Aug 2023

Was in the market for a upgrade of my 2017 Honda Amaze. Cars considered were Kia Sonet and Hyundai Venue

This was the period of crazy waiting time due to electricals shortage and my Sonet waiting time was 6 months 🙈

The mistake I did at this point was to spend time online (badly) researching about cars and Tata was all the rage for its build quality and Make in India brand

“Why are you going behind Korean wala features when you have a tank on road with 5 star build”

“Don’t believe rumours about Tata service. My Tata has run 1 lakh km with no issues”

At this point Tata launched Nexon DCA gearbox and I was blown away with the features it offers and the sporty feel of the DCT gearbox. Waiting time was 1 month during launch and I booked and received one of the first batch models

Oct 2023

Received the car and the first red flag - My car boot door won’t close unless I really close it with a force and we can see a clear alignment issue with the door

First service mechanic - “Sir, this is very normal. Due to build quality you need to give extra force to close it”

I had to literally beg them to realign the door and the issue was solved. A brand new car with basic QC not done was a very bad impression but I was overall happy with the car so I let it slide.

Jan 2024

First long drive - Bangalore to South TN

Imagine you’re cruising in highway at 100 and car suddenly shifts to neutral and you get a “Transmission Malfunction” in dashboard.

What is the point of al the 5 star build when your car looses power in middle of a freaking highway.

But, car still shifts to D after I pull aside. Drove to a nearby SC. I tell my wife - “Atleast Tata has a SC in a remote place in TN, imagine if this was Kia”. She just stares back, not amused.

SC guy - “Sir, no errors are logged, this could be due to clutch heating, carry on driving and if this happens again just pull aside and shift again to D”

WTF you mean this will happen again? We carry on and no more issues on the journey. I tell myself one off issue but lost complete confidence in taking the car for long drives especially with family.

-----

Next 1 year no long trips, but solid performance in city

Feb 2025

Driving to Bangalore airport and again cruising at 100 in the elevated flyover and the driver dashboard goes blank (like completely turned off) but no loss of power. You are essentially driving with a blank speedometer, gear indicator and warning, but hey 5 star build so if you suddenly jolt to neutral and some truck tail gates, you will not die!!

1 week later returning back from airport to home, same "Transmission Malfunction". Pull over, shift to D, all good!

At this point I start researching and this is a very common issue in Tata wet clutch DCAs

I escalate to SC - "Sir, we cant change the gearbox unless we see errors in your DCA module and car is still functional"

Multiple emails, follow ups, leaving vehicle in SC and refusing to pickup unless this is completely resolved - "Sir, next time it happens please contact RSA and dont drive further"

June 2026 - The climax

Was driving to chennai and car goes to a grinding (literal sound) in middle of road. Same "Transmission Malfunction" error but now cracking sound from gearbox while vehicle moves. We later get to know some bolt inside gearbox has given off and the fly wheel is damaged too (Bill attached)

SC in Chennai after taking to my original SC guy - "Sir, finally error is flagging :)" (Similar tone) Says to leave vehicle in SC

They take 1 month to analyse and they finally replace the complete flywheel and DCA gearbox for ~3L, but my warranty was remaining for 3 more months (Thank GOD)

My Final Thoughts

I do know many owners who are happy with my same model and I just got a bad lemon with manufacturing defect. But, there is no way of knowing what you can get with Tata. Imagine paying 15L for a machine and you end up beta testing it. Software developers would understand the concept of "testing in prod", but only with lives at stake.

It is very easy to blame the SC guys but the real issue is in the Manufacturing Unit and the QC or the lack thereof. You simply cannot manufacture a defective machine and expect to fix it in the service centre.

I made friends with the Chennai guy after lots of fighting and he explained me clearly the issue and also hinted that it will happen again because my entire batch is faulty. Also, for installing a DCA engine you need a calibration expert and it takes 1 full hour to do it properly even in factory but they are expected to do it in 30 mins in a small bay as there are 10 more vehicles for the day.

Buying a Tata vechicle is like literllay trying out your luck. A car should work for you and you should not work for your car. If you want peace of mind, never go for TATA.

Posting this becaue, when i was in the market in 2023, I would have been saved had I listened to an actual TATA owner. Hope this helps someone!

Don't get me wrong, I don't care for gimmicky features or 360-degree cameras. But I'm very disappointed with the Elevate ZX CVT's camera quality, display, and lack of adaptive reverse guidelines.

Having a good quality reverse camera with adaptive guidelines is a mandatory requirement for me.

I am fixed a CVT, and the Elevate’s engine-gearbox combo is hands-down the best in the segment. But compared to the benchmark camera in the Seltos, the Elevate’s feed (especially the left blind-spot camera) looks really poor.

Is there an option to upgrade just the camera and add adaptive guidelines aftermarket while retaining the stock screen? How much of this can actually be fixed?

I really want to buy the Elevate, but paying ₹18L OTR and needing aftermarket tweaks right away is pushing me toward the Seltos IVT. Need some honest feedback from current owners!