Vista Saffire buy and regret it.

I have been using the Vista Aura Saffire 1.2 for about a week and a half and here are my observations.

I had looked at several other cars in the same price range and same segment and ultimately zeroed on Indica Vista 1.2 Saffire Aura thinking it to be the best value for money car. I was a lot apprehensive about the fuel economy of petrol engine as Tata did not do so well with the earlier petrol engines.

I have been driving a Maruti Omni for 10 years and never faced any major issues/mileage problems with the car.

What I thought to be a perfect combination of style, technology and economy is quite far from perfection. I am briefly trying to give you the reasons which broke my heart after buying the Vista.

The mileage of the car is unbelievably low about 6-8 kms with the A/C on in Salt Lake, Kolkata traffic. Even though the 1^st service is not over, I have already driven the car about 400 Kms and don’t expect the mileage to go beyond 10-12 Km/litre even after the 1^st service.

When running the car above 40 KM/Hr, the front wheels are getting heated up and smell of burning rubber is coming out.

The build quality of the mirrors, bumpers and mud flaps are extremely flimsy. Two days back the left mirror just fell of by itself and broke. The mirror was not damaged or hit anyway. I just sat down in the car and closed the door when I saw the mirror falling off into the footpath.(Not the full mirror, just the glass inside the plastic cover)

The power steering is light and easy to drive but not suited for sharp bends or curves. The turning radius of the car is 5 meters compared to others which have 4 meters and you will always find the car to under steer. It becomes difficult to take a U-turn unless you have much space available.

The horn does not work when the steering is at the extreme positions like full left and full right. This is not only annoying but very dangerous.

For me, I have got many a times false reverse gear like the reverse lights glow but the car goes not go back.

And it also takes extra effort to change to reverse, you can go nuts if you drive in city traffic where others vehicles start honking horns even if there is a delay of 2 secs.

I checked with one of my friends who has recently brought the Indigo CS and he reported the same problem.

Not that great Air Conditioner people seated in the back seat does not feel comfortable unless the car has been driven for 30 minutes with full blower and full A/C. Besides you will feel the lack of power from the engine, when trying to accelerate after a slowdown to avoid a pot hole or rickshaw with the full A/C.

Ground clearance is not that good (165 cm) and also the front bumper extend very low to the ground.

If you are taking a test drive does keep these points in mind and test the car accordingly.

That’s all about the car and here goes some of the bitter experiences I faced before taking delivery of the car.

I had to wait for 15 days to get the Cavern Grey color.

I had a scratch on the bonnet, dealer claimed that the damage done was during the transport and will be patched up during 1^st service.

I got the owner’s manual for Vista TDI/Quadrajet even though I bought the Saffire Aura.

I checked other Vistas at the same dealer location and found that all of them had some scrat