The Zest is here to stay and win!

The new ‘Tata’ Zest

(the new signature grill... looks good. Pic courtesy - self)

50 top bloggers from various fields landed at the Zuri hotels, Goa for an event organized by BlogAdda sponsored by Tata Motors.

First impression of the car was good with a complete makeover from the current existing Tata motors line-up; except from the front you can’t make out it’s a Tata vehicle from anywhere.

Exteriors:-
>The new signature grill with the ‘humanity line’ and ‘trust line’ looks neat and impressive.

>Moving over to the doors and the body, the plain door look has been made off with and a new bold ‘slingshot line’ and ‘diamond olo’ design is in place that adds a lot of character and oomph to the vehicle.

>The star attraction would be rear look and design, with the sling shot design encompassing the neat and well-designed wraparound ‘LED’ tail lamps and a puffed up rear bumper.

Stepping in, you are greeted with a good combination of beige and black that looks impressive at first sight. The dashboard looks classy and neatly organized and most importantly the steering wheel is light, lighter and is very responsive.

(the line up for the long drives... Pic courtesy - self)

Interiors:-
>Space. Tata, have set a benchmark here over the years and the Zest is no different, it has litres of space everywhere, be it legroom, headroom and the cabin is very airy.

>Noise – I couldn’t believe it was a Tata vehicle I was in, absolutely silent, perfect! The AMT rev noise is a little audible, just though.

>Ride – Smooth as butter, I personally felt the AMT Diesel was far smoother than the petrol as the rev’s are controlled and power displacement is linear. The Sports mode in the Petrol version unleashes the entire 90Ps power and the 140Nm torque and you do feel it. The car cruises and you don’t feel anything when you reach the three digit number on the speedometer.

>Tata has again raised the bar with a brilliant suspension and that translates into no bumps, jerks felt inside the cabin. It literally cruises over bad patches and smaller potholes. Brilliant!

>Cabin & Layout- The layout is cockpit inspired and the dashboard unit console is neatly designed with the top version of the car getting high-end gizmo features, much more than what you can imagine. Getting used to the Voice control may take a little time and its not that flawless, but yes far better than what you see today. It can recognize the Indian accent and that’s a major plus point. The Rugby shoulder seats are brilliant and have good support all around.

(Cockpit inspired dash, neat and organized. Pic courtesy - web)

Safety:-
>Passed the current Indian standards and many more additional International standards.
>Generation 9 ABS.
>Successfully passed the high speed crash tests
>Dual Airbags.

Overall:-
Drove the AMT Diesel and the Manual Petrol vehicles and was well impressed with both of them, my preferred choice being the Petrol just because I’m blessed with more control on what I do and how I do it. The car is based on Horizon next that encompasses Design next (design team), Drive next (engineering) and Connect next (with tie up with Harman audio).

(clay model of the Zest. Pic courtesy - self)

Senthil, an auto crazy fan was my partner on the drives and we both tested the vehicle in our own ways, I was sportier and fast (inspired by meeting Narain Karthikeyan the previous evening) and Senthil was more sedate and steady.

Highs:- Lot of first-in-segment features unleashed by the Tata in the Zest… There are about 29 features that are new for the segment.

>Projector Headlamps, LED daytime running lights.
>Wraparound LED tail lamps.
>15” alloy wheels
>Signature LED tail lamps
>AMT Diesel (brilliant). They say you just cannot abuse the engine, i.e., if you are in Manual mode and revving high, the system automatically changes gears for you and does not allow the vehicle to go over the red line.
>Best in class AC (and can be controlled by the VCT).
>Best in class Audio from Harman (with auto volume adjust according to the speed of the car).

Not sure of the mileage as we didn’t do a real long drive, but as its coming from Tata, you can be rest assured it would be good.

Cons:-
>Storage space looks weak inside, you can’t fit in a 1l bottle. For a traveler like me, this is a big concern.
>Boot looks small and is high loading.
>Petrol version gearbox can be improved much better.
>Little more room for the knees would have been great especially for taller people.
>No CD player… well, moving into the era of digitization this would not matter going forward.

And I termed new ‘Tata’ because Zest is a new beginning, a path breaking trend and Tata is here to stay and win :)

(All set for the ride. Pic courtesy - self)

As someone said, the only way here on for Tata is way up and they are sure going in the right way. I'm hoping for a chance with the 'Bolt' too...

Note: Not all of the images are mine.