Tata Zest

If I were a catholic and were to kneel before a priest in the confession box and confess everything I know about the Tata Zest to him, my confession would go like this: Father, I drove the Tata Zest the other day. It looks stylish, the interiors are refreshingly comfortable, grabbing the steering wheel gave me a great feeling, throttling it made me feel heady, the car has plenty of exciting features and I loved driving the both the petrol and diesel models. But Father, I am not too confident with the Tata quality because…”  I would then excuse myself and walk out of the church unable to hold back my tears.

From far, the Zest reminds you of an existing Tata car, an Indigo perhaps. I asked a taxi driver standing near me as to how   he felt about the Zest. “This looks like an Indica…what’s new about this car?” In the world of taxis in India, Tata cars were once much in demand, but now it's more of cars like the Toyota Innova, Maruti Dzire, Hyundai Santro, etc that offer better mileage with hardly any maintenance. In the private world of passenger cars, Tata sales are slipping like the vanishing monsoon clouds in India.

To be fair to the House of Tatas, the company has put in several years of hard work behind the new Zest. It’s a sub-4 meter sedan.  The company says that it exemplifies the Horizonext themes of Designext, Drivenext & Connectnext for its passenger vehicle business. These words mean nothing to an ordinary car buyer in India where terms like mileage, durability, value for money, resale value, maintenance and performance matter.

The Zest comes with a new styling but with loads of carryover from one of its existing models. Projector headlamps are complemented by chrome accents and day-time running lights. The rear LED lamps and a bold chrome accent bumper make the Zest stylish from the rear too. It rolls on sporty 15” alloy wheels.

More than the exterior, it is the interior which is really “Wow”. It’s brand new and never seen before in a Tata car. There’s a neatly-layered dashboard with dual-tone - Java Black & Latte. Integrated within is an infotainment screen and Tata Motors next-generation 3-spoke steering wheel. Let me tell you, once you grip this wheel with your bare hands, you actually feel you are a zillion times smarter than F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan who is the car’s brand ambassador. Not to miss are the wing-shaped central instrument cluster Bezel, gear knob, precisely detailed air vents and sculpturally designed console, connected in a single wing-shaped graphic.

There are plenty of chrome embellishments on the instrument panel, vents, gear knob and on-door release handles. The centre console comes with an exciting infotainment experience and a Fully Automatic Temperature Control, finished in Piano Black, with a painted metal feel.

There is ample room for everyone in the car. The boot offers decent space for all your travel bags. The Zest comes in both petrol and diesel engine options. As we stepped into rain-soaked Goa to drive the petrol and diesel Zest, we were confident that both would offer us enough delight in some form or other.

The turbocharged multi-point Fuel Injected (MPFi) petrol engine, Revotron 1.2T engine, delivers around 89 bhp of power @ 5000 RPM and a peak torque of 140 Nm @ 1750-3500 RPM. The Revotron 1.2T has a water-cooled turbo-charger which delivers great response.  The beauty about the petrol car is that it comes in three modes: Sport, City and Eco. The throttle response in the Sport mode is mind blowing. On an empty road, this car in this mode can make you feel like a race driver. The diesel car comes with an F-Tronic technology-enabled, 5-speed Automated Manual Transmission (AMT), with both Automatic and Sequential mode of gear-shifting, developed in collaboration with Magneti Marelli. Here too the power is around 89bhp and a fancy torque of 200 Nm. This AMT too has dual drive modes: City and Sports mode. Needless to say, it’s the Sport mode which I loved the most.

The Zest comes with EPAS (Electronic Power Assisted System), with speed sensitivity and ‘Active Return’ function – a first in the segment. It also has the most advanced ninth generation ABS with EBD (Electronic Brake Distribution) for improved braking efficiency. Ride quality is excellent which can be attributed to dual-path suspension, coupled with a zero-pivot sub-frame and anti-roll bar. Along with acoustic champions Harman, the company has designed and engineered a brilliant audio and infotainment system.

The 5-inch touchscreen supports meaningful multimedia experience while there is also advanced Bluetooth technology for smartphone integration. The car comes with four speakers plus 4 tweeters. The system enables smart voice recognition which understands user commands, SMS notification and read-outs.

The Zest, in my opinion, may not be the segment best, but it has definitely raised the bar for all future Tata car models!

Tata Zest Diesel F-Tronic AMT

Tata Zest Petrol