I was a very satisfied owner of a Maruti Omni for 5 years, having driven it for more than 54000 kms in Bangalore and Hyderabad. I wanted to move up to a bigger car as the lack of an AC was getting unbearable, but all the cars in the market were around the 6-8 lac price mark, and did not offer much in terms of space [both leg space and luggage space].
I wondered if the Tata Indica would be suitable and I walked into the Concorde Motors showroom in Bangalore in April 2005 to have a first look. The new red color and styling of V2 was pretty good. Standing next to the Indica was a silver Tata Marina and my wife casually asked the price of this vehicle. I was surprised that it was only Rs. 5.5 lacs on road, [that too the top end petrol version] just 1 lac more than the Indica! [I had first seen the Marina in Hyderabad in 2004 when it was launched, but the light blue color was a put-off and rear end design looked ugly to me and it dropped out of my consideration set]. We double checked that the price was just this much!
The next step was to take a test drive and I drove both the diesel and petrol versions. I could not make out the difference, until I was told! Both the cars were so silent and free of any vibration that one expects from a diesel vehicle. The pick-up of the diesel vehicle in the first two gears was a bit sluggish though, because of which I decided to buy the petrol version.
Now the drama of Concorde Motors unfolds...
I wanted a silver petrol Euro III Marina, and the dealer did not have one in stock. Fine, but then the salesperson tried hard to convince me to buy the Euro II version as they had stocks, even explaining to me that there is no difference between the 2 versions!!
I said that I can wait for the new car to come from Pune and was told it would take max 10 days. Accordingly, I arranged for the car loan, paid the booking amount, sold off my Maruti Omni and waited. And waited.... and waited. Commuted to office by auto, even. End May I got news of the car’s arrival, after speaking to Pune office, and creating a lot of unpleasant noise.
26th of May. I am supposed to take delivery at 6 pm, so I arrive at Concorde with my wife and young son, who is really excited. We wait as the car has gone for PDI. And wait, and wait... It begins to rain badly. At 9 pm we get to see the car, finally.
Its wet and pouring, so we all quickly sign the papers and drive out the showroom. My son’s tired and fed up by now, and disappointed that the car does not have a ribbon tied around it. The rain has made the car all dirty.
We drive to the nearest petrol bunk and tank up as there is no petrol. Surprisingly, the fuel gauge shows zero. I call up and inform the showroom and am told to come tomorrow.
Believe it or not, it takes me more than 7 visits and 6 months to get the faulty fuel gauge changed. Complaints are made to Murali, Arul Prakash and Venkat of Concorde. I become a familiar sight at the service bay. Averaging one visit a month for a brand new car! They just must be thick-headed to spend so much time and energy behind one spare part costing Rs 500, checking up, diagnosing, discussing, calling VDO, job cards, adjustments, rechecks. I even offered to pay for it myself. ’’No sir, its under warranty’’, I am told. Any much longer, it would be post-warranty.
Just to compare, I would not have made more than 5 visits to a Maruti service station in 5 years.
Next challenge at Concorde... getting a free service done. I get a shock when told that to get a free service appointment would take 2 weeks. When I finally come over for the service after 2 weeks, I am told that due to shortage of manpower, I will get the car after 3 days. Wow, and spend my one precious weekend travelling in autos? No way. I reschedule the appointment.
This repeats 2 more times. Each time I am told that the car will be kept for 1-2 days. I am adamant that the car be returned the same day, considering that the service should not take more than 2 hours. When the service is finally done, the car has exceeded the due distance by 2500 kms, and is almost due for the next service as per the car manual! The car is not washed even as their water pump has gone bad. I take home a dirty muddy car after first service at 9.15 pm.
I shudder to think that I will have to go through this three times more.
A great example of how a perfectly good brand is raped by its dealer. Not once, but over and over again.
Anyway, lets talk about the good part. The car itself is a lovely experience to drive. Initially, compared to a Maruti, it felt like handling a massive ship on the road, but after a week I began to get a hang of things. Its absolutely soundless inside the cabin with the windows rolled up [a real necessity in noisy Bangalore traffic] and handles potholes and humps at high speeds very well [again ideal for Bangalore – the pothole capital of India].
The space inside is luxurious, I am 6’ 2” and can actually stretch out my legs while driving, and the person in the rear seat too has enough space. Lots of luggage space is a blessing on long drives.
I have covered more than 10000 kms in 7 months that includes several long drives – to Mysore, Mangalore, Calicut, Yercaud, Coorg – and I have not faced any problem. Top speed so far driven is 125 kmph on the Coimbatore bypass highway. I have got a mileage of close to 14 kmpl on the highway and can manage to squeeze out 11-12 kmpl in the city.
The ultimate compliment for Tata Motors, is when people ask me “is that an Innova?”, or, “I did not know Tata could make cars”…
If only Tata Motors knew how to distinguish between truck drivers, BPO taxi drivers and salaried SEC A1 customers like me.