Tata Grande? Why Grande? Why not a Scorpio, Safari, or at least an Innova...

[junaid]

The title kind of gives away doesn't it? Oh, well, i have always been expressive when it comes to such, in fact people around say, i don't need to speak much for them to understand what's going on in my head...

OK, enough about Me, its not a Long Term Ownership report about Myself (may be i could ask my Parents & wifey to write one)

Yes, this is going to be a very amateurish attempt on writing a Long Term Ownership report on Grande, Tata Grande (the name's Bond, James Bond ishtyle)...

Now, I'm not sure if i would do justice to writing this, as i have read a lot of such reports remembering a few from Godfather hrag shishirbn Wheels mugen... have great reports, way to go guys

ya, ya, i know most of the names i have picked are Mods here, now, you all will say there you go he's AGAIN, just to increase those green bars next to his ID, but hey, i did not find many ownership reports getting regular updates so i just randomly picked up the names...

Anyway the point is these guys have maintained their logs really well starting from Service 1, and till date, where as i do not have much on hand information, of past 3+years, services, issues, tech details, etc... back then never thought i will be writing a report.

Nevertheless, i shall give my best shot to keep it crisp, and at any point you feel it could be made better please feel free to suggest, and remember this is my first attempt in writing, a report, soo

For now, leaving you with the Pic's of Grande, when we welcomed her into the family 3+ years back...
(sorry for the quality, pics were taken from mobile cam)

[simpleman]

More please.

[NFSpoet]

Dayum! The grande is such a butch-y car! Awesome!!

Tell us more....drive and all!

[eccentricloner]

Tata Grande? Why Grande? Why not a Scorpio, Safari, or at least an Innova...

because small wheel base and large front and rear overhangs might result in poor stability.

[Squid]

Sleek drive! Go for some mean alloys + wide profile rubber! It will make the machine more

[junaid]

More please.

Dayum! The grande is such a butch-y car! Awesome!!

Tell us more....drive and all!

Coming Up Boy's

because small wheel base and large front and rear overhangs might result in poor stability.

Hmm... well, i would not agree on that, Grande wheelbase is same as Safari... i have driven Scorpio a lot and a bit of Safari too, but always felt Grande floats lesser than the other 2, so stability factor is better...

Sleek drive! Go for some mean alloys + wide profile rubber! It will make the machine more

Plan is on for Alloys, from the time we bought it... but I'm going to get them soon

[junaid]

So why an SUV? and not a Sedan...

To answer that i would have to take you guys in flash back, don't worry will not be an Indian daily soap TV serial kind... will keep it short

We had a 2002 Santro Zip Drive, and a 97 Zen... Both the cars were driven well, driven pretty well in fact (lots of kilometers)... So it was time to replace one of them.

Another reason, family was getting bigger, my little Bro, was no longer little, he could suddenly not fit in the back seat, or on Abba & Ammi's lap... and since my marriage was also around the corner, Abba decided lets get an SUV, which can accommodate us all...


Decision Time...

We had to sell one of the car mainly due to parking problem, also, then there was no need of a third car (later we regretted so much on this decision), so it was very hard to decide which 1 would be sold since both the cars were very dear to us, but 1 of them had to go ...

It took too much of me to let the Zen off, so we decided to sell the Santro with a very very heart... but before that we had to buy the new car, as we cannot manage with 1 car at home in case the Santro is sold.


New Car Hunt begins...

The time was around May/June 2008, contenders were;

1. Innova
2. Grande
3. Scorpio
4. Tavera

Xylo was not included, as it was still a computer code in May/June 2008...

Tavera?? what on earth is Tavera doing in the list, and no Safari? Bolero? why junaid? why? you may ask...

I shall answer...

This may seem very amusing to you all, but our purchase decision was mainly based on the 3rd row comfort of the vehicle.

Abba said 'find an SUV in which we all can travel in good comfort, including the 3rd row'...

The requirement was loud and clear, "comfort.. comfort.. and only comfort"..
(sounds like... entertainment, entertainment, and only entertainment)

So Tavera, had to be considered because of the 3rd row seating, and out went the Safari, Bolero, a good used Pajero (yeah, you read it right), and also a used Hyundai Tucson available at a great bargain.


Getting back to the 4 contenders, there has been enough and more written about them all over the Internet, so i am not going steal sentences of an auto journo and paste it here...

However, what i would do is, write about my own experience with these vehicles based on the the number of Kilometers i have driven and not in reference with the stuff written on the Internet.

Also, mentioning the dealer experiences here with each vehicle, hope its OK with you all to read:


The SUV's


Innova

A very dear friend used to own this, i have driven his Innova a lot of Kilometers, i do not remember the number if times we have done a South India tour in this car just for the Kick.

Beautiful Car, yes, i would call it a Car, not an MPV, and why shouldn't i, it drives like a Car... Its so comfortable that at times we used to reach places, park it at some petrol pump, and doze off in the Car for the night..

Ohh.. of course those were the good old bachelor days.. we could sleep any where.

Anyway coming back to Innova, driving at speeds excess of 120kmp, it holds the road firm, i never once felt nervous, and I'm yet to figure out what holds Innova in the corners, you throw her at any speed at any daam corner she comes clean, very Impressive.
So, great drive-ability, gem of an engine, super comforting interiors, looks delicate but tough, with the go anywhere attitude, and superb resale (not a criteria).
Also, the Family too has traveled a fair amount in this Car, we were all very familiar with Innova, so this was the first choice.

On one of the day, Abba said... 'we know what Innova is all about, and it will be a waste of time to take up test drive, just call the dealership and check what documentation is needed from our end, lets go and book it today'... and unanimously it was decided by all that color is going to be Black.

I call the dealership, and was assigned a sales exe on call, he gave me the details, and i made it very clear to him that we will be coming over at 12.30PM, and i DO NOT need a test drive, we just need to do the booking.

Abba & Me reach dealership around 12.20PM, and ask for this guy i spoke with, they said hes gone with someone for test drive and he will be back soon, was the answer given to us, we said fair enough and sat down.. its 12.45 and no sign of him... Abba says 'go and ask them where this guy is, if he is taking time then let them assign someone else...' i go to the reception, and ask them to call this guy, if he is late i tell them to assign someone else, they call and check with him he says he is on the way, and will be back in 10 more minutes. I say OK and go back to where Abba was seated.

Its 1.15 PM (approximately, 1hr from the time we reached dealership) and no sign of him yet and no one else attends to us, Abba gets up from the chair, and says.. 'come with Me'... walks straight into the Manager's cabin, and i follow, the Manager has dug his head into the comp...

He was rudely shocked to see both of us walk in so directly, but politely asks Abba, 'what can i do for you Sir?'

Abba, narrates the story to him, and says... 'i do not like to inconvenience others, so i called took an appointment and came over just to make the booking'... 'since the concerned person we spoke was busy why can you not assign someone else to us, we have been made to wait for an hour, with giving silly reasons'...'and does not seem like a very busy day for you guys, since most of your sales exe's are loitering around the dealership...'

Manager apologies but still rubs in some gyan about their work and process, calls the concerned Sales Exe, now, the moment call goes from the Manager, the very minute this guys is standing in the cabin...

Abba takes one good look at him and says 'were you not smoking standing out side the gate all this while?'.. apparently Abba was noticing this fellow standing and yapping near the gate with some others from past 30 odd minutes, we had never met him so did not know it was the same guy, but his uniform gave it away. This guy panics and blabbers some nonsense about the test drive and jazz...

Abba turns around at the Showroom hall and asks.. 'which customer did you go for the test drive with?'...

Again, Sales rep blabbers... by now we had enough of this crap... Abba, gets up from the chair, shows the Cheque book to the sales guy, and says i was going to book an Innova with this, but you don't deserve it... and we walk out, neither the Manager nor the Sales Exe had the nuts to utter a word.

Honestly, Innova was the only vehicle we were ready to even compromise a little on the 3rd row, had the buffoons at Toyota dealership (its been more than 3 years, so would not be fair to mention the name), had not goofed up. At the end of it Abba said 'cut Innova off the list, and look at other options...'

Basically, Abba, is from old school of thoughts, what cheesed him off the most was not the fact that we were made to wait, he got upset as he believes no one have the right to disrespect a person's time. Abba always says "one should respect others time more than, theirs"

[avinash]

Great start to the thread. The Grande's 3rd row is indeed comfy and very useable.

[Ironhide]

junaid, Thanks for sharing the ownership report. Grande is one my all-time favourite SUV/MUV, it looks butch and mean.

When I was planning to buy Safari, I was so confused that should I go for Top end version of Grande of Base Variant of Safari?

But, I was told by Tata Mechanics and SA that Grande has problem with Its Intercooler as it is located below the engine and there is high risk of damage due to scraps.

Also, extra 20 Horses on Safari made the final decision.

[junaid]

Great start to the thread. The Grande's 3rd row is indeed comfy and very useable.

That was 1 reason for choosing this Vehicle....

But, I was told by Tata Mechanics and SA that Grande has problem with Its Intercooler as it is located below the engine and there is high risk of damage due to scraps.

Ohhh, Boy, have been through your place, does not really help when making a decision, does it? in fact that was the main reason why i decided to title 'Why Grande?'

Also, extra 20 Horses on Safari made the final decision.

But hey, you still got the winner