to use the auto mode on climate control since even at 26degrees temperature it gets super chilled inside) great for Indian conditions

5. Gearbox: smoother than AMT of nios but sometimes feels like amt (not a thing to bother as i drive very smoothly and am a calm driver)

6. Mileage: on highway it gave me around 24kmpl (2 passenger and ac on) and in city bumber to bumper traffic of Pune its somewhere around 11kmpl(only one driver in the car and ac on)

Negatives:

Now, this is something i wish to get your attention to. And i feel this has nothing to do with the dealer sales or service team.

1. Fuel lid: Very first day of delivery i found that the petrol filler lid/cap was not opening smoothly with the fuel lid opener lever. So i called the sales person he asked me to visit showroom and once i reached it got sorted. But again it cropped up repeatedly and finally the whole assembly had to be replaced, kept the car for 2 weeks at service centre.

2. Since i bought this car on 13th august, in Pune it was rainy season, i found the front right side viper blade is not working smoothly and was making noise on windscreen. So contacted the service center and tried to resolve, but after 2-3 days it again started. At 1st service i asked the service advisor to change the viper blade for which i paid and it was changed. Although i requested to change and upgrade it to the frameless ones which is on the higher variant. But to my surprise i was told that it will not fit and the full viper arm has to be changed. To which i agreed but not fully satisfied with the reason. But still the problem persisted for which i had shared the videos to the service advisor. Finally when it got resolved the left small viper started to make noise and lastly after 1 year both viper arms and blades got changed and now it's working fine.

3. Infotainment: Within 3 days of car purchase i found that suddenly my phones(android and iphone) were not getting connected to the infotainment by any means( bluetooth/ original cables provided with phone). So that too got rectified but surprisingly by downgrading the software. Service advisor said there was some bug in the latest upgraded version so needed to be downgraded. Accepted. No problem since then.

4. Interior trim finish: On 2nd day of car purchase i found the the left A pillar inside plastic panel is not finished properly and was jutting out from the rubber gasket. I requested to change it with a proper one but it remained same only that the gasket was fitted properly and the poorly finished part is now somewhat covered and out of sight. I accepted and let that be as it is.

5. Rattles: In a weeks time a strange rattle noise started from somewhere speedometer inside dashboard. It was mild but audible on concrete roads. Fuse box panel, plastic border for infotainment screen, replaced.

6. Metal noise from rear Grab handle: Now a new metal clanking sound started from rear right side. Clearly audible. I suspected something from inside rear right door or rear right suspension mount. But after many test drives with service persons and Senior officials from dealership it was found that welding was not proper near rear right grab handle. And it only got rectified after 4 visits to service centre and 1 time at tata motors plant with additional welding and painting done.

7. Rattling noise from front centre armrest and found the rear AC vent slider broken into pieces from inside, got replaced.

8. Rear parcel tray was found broken since beginning, got replaced.

9. Rear door rubber beading was torn and damaged plastic body trim at the C pillar , got them replaced. And all these problems kept coming up one by one throughout the year.

And almost 2 months in total other than 3 free services the car was at the service centre.

At times I had even thought of filing a case in Consumer court but just did not. And regretted why didn't I got the trusted i20 cvt

Few other things which I noted for improvement were: 

1. Speedometer glass angle was poor, which resulted in reflections of steering when sunlight falls from top.

2. Driver seat height adjust lever is placed poorly, every ingress/egress it gets pressed and then it just moved and has to be adjusted everytime.

3. Driver dead pedal should have little bit more upright angle, with current setup if driver is wearing formal shoes with slight heel the foot remains flat and starts to ache. In all this chaos, only one thing that shines is the Suspension of this car. It can fly of flat broken roads at speeds where no other hatchback can.

My only take away from the Altroz is that it can make the owner a better Spouse

I hope this makes my case of chaos relevant. With this kind of quality and fit finish issues I will never recommend a Tata product to anyone till these are solved and are at par with the competition.

Happy Driving

Warm regards,

Arijit Ghoshal