Overall its a good car and a better engine would have made it a great car.
BHPian abhi_krao recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Hello Everyone and a Warm wishes for 2022.
This is my story of TATA Punch and probably the first one here.
The background
I used to own a 2009 Ritz Lxi when was just launched back then. It was our family car which I bought to Bangalore from my hometown in 2018 as my family bough a new Swift for themselves. The Ritz was a great car for tall people as it gave an airy fell due to the tall boy design and was very compact. The only negatives were the small boot and a little spartan interiors of my Lxi. I was only thinking about replacing it in 2022/23. However, it started to show early signs of the old age with rattle noises starting to become louder when being driven on bad roads and the clutch was becoming harder, which when driven in Bangalore traffic was making a driving experience an unpleasant one. So in Aug 2021, I made up the mind to replace our car during the Oct-Nov festive period.
The Good Old Ritz
The Discovery
As a regular Car lover, I was always checking the cars available in market which I liked and would suit me more. My basic criteria were Petrol Automatic, Compact (4m or less) due to parking constraints and being in Bangalore Urban and Ex showroom less than 10L due to the additional cess and high taxes in KA. I shortlisted Baleno, Venue/Sonet, Magnite CVT and was keeping my eyes and ears open for TATA HBX.
I had TD the Magnite early in 2021 and liked the space and looks but felt the car very confusing. The exterior looks modern and great but interior looks old, the space is good but the build not so, and finally the most concerning aspect was the Nissan part. So kept away from it.
So first test with wifey was in Aug of Venue. I had TD venue petrol manual when it was launched and felt it was compact and good looking except for the space inside. So went and TD the iMT. This time when drove on little broken patches, felt the ride was a bit jarring but otherwise it was smooth. iMT does take the stress away and is quite flexible too. However, what put me off was the dealer response. They demanded advance payment of 30% or more for preferential allocation. IF not, they will not advise me any delivery time due to the pandemic conditions. Also the Venue Sx iMT prices crossed 10L by 10K by the time I took TD. I was not keen on any other variant so this too was a roadblock. AT the same time, Kia too had increased Sonet prices the variant HTX that I was eyeing crossed 10L.
Next, went to Nexa to check Baleno CVT. I was not keen on buying a hatchback with low sitting positing and with those low lying front bumpers which needs to be taken care of. Also was not a big fan of H platform. However, the TD went well and I felt the ride and Gearbox was smooth and also the visibility and ease of driving was good. Decided to go ahead with this if nothing else comes up.
Why not others ? in Short, Brezza- poor interiors and seats and expensive old tech Automatic, I20 – Lower height and missing features in Asta iMT, Nexon AMT – Never liked the seating which is car like in a compact SUV and I disliked its sloping front and was missing lot of features in XM. Kiger – Looks .
While all this happened, more and more spy pics of HBX were appearing and it looked that it would be a less than 3850 mm car. I though for a moment will it be an Upgrade from Ritz for me in terms of Size, but since the news was that it would be wider, I was kind of hopeful it would be bigger overall and Tata did confirm it would be a festival launch. So decided that first I would check out the HBX when launched and then book either that or Baleno.
Here then comes the teaser.
I was actively following HBX both in this forum and all available ones on net was able to follow all the teasers starting with the headlamp designs, the curves, and then the name – PUNCH. At the same time, I managed to join a WhatsApp group “The Punch Club” which was great and gave lot of info. Someone in the group mentioned about unofficial bookings being accepted and I felt with the chip issues hampering productions, I need to take some risks if I like this car and want by the festival season. So decided I will visit all TATA showrooms and book whoever accepts it. Went to the nearest showroom first, Adishakti in Hebbal on 4th Sept, requested the Sales Representative (SR) if they are accepting Punch bookings. He went inside to check with his Manager and came back Saying YES. So was happy and booked for 11k. The sales guy was Happy to take the first booking of Punch for their Showroom.
A few more teasers followed in which the car looked fabulous and was quite sure this would be it. It was quote apparent from spy pics that it would have an AMT option also so no worries. After TATA unveiled the car on 4th, was little concerned that it only had the NA engine and width wise, was not so wide as predicted. Finally the dealer confirmed that on Oct 9th, they will unveil the car in showroom at 10 AM and invited for the same. I was present with my family by 10:15 am but due to bad weather, the unveil got delayed as the RM of Tamo was to be present and had to come from Airport. He finally arrived at 11:30 and after a few minutes, we all gathered around for the unveil. To our Surprise, they called upon the 1st 3 customers and asked us to unveil the car. That was a pleasant surprise. Thank You Tamo and Adishakti for that. We saw the car in flesh and had the usual cake cutting ceremony and few words to speak about. After checking it briefly, felt it was similar to my earlier experience in Venue with the raised GC, hard plastics and squared off windows and interiors. I did feel the boot was not as big as expected and the width was also less than expected with the car being a comfortable 4 seater. To out joy, the dealer did allow for TD on very same day. However, had to wait almost till 1 PM till we got our chance as the bad weather had made the road outside chaotic. The short TD in traffic went smooth and felt the suspension was stiff but compliant, power was enough for the city use and amt was slow but predictable. Came back home happy about the chance to Unveil but little concerned with space. So next was the wait for launch by Tamo. My wife was happy with the car so decided now no looking back and buy the top end AMT. So it was now confirmed. And to help me that, Tamo revealed the 5 star rating which was surprisingly the highest for any car. Had decided to go with the Tropical mist as We preferred a light color other than White. It was also quite a rare color. Only prices were pending to be announced and then when it was indeed announced, felt it was about 50 k more than its value considering its smaller than Altroz. Also as expected there was no discounts on new car but was also surprised by some high insurance figures quoted by dealer. The onroad for my choice of variant Creative Amt iRA was coming to 11.09 L!. Still within my budget so was ok.
Then the wait started, the SR advised that they had a booking window before launch when all dealers were to book some models randomly for allocation and unfortunately they had not booked the variant and color in that window. I was following up with them and hoping to get the car by Diwali so could visit my native in it but it started to look tight. SR called back after few days again (since I was pushing him to confirm my allotment) only to say that though they have placed request for my variant, it was not allotted in the current round that was open. HE advised the allocation happens about Once or twice a week. HE did however advised they have received one with iRA pack. This variant is 30k more just for the iRA and I felt it was not worth it. However, I just though for sometime and had to convince myself that maybe with so much digitalization, the iRA may have some really useful upgrades so called back dealer and asked him to convert my booking and allot the same to me. The SR asked me to make payment for the EX Showroom price once allocation is done and Invoice generated. I agreed and advised that I will do payment for registration only after completing PDI which they agreed.
The invoice was generated on 25th and the car must have arrived the yard wither the same day or next day. The SR informed me only on 28th that I can now do the PDI. Due to work schedule and health issue (blame it on the Bangalore weather) I could only manage the PDI on 30th at their yard. At the yard with other Punchs, the one behind was a manual and the one in white was accomplished variant.
The PDI was smooth and short as I only checked the paint and panels mainly. They dealer does their own PDI which is quite comprehensive once the car arrived to their yard. Went back to dealer and confirmed I was ok with it. However, before making final payment , wanted to push them for some reduction on Insurance which I felt was simply overpriced. The quote received from outside was for max 30K where as dealer was charging 52K. The SR said I need to wait till Monday and as he needs to check with Sales Manager for discounts for new products. These 2 delays of doing PDI and waiting for discount on Insurance meant I was not the first customer to take delivery. Someone took a temporary registration and was the first customer to take delivery on 31st Oct. My inconsistent health meant I had to drop the plan of going native with new car so was now ok if the car was delivered by Nov 1st week. I was able to finally meet the Sales Manager and got a mere 5K discount on Insurance after which I made the full payment and pushed SR for delivery by Nov 4th. Due to further delays by RTO in BLR, SR finally asked me to take delivery on 6th Nov.
In the midst of all these, there was a emotional Goodbye to my Ritz. The Hyundai dealer had quoted 1.8L for it and the Nexa showroom had quoted a lesser 1.65. I also put up on OLX where it was more a nuisance with all second hand car dealers calling and quoting absurd prices. OLX too came and checked and quoted 1.75 for it in Oct. However, held on to it till the last moment since the Tata Dealer was about 8-9 kms away and I didn’t prefer Public transport in B’lore. The manager for exchange in Tata dealer was not available for few days and just 2 days before delivery was available for quoting and they quoted 1.7L which was fine with me. I left the car with them the same day. It was a pain to see everyone ripping open the door and boot rubber beading to check for damages in her last days with me.
Welcoming our PUNCH
Finally the day arrived on 6th Nov. We arrived showroom at about 12 PM delayed by the traffic and hence decided to take delivery in the send half. After Lunch, we started the documentation and cake cutting. Due to the usual rush on Saturday’s, the dealer was looking as if he wanted to push the cars out from his congested showroom asap. There was about 7-8 deliveries that day, mostly Nexons and Punches. We finally took delivery at around 3:30 PM and came back home straightaway. Later in the evening went to temple and did the rituals. We did see quite a few people turning heads to see the new car.
The delivery
Living with the PUNCH
The car has done 2400 Kms approx till date courtesy my 2 drives to native Udupi. Averaging about 12 in City and 18-20 on Highways. Have driven the rest in Bangalore traffic with a mix of smooth Ring road drives and crawling traffic. First I will discuss the Positives. All concerns regarding space is gone and I am really happy that this car is the right sized for me. I only realized this late that if I actually had a 4m car like Venue or Baleno, parking in my basement would have been challenging every time, this is due to the way the pillars are in my parking area.
Also in my 2 trips to native, I never felt lack of space. I sat in passenger seat, back seat and also car was driven with decent luggage, 4 people, 5 people and my own small family of 3. Only when there are 3 full sized adults at back will they feel lack of shoulder space and I rarely encounter such situations. The rear seat does feel a little upright for long drives.
The seating position is great and gives great view of the road ahead. The car really turns a lot of heads with its day time LEDs. The rear lights too are quite modern and attractive.
The AC is really powerful and one does not feel lack of rear ac vents. Headlamps too are quite powerful and cornering lights too are useful. The TFT display is also quite informative.
Coming to bad bits and some things that I wished could have made it a better package. The engine is the usual culprit, I wonder sometimes why has Tamo engineers not made better engines with assistance from Jaguar/LR. At least refinement could have been better. There is lack of power after 80 Kmph and amt does not help either. AMT shift is really slow till 3rd.Also, would have liked if they were lit indicating the gear in the lever itself like Maruti or Hyundai.
Boot finish from inside could have been better, the section around spare tyre is poorly finished and the metal is exposed in the lip. I managed to put some vinyl wrap to cover it.
Also, the sensor for the boot open is exposed.
Overall its a good car and a better engine would have made it a great car.
- The compact dimensions along with high seating position makes it quite easy to maneuver in city and tight spaces. I feels good to drive in city but the slow AMT does sometimes irritate you.
- The cars weak point would be double lane highways since the car struggles above 80 kmph. IF you push it hard, it becomes noisy and fuel economy also drops drastically.
- It does however feel great in twisty roads because of its well connected steering and good ride and handling.
I did some fuel economy runs in all conditions and got below results. All done on Eco mode and reference is MID which is quite accurate.
City driving in Bangalore = 10 KMPL, In other non metro cities- 12 KMPL Both with AC
Open Roads with AC on spirited driving = 16-17 KMPL
Open roads without AC , minimal traffic (early morning hours) = 22 KMPL
Since the car has lot of cladding and also the front and rear bumpers are black plastics, I am still trying to figure out how to maintain them. The car has been trouble free till date and hoping Tata quality is now much better.
I changed the cabin light to LED which was very easy but unable to change the boot lamp. It feels inadequate in its current set up.
Unlike most new car buyers, I have not installed any seat covers and I think I will upgrade or put covers once the current ones start showing its age or become dirty.
Keyword: Tata Punch AMT: Delivery & initial ownership review