Now that I have understood the EV and its plus/ negatives, I will upgrade (once budget permits) to the MG ZS EV.
BHPian Nanolover recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Bittersweet/Average ownership experience -21,000 kms in 14 months – Tigor EV & Good Ownership Experience- 3500 kms in 3 months – Tiago EV MR
This is more of a comparison of the cars and the dealer experience also ( brought from different dealers)
Let me start with the Tigor EV
Purchase date : Around end August 2022
Dealer : Trivandrum Motors
Purchase Experience :
Abysmal and recommend that you AVOID this dealer. All sorts of skullduggery and never showed the car in the yard stating all sorts of excuses and finally gave me a car that I believe was a showroom display car. (I was given a 3 month old car). There are much better dealers now out there Derik, Luxon ( Nippon Toyota group) and better to give your business to them.
List of stuff YET to be provided by dealer :
- Second keyless remote ( all gyaan about corona shortage when other cars in the yard had 2 remotes. I suspect they lost one). Anyways cant be bothered to fight with them anymore.
- The service records are in the name of a government institution WHICH HAS NOT BEEN UPDATE IRRESPECTIVE OF CALLS/ WRITTEN MAIL etc. Confirms the suspicion that I was pawned a pre-allotted car
Unsolved issues ( by the dealer)
- The car has rattles from the front two door sash area window frames. Dealer denied to fix this issue , saying its time consuming, door cards need to be taken off etc. I thought #$%^ you man ! and I have decided to live with it, a sort of reminder to the pitfalls.
- Keyless entry request sensor does not work , hence have to use the remote to lock/unlock. Works fine, per the dealer apparently. Again, I can’t be bothered to fight with these jokers.
Updates & Niggles over the course of ownership:
Let me start off by saying that for any new Tata product, the initial set of customers are beta testers and basis our troubles/horror stories, the company rolls out updates and retrofits them on their customer cars. The list is below:
- The radiator fan used to run CONTINUSOLY for the entire length of time that the car was charged ! up to 8 hours. Had to search forums and push dealer to get the pigtail update done( who kept on stating there is no updates showing for this VIN number)
- THE BIG ONE – Car had the horrible HV critical alert and shut down twice in the middle of commute. Dealer returned it first time stating all is fine and it broke down within 10 kms. This time escalated to Tata higher ups who promptly swung into action and towed the car away. It sat with the dealer for 3 weeks ( no replacement car as apparently they don’t have one- quote by Trivandrum Motors) and the entire battery pack was replaced. More of it here. This had happened within 4 months ( Jan 2023) and luckily, the car has been running trouble free since then over 15,000 kms. But there will always be this question mark at the back of your head…when next will it stop?
- Last month, the range dropped all of a sudden from 76 to 17 %. My car got the adjustable regen update and apparently post that it has to be taken down to 10 % once and then charged , to clear any errors ( thanks to bhpian Torquecurve for this tip, note: no word about this from dealer)
Range :
180 kms is achievable with full ac and mixed city/ highway driving ( 100 -10% charge). Depending on driving style and ac usage range can fluctuate between 150 -180 kms.
Postives:
- Saves you a tonne of money if you have daily running of 50 + kms
- Very easy and relaxing to drive in city and highway
- Adequately powered
- More spacious at the back than the Tiago ( this is the main USP vis a vis Tiago)
- Solid build and safety
Negatives
- Poor reliability
- Hopeless dealer experience
- Shallow trunk and oddly positioned trunk latch means you bang your head EVERYTIME
- Non working keyless entry
I will be trying Luxon Tata next and will keep you updated on the service experience there.
Considering all the above, as learnings, I again took the plunge and my brother brought a Tiago ev MR ( he has solar in his house and electricity is free for him). This time with my hard earned lessons, we ignored Trivandrum Motors and went to the other dealer – Derik Tata.
They had a tropical mist MR in transit and were more than kind to show it to us once it reached the yard. We checked the car and gave it the all clear and it was delivered fresh to us with less than 8 kms on the clock ! ( car was less than 1 month old per VIN). The tiago is tight as a drum compared to the rattly Tigor I have. In fact the build is too tight , that you have to slam the dicky to close or open one door and then close the dicky.
Range :
130 kms in city driving with AC on ( this being MR)
Positives
- Reliability to date ( no issues by far)
- Adequately powered ( 60 bhp MR is more than adequate for most uses)
- Ride is much better than Tigor
- Powerful AC ( compared to the Tigor)
- Fun to drive
Negatives
- No spare tire
- Cramped rear
- Top speed is realistically only 110 for MR ( as compared to 120 easily which I achieve in my Tigor)
- Motor is noisier compared to Tigor
What I learned:
- Electric is the future of motoring ( for me at least)
- Visit multiple dealers at purchase time.
- Be prepared to have some niggles ( at least initially and this is the one thing that scares most owners off)
Conclusion:
- Now that I have understood the EV and its plus/ negatives, I will upgrade ( once budget permits) to the MG ZS EV.
- I am sorry , no Tata for me again. Thank you for introducing me to the world of EVs, but no thanks to all the other parts of it.
Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.
