My experience of the Tata Zest

Team ‘Awesome‘ with the Zest!

After the lovely Tata Indica Vista D90 ZX experience, BlogAdda and Tata Motors have again come together to partner for their latest landmark compact sedan – ‘Tata Zest’. With Tata known to connect with bloggers in a way like no other corporate, they realized that this is the best way to build a brand connect with their prospective audience. So does it work? Let’s check it out.

We got a chance to drive the top end manual petrol model as well as the mid – level automatic diesel variant. So let’s go one by one with respect to the various features.

The Zesty masterclass!

Exteriors

The design of the car has utilized the experience of the design studios in Pune, Turin and Coventry. Now that has brought a great deal of expertise towards the look and feel of the final product. With the Tata’s signature grille and power bulge in the front, the design in the form of a humanity line and the Revotron and Zest signage’s behind, the car seems to have been literally humanized. If you are looking for a great deal of exterior styling, then there are the 15 inch chunky alloy wheels which gives a stylish feel.

Interiors
The interiors are quite comfortable and give a cozy experience compared to the Vista one. Whether it is the awesomely designed Infotainment system or 8 speakers and tweakers throughout the car giving a fulfilling musical experience, you are bound to love it. Compared to many of its competitors, this one seems to have a slightly more amount of cabin space keeping people comfortable. The steering well auto turnability is about 98% which is again quite good.

I am so focused! 😉

Specifications
While the petrol variant has a 1.2LT Revotron engine, the automatic one has a 1.3LT engine. The Revotron engine gives a power of 89bhp and 140 nm of torque. This is also the first automatic variant in diesel in its class. One of the most awesome features in the manual version is the availability of multiple drive modes – Eco, Sport and City, which take the overall experience of the car to the next level. Whether you want to drive in a cruise mode or be the next Narain Karthikeyan on the highway, this one gives you it all.

The audio system has almost everything including smartphone integration, ability to read your SMSes, voice command recognition and more. Voice Command recognition is quite cool in the sense that the designers have gone to great pains to create a Siri or Cortana like feel in a car. There is a certain way in which you need to structure your instructions like for eg: “Tune to Radio 94.5”. For some, the ability to read SMSes may only be useful when they are alone in the car ;). The touch was not very responsive though.

The improved suspension was on display when we drove into potholes as the drive was quite stable throughout.

Safety
Tata has ensured that safety is paramount for every customer of theirs. The use of the 9th Generation Anti-Braking System (ABS) and a body made of baked hardened steel ensures that you are as safe as possible even in the unforeseen event of a collision.

What am I waiting for?
Price? Have heard it would be about 6-7 lakhs. If that’s the case, we would be in for some interesting times ahead. And moreover, at that price point, it would be the cheapest automatic diesel car in India.
Mileage? Tata is known for providing great mileage with the dominant Indica. Hoping to hear some good news with Zest as well.

With about 29 firsts in this segment including features like LED tail lamps, daytime running lights, multiple modes, most powerful engine in this segment, more cabin space & much more, Tata is ready to give their competitors, a run for their money!

Personally, I hadn’t driven automatic before this and therefore in terms of ease of handling, I felt that it was slightly better than the manual one.

Though individuals may have some bias against Tata cars for various reasons, I would suggest you to test drive this one to get a first hand view.

Are you ready to Zest Up your life?