It replaces our old Maruti Celerio & will be used for city commutes. For longer drives, we have the Mahindra XUV700.
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Finally, after a lot of deliberations, we got home the Tiago EV XT LR. This car is going to be a replacement for the Celerio AMT that served us for over 8.5 years. We only needed a car for city commutes since for the longer drives we have the XUV700 which I absolutely love to drive.
Selecting the Celerio Replacement
The new car needed to be small (sub 4 meter) for city commute and had to be an automatic. With the shoddy experience of the AMT gearbox in the Celerio, it was clear that any car with an AMT was ruled out straight away. That left us with only 2 mainstream options Altroz DCA and i20 CVT in the price range of Rs 10 to 12 lacs all in. Honda Amaze was not considered as it was not so much fun to drive it and was uncomfortable for me since the driver’s seat didn’t slide back as much as I would like.
With the launch of the Tiago EV in a similar price range (Rs 10 to 12 lacs all in) it made a lot of sense albeit the slightly smaller interior space. Overall it seemed like a good option and was priced just right for us to experience the joys/hassles/unknowns of using an EV before we purchase a more expensive EV as a mainstream car.
Thus we booked the Tiago EV and were among the first 20,000 customers with the price guarantee.
Change of Mind?
Towards the end of Jan/early Feb 2023, we were more driven towards the Citroen eC3 primarily due to its larger interior space and better exterior styling viz a viz the Tiago. While our Tiago was about to be allocated, this dilemma was pushing things by a week.
But after some deliberations and little research decided to stick to the Tiago EV primarily for the below reasons:
- The battery of the EV is the most expensive part covered under warranty and this is the part that might have a significant chance where we need to invoke the warranty after 4 to 8 years (Citroen eC3 offers 7 years warranty viz a viz 8 years for Tiago EV). I was much more comfortable with the extended warranty of 8 years (or 7 years in the case of Citroen) from Tata than from Citroen India – the probability of Tata Motors’ continued presence in India after say 5 years is significantly higher/almost certain compared to that of Citroen in India.
- While I am not qualified to comment here, with the little reading I did I was of the opinion that the Tiago EV battery being liquid cooled is superior to the eC3 having air-cooled batteries. IMO this might have an impact on the level of degradation of the LFP batteries over the years with the liquid-cooled Tiago EV battery degrading to a little lesser extent over the years. Correct me if I am wrong here.
- The timeline of the launch/pricing/commencement of deliveries of eC3 was constantly getting delayed. Hence by the time I could get the eC3 was not clear. Currently, Maharashtra has no subsidy but it has a waiver of registration charges in case of an EV, but I don’t know how long that will last and hence was not too eager to wait longer.
- The raised flooring of the eC3 on the rear seat is not good since I find my friend’s Nexon EV Max very uncomfortable in the back seat precisely for this reason.
Delivery
Selected the Tiago EV XT LR with the insurance policy taken from my side via Acko as the dealer could not match the price I was getting and the only accessories from the dealer were the mud flaps, rubber mats and the rear parcel tray.
The showroom mentioned that the scheme/rates for the extended warranty for the car for the 4th/5th year (apart from warranty on battery/motor) was not yet offered by Tata and hence could not take it.
Car was charged 100% before delivery and had 80 kilometres on the odometer.
Telematics was not ready due to some backend work ex Tata and the dealer said it will take 3 days before it syncs with my app.
Positives
- Pleasant to drive and also feels very easy to zip around in the city.
- ICE car riders will really enjoy the quiet ride.
- It’s at a good price point to get a real-life feel of owning an EV before purchasing a more expensive EV.
- For normal running “D” mode is more than adequate. “S” mode is for when you want to have some fun.
- Ride quality/suspension setup is very good.
- Relatively more environmentally friendly.
Negatives
- Anxiety about range and charging would remain for EVs in the near term. Having driven it for 110 kilometers in 3 days I expect that I will end up with a range of approx. 150-160 kilometers in the first cycle. Slightly below my expectation but I hope that once we go through the learning curve of the EV driving it might improve.
- This expected range that I mentioned is with driving neither too conservatively nor too aggressively and 90% of the time in D mode, Regen Level 3, in medium to heavy Mumbai traffic and AC on 100% of the time. It’s maybe too early to conclude anything as yet, will try to update after driving for another 1 month.
- While the seat cushioning is nicely firm, the ergonomics of the front seats could surely have been better in the area of lumbar support. I would not like it for long drives. But my wife does not feel the same way about these seats and hence maybe it’s subjective.
Overall it’s a good buy IMO at this price range and can be an ideal second car for daily city runs.
Keyword: 4 reasons why we bought Tata Tiago EV instead of Citroen eC3