A Tiago petrol owner buys the Tiago EV: His honest experience

Posted on : 09/14/2023
A Tiago petrol owner buys the Tiago EV: His honest experience
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Tata should sell it as an amazing driving experience, which is reasonably priced while also being economical in the long run.

BHPian crodjer recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

The car is amazing to drive. No non-EV that I have test driven responds like this one. I find it odd that when comparing EVs, people consider the price premium as a negative while the price premium for ICE cars for a better engine/drive train is okay.

Tata should instead sell it as an amazing driving experience, which is reasonably priced while also being economical in the long run. A Citroen dealer tried to push me for the ICE car based on my (low) running numbers. And I find it funny, because from that logic all low running folks should just buy an Alto. EV sales folks should sell the driving experience, with the fuel/cost savings as a plus.

There were a few issues that I encountered as well:

I got my ZConnect activated (8 days after delivery) and feels pretty much like a gimmic, no utility day-to-day.

  • It would be useful in an emergency situation when I forget lock the key in the car. It can happen in (non XZ+ Lux) Tiago as the boot is independent of car-lock.
  • The app logs you out every two days, rendering the geo-fencing notification useless and the app is readily unavailable right when needed.
  • Pre-coolling doesn’t work and I am not going to try to get it to work. As someone in software industry I refuse to interact with such crap-ware day to day.
  • OTP is the _sole_ authentication mechanism. So, if you know someone has a Tata EV and what their phone number is, all you have to do is get duplicate SIM (trivial) and volla they have access to your car. But at least they won’t be damaging it while stealing it, so that’s a plus. I am a software engineer and know for a fact that SMS based OTP isn’t safe even as a 2nd factor, let alone it being just one factor.
  • At some point I’d like to figure out a way to completely de-activate ZConnect so that my car can’t be stolen with a fake SIM. Moreover, SMS as a technology was an afterthought and never meant to be a secure medium.

Wheel alignment was off from factory.

  • On my first non-congestion drive, I realized that wheel alignment was off. I’d have to keep pulling the steering toward the left to go straight.
  • I had the same issue with my Petrol Tiago as well in 2019. Is bad wheel alignment a general Tata car thing? Perhaps other owners could share their experience, or maybe keep an eye out now if you notice it
  • Although I didn’t want to use my dealership’s service center, I did in this case and paid dearly in my time. I reached their center at 9:30 (their opening time) and they handed me over the car at 3:30 PM. From the glass I could see that they did the alignment and test-drives thrice – still not okay to take 6 hours for this on a weekday.
  • For future services, I’ll anyway not be using this service center as my original plan. I did it in this case as there were a few things pending on them still and I may need them for any major early issues.

Bad fit and finish. I really expected this and its true.

  • The paint quality isn’t good – their are fragments which are uneven.
  • Roof upholstery is ugly from the corners and one can clearly see threads dangling. My old Tiago petrol had this as well.
  • Doors don’t close easily. It is particularly an issue with child lock, as I have to get down and close it again every time we are ready to leave for somewhere.
  • Dangling wires – well everyone knows this is how Tata chose to do things.
  • The rubber mats that I got don’t fit right. At some point, I’ll look for alternative mats which fit. This perhaps is the dealership’s fault.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

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