#TIGORStyleBack in the heart of New Delhi!
The brand new, upcoming arrival of Tata Motors, after Tata Hexa& Tata Tiago, is the Tata Tigor. To be pronounced Tee-gor, I was one of the lucky few, to get the firsthand experience of the vehicle recently. This is a simple, elegant car meant for the young Indian family, interested in Style along with Comfort, usually as an upgrade from the basic first car! Read on to know more about my experience with new Tata Tigor.
To begin with, this is a Sub 4m Compact Sedan. Going by the looks, the front pretty much looks like a Tiago and the major difference is beyond the B pillar (get it? ‘Style’ ‘Back’?). Third in line following the design philosophy of Tata Hexa and Tata Tiago is Tata Tigor.
More than anything else, the boot is what totally took me aback. In the first look, I did not even get the way it functioned! Actually the hinges are on the side, making the space high and completely utilizable!
I took a 104km ride from Andaz Delhi close to Indira Gandhi International Airport to Heritage Transport Museum and back both in Petrol and Diesel variants along with Hemal Shah and Dimpi Sanghvi in my car. Unfortunately, unlike the ride with Hexa where the route included Highway, village roads, dirt tracks and more, this route was almost completely highway, which made, trying it out in assorted terrains impossible! However I managed to put the vehicle in some strain, trying it out on high speed, speed bumps, potholes etc.
Of the 2 variants I drove, the petrol variant definitely scored better than the diesel variant. The petrol version is powered by 1.2L Revotron 3-cylinder Petrol (MPFI) Aluminium Engine which displaces a maximum power & torque of 85ps and 114Nm. The diesel variant is powered by Revotorq 1.05L diesel engine which churns out a power output of 70ps/140Nm. Both come with the Multi-drive options of City and Eco modes. Both the variants, are transmitted through 5-speed MTS. The team at Tata Motors has acknowledged the need for AMT version which will be introduced later depending on market demand.
Coming to my ride experience, we hit the road at 6:30AM on a Saturday morning (obviously to escape Delhi’s painful traffic). I managed to push the vehicle to deliver a 120kmph with the diesel variant and could feel the strain on the engine & the vibration on steering wheel. To test the brakes, while cruising at 100, I hit the break hard and brought down the speed to 80, and it took solid 3 secs! The gear shift is a bit notchy in the diesel version and got stuck more than a couple times during upshift. This issue was absent in petrol version. The petrol version feels more like a driver’s car as you feel more confident when behind the wheels. It feels more responsive, cornering is more precise, and the feedback from engine is great when you put gas on the pedal.
The diesel vehicle, vibrates a lot in high speed and the acceleration lags a bit as well while this is absent in petrol. Both the versions really need some noise cancellation feature – the external noise is very much audible inside!! Staying true to its nature, the Eco mode lags a bit more than City mode while accelerating and I had to rely on shorter gear shifts to extract the maximum juice.
The 170mm ground clearance makes the speedbumps an easier thing to deal with! While sitting in the rear seat, I felt that the suspension is on a softer side in the petrol version while is a wee bit stiffer in diesel. The back seat is more spacious coz of 2 factors – one, the width of the vehicle is more than the Tiago and there is no space between the body and the seat!
The upholstery looks elegant made of fabric with dobby detailing. The AC is so powerful that it kept Delhi’s heat at bay! The back seat has a foldable centre armrest complete with storage slots (cup holders). Talking about the storage slots, this has a whopping 24(!!!!!), including a hook near the co-passenger in front for bags, a clip on the windshield for gate passes, toll gate slips etc!
Similar to this, there are quite a few factors that Tigor lends from Hexa, like illuminated cooled glove compartment, 8 speakers, voice command, split LED tail lamps, hexagonal grill design, touch screen infotainment by ConnectNext of Harman that also includes navigation by Navimaps, rear parking camera etc. ‘Impact Design’ here too!!! Some other factors include fully automatic climate control, full length LED high mounted stop lamp etc. The colors available incl Copper Dazzle, Platinum Silver, Pearlescent White, Espresso Brown, Berry Red.
The top end variants alone have the rear parking camera which is OK, but it’s only these models that have the dual front airbags as well. As I said earlier in the Hexa post, as someone who is alive today coz of airbags, that’s where pinching for me! I feel it’s high time we make airbags mandatory for all manufacturers even for their basic models.
My final take on Tata Tigor is that it is an excellent amalgamation of Style & Comfort! While you get to know the price when it is officially launched, people might purchase it even if it is priced slightly higher if there’s value for money. However, it’s an already flooded segment and given the track record of Tata Cars in non-commercial passenger vehicle (unlike Indica, Indigo) and their service, Tata Motors really has to price it competitively. We have to wait till 29th Mar and find that out!
P.S.1: Though the post says the author is Bhushavali, this test drive was done and the post was written by Venkat!
P.S.2: I was invited by Indiblogger on behalf of Tata Motors to experience Tata Tigor. However the opinions are my own and this post does not to advertise the product/service. A very big thanks to Indiblogger for this wonderful opportunity.