Long Term Report 2

It has been two months since this Tiago, in the Revotron XZ variant, joined our fleet at CarWale and in those 60 days this little orange hatchback has traversed 3000kms both in the city and out on the highway. We have used it as a tracking car, goods transporter and even for unconventional purposes like being a noble steed for a night out with the gang, family car as well donning the role of La Santa Maria in our exploration of South Mumbai.

Having used it for so many purposes has given us mixed results. Some of the bad points include the right ORVM rattling and lack of carpets which when combined with a black floor has resulted in patches of dirt that are becoming increasingly hard to tackle.

Mechanically, the gear shifts tend to feel quite notchy especially with slotting into to reverse. The bottle holders are only good for ½-litre bottle which is not an issue right now but will become prominent as summer rolls along. The sound from the AC is also quite prominent and tends to struggle to cool when it is really hot outside. Also the parking sensor, despite being a boon and tends to become overly judgmental when the space is tight.

On the flipside though, it has been a blast to drive the car in heavy traffic thanks to the easily judge able proportions, light steering and meaty abundance of torque right from the second gear. The vintage rap/hip-hop fan in me has fallen in love with the music system as it one of the few times that a sound system in a budget vehicle has been able to bring out the undertones and subtle words that defined the lyrical themes of the music genre in the 1990s.

We have planned a couple of road trips for next month and so should be able to give you an idea of what the car is like out on the highways. These trips will also ensure that Tiago head home for its first service since coming into our care and we will detail the costs involved in our next report.

Photos: Kapil Angane & Omkar Thakur

Tata Tiago Long Term Report-1