Tag Archives: Testdrive

Tata Zest #ZestUpYourLife #tatamotors Auto Review

Tatas are on a roll, literally you would know if you drive the new Tata Zest car. They have upped the game for sure with a lot of first in the segment / class for sure. The car has lot of features which will put a lot of pressure on the competition and for sure this looks Tata’s time of reckoning is here and now. My partner on this drive was the very very enthusiastic Santosh! Fresh from meeting Narain Karthikeyan he was pumped up to test the car to the limits and he did, not to be outdone I also did the same.

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Am amazed by the fact that they have taken on a philosophy of making a car with three distinct practical values in Design, Drive and Connect and being the futuristic and first in class that they are they call these DesignNext, DriveNext and ConnectNext.

Lets look at the appearance, has a great look with the signature TATA logo and a grille actually has a appearance of a ready to go machine.  A stronger shoulder line accentuates it in the side and the rear is well done rounded and has a design to give a very stylish look.

Not to miss are the Projector headlamps, and day time running lamps a first in its class. The LED tail lamps are another attraction and if you are talking about all these the colors are absolutely great and makes the car look pretty and stylish back to front and vice versa. The 15 inch alloy wheels are standard equipment . Has the widest body and lengthier in its segment.

You have a clean and very well thought out interiors, you sink in the seats very comfortably, adjust it and the steerin wheel looks pretty with the controls on the sides.

Tata zest dashboard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The steering wheel has all the features which fit in pretty cool and if I may add its about 20 mm lesser in diameter that the rest of its contemporaries. The diameter reduction is compensated using brushless motors and it gives u full control and gets back to its original position without much delay.

You don’t have to take your hands off, and especially in the fully loaded version your voice command can almost get you a song from the phone connected via bluetooth, make a call and more importantly enjoy the drive.

You could even change the temperature of the AC with Voice Control.  We did change the AC two times and it made it happen like a genie! Change songs as much as you want tell the player what you want and it shall be played. All at a touch of button to activate voice control. It was surprising it could understand the songs in HIndi! And add to that 4 Speakers, 2 in the front and 2 in the back with tweeters added to make you not miss a beat.

There was enough leg room and the seats could be adjusted to the hilt. The interior is nicely done and has a charm to it and adds to look and feel of a big car. I think we found a bottle holder missing in its size and was at the front rather almost close to the manual part of the AC and Sporty/ECOmode changers. Talking of which AC is excellent and cools fast and throws in good measure.

It can easily seat 5 people has a boot space pretty well furnished and has a good leg space too which actually is the most cabin roominess in its segment.

We did test the ABS, its works absolutely in the corners and makes it a breeze to cruise without making any difference to the cars stability.

The engine is called Revotron for the petrol version with three modes in Eco / Sporty and City.

Then we have a first of its kind Automatic Diesel with AMT – Auto Manual Transmission. It gives a control of changing gears with just moving it up and down. Awesome isnt it.

Now to the best part of driving the cars! 

We started with the Diesel – A very cool composed car at first impression. On the auto drive mode,  you start the car, the car comes alive but there is not much noise. You slowly press on the gas and it goes zoom as much as you want.  The car zips past the speeds at ease and you have a very lively and engaging steering wheel to support. And then you press the brakes, it goes to a stop like a kitten. No jarring et al.

The ground clearance was pretty good as we tested it around some bumps and it is easy to handle post the clearing the bump on the road. The suspension does a good job, may be if we had some more people it would not effect the back side of the car.

We tried the Manual Transmission which evidently also becomes Auto if you are lazy not to change the gears manually with a bit of sound as it revs up or revs down.

Otherwise it’s  a breeze and it was the first time driving an Auto for both of us it was a great drive no hiccups and getting settled so fast.

We touched a high speed even on small roads and it was great to handle it without much effort.

You have a winner in the Diesel if we are to go by the experience and city drivers will be happy so will be the ladies.

The next we drove the petrol with 1.2 liter engine, with three modes, normal gears and it was also a responsive and was going smooth even in the 4th gear and a slower speed I think this can as they say lessen gear changes and lead to more fuel economy.

Once it changes to sporty you can feel the difference as if they have been refreshed. It goes fast and handles the roads very well.

The gear could be bit more  smoother than it is otherwise this is a clear winner from TATA and look forward to seeing more Zests on the road and people Zest Up their Life as much as we did Zest Up Our life today.

Cheers

Senthilkumar