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After sleeping pretty late last night, I woke up at 5.45 in the morning!! No, I didn’t on my own but because the reception guys gave me a wake-up call!! I am still looking for the person who requested that wake-up call. I really want to kill him once I find him!! I never slept after that and after freshening-up, checked-out and headed for the lavish breakfast at about 8 AM. As we were in team D-9, one of the last teams, we still had some time to have our breakfast. A lot of photos and selfies later, we were finally in our car and at the entrance of the resort, ready to be flagged-off. Needless to say, I was excited.
Now before I share my experience of the car (and the drive), let me tell you that even though I love riding and driving and this love has been there for a while now, I will score a perfect zero if someone asks me about any technical aspect of a vehicle. So this review (if I may call it one) will be purely from an end-user’s point of view.
End-user Review of Tata Tiago
When I first saw the Zica Tiago, the first thing I liked about it was the fact that TATA had finally managed to come up with a hatchback that did not look like the Indica. The Zica Tiago was totally a new design altogether. It’s a fresh and brilliant change in my point of view. I absolutely loved the way it looked. With its below the bumper lights and all. Another thing that was something new to a TATA hatchback was the brilliant dashboard. TATA has also managed to create a lot of utility spaces (22 in total) for storing bottles and stuff like that by optimizing the space available inside.
It also sports a bigger and almost square boot which is enough to comfortably fit-in those big suitcases comfortably. I also liked the fact that a hatch of this class also was equipped with GPS with maps being provided by MapMyIndia. Another great to have feature was the jukebox app which can easily pair-up with the onboard entertainment system and then everyone can add their favorite songs to the playlist from their own mobile phones.
The car has a much better ground-clearance in comparison to the cars it will be pitched against. A higher ground-clearance generally means it being obvious in the looks as well but the design team seems to have done a great job here. The curved design of the rear-end and the tail-lights work perfectly and make sure the higher GC does not look out of sync at the wheels. If you leave the slightly flimsy-looking plastic that seems to have been used for the knobs and switches aside, I absolutely loved all other visual aspects of the car.
TATA Tiago Diesel Review
I was given a diesel version of the car. In my team, neither Maintreni nor the other member of my team knew driving, a fact I was really happy about ;). Only I get to drive the entire stretch :). I found the leg-room to be pretty good even after I had pulled the seat towards the front to the maximum. The tilt-steering was another nice to have, a feature which I really liked. The first couple of kilometers through the winding and beautiful roads of South Goa, I drove slow. I wanted to first get a feel of the car first before trying anything fancy with it.
The music through the much-improved stereo with its 8 speakers ideally placed all over the car for great listening pleasure made the drive very enjoyable right from the first song. As I negotiated the narrow roads of this part of Goa, I realized how accurate the steering was. Both at slow speed and while being quick. I am not a fan of a light steering but I was half expecting it to have one. To my surprise, it was not the case with the Zica Tiago. It did not have a steering like the ford hatch-backs which give you a solid feel but was not very light either.
A couple of times during the drive we had to make U-turns where this big-looking car actually felt much smaller. Tight corners and short-radius U-turns were easy. The one thing I did not like about the car was the air-flow. One hour or so into the drive with the AC running, I felt a bit sweaty. Directing the airflow towards me did not work as expected.
During quick curves, I found that the car had almost no body-roll. Talking about the power delivery, the 70bhp diesel engine does pack a punch but flattens-out at the mid-range. The top-end again has some power but I did not get any place to push it uphill the point I would have liked to. But overall, I hardly felt I was driving a diesel vehicle and not a petrol one. There was hardly any lag which is synonymous to diesel motors.
Another aspect of the car I liked was its suspension. I drove almost on all kinds of terrains during my close to 4-hour long drive but not once did any jerk from outside the car managed to reach me. On the wide open stretches of the Verna Industrial area, I pushed on the gas for a while only to find that car actually felt a tad heavier. But on the other hand, because of this heaviness, the car felt very much planted. The double assurance of safety came from the twin air-bags for the driver and the front passenger and the ABS.
Last but not the least, the driver seat’s height-adjustment feature was something which I was really happy to find. I am not sure if any hatchback in the market has that, let alone in its class. For someone like me who is 5.4” the height adjustment feature allowed me a better view ahead.
All that now remains to be seen is how TATA sets the pricing. My thinking says that if they get the pricing right, somewhere in the +/- 5L range for the variant with all the features, they will give the market a product which will leave others in its class way behind.
UPDATE: Now that the price of TATA Tiago has been declared and I must say the prices are even better than what I had expected (5 variants – XB, XE, XM, XT and XZ – with prices ranging from Rs. 3.20 lakh – Rs. 5.54 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), I am sure this car is going to take the image of TATA Motors to newer heights.
What do you think of the ZIppy CAr (ZICA) Tiago? Do you want to ask me anything in particular about the car? Leave me a comment below.
Wonderful review Rajiv. Zica looks like another promising car from TATA
Thanks Ankur bhai! Zica is surprisingly very unlike other tata hatchbacks. Not very powerful but for someone looking for his first car, this undoubtedly stands way ahead of others in it’s league. Now let’s hope TATA does the pricing right!
Well written Rajiv with both positive and negative feedback of the Car and the Drive as well !!
Thank you Mandakini, I hope you found it useful.
A super review Rajiv, it was awesome to catch up with you. Hope some time again in another event! Cheers 🙂
Thank you Maitreni! Loved every moment of this event and hope to see you again sometime very soon.
Cheers,
Rajiv!
I really liked the review. Simple straightforward and honest with positive as well as the negative aspects.
Good post 🙂
Thanks Vaisakhi glad that you read and liked it 🙂
Cheers,
Rajiv
I am almost with you with a difference. I do not understand the technical aspects of a car but I know to drive. However, you have to bribe me to drive! I so do not like to drive.
Haha..! Mridula mam, so good to hear from you here.
And yeah, I know you love ‘anything on 4-wheels as long as you are not driving it’. I on the other-hand enjoy riding and driving as long as all I have to do apart from driving is fill the gas and shut-it!
Good review Rajiv. Nice meeting you at the event. Wishing success for this car
Thanks Srinidhi. It was nice meeting you agai this time. Good that you made it instead of the floods.
Great review of Zica and loved the pictures… 🙂
Thanks Maniparna! The Zica was indeed wonderful and I loved driving it through the beautiful locales of South Goa.
Very nice review.. thanks for sharing.. I wish this car brings huge success for my favorite TATA brand..
Thank you.
I hope they price the car ‘right’!
Hlo Sir plz suggest we purchase tata tiago or not…
Hi,
If you ask me, its a good hatchback. But you have to decide as per your requirements so I would suggest you go and take couple of test rides and then decide.
Cheers,
Rajiv
Your rating on 10 scale??
I am no travel expert but I would definitely give great ratings to the car for all the features it has & the way it drives.
Thanx..would be a helpful review
Thanks Harshwardhan, glad that it was helpful.
Hai Rajeev
Excellent Review. Congrats! This review will help people like me since I have booked a petrol version just by the look of it. I was using a Ford Figo. Because of age and lesser running the figo was sold out and was looking for a small machine with lesser efforts. I was on the wheel.But could not get on to the throttle because the Tiago was in the showroom. As I have noticed the seating with FIGO the only thing I noticed was the clear vision ahead. I am 5.6 guy. Should it pause any confident driving. Regards
Please Reply
Thanks Rajan, so glad that you found the review helpful. I am 5.4″ and I had no problems viewing so I think for you too it should be good. Figo is slightly better in this aspect but otherwise Tiago is superior in my point of view. By the way, which model did you book?
Cheers,
Rajiv
I drove this Tata tiago petrol version car, While starting and taking revarse it makes huge noice at the engine side, and vibrate inside when driving the car
Hi Yatheesha,
Thanks for your inputs about the Petrol version. I drove the Diesel one so it’s good to know about the other version.
Cheers,
Rajiv
Are the rear seats foldable, in case we want to packin more luggage? Which version of Tiago is this? And pls mention it’s price. I’ve heard negative comments regarding Tata’s after sale service. Any comments on the same?
I don’t think the seats are fold-able however I did not try that out so I am not pretty sure.
The version I drove was the top-end diesel version (XZ). The price of which is 5.59L (ex-showroom Delhi). The final price will depend upon where you are located.
Because I have not owned a TATA vehicle, I am not pretty sure about how good or how bad they are.
Hi …. Im using petrol version of this car TIAGO-XZ, since June’2016 – Yes, the rear seats are foldable, enough space to carry luggages, Recently I travelled from ooty to Chennai – with all my luggages weighing around 70kgs – good storage & cabin space provided
Hey Vinoth, thanks a lot for your inputs here.
Hi …. Im using petrol version of this car TIAGO-XZ, since June’2016 – Yes, the rear seats are foldable, enough space to carry luggages, Recently I travelled from ooty to Chennai – with all my luggages weighing around 70kgs – good storage & cabin space provided.
cons : vibration & cabin noise is more, In chennai city 8-10kmpl mileage, In higways (100 – 120kmph speed) – Econo mode – 15kmpl mileage.
Avg 80kmph speed – with econo mode gives around 18-20kmpl.
I love this car for features / specs & pricing.
TATA has to improve their service networks – not even a ssingle call received from Showroom / service centre after i received my vehicle.
Hey, thanks a lot for the detailed input. The mileage seems to be a bit lower that what I had expected it to be. The features are great, no doubt.
How have you been your experience at the service center, cost and otherwise?
After going through entire review it covers maximum information but I didn’t found anywhere what was the exact mileage?
For a true Indian who is purchasing car at first time abiously it matters more.
Hi Gopalkrishna,
There’s no info about the mileage because we were given cars which were tanked – up to the brim. Having said that, based on the mileage I periodically saw on my dashboard, I would assume it to safely return something around 20kmpl on the diesel version.
Cheers,
Rajiv
Petrol :
city : 8-12kmpl
highway : 13 – 16kmpl (>100kmph)
highway : 18-22kmpl ( 60-80kmph) : Econo mode
Econo mode : power is less to overtake vehiccles : if you travel in hillstations use city mode for more power – mileage 12-15kmpl.
Im not satisfied with mileage committed vs mileage recvd.
I agree with you on this.
is there any vibration found while driving petrol version of tiago?
Hi,
I drove the Diesel version so can not say about the Petrol version. I suggest you go ahead and take a test-drive yourself.
yes there is vibration felt at the gear lever
Ah ok! Thanks for the input Sumeet.
It looks balanced review, at one point you mentioned that AC wasn’t up to the mark. If you can grade it out of 10 marks in respect of AC only, please reply.
Thanks!
Well, I would not say the AC was bad but could have been better for sure. If you ask me to put a number on it, I would say 6 or may be 6.5. I personally would not rate it anything above that.
Thanks,
Rajiv
Hi Rajiv,
It was a good review indeed. However you drove Diesel variant, I am looking for Petrol XE variant basis my monthly run. I have doubts such as –
a) The a.c even with highest blower speed was not effective for the rear seat passengers.
b) For long run the rear seats are not comfortable.
c) Even though everyone is praising for Tiago , we are not seeing the cars running on road.
d) You do not get spare parts for Tata cars offsite, however for Maruti , MGP are available at various locations eg. Karol Bagh , Ashok Vihar.
Pls advise.
Hi Naveen,
I too wanted to test drive a Petrol variant as that’s the one I would have been able to relate to more as well but I got the Diesel one 🙁 . Having said that, I haven’t heard anything significantly bad in the Petrol version. I suggest you take multiple test-rides if you haven’t already.
Comfort is a subjective thing so I would not say much about that.
You are right when you say that there are not many Tiagos on the roads. As a matter of fact, I haven’t myself seen more than a couple of them here in Bangalore. Not very sure what’s going on that front.
I am not very sure about the spare parts thing, neither I have a TATA vehicle so can’t say anything here with authority. But my personal point of view is that, it should be my choice about where from I buy the spares or where I get my vehicle serviced and not the company’s who is selling it to me.
Cheers,
Rajiv
Sir plz say about engine vibration and milage in city xz petroll
I have already talked about it Bhupendra, in one of the previous comments. Please refer to the same.
Based on all reviews in multiple sites including BHP, Diesel scores better than Petrol in power, vibrations, sound from outside etc. I heard Tata have done some tweaking in last 2 months to reduce vibrations and community will benefit to hear from recent purchasers to confirm if true. It is certainly feature rich except for engine / 3 cylinders. Recent news that Tiago Plus will retain 3 cylinders only with turbo. BHP says AC is excellent (both petrol and diesel) while Rajiv observation points to AC effectiveness. It is very surprising not to see many vehicles on the road in Metros as by now 20000 vehicles would have been delivered. Also, one user in BHP said he was given Jan 2016 model in June after 6 months while normal delivery wait time is 2 months. Something fishy here !! It will be great to receive user reviews from real owners who have used it few months.
Hey Ravichandran,
Thanks for your inputs. The observations about the AC is my personal point of view. I am not a very car person so I did not compare it with other models in the same segment.
I too feel more and more ownership experiences would be helpful to paint a more accurate picture.
Cheers,
Rajiv
BHP forum also strongly recommends to go for additional 2 years warrantee offered by Tata as the engines are new and untested
That’s a good idea I would say.
Nice review bhai. I am planning to buy petrol version. How is the after sale service and parts availability?
I don’t really have any idea about the service I didn’t buy the vehicle.