So far, we’ve done about 200 km in 4 days, with good long weekend runs within the city in the rains.
BHPian krishnadevjs recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
2023 has been a year of unusually high activity for me on the vehicular front.
It started in January, with us swapping out our 2014 Maruti Alto K10 AMT to bring home one of the very first BMW M340i LCIs in the country – in that spectacular shade of Tanzanite Blue.
A bit later, in February, we sold off our 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8 TSi L&K as well, given it was mostly lying idle, with the BMW in the garage.
While the ownership experience of the M340i is chronicled in this thread, let me just quickly say that the M340i is THE BEST VEHICLE I’ve ever driven.
However, with great power does come great hassles as well – especially in a city like Mumbai with its pathetic excuse for roads.
The stiff suspension and low profile RFT shod M340i are not suited for Mumbai roads, with all its undulations and unevenness.
Within 4 months, I found myself changing out both front tyres and courtesy side wall bulges. Thankfully, they were both covered under Secure Advance.
Another major challenge in the city was the parking hassles, which restricted us to visiting only places which had properly covered parking.
Where the M340i did shine was on weekend drives outside the City and the extended long road trips we often undertook.
In just a span of 6 months, I’ve completed 11,000 km in the M340i.
However, the city pains continued, especially now with the monsoons around the corner.
While Mumbai monsoons have often been romanticized, I’ve found the season particularly horrible for driving.
Waterlogged roads, crumbling roads (even freshly paved ones), poor visibility and lack of general driving discipline make the city hell to drive in, during the monsoons. More so with a car that has 120mm ground clearance.
We definitely needed a better car for the city – one which we could easily zip through town in, and which wouldn’t leave a burn in the heart or the wallet, if something untoward happened.
And that is how we ended up looking for our second car in just 4 months.
The criteria were pretty simple:
- It had to be a very safe vehicle. Goodbye, Maruti Suzuki!
- It had to be sub-10 lac. I had already made my YOLO choice. It was time to now be sensible again. Goodbye, Skoda and Volkswagen!
- It had to be fun to drive and not a sloth. Goodbye, AMTs!
- It should fit 4 people comfortably – maybe 5 for the occasional trip to the mall. Goodbye, MG Comet!
With these criteria, the choices were pretty limited for us to start with.
While I did look at the Hyundai i20 and the Hyundai Venue, prices for the DCT version steered us away.
We did briefly look at the Kiger, and even liked the vehicle until a test drive, when we decided to move away from it because of what I felt was a very un-engaging drive, with massive rubber band effect from its CVT gearbox.
Given Tata’s meteoric rise in the passenger vehicles segment, especially in EVs, we decided to evaluate options from Tata as well.
There were primarily 2 choices- Tata Altroz and Tata Tiago EV. Both were around the same prices for the versions we were evaluating – the Altroz DCA XT and the Tiago EV MR XT.
Major factors which helped us make the decision between these two options were:
Running Cost:
The Tiago EV had virtually no running cost. By charging for free at the office, I could essentially run the car for free.
Service costs too were expected to be much lower than the ICE-powered Altroz DCA.
Drive:
The 1.2L Turbo petrol engine in the Altroz felt quite underpowered during a test drive. It didn’t feel as engaging as I would’ve wanted.
In complete contrast, the Tiago EV was super peppy and its instant torque electric motor helped it whiz past traffic in the city.
Its dimensions too were a bit smaller and helped it navigate through traffic better.
Novelty and Tech:
The Altroz had a turbo petrol and a DCA gearbox – both tech that I was very used to. There was nothing new about the car.
The Tiago EV in contrast was a newer technology and offered far more technology than its counterpart for the same price.
Usage:
This was to be a primary city car. It did not need the range of an ICE car, and would go no longer than a maximum range of 100km at a time – all in the city.
Hence, an electric car made absolute sense, given the kind of usage it was meant for.
Tax Implications:
While I’m all for building the nation, being a salaried taxpayer, I find it super unfair that the Government overburdens the salaried class with taxes.
Sample this: to buy the M340i, I essentially paid 22 lacs of GST and would pay 10.5 lacs of road tax over the entire lifetime – a total of 32.5 lacs in taxes, all with income that’s already 35% taxed!
Essentially, I would need to earn 50 lacs just to pay taxes on the M340i! And then drive it on these roads.
Hence, the prospect of paying just 5% GST and 0 road tax for the EV gave me satisfaction in having to pay that much lesser to the Government.
Yes, it’s petty but it did play a role in my decision.
And so, the decision was made to buy the Tiago EV in the MR XT variant.
However, what ensued was one of the most horrible experiences I’ve had in buying a vehicle.
Buying Experience
In the last 10 years, I’ve had the fortune to buy 6 vehicles before this one:
- 2013 Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500
- 2014 Honda City VX iDTec
- 2014 Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 AMT
- 2017 Skoda Octavia 1.8 TSi L&K
- 2021 Apache RR 310
- 2023 BMW M340i.
If the average rating for all those buying experiences was 80, I would rate the Tata Motors buying experience at -20. Why? Read on.
Booking 1:
In April 2023, I enquired with Wasan Motors, Chembur about the Tiago EV.
Upon being assured of the ready availability of whichever colour we wanted, I booked a Signature Teal Blue Tiago EV in the XT MR variant.
Since we were out of Mumbai in May, I told them I’d take delivery in June, right before the start of monsoon, and they agreed that the car would be readily available then.
Mid-May, I enquired with them if the Midnight Plum variant was available, and they said it could be arranged by early June.
I changed my booking to Plum.
Once we were back in Mumbai by early June, I contacted them again, and my SA told me he had moved companies and was now working with MG.
He gave me the contact details of his team lead, whom I then contacted.
The experience soured quickly after the departure of the SA.
The new guy said no cars or colours were available in XT MR except White. An XT LR was available though in Midnight plum.
I asked him for some time, while I quickly conferred with my wife. Called them back and asked them to confirm the XT LR Midnight Plum car.
To my surprise, he said there had been some issue and somebody else had taken the car in the time it took me to speak to my wife and confirm back to them!
Frustrated by the sheer lack of transparency and incorrect communication from their end, I asked them when they could get me a car of my choice.
The new SA said they’d have to book the car fresh from Tata Motors and could give it to me in 1.5 months.
Since it was a rare colour, it could even go further.
By this time, I had lost faith in the dealer as he had already taken me for a ride with the XT LR Plum car.
I quickly checked with another dealer – Trident Motors in Vikhroli West about when they could arrange an XT MR car.
Given priority had now changed to get the new car before the monsoons, I was open to either of Signature Teal or Midnight Plum colours.
Booking 2
Trident Motors was initially very forthcoming and transparent.
They said they could arrange a Signature Teal car in the XT LR variant by June 25.
Given their commitment, I went ahead and booked the car with them, and cancelled the booking with Wasan Motors.
By June 22, I got a message from the Trident SA that the allotted vehicle had reached their stockyard in Panvel, and asked me to pay the balance amount.
I insisted upon a PDI before transferring funds, and he reluctantly agreed.
The very next day, on 22nd June, I drove down to Panvel, did a PDI, found everything to my satisfaction and handed over a cheque for the balance amount.
My experience with Payable at Par cheques has been that they clear within a day, but it may be owing to delays in depositing it, but this cheque cleared on June 27
I had taken the insurance on June 26 itself and since invoicing was also done on the 27th, asked them to do the registration and give the car before month’s end. I was met with radio silence.
After multiple follow-ups, and an escalation to Tata Motors, finally Trident Motors gave me a delivery date – 6th July.
I was pretty sure they had damaged the vehicle somehow and were using the time, 13 days since handing over the cheque, to quietly repair the vehicle.
Trident, however, insisted that there was some software update for which the vehicle was taken to their workshop. Finally, we agreed upon delivery of the car by 6th July, Thursday at 3:30 PM.
Delivery Experience
We reached the dealership bang on time, only to be told that there were 2 more deliveries before us.
And while normally, each vehicle delivery hardly takes 15-20 minutes, here, each car was brought in, cleaned, wiped down and then handed over – a process which took over an hour.
Not to mention that for the Nexon EV before us, they actually brought buckets and drained water from the boot! Was quite surprised to see the owners were pretty chilled out about it!
A funny/irritating experience in between was when they asked us thrice if we wanted refreshments.
The first two times I told them my mother would like a coffee and we’d like water, but nothing came after that.
The third time I told them that we’d asked for coffee and water twice, but since nothing was coming, we’d rather just have our car and go.
Think they took that literally, as there was still no coffee/water served!
Those of you who have small kids can relate to me when I say those 2.5 hours of waiting were excruciatingly long!
Both our kids were cranky, hungry, and just wanted to go home by the time our turn for delivery came.
In came our car, it was wiped down with the same cloth they’d used to clean the previous vehicle’s muddy wheels and underbody.
By now, I just wanted to get out of there and go home, so I let this slide.
They were yet to put in the accessories we had ordered – so another 20 minutes went by as they brought the mud flaps, rear parcel tray, mats etc and put them into the car.
As part of the PDI, I felt the paintwork of the car with my hand and immediately felt something wrong.
The rear glass and door hatch had a rough finish – as if there was an overspray. And the right roof area also had a coarse finish.
I pointed it out to the SA, who said it was due to being outside in the rains and would go in a session of polishing.
I asked him if he had a paint thickness checking instrument to verify, which he promptly denied.
Having reconciled myself to absolutely pathetic service from Tata Motors, I decided to just let it go and completed the rest of my PDI.
Didn’t find anything else amiss at the time, and we proceeded with the delivery.
Throughout the ride home, I felt there was none of that new car smell – in fact, the car smelt quite damp.
While my wife attributed it to the monsoon season, I wasn’t so certain.
Once we were back home, I checked the floor carpet, after removing the rubber matting, and found it to be soaking wet! This was quite a shocker!
Immediately, I called the SA and told him of the matter.
He asked me to take the car to their service centre to sort the matter out.
By then, it was already late, so I decided that I had had enough of these bungling fools.
Called up 3M Car Care in Chembur and set an appointment for a proper interior and exterior cleaning job on Saturday.
Early morning on Saturday, we made our way to the Ayyappa temple in Powai for a mandatory pooja of the car.
We’d skipped this on the M340i, as I’m the less religious one in our marriage.
Used the opportunity to get my keys blessed by Lord Ayyappa as well – just in case.
Off I went to 3M next. They confirmed my suspicions – it was in fact some sort of overspray on the back door and glass – however, those panels weren’t painted.
There was only a small section on the right side of the roof which was repainted.
There was no physical sign though – they’d done a generally good job with the painting and fading, just that they probably didn’t do the masking right and left part of the roof course.
3M also dried out the carpets and sucked out the water.
They did a good job washing and waxing the car – now, it almost feels like how a new car should.
And that concludes the buying experience.
While the car itself is definitely good, I’d never ever buy a car from Tata Motors again – unless they seriously improve their dealer network and I see/read an overwhelming number of positive stories about customer service from them.
All the while, I felt they were doing me a favour by selling their car to me.
Quite a shame, though, as the car really is good.
Continue reading BHPian krishnadevjs’s Tiago EV review for more insights and information.
Keyword: My Tata Tiago EV: The perfect second car alongside our BMW M340i