If I had to nitpick, another annoying quality of the Harrier is its tendency to self cancel the indicators if the steering wheel is turned in the opposite direction of the turn indicator.
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It’s been more than a month since the Harrier first came home and I wrote my first ownership report. Since then, the car has moved to Chennai where it immediately picked up two scratches on its first day thanks to a careless auto driver.
When I complained of the car not being able to move off in second gear, most Harrier owners told me that this is part of the cars running-in period and it should get better once I add more kilometers. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve gotten used to the engine’s characteristics but the 2nd gear pickup has improved and overall the engine definitely seems to be a lot smoother.
One of the major reasons for picking up the Harrier was the way it drove and how much fun it was. The low-end grunt from that engine is so addictive that I find myself putting the car in Sport Mode most of the time just to feel the car pulling hard from a standstill. The Harrier got to see a lot more highway driving the past month with over 60% of the kilometers added since then coming from highway runs. This car is definitely made to be a mile muncher and it must be even more comfortable in its automatic avatar.
Empty roads and Sport Mode.
In search of a restaurant that served excellent fish fry and was located on the outskirts of the city, I took a couple wrong turns and ended up facing a
large stretch of mud and slush. While the Seltos that went before us kept sliding and struggled to get out of the mud, the Harrier was unfazed and went through the whole stretch with no drama. I was fully prepared for a struggle and the Harriers soft off-roading capabilities took me by surprise.
The cruise control is easy and intuitive to use, but in the manual version you need to make sure the car is in a cruising gear first as otherwise there is a fair bit of engine noise and it is sure to impact fuel efficiency.
After fiddling around with the infotainment system for a while, I finally figured out how to cast directions and music info to the digital info cluster. This has been a game-changer as I don’t need to take my eyes off the road anymore when I am using Google Maps.
In the first post of my ownership report, I mentioned how the Android Auto was a little slow and the system took a while to respond. Surprisingly, this is not an issue with Apple Carplay. The interface is a lot smoother and snappier and I’ve slowly started using my iPhone instead of an Android to cast stuff. This may be off-topic, but the difference in quality between Apple Music and Spotify is huge and the former sounds so much better with the Harriers music system.
A couple of minor issues have popped up within this time period. After pushing the car hard for a while, there is always a whoosh sound that comes from the brakes when you slow down. Give it enough time and the noise disappears, but it always pops up after a session of spirited driving. Braking performance doesn’t seem to be impacted at all which is why I don’t think its too much of an issue.
A few weeks ago, the infotainment system kept pausing songs on Apple Carplay and refused to play anything else other than FM stations, but a quick reset of the system fixed that.
If I had to nitpick, another annoying quality of the Harrier is its tendency to self cancel the indicators if the steering wheel is turned in the opposite direction of the turn indicator. I understand that there are instances where such a feature is useful, but there are certain turns and junctions where this becomes an issue.
Finally managed to take the Harrier away from the city and introduced it to dirt roads.
During this time period, I’ve had to ferry friends and relatives around in the Harrier. Most of them are impressed by the way it looks and its stance, and the panoramic sunroof is definitely a crowd-pleaser. My mother did mention that the engine noise is a lot more louder in the cabin compared to the Creta and she refers to the Harrier as our personal lorry due to its size and the loud rumble when it starts up, but she is full of praise for how comfortable the car is.
With the Harrier doing duty in Chennai now, I use a Honda Brio now for most of my commutes and while do I love the zippy nature of the little hatchback, I find myself missing the low-end grunt and the fun that came with the Harrier. The car is up for its first service and I am waiting to see if the infotainment system sees any improvement after the software update.
So far, Tata Motors and the Harrier have not put a foot wrong and I’m excited to put more miles once the car comes back.
I love the way she looks from this angle.
Keyword: Tata Harrier XZ+: Observations after 1 month of ownership