I bought my zest XT revetron petrol about six months back. Travelled around 7000+ kms in mix road conditions and in all driving modes -city, sports and eco.
My observations-
Multi-drive modes:- Car is fun to drive in different driving modes. You can adjust the modes as per the driving requirements to achieve optimum FE as well as power in hand whenever required such as while overtaking and on uphills/ flyovers you can shift from eco to city or sports and vice-versa.Lots of fun factor. A La BMW feature.
Decent FE - Don’t rely on false biased reviews elsewhere. For a solid performer like zest I feel the FE is just fantastic. However for that you may need to learn and change the driving styles referring to the inst. FE display on the MID you will be rewarded with unprecedented fuel economy. I found that sedate driving at around 60-70km/hr in top gear(i.e 1700 rpm) may result in an avg.
FE of around 17 in the long run as advertised by TATA. But in real terms I got about life time 14+ figure in mix modes and mostly city road conditions.This is after about 7000+ km on the odo and first service was done at 3500 km. I am sure this will only improve as I use it more and more especially when I will go out on long drives or highways which I have not done yet.
Please note that this car is heavier and inherently it will consume more fuel than other lighter competitors especially when you travel on congested roads day in and day out. You may be disappointed with the FE in such conditions with figures of 9-10 etc. But as you use more open stretches this drawback seemed over-comed in the long run as in my case.
Comfort & Features - Just fantastic. Far ahead of the competition. Lots of space, sitting comfort, silent cozy cabin, smooth gear-shift, small nice steering good to hold & decent ride quality, good boot 390 lit, Mind blowing infotainment system by Harmon. Just can’t think of any major flaws. May be the horn pad is a little stiff to respond which is a bit annoying initially but got used to it later.
Safety - Almost all parameters covered. Very stable and sturdy structure. Heavy and solid build quality with Dual airbags, 9th gen ABS with EBD and traction control. You may find the doors a little heavy and hard to operate though.
Looks- A crowd puller especially in the buzz blue colour with the DRLs and projection head-lamps in the front and the rear LED lights at the back. Lots of people on the road showing interest in the car.
My experience with the car till now was good as far as driving dynamics are concerned. However from the service and realibility point of view, yes there were some niggles initially. Unexpected engine stalling once or twice. Temp. Sensor going bad. Reverse sensor sound issue, Phone book & Voice command issues etc. But these were minor passing issues and were resolved by the SA. But accepted service & reliability not the strong point of TATA.
Especially with features loaded to the brim in this car reliability comes in question.
These six months were good for me so far and I expect to remain like that. I thoroughly enjoyed driving this car and would advice anyone to just go for it if planning to buy it you will not be disappointed for sure. FORGET ABOUT THE TATA BADGET FORGET ABOUT THE RESALE VALUE IT IS JUST TOO GOOD A CAR FOR AROUND 7 LACS OTR. I HOPE IN THE LONG RUN THE SALES OF THIS BEAUTIFUL CAR WILL PICK UP. JUST NEED MORE APPRECIATION.