Tata Altroz i-Turbo: What I like and dislike about my first car

This is a 3 Year ownership review of my Tata Altroz i-Turbo petrol (purchased in Oct 2021) which has run around 46,000 KMs

BHPian aishwaryamaurya recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

I am planning to keep updating this thread on a 6 monthly/yearly basis, so that the information helps others. In my review, I have tried to cover the long term ownership aspects which may not be immediately visible to a prospective owner. This was my first car.

Summary: Likes and Dislikes

Overall: I love the car – it has turned out to be a great first car.

What I like:

• Smooth engine and easy drivability in the city
• Feels well built and solid
• Looks that can kill – easily the best looking hatchback at the time I got it IMO
• Really stable at high speeds. Its a delight to drive on the highway in sports mode and it feels like I am in control of the car.
• Well made, spacious interiors with a premium feel
• Light clutch and spacious boot

What I do not like:

• The fuel tank size is 37L which is lower than others in the segment.
• Poor OEM headlights. Needs an upgrade if you drive frequently at night.
• Lack of auto-dimming IRVM. This is a daily necessity for me as 50% of my driving is night driving
• Lack of Active TPMS – I believe this is solved in newer versions of the car.
• Connected car features are useless – don’t even bother
• 7 inch touchscreen is slow in performance and responsiveness, but is functional.

Detailed Review

Context and Purchase Experience

This is as of Oct 2021, and I was looking for a car under 10-12L budget. My requirements were as follows:

1. Primary usage was city driving, since my office was in Noida and I was located in Gurgaon. This means that on office days the car was going to run for 80kms in the day.
2. Easy to drive: I was going to be a new driver with a lot of daily driving, so I needed the car to have good drivability.
3. A proper 5 seater with spacious boot and comfortable interiors for those occasional roundtrips and airport pickups
4. Mid-size for easy maneuverability. I was a new driver and I wanted a car that can easily move about in city traffic, is not too difficult to park and can make those occasional tight turns in Delhi streets easily without too much hassle
5. Manual transmission: my dad believed that you only know how to drive a car if you can comfortably drive a manual.
6. Safety: I have always found roads in India to be dangerous and full of risks at every moment. I have also observed that it is impossible to control all factors as a driver – therefore I wanted a car that was reasonably safe and built to protect its occupants as much as possible in case of a mishap.
7. Low waiting period: My office was opening up soon in Hybrid mode and I needed the car within 1-2 months.
8. Petrol model: This is because I live in Delhi NCR with its anti-diesel agenda, and also because BS-VI diesel ownership comes with its own hassles which I as a newbie did not want to deal with. I was okay with higher running costs with my driving pattern.

Baleno: Rejected because of its sheet metal quality and extremely unsafe perception (This was pre-facelift. I have heard from fellow owners that the post-facelift version is better).
Brezza: Did not feel like value for money vs. other options
Magnite: Engine and transmission were awesome, but felt like there were compromises on other fronts and I uncertain of Nissan. Also, it had a long waiting period at that point in time.
i20: Simply overpriced for what it offered.
Jazz: Great car and I really liked it, but it is a very old car and at that time people were uncertain for how long Jazz as a model will continue, which proved to be right as it was discontinued soon.

Ultimately, I visited the Tata showroom with half a mind to book a Nexon, but ended up booking an Altroz instead. The Altroz was parked next to the Nexon in the showroom and had its own style, appeal and character. I loved its interiors vs. Nexon. I did not care much about the SUV vs. Hatchback conundrum. My only concern was the NA engine, but the SA told me that Turbopetrol engine from Nexon is available in Altroz. Altroz also lacked a Sunroof at the time, but it didn’t matter much to me. I went ahead and made the booking.

Driving Experience

Altroz is a great all-rounder car. It is not the fastest car, but is very practical and peppy, tuned for balanced performance across city and highway driving. The i-Turbo is faster than a lot of other cars in its segment, but do not expect it to be in the same league as i20 N line or Polo. On paper, this engine is in a lower state of tune vs. Nexon, but Altroz seems to have higher responsiveness (esp. in Sports mode) vs. Nexon, maybe due to lighter weight.

For city driving, Altroz is practical and convenient.

1. Altroz has an extremely light clutch, which makes it great in traffic if you really want to go for a manual car.
2. Gear shift is ok – nothing great, but nothing bad. However, I do like the feel of the gear in my hand.
3. There is decent power in lower gears and I do not need to shift to 1st too often, which makes driving easier.
4. In Bumper to Bumper traffic, Due to its strong build, Altroz can easily handle minor hits with other cars (which is too commonplace these days). I have had scenarios where someone hit the rear, and there is no visible mark on the car – can’t say the same for the hitting car though.
5. The light steering and decent turning radius makes it easily drivable.
6. I like the positioning of the horn buttons on the steering – makes it much easier to honk which is needed a lot inside the city.
7. I hate the aggressive Auto start/stop system and I turn it off everytime I drive. I wish there was a setting to turn it off permanently.
8. City mileage for me in Delhi NCR has been in 12-14 Kmpl range. I drive with a soft foot inside the city.
9. Note that Sports mode is jerky for the city in 1st gear.

For highway driving, Altroz focuses on stability and control – my observations noted below.

1. Great for cruising. Gets to 100/120 kmph without much strain on the engine even on city mode. On Sports mode, it is even more responsive.
2. Don’t expect to hit Top speed records on this one as things start getting noisy beyond 140, but it feels like it can ride on 100/120 kmph all day.
3. Extremely stable at high speeds. Can handle road undulations like a pro and still remain in a straight line without complaints. You feel the solid build of the car as it speeds up.
4. EPS Steering weighs up nicely as the speed increases. I like the tuning.
5. Remember to keep tracking of fueling stops because 37L tank is smaller than it should be IMO.
6. Highway mileage for me has been in 17 to 20 kmpl range. I drive with a moderately heavy foot on the highway – usually in sports mode.

Altroz i-Turbo is a very practical, all-rounder car.

1. I like the 345 L bootspace which is also designed in a very practical way. Can easily take 1 large suitcase and 2 medium suitcases
2. The driving seat height can be adjusted to a good degree which helps a lot for short people driving the car.
3. The AC is a chiller!
4. Auto-wipers work like a charm – best implementation of the feature in my experience.
5. The Glovebox is huge and can hold a lot of stuff – plus it is cooled.
6. Height adjustable seat belts are helpful.

Unlike most Tata’s, this one has been reliable throughout with no major niggles till now (touchwood!). I have not had to visit the service center out of schedule so far.

1. Arya Tata has provided good service so far. I always avail the Pick-up and drop from home option and it has worked out well.
2. Being a Tata car, it requires servicing every 6 months vs. every 1 year for Marutis/Hyundais of the world.
3. Cost per service has mostly been in the 3-5K range for Minor Service (6 months after Major Service), and 8-9K range for Major Service (Every 1 year).
4. I have not had to get any repairs done from the Service Center yet, so cannot comment on that experience. Standard run-of-the-mill stuff has been done well

I am noting down a few interesting tidbits/quirks of the car here:

1. The radio is always on by default and there is no way to turn it off except keep the volume zero for radio.
2. There are a lot of Peacock motifs in the car at different points, including the glovebox. I appreciate the nice little touch there by Tata designers.
3. I got the stock Ecotread car tyres replaced with Continental UC6 tyres at 30K mark. The car mileage dropped a bit, but the overall driving, and handling experience became much better. I specially appreciate the wet grip that these new tyres have provided to the car.
4. While Auto-wipers are great, I have no idea why the rear wiper is not connected to that auto-control. This is a miss on Tata’s part.
5. I have needed a headlight replacement almost every year or so (so 3 replacements). I am not sure whether this should be expected, but it feels frequent to me – one or the other headlight always goes kaput every year.
6. Mileage is 1-2 kmpl higher with XP95 petrol, so I have started using that. The engine in sport mode is a lot smoother with this fuel as well. I am not able to feel any difference in performance in city mode.
7. In the city mode, turning on AC has a minor but noticeable impact on acceleration – I was surprised by this since I thought this does not happen in modern cars anymore. There is no effect in sports mode.
8. I believe the Sports mode has some bug in ECU which sometimes can cause the car to go into “Check-engine” mode. It has happened once with me, and simply restarting the car in city mode fixes it. Service center said it is due to some sensor issue on the pedals.
9. Sometimes, there is a lack of power on pressing the accelerator pedal in lower gears (first and second gear). This only happens in city mode – very rare but annoying.
10. There is just 1 light for reverse indicator, which is not obvious due to the design. I am indifferent about it but it is a bit funny.

Feel free to ask here if you have any follow-up questions about the car. Leaving you with a few photos of the beauty – enjoy!

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.