Tata Zest - Tata Motors’ Second, More Premium Sub-Four-Metre Sedan

Tata Zest 2014

Tata Motors was the first carmaker to launch a compact sedan – the Indigo CS – and in doing so, created a whole new segment. After that, the segment exploded, with cars like the Swift Dzire, and recently the Amaze and Xcent, gaining immense popularity. The thing is, these cars are substantially more premium than the ageing Indigo CS, which has now gone out of the limelight. Now Tata wants to take Maruti, Honda and Hyundai on with a new sub-four-metre sedan that’s every bit as modern and upto the minute – the Zest. If it looks familiar, that’s because the Zest has been derived from the Tata Vista, as has the new Bolt hatchback, which will arrive later in the year. However, both have been thoroughly re-engineered from the grounds up and, Tata says, will be good enough to take on the best in the segment.

There’s little doubt this is an attractive car. The headlights are shapely and now contain projector lamps. The grille has a hexagonal mesh with chrome surrounds, and the bumper is nicely sculpted too. You will also get LED daytime-running lights. At the rear, the new boot has been pretty well integrated, especially considering the four- metre restriction the designers had. The car in these pictures has oversized 16-inch alloy wheels and production cars are likely to come with 15-inch wheels or smaller.

The biggest effort, however, appears to have been made in the cabin; this is easily Tata’s best-looking interior to date and looks more modern than either the Amaze or the Dzire. There’s a lot more design flair compared to the bland-looking cabin of the Vista, and the combination of the luxury car-like steering wheel, large size touchscreen audio system and high-quality air-conditioning system mean this car looks like anything but a Tata car on the inside. 

“The Zest is the first of a new wave of Tata passenger cars.”

Tata Zest Front View

 What helps it look good is that the combination of colours and textures work really well. This top-of-the-line car uses a black-and-cream two-tone colour scheme, and there is also chrome, piano-black and brushed silver plastic on the dashboard. The quality of materials and the fit and finish are a substantial improvement over the Vista, although you will find a few pieces that have been carried over from the old car – like the indicator and wiper stalks. The seats, dashboard, gear lever and steering wheel get leather trim, although this is likely to be only on the top trim.

On the equipment front too, the Zest is a quantum leap over the Vista and Manza. There’s a new, fully integrated touchscreen system that features Bluetooth, USB, aux-in and an SD card reader, and even navigation and voice-operated functions. There’s also automatic climate control, steering controls, parking sensors, electric mirrors, and a digital trip computer that shows you real-time fuel efficiency, range and distance to empty.

The seats, both front and rear, have been thoroughly reworked for better comfort and support. That means tweaks to the cushioning, the seatback angle at the rear, and even scooping out the backs of the front seats for better rear legroom. The Vista and Manza were really spacious and this car carries on that legacy. However, the 360-litre boot is a fair bit shy of the class-leading 407 litres of the Hyundai Xcent, and apart from a big glovebox, two cup holders and some slim door pockets, there’s not much in the way of cabin storage space.

Tata Zest Interior

This car will get the option of either a petrol or a diesel engine. The new petrol is a turbocharged version of the existing 1.2-litre engine, and so gets a healthy power bump to 84bhp, with pulling power (torque) up to a solid 14.28kgm. What’s sure to work well on this engine is the dual advantage turbo charging brings. On the one hand, efficiency is likely to be similar to that of a small 1200cc engine, but on the other, the midrange is likely to have a nice slug of power that will be quite useful when you want to overtake or get upto speed quickly. The engine will also have gained substantially from the turbo charging in the area of refinement and smoothness.

The diesel engine is the same Fiat Multijet-based 89bhp, 1.3-litre engine as on the Vista D90 and the Manza. This smooth-running engine delivers plenty of pulling power and Tata says it has improved how quickly power is delivered as well. The company also says that refinement and especially the insulation of the cabin has been improved substantially.  

While both engines will get five-speed manual gearboxes by default, the diesel will get the option of an auto gearbox. It will be similar to the one on the Maruti Celerio, an AMT, and that will mean it too will be quite affordable and efficient as well. What remains to be seen, however, is how well the gearbox manages to deal with the turbo lag of the diesel engine: it just might feel a bit sluggish to begin with. The AMT, however, is likely to be the most affordable automatic diesel car in the country.

“The cabin design is the best we've seen in a Tata car to date.”

Tata has also worked heavily on the car’s chassis and suspension to give it more agility and has even roped in racer Narain Karthikeyan to tune the handling of the car. There’s a new electric steering system that now comes with a more rigid mounting, the front and rear suspension has been re-tuned and Tata has worked hard to improve braking performance as well.

Tata looks to have created a very credible alternative to the current crop of hot-selling compact sedans. It looks much nicer on the outside and the inside, cabin quality is several times better than what we expect from Tata and the raft of new features available is sure to delight customers as well. In addition to all this, the new engine and gearbox combinations are sure to make the new car more exciting too. What remains to be seen is how well the car drives after a thorough test. One thing’s for sure, we can expect the price to be very competitive, given Tata’s reputation for delivering excellent value, and car buyers are sure to love that.