1- year with Tata Tiago – Long Term Report

Before I get into any bit or details about the Tata Tiago and its reliability. I will share some of the most frequently asked questions and even thoughts about the brand cars that exist in the market and is the brand has been able to rectify its image. We have clocked about 11,000 kilometres with this hatchback in about a year’s time. We have done a complete set of story and this is our Tata Tiago Long Term Report. Well, to begin with here are the questions:

1. Is the engine noisy?
2. What is the performance of the petrol and diesel engine like?
3. Should one buy a petrol-powered Tata car?
4. Do the plastics fall off?
5. Is the quality good enough?
6. How good is the service?
7. Is it safe to invest in a Tata Tiago?

If you also have the same set of questions then you can head to the following answers underneath. There have been a lot of questions like these that have been asked to us.

So we begin by answering all the questions:

Noisy engine on the Tata Tiago:

The initial lots of the Tiago were noisy. The petrol engine had a lot of noise, but the diesel engine was more refined. When we drove the Tiago AMT we learnt of no engine noise, on contacting the brand we learn the problem of noise has been sorted in the new car made in 2017. As we have had the diesel engine, it was fairly refined unless it crossed 3500rpm. But the engine became noisy after it crossed 8000kms on the clock. This is an indication that it does require service.

Performance of petrol and diesel engine of Tata Tiago:

The performance of the petrol and diesel engines are good. We had spend more time with the diesel engine. In terms of performance it is good in the city and even on the highway.

The urge/pull comes after the engine crosses 2000rpm, below that the engine struggles. So, one has to modify his driving pattern with the Tiago. The diesel engine has good performance in its segment. There is no turbo rush or the spool feeling that other diesel engines have. The power is linear and the boost from the turbo isn’t very high.

The diesel engine has minimal vibrations.

For a three-cylinder this is absolutely quiet. A new engine from Tata and it is good enough and has no issues too. So a good job done. In the Eco mode, there is a drop in performance, the engine struggles to pull cleanly as it does in the normal mode. Also, there isn’t any difference in the mileage of the diesel engine in Eco mode or regular mode. In terms of mileage, it is close to 16km/l in the city and about 20-24km/l on the highway. The highway mileage even touched 28km/l for us once-twice, when we were cruising at 80km/hr on the highway. There isn’t much juice left in the engine after 120km/hr, one needs to push it a lot but the does get to 140-150km/hr with some struggle. At high speeds there is some amount of tyre noise that intrudes into the cabin.

Petrol engine good or bad?

We haven’t experienced the petrol engine too much, but it is better than the other Tata petrol cars. The other ones have been not so reliable on even the Zest and Bolt we have had some complaints but none with this new petrol engine. There haven’t been any complaints on the petrol at all. The engine has decent performance and even the mileage is good. This is what makes it a great package to consider.

The performance of this engine is good and there isn’t much of a lag in it. At the same time, the petrol engine has more than sufficient   torque to cruise comfortably on the highway. The new engine offers good performance and there has been an improvement in ease of driving in the city.

Plastics fall off?

Not really. We didn’t experience, nor heard about it from any of our readers. However, only the front fog lamp cover did fall off. Whats more important is that the quality of the plastic does not seem to be affected. Even after of a use with minimal maintenance, this dashboard looks as good as new. This is what makes it a good thing. There were cases that the plastic quality was affected in the older cars, but not any more. Apart from this, there have been no issues with. All the elements are in tact and more importantly, the quality of the plastics haven’t aged/affected even a bit. Though one year is a tad short time, but the talks that do exist aren’t true anymore not at least with the Tiago.

Quality good enough?

Yes, the quality is good enough. The touch and feel of plastics and even the looks of it are good enough, making it feel rich. This is what makes it an appealing package. This seems a lot better than the other Tata cars like the Zest and the Bolt too. These make it a good package to consider.

Can we trust Tata’s service?

There wasn’t any issue in the company’s service ever. The issue was in the reliability of the product. All new companies do have some hiccups in the initial days. Tata Motors seems to have crossed that phase already. The products did with the Tiago. So, in terms of vehicle’s ability to last and service issues, this won’t really exist on the new Tata vehicles. This is what makes it a good option to consider.

Is it safe to buy a Tiago?

Most certainly a yes. At the moment this is the best option when it comes to value for money. Making it a much better option then the competition. If we compare it to the Celerio and Hyundai i10. In this aspect it is a much stronger product. What’s more, it is in the Kwid 1.0 price territory as well. Making it a stronger product to compete. We are expecting a much higher resale value for the Tiago over other Tata vehicles.

Tata Tiago Mileage 

The Tiago returned us about 17km/l when drove it in different part of the Mumbai city. However, the figure dropped to 15km/l when we drove it purely in the tight lanes of Bandra. This is a good number still! And on the highway, we got a mileage of about 20km/l and the number touched 30km/l once when we were coasting at 80km/hr on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, on our way back to Mumbai.

Also Read: Maruti Celerio 2017 | Hyundai Grand i10 2017

Other stories on Tata Tiago:

1. Tata Tiago vs Maruti Celerio vs Hyundai Grand i10
2. Tata Tiago vs Renault Kwid
3. Tata Tiago vs Maruti Ignis