Tata Tiago Petrol XZ - A Layman's Long Term Ownership Review

[Nanofreak]

Had very bad experience at my 4th service in Neyveli. Every time they used to gift me different scratches in my car but now they had something different for me. They have spilled battery acid all over my battery tray and they returned my vehicle without even cleaning it. I noticed it in the service centre itself and asked them to clean it. But they didn't clean that too properly. Anyone else tip me how to clean it

Hello Arun,
Take your car to the battery shop you know or known to friends, carry a bottle of diesel, let them remove the battery and clean it thoroughly, after which take it to your regular car wash, and repeat with water and soap shampoo, take care not to spray water on electronic in the engine bay.
Hope this helps.

 

[Arun___carenthusiast]

Hello Arun,
Take your car to the battery shop you know or known to friends, carry a bottle of diesel, let them remove the battery and clean it thoroughly, after which take it to your regular car wash, and repeat with water and soap shampoo, take care not to spray water on electronic in the engine bay.
Hope this helps.

Hi ,
Actually I cleaned myself with baking soda and some diy methods but it's of no use. I raised a complaint in TMSC app and mailed them about the service. As a solution the service centre guys cleaned and painted the parts where rust formed.

 

[bhvm]

As a solution the service centre guys cleaned and painted the parts where rust formed.

this is what I was about to say.
Acid cannot be cleaned because it eats away the paint & metal.

 

[Prabhagar]

50000 KM Milestone

Tiago has crossed 50K milestone on 21-Oct which is 1236 days since D day. This is roughly 40 Km per day / 1250 Km per month, which is way more than what I calculated before buying a petrol car.

Since 50K is a special number, I have a gift for this little guy which was running at the back of my head for quite a few months:

Sourced this awesome looking pair of Tigor XZ+ / JTP headlights from boodmo for ~10K. I have to ask around few shops who can do it the right way as it is not a direct lift and drop upgrade. Will update here after completing the installation. Until then, its bye from:

 

[Prabhagar]

Headlight Upgrade

Parts:
Headlights were sourced online from boodmo.com and arrived within 10 days via Fedex shipping. Kudos to boodmo for quick shipping and prompt response when I had to contact support for a payment issue. Below are the part numbers if anyone is interested. There are a couple of styles available with slight changes in design.

Style 1 - Chrome on top of headlight assembly and all black inside. This is the one used by the DIY author Dr Aniketh on his Tiago
Part Numbers: 542554400101 & 542554400102
Style 2 - This has chrome bezels inside for projector but all black on the top. I liked all black top and also cheaper by 2K so I chose this one.
Part Numbers: 542554400126 & 542554400127
Style 3 - Used in current gen Tiago XZ+ variants. This looks almost same as Style 1 but yet to be listed in boodmo for confirmed part numbers.
Part Numbers: Unkown for now

Installation:
So I asked Tata ASC first for headlights installation but they had not done such a retrofit before and were not confident with this work (as usual). Next I asked a couple of car decor shops who quoted north of ₹1000 which did not seem to be a fair price. I then turned to a nearby FNG who redirected me to an auto electrical shop on the way to my daily office commute. Those guys undertake only electrical work for vehicles of all kinds (cars, trucks, buses and so on). They did the installation for a mere ₹300 and the workmanship was very good and nowhere below ASC's quality levels.

This new headlight assembly is a straight fit and no changes are required to mounting them on a Tiago. Even the primary power connector is same and works out of the box. The only incompatibility is with the height adjustment motor pin which is different in new assembly compared to my car's wiring harness. I will check scrap part shops and source them for this to work. Until then I cannot adjust the height of light throw using the headlight stalk below steering wheel.

Another difference is stock setup turns off low beam when high beam is ON. This means in new assembly, when high beam is turned ON, the low beam projector will turn OFF. There is a quick mod mentioned in above post to get both the bulbs glowing at high beam by using a relay. I am however fine with the way it works by default and deferred this later if I really needed both lights for night driving.

Part Links:
https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-headlamp_assy_lh-39713216/
https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-headlamp_assy_rh-39713238/

Parts Cost: ₹10,200/-
Installation Cost: ₹300/-
Leveler Connector: Probably 100 to 200

Bumper removed:

New headlights mounted:

Height adjusment motor connector does not match with Tiago's harness. Gonna hunt scrap market for a matching male connector pair:

Up Close:

Quick Test on a wall revealed RHS is higher than LHS and needs to be aligned properly. Also did a test run at night only to know that even low beams are at a higher spot, just enough to blind oncoming drivers. Should align the headlights first even before sorting out leveler connector:

Signing Off:

 

[Nanofreak]

Headlight Upgrade
View attachment 266176​

Parts:
Headlights were sourced online from boodmo.com and arrived within 10 days via Fedex shipping. Kudos to boodmo for quick shipping and prompt response when I had to contact support for a payment issue. Below are the part numbers if anyone is interested. There are a couple of styles available with slight changes in design.

Style 1 - Chrome on top of headlight assembly and all black inside. This is the one used by the DIY author Dr Aniketh on his Tiago
Part Numbers: 542554400101 & 542554400102
Style 2 - This has chrome bezels inside for projector but all black on the top. I liked all black top and also cheaper by 2K so I chose this one.
Part Numbers: 542554400126 & 542554400127
Style 3 - Used in current gen Tiago XZ+ variants. This looks almost same as Style 1 but yet to be listed in boodmo for confirmed part numbers.
Part Numbers: Unkown for now

Installation:
So I asked Tata ASC first for headlights installation but they had not done such a retrofit before and were not confident with this work (as usual). Next I asked a couple of car decor shops who quoted north of ₹1000 which did not seem to be a fair price. I then turned to a nearby FNG who redirected me to an auto electrical shop on the way to my daily office commute. Those guys undertake only electrical work for vehicles of all kinds (cars, trucks, buses and so on). They did the installation for a mere ₹300 and the workmanship was very good and nowhere below ASC's quality levels.

This new headlight assembly is a straight fit and no changes are required to mounting them on a Tiago. Even the primary power connector is same and works out of the box. The only incompatibility is with the height adjustment motor pin which is different in new assembly compared to my car's wiring harness. I will check scrap part shops and source them for this to work. Until then I cannot adjust the height of light throw using the headlight stalk below steering wheel.

Another difference is stock setup turns off low beam when high beam is ON. This means in new assembly, when high beam is turned ON, the low beam projector will turn OFF. There is a quick mod mentioned in above post to get both the bulbs glowing at high beam by using a relay. I am however fine with the way it works by default and deferred this later if I really needed both lights for night driving.

Part Links:
https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-headlamp_assy_lh-39713216/
https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-headlamp_assy_rh-39713238/

Parts Cost: ₹10,200/-
Installation Cost: ₹300/-
Leveler Connector: Probably 100 to 200

Bumper removed:

View attachment 266171​

New headlights mounted:

View attachment 266172​

Height adjusment motor connector does not match with Tiago's harness. Gonna hunt scrap market for a matching male connector pair:

View attachment 266173​

Up Close:

View attachment 266174​

Quick Test on a wall revealed RHS is higher than LHS and needs to be aligned properly. Also did a test run at night only to know that even low beams are at a higher spot, just enough to blind oncoming drivers. Should align the headlights first even before sorting out leveler connector:

View attachment 266177​

Signing Off:

View attachment 266178​

This looks killer, sweet.
Check with boodmo for the headlight beam leaveler, could be they can help.
Good job, @Prabhagar

 

[Jaskaran A]

50000 KM Milestone

Tiago has crossed 50K milestone on 21-Oct which is 1236 days since D day. This is roughly 40 Km per day / 1250 Km per month, which is way more than what I calculated before buying a petrol car.
View attachment 265266

Since 50K is a special number, I have a gift for this little guy which was running at the back of my head for quite a few months:
View attachment 265267

Sourced this awesome looking pair of Tigor XZ+ / JTP headlights from boodmo for ~10K. I have to ask around few shops who can do it the right way as it is not a direct lift and drop upgrade. Will update here after completing the installation. Until then, its bye from:
View attachment 265270

Congratulations on completing half milestone. Wishing you more happy miles. I own tiago xz diesel which has clocked 52000 km

 

[Prabhagar]

Congratulations on completing half milestone. Wishing you more happy miles. I own tiago xz diesel which has clocked 52000 km

Thank you and congrats on your white beast as well. I just read your ownership thread and looking forward to your 100000 mark in no time :-).

 

[Prabhagar]

Flip key battery (CR2032) was on its death bed, after 3.5 years of life. 5 consecutive blinks after every press is the cue (see in video). Replaced it with a new Panasonic battery of same spec.

 

[Prabhagar]

Accident Report
On the day of pickup, noticed they had broken the airflow direction knob of center vents and got it fixed right there. And just today I found out corner vent knobs also broken. I have no mood to take this further, will get them replaced later, probably at another ASC in town (or even an FNG).
View attachment 260516

Following up on above post, both of my corner AC vents were replaced today, after 6 months from their broken date. Parts were ordered from boodmo, which arrived along with projector headlights. First few attempts fin removing the orange garnish failed and I just thought to visit ASC for installation (which I hate by the way). However, today I managed to open them successfully and replaced with the new vents. :-)

Part Numbers:
RHS - 542483800137C7 - ₹398 + ₹30 shipping (https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-granit_black_air_vent_assy_rh-33407495/ )
LHS - 542483800135C7 - ₹398 + ₹30 shipping (https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-granit_black_air_vent_assy_lh-33407492/ )

Garnish removed using plastic prying tools. Extremely difficult to locate the locking points and unlatch them.

Had to demolish this web house of a spider who may have been living here for all these days:

Found 2 out of 4 screw threads broken on the left side garnish. And 1 broken, 2 cracked on RHS side straight out of the box. Guess they over tightened these when putting together at the factory.

New OEM air vent from boodmo:

Post installation. Thanks to pry tools without which plastics would have scratched for sure.

Finally cockpit looks like its supposed to look:

 

[Prabhagar]

3.5 Years / 7th Service Update (23-Oct-2019):​

This is a post dated post which I had missed to create in Oct 2019. The 6 months minor service was done and literally nothing was done except namesake checks. I did raise few issues which were deferred for various reasons:

• Oil sump seepage
  • Requires replacing the sump's packing which can be clubbed with next service visit involving oil change.
• Steering slightly tilted towards right
  • Steering was calibrated which did not resolve the issue. I skipped wheel alignment because they were done at an outside shop just a month ago.
• Occasional AC compressor not kicking-in at traffic signal idling (only blower worked)
  • The geniuses at ASC sincerely tested AC performance INSIDE their covered workshop area and wrote off as a non-issue.
• JTP Headlight installation query
  • This was just an inquiry to check if they were open to install the JTP style headlights which I had bought from Boodmo. None of the service folks had any clue on this upgrade and I didn't want to take a chance with them doing the swap. Ended up installing it at a local auto electrical garage (details in this post)
• Tak Tak noise from engine bay:
  • There was a weird 'tak tak' kinda noise when rolling off from stand still and I couldn't reproduce it during pre-service test drive to the technician. Luckily after I managed to grab a video, the noise stopped by itself without having to intervene further. Noise appeared to come from the bonnet latching mechanism, which actually appeared good without any sign of corrosion/wear.

Oil Sump Seepage:

Engine Bay Noise Video:

Invoice Copy:

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

Steering callibration needs to be done at a good alignment shop , who have experience with these things , else it would cause uneven wear fo tyres soon .(A 100kms run with a migaligned vehicle can cost half the tyre life)

 

[bhvm]

Noise appeared to come from the bonnet latching mechanism, which actually appeared good without any sign of corrosion/wear.

This can be a killer, if Hood props up during Ride. Please inspect Thoroughly.

Occasional AC compressor not kicking-in at traffic signal idling (only blower worked)

Is the idle RPM proper enough?

 

[Prabhagar]

Steering callibration needs to be done at a good alignment shop , who have experience with these things , else it would cause uneven wear fo tyres soon .(A 100kms run with a migaligned vehicle can cost half the tyre life)

Its funny that outside shops complain this is software calibration issue and ASC guys have no interest in solving it (even during next service visit). I am yet to find a good alignment shop here in Coimbatore.

This can be a killer, if Hood props up during Ride. Please inspect Thoroughly.

Yes sir, did a thorough inspection on the latch.

Is the idle RPM proper enough?

No issues with idling. In fact, whenever compressor doesn't kick in, I just have to raise idling from the usual 950-ish to 1100-ish RPM to bring it to life. Also, the only pattern I could noticed with this is that it occurs only when car was parked under sunlight for a long time (> 1 hr). Something that does not happen on a daily basis.

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

I can help you with this steering alignment issue , just answer these questions ...
1. Steering in centre position , vehicle pulls to either one side ?
2. Tried rotating tyres , still issue persists ?
3.Sure of rims ? - No bends or dents
4.No complaints to suspension and related components
If answer is yes to all ...
Ask them to check steering play , adjust that first and then take it to a good alignment shop , having software for Tiago and do the alignment .(Most good alignment shops , know even adjusting this steering play ), steering play is a small correction , usually given to pick up vehicles as their alignment get faulty due to overloading (Axle issue i think )- this info was from one of my friend in ASS.
I had alignment issue in my ride ,steering play was corrected and alignment was redone , you can check my thread - Glistening Grey Swift .