Tata Zest–A Zestful Ride Experience

Posted on July 27, 2014 by Nirav Thakker

Day 2 of the Tata Motors and Blogadda collaborated Tata Zest experience was no less fun. While Day 1 was full of takeaways in terms of learnings and master classes, Day 2 had us actually driving the car around, around Goa and in Goa. Scenic winding roads, green cover, the sun and the rain. All playing a perfect hide and seek. It only made the experience all the more thrilling.
Driving the nail straight home, I will directly dive into the review of the car without any further ado. First Up is a little about the car itself followed by F-Tronic powered AMT (Automatic-Manual Transmission) Diesel engine and then the Revotron powered Petrol engine. Drove both around, but then I would leave deciding which one is to your liking back to you.
About the Tata Zest:
Tata Zest has been a product of 3 years of back breaking research, innovation and commitment. A commitment to the people of the Indian Democratic that we can produce cars no less than the Japanese, Koreans, Europeans or the Americans if not better. Tata here, however, has delivered a death knell to most of these manufactures. Featuring 29 segment firsts, Tata has definitely got it right with the car in all the sweet spots! I am sure, with this onslaught, the others must be running for cover! A common platform across the two variants differing only in the fuel, the car takes care of not just the bling in terms of gadgets but also in safety. ABS, SRS are standard, but Tata has gone further ahead and used ABS9 and Dual SRS bags deploy ability.
The car is fully future proof and can be upgraded like any other car with a plain straight firmware upgrade. The car also features an advanced level of Noise Level Insulation that prevents any kind of noise from filtering in. It is all kept out and you are good to have all the favorite gossip you want without being bothered about the sound from out on the road. While the gossip is on, the powerful as Jaguar AC manages to keep the temperature and the climate n control and comfortable! I would be ready to give up just about anything if you broke out into a sweat! Well, not if you got scared while driving! The car having a longer wheel base than the others in the segment is utterly stable and has excellent cornering ability. On a N bend, I had no difficulty in getting the car through without losing out on my speed or experience! The car also comes with best in class interiors and space that none other can offer. After all, it’s a Tata Car!
F-Tronic powered AMT Diesel engine:
Tata has always been known for its diesel engines and has always got them right. This time though, Tata has reinvented the wheel, put in loads of innovation and loads of research. This has not gone in vain and given the Indians and the world one Diesel Automatic-Manual Transmission engine. The engine coupled with an intelligent ECU not only ensures that the gear changes happen at the right time, but in case of Manual, it takes over in case you forget to change the gear and automatically shifts it up or down! The car comes with an ultra-light steering wheel that provides you feedback just when you need it. The rest of the time, the unnecessary jerks and twitches are kept out.
Revotron powered Petrol engine:
Tata’s Revotron powered petrol engine is where the experts have put their brains to most work. While earlier petrol engines from Tata were not really as powerful, the recent iteration manage to shake off all that grime from itself and comes across as a sporty, peppy and Zestful engine! The one that we had driven was a manual transmission and was a real fun drive. The petrol engine comes with 3 modes, Eco, City and Sport; with Eco being for cruising speed on a highway, City for obvious sedate city driving conditions and Sport for when you want a maximum thrust and feel of power! I definitely feel that Sport mode should have been a default with Eco and City as selectable options rather than Eco and Sport as selectable options. I am really sure most of the buyers are going to end up driving in the Sports mode only.
Pros of the car:

Everything is a touch or voice command away
Super comfortable and spacious interiors
Excellent stability and maneuverability.
Programmable features like follow me home head lamps, Call reject SMSes etc.
Excellent looks

Cons of the car:

The Gear definitely felt a bit flimsy on the petrol engine. It transmitted an occasional jerk and often vibrated when on the highway.

Final Verdict:
In all, Tata’s Zest is a wonderful car and great product from the Tata stables. It is more like the stallion that was awaiting in patience to be unleashed in the last. The car performs wonderfully under all conditions and exhibits an aura of premium feel and presence. The projector headlamps and all day running lamps are definitely a segment first and are generally featured in much more expensive cars. With this product, Tata has fulfilled all its promises that it has ever made to us Indians. Truly an Indian car, but it’s not Indica. It’s Zest!
Pics after the break.

Tata Zest–Zest Up Your Life

Posted on July 26, 2014 by Nirav Thakker

Blogadda in association with Tata Motors had hosted us to experience the Zest life at The Zuri Hotels in Goa on the 26^th and 27^th of July. While we were not really sure of what to expect given that this was supposed to be about the car, we were pleasantly surprised the way the entire event was handled. Right from the word Go, everything was very well taken care of and well-coordinated and well-orchestrated; much like a principal would do in an orchestra.
The first day, we were taken through the process of what it is like to make a car. It really was an exhilarating experience. Sandeep Karyakarte explained the nitty-gritties and the philosophy of choosing the Connect Next concepts as well as a brief introduction of the team that actually designed the car. While he was crisp in his presentation, he was also very clear on the reason Tata Zest was made The Tata Zest. An utterly dynamic and magnetic persona. He was followed by Anand Kulkarni who happens to be the chief engineer on the project and he spoke about how Tata through innovations has come up with so many industry and segment firsts. 29 segment firsts to be precise. Some of the concepts like the voice recognition on the infotainment system made so much of sense in this day and age where everything has become smart.
The infotainment system designed in collaboration with Harman Kardron was very responsive and reacted in an apt manner for any events that occurred; be it changing the source of music or calling somebody up or even rejecting a call. Every use case has been thoroughly thought of, designed and implemented. It did not just stop there. We were told that HK had a major hand in designing the acoustics and the hardware. The speakers were HK as well.
A quick talk with the design team revealed how very complex it was to design a car. It took them so many years to get it from the drawing board to a clay model and finally a prototype. Yet, at such a time, the car still has several miles to go before it can be released to public for final usage. The kind of tests that were described were gruesome from the point of the car. It would be forced to crash into a wall at high speeds (Crash Tests) and then it was subjected to endless simulated pot holes on a real road just to see how well the car felt and withstood the stress. However, if I look at this from a user stand point, I think they are doing an excellent job.
The design team also had women on the rolls who were really very elemental and pivotal at deciding what the interiors of the car looked and felt like. To quote Sandeep, “The women were a lot better than men when it came to deciding the actual materials that finally made it into the car.” After all, when anybody steps into the car, it is the interiors that they look at but going a step further, they also feel how it looks like. We spend so many hours of the day behind the wheel almost every day, what fun would it be if it did not feel posh from the inside but only from the outside?