Nov 18, 2006 02:02 PM
6088 Views
I feel good writing something, which would be worth for others reading it. I bought a Xeta GLG in the first week of October '06. Its been a dream for me to own one, since I frist test drove this piece of marvel. There was a delay in delivery, after booking the car as the waiting period was close to a month. I was told that its because of the excessive demand for this car.
Well, my wife & I were too excited as I drove out the car from the showroom. It was a good drive though, but started sensing problems as I was driving back home. I could see there were couple of faults in the panel/indicators and also the rear wind shield was rough. When I reached home I realised that there was lot of water clogged under the driver seat on the carpet. Our heart broke, because of these as we do not expect a new car to have these many defects and started regreting the decision of going for a TATA vehicle. It took 4 visits to the workshop and atleast 30 liters of Petrol to get these defects rectified.
---- A Note here : We realised that the "PDI - Pre Delivery Inspection" was not done on the car, I would not say it was the problem with the product, but with the dealer (Prerna Motors, Bangalore) who was lethargic in approach to sell a car with defects. But, then it is the same with other delears too.. However, I would say their Workshop Manager at their Old Madras Road workshop did his best, understanding our feeling. Felt good about it. Finally, all those defects have been rectified. ---
Now, coming to the actual review of the car.
I have so far driven 900 KMs, mostly within the city limits, at this stage I feel, that we have taken the right decision of going for a Xeta. Its a product worth the money we spent on it. The gears were little rough initially, but now its smoother comparatively, but still I would say it is slightly harder compared to Ford or Maruti or Hyundai. I believe it would become even smoother after the first service which is at 5000KM or 6 Months, whichever is earlier.
Pickup - This car has an amazing pickup. Good in the city roads, very sturdy. The AC has very little effect on the pickup, even with AC on, the pickup is excellent (in its class). As the torque is more, there is no need of frequent gear changes and the engine responds very well to the throttle.
Suspension - I would not rate the suspension of this car as excellent, but would say its far better than Alto. Though this car has all independent suspension, one can still feel the road inside the car with windows rolled up and AC on.
Cabin - Cabin is very spacious and can easily accomodate 5 including the driver. Adequate leg room & head room is there, seats are quite comforatable. The rear seats could be folded so to create a good luggage space. As the ground clearance is more, it suits Indian roads with huge humps. The drive side arm rest is little low, as one can not rest his right hand on the arm rest while driving, may not be very comfortable on a long drive. Internal Antenna is quite powerful. Internally adjustable RVM is good. One can feel safe inside the car. Though I do not understand the logic behind not providing a driver side reversing lamp, I also understand, they haven't provided an option to include one.
Fuel Economy - So far, I get 12.5 to 13 KMPL within city with AC on. Which is very good. I expect this to increase to atleast 14 KMPL, after 1000KM of run. It constantly increases, may be too early for me to decide on its mileage. Never have taken this on a long drive so not sure about its mileage on highway. Considering the city mileage, I am sure it should give atleast 17/18 on highway. Though everyone says the mileage would be 2 KMS more than the city mileage. As per my past experience I would say, it should give 17/18 KMPL in highway. (I do not understand why Telco claims that this gives 14KMPL, though every other car manufacturers claim that their car is the best in mileage, even though it may not be).
Power Steering - Though this car has a power steering, it is not as smooth as is expected, but quite decent. Ofcourse, this can not be compared to Hyundai or Ford or Swift, but is quite decent, compared to the price we pay for this car. I am sure, Telco would improve this over a period of time.
Other Features - Some features I would say is quite worth included in Xeta.
Internal Antenna (No poping of an external rod)
Power Windows.
Power Steering
Internally adjustable ORVM
Central locking
Front Fog lamps
Rear Demister
Head lamp leveller
Key-in alarm - Quite good
Headlights-on alarm - Quite good
Overall a good car, worth the money. Small car from outside or by the money we pay, but quite big inside or the value one get in return.
I would recommed anyone to go for it, without a second thought. One will not regret the decision of buying a Xeta.
As I close this review, I am planning to write an appendix to this one crossing 5000KMS.
