Tata Zest Test Drive | Full Review

You first saw it at the Auto Expo and now with in a few days Tata Motors will launch one of its most awaited cars, yes we are talking about the new Zest but an important question remains, what is the Zest like to drive, well than let’s find out.

How does it look: -

At first Glance, it looks like the Tata Zest is one of the best looking cars ever designed by Tata Motors. There are obviously the shades of the Vista design but every thing is changed and every thing just looks better. It is a good looking design and has a lot of presence. To our eyes, the front is the most interesting part as it recognizable as a Tata but you know instantly that it’s new. Tata Motors says there is humanity line and the trust line at the front and these lines join the head lamps and the grill. The front bumper is sculpted and the projector head lamps along with the day time running lights look good. Move to the side and it gets bold character lines plus unlike some one rivals, the boot is neatly integrated. The rearing is lot soft when compared to the front, the LED Lamps and the obligatory chrome provides a premium look to the car. The Zest has 15 inches allow wheels. Built quality is also something we looked out for and we happy to say it is a massively forward compared to the previous Tata Cars plus the same goes is paint finish, you certainly love the Signature Blue color though we have to say Silver also looks classy.

What about the interiors: -

Step inside the Tata Zest and it represents a new look which is on a different level compared to the previous Tata Cars. The quality has gone up to several notches to being among the other cars, in fact we have to say it is even better than some of its rivals. Dual tone interior imparts a premium feel plus it looks and feels good. Tata Motors have certainly nailed the design bit with an attractively designed center console with Piano black finish and a three spoke steering wheel. Dials are also well designed and easy to read plus they also look good. The AC also works quite well. While the front seats are comfy the business end is the rear seat which offer very good head room and leg room plus one thing we notice is the angle of the rear seat actually makes it more comfy than the Manza. Though the boot is certainly smaller than some of its rivals.

What about the features: -

In today’s day and age, features are what pull customers in to the showroom and Tata Motors have stuffed the Zest with a lot of that. First of all, the main talking point is the 5 inch touch screen Harman infotainment system, this system has various features like voice control, touches screen AC controls and there is even SMS notifications and reads out. There are off course feature like climate control, steering mounted controls for Bluetooth and Audio plus power windows, follow me head lamps and parking sensors. The Zest also features dual air bags so then it seems Tata Motors have done well on the features cart.

What about the Diesel Automatic: -

The Zest Diesel has an F-Tronic 5 Speed automated manual transmission. A diesel engine is the familiar 1248 CC 4 Cylinder with 89 BHP and 200 NM of torque. Now in the gear box there is R, N and A Mode plus a button marked as S for Sports mode. There is obviously no park mode. The first credit in automatic and I have to say the shifts were decent but not exactly smooth, there is some jerkiness at low speeds but it all melts away at high speed. For steep progress though we find ourselves using the sports mode a lot and this is where the Zest diesel feels the best but the fact to the matter is that for most of the time, the Zest with this F-Tronic 5 speed automated manual transmission does the job and the main reason for buying automatics in the first place is for the convenience and you get that. When it comes to ride and handling, the ride is not as soft as other Tata cars but it handles really well and it is on the completely different level compared to the previous Tata cars. Its grip and stability is good plus steering is light and pretty direct. So, over all ride and handling department, the Zest impressed us the most.

What about the Petrol engine: -

Highlight in the Tata Zest range is definitely the Revotron 1.2 Turbo Charged Petrol Engine. This is a Segment’s first and under stand ably Zest Turbo Charged Petrol has a lot of advantages over it natural explicated rivals. The numbers are 89 BHP and 140 NM of torque, what really impressed us is the easy to use gear box plus adequate power on offer, refinement too was fantastic. We also like the smooth performance delivery and the general lag free nature. The Zest petrol engine has three modes, Sport, City and Eco. To we have say there is not much massive difference between the three modes. Over all though, the Zest Revotron engine lives up to its height some what and we have to say it is a lot more fun than diesel.

Verdict: -

As you can imagine, we have quite impressed with the Zest and we think as a package, the Zest is right up there at the top of its class. For us even more than the styling or the features, it is the driving dynamics that really impressed us. The way it drives, the way it handles, the gear box, the steering all have been an gigantically over the earlier Tata Cars. Now only thing remaining for the Tata Motors to do, is of course price it comparatively and knowing Tata Motors, they certainly build. So there, the Zest will be the comeback car for Tata Motors and well we think, its going to be a massive success.

Tata Zest Review And Test Drive | Diesel AMT Automatic | Petrol MT

Today we are going to give you a test drive report of the Tata Zest. We drove both Petrol as well as Diesel and the Diesel comes with an automatic this time. This car is pretty attractive is a compact Sedan under 4 meter, from the front you can see, there is large grill and air dams it looks really beautiful, sculpted bonnet design and bumper design, large head lamps with comes with projector head lamps and day time running LED lights which are near the fog lamp housing which in the top end variant. You also get smart alloy wheel when you look at the side and the side profile also have some dynamic lines which make it look good. The dynamic lines run from the front wheel arches all the way to the real tail lamp cluster and it gives it a very dynamic look. The rear also looks interesting, the large and chunky tail lamp cluster which is the combination cluster, some use of chrome on the sides as well as the rear. On the sides, you will see use of chrome around the windows and on the front and rear, around the grill as well as over the license plate area. The rear bumper is also very sculpted in design and comes with an integrated rear fog lamp as well. From design prospective, this car looks really well despites being a compact Sedan. Although the rear is not very proportionate as we are used to seeing in Sedans but this is the new design language of compact Sedans which almost all compact Sedans looks like, so we don’t have any major complaints here.

Let me take you inside the car and door trim is nicely finished and has power window controls for all four power windows and there is also control for the out side rear view mirrors which are electronically adjustable. The door trim is finished in dual tone so is the interiors, the dash board looks good and smart, and it definitely looks premium. The steering wheel is three spoke designs, with large chrome finish Tata Logo in the middle. The steering wheel this time is also very functional and comes with multifunction control, you can control the voice command system of the car as well as the audio system using a multimedia system, and it also comes with key less entry. The central entertainment console is also very interesting, it comes with touch screen entertainment on top of the line variants and it pretty looks very good and premium. The instrumental console is also very attractive and has two large analog dials which come with a tachometer and speedometer. There is also a digital dial in the middle which  shows you the instantaneous fuel economy, average fuel economy, odometer. Talking about the front seats, they are nice and spacious, they are bucket seats and give good support, it is comfortable to drive and give you a good seating position as well. Talking about the rear seats, the cabin is very spacious and the rear seats feel very good to be in, the rear seats are wide, the under thigh support is good, there is enough cabin space, leg room, head room as well as shoulder room. So this car is fairly comfortable on the inside. The door trims come with lot of cubby holes and storage spaces, so you can put some nick nacks etc. the air conditioning is fairly effective but there is no rear ac vents on the Tata Zest, not even in the top end model. The rear seats come with adjustable head restrains, which is a good comfort feature. Talking about the cabin space, it is an over all a very spacious car, it gives good airy feel due to the large windows areas and soothing dual tone interiors. The boot space on the Tata Zest is also fairly good; it is just less than 400 liters of space which is fairly good for a compact Sedan.

Now let me talk about one of the most important factors about a compact Sedan is the ride and handling quality, we test drove both petrol and diesel and one thing which is common in both of these cars is the suspension which is very well tuned on both of these cars. We did drive the car on bad roads as well as the good highways and it drives well on both of the terrains. It is very well planted, feels very good, handling is sharp and the steering feedback is also very good. The petrol car is powered by 1.2 L Revotron engine which comes with multiple modes so you have City mode, Eco mode and Sports mode. The petrol engine is a turbo charged unit and comes with 90 PS of peak power and 140 NM of torque, the sport mode makes it drive really well. It comes with 5 speed manual transmission which has been nicely mated to the engine. We found that the drive was ezyle and it is fun to drive.

Talking about the diesel model, we drove the AMT or the Automatic Manual Transmission, it is not a true automatic transmission but for the driver, it is practically like an automatic transmission, How ever the internals are like a manual transmission. So you get the best of both world, you get the comfort of an automatic and mileage of a manual transmission. During our drive of the automatic manual transmission or AMT Automatic diesel, we found the car to be driving really well how ever near the RPM where the gear shift to place, the car feels a bit jerky when there is an up shift or a down shift. But with the AMT Driving comfort is very good when it comes to over all driving in city congested traffic conditions. There is also a sports mode in the automatic manual transmission car and you can also put it to manual mode by sliding the gear knob towards the left side.

Summing up are review of the Tata Zest, it looks good, it gives you a lot of space, it comes with a lot of features, bells and whistles and is very good value for money. We also expect very good fuel economy from this car, we expect the diesel to deliver approximately 20 KMPL in the real world and the petrol to deliver around 15 KMPL in the real world provided that you drive in a normal condition.

We hope you enjoyed this review. Don’t forget to give us a thumbs up by pressing the like button below. Do let us know what more you want in the comment section below. 

Tata Zest Review | Price | Specification

This is a latest compact Sedan from Tata Motors and its call the Zest, it’s loaded with the interesting technologies many of which are a first in the segment. We took a drive in the petrol and the diesel TataZest. Both of which have great things to offer. First a quick look at the design of the Zest, the front gets a bolder look & set back with the projector head lamps but the over all design is not really all new as it been developed on the Vista platform. The car Zest is 4 meters long but supports a large cabin which gives it a very stubby rear. How ever they give it an impression of width the LED powered tail lamps with wraps up on the boot and have a chrome strip running between them.

Now let’s get down to worth really special about this 1.2 L Revotron petrol engine and Zest be a driving. For one, it’s a completely new turbo charged 4 cylinder petrol engine developed by Tata a first in a compact Sedan and two, its got multiple drive modes, Eco for fuel efficiency and Sport for power, well the default is City Mode. This 1.2 L Revotron unit puts out 140 NM of torque at a pretty wide RPM range allowing for good pick up in city conditions and for over taking. The refinement levels on this engine have good and the 5 speed gear box shifts quite positively without complaint. The clutch too is very light and the Electric Power Steering has decent feel to it like you get a quite an entertaining Sedan to drive on the whole. Fuel efficiency indicated on the MID of the Zest petrol was over 13 KMPL in a short test drive which is pretty decent. Next is 2^nd drive Diesel Zest, this one is special as it is the first diesel compact Sedan to come with 5 speeds an Automated Manual transmission for what Tata called the F Tronic Transmission. The Zest diesel is powered by 1.3 L multijet diesel engine putting out 90 PS of power and 200 NM of torque. The gear box is what special, it comes with 3 drive options, A for auto which is for what you normally driving and the car will handle the shifts for you, shifted to side and you can drive it like a manual shifting when you want although the car is intelligent enough to down shift if you drop the RPM too much and then there is Sport mode for a bit more punch. How ever the AMT units is bit of a lazy gear box and is best suited for stop and go city conditions, fuel efficiency though seems good as we were getting an indicated 16+ KMPL on it. The Zest is loaded with features as well, the most notable of which is the Harman designed infotainment system that features voice commands that can control things like the Automatic Climate Control “Climate Control” “Climate Control” or change radio stations and dial phone numbers. You also get safety features such as 2 air bags & ABS and quite interestingly cornering break control that helps with breaking in a turn. The interiors are pretty spacious and the seats are chunky and comfortable, a typical Tata trade, a nice car to traveling. The cabin is refined and feels solid, that boot though is felly tiny, enough for a couple of suitcases at best, smaller than the other compact sedans such as the Amaze and the Excent. Over all, we think the 1.2 L Revotron turbo petrol is quite a revolution and will be a game change for those who want power and efficiency from a petrol engine while the diesel with the automated manual transmission will be a good pick for those living in crowded cities. 

Tata Zest Compact Sedan Price Specification Review

The compact Sedan segment is one of the hottest segments in the Indian market especially with the recently launched the Hyundai Excent, the Honda Amaze and of course the Maruti Dzire and now there is going to be a new entrant in the form of the Tata Zest. This is  just a not new car in fact this is one of the most important car, the Tata Motors will ever roll out. So the big question is what that Tata Motor’s Zest all about is. Well let’s find out.

The Tata’s Zest is all about the new design language and it all starts from the front, with the new Tata signature grill, the new sharp cut headlamps and the aggressive front bumper design. The Zest has also projected headlamps with Chrome Extants, DRL’s, Rear LED’s, 15 Inches Alloy Wheels plus the snazzy color options that you see. The over all design is much better than I think Tata has ever made. And also in first impression, the build quality has also been improved. Inside there has been Massive improvement over the Manza and the Vista, the better quality material and ultra modern designed. You certainly like the most sporty steering like the one in the Vista. On the features front Tata Motors has packet in a lot and they really mean by that. You get a new infotainments system over here, Bluetooth, Smart Phone Recognition, Smart Phone Integration which also supports phone in built navigation, Social Media Integration and Touch Phone Control Interface. When it comes to space, the rear seats are very comfortable, and of course head room and leg room, a Tata Motors Strength remains. Over all the Zest Cabin is really good place to be in certainly with its Rivals and other competitors in this regard.

The Tata Zest will have 2 Engine Options, starting with the new Riverton 85 BHP 1.2 Turbo Charged Petrol Engine. Now the Turbo Charged 2 is the new beginning for Tata Motors and one of the biggest benefits is of course Fuel Economy. Tata Motors actually has not revealed the figures but we expect the Zest has to deliver good economy figures. Now the Tata Motors has also launched the Zest with 90 BHP Diesel with 200 NM of torque. The talking point is that the Tata Zest diesel will have a 5 speed automated manual gear box. The Tata Zest also features new electronic power assisted steering, new ABS and dual part suspension for a better ride. Tata Motors is likely to launch the Zest around June 2014 as the company is already heavily promoting this car, now Tata Motors will only release the Variants and Prices by its official launch but looking at the Technology and the features, it seems the Tata Zest will become a threat to the segment leaders. Now we expect to have the Zest’s Starting Price for petrol base model that will be below 5 Lakhs to compete with its rivals which means the Zest will certainly be value for money. 

Tata Zest vs Maruti Swift Dzire Car Comparison

Tata Motors has just launched the Zest and now its time to do the next best thing which is obviously to compare it with its rivals. Now we are getting a lot of questions regarding which is the better buy, The Zest or well the segment Champ that is the Maruti Swift Dzire. So then here’s a short comparison between these two compact sedans.

Now the styling is a completely subjective issue but you have to say both of they do not have quite match the complete Sedan look which is like the Amaze and even the Accent have. Still it seems Tata Motors have done a much better job to integrating the boot then what Maruti had done. One of the biggest problem with Swift Dzire have always been its styling, it just doesn’t look like a proper Sedan when you view it from the back but when it come to over all styling, Tata Motors has done a pretty good job here. Head Lamps with LED’s DRLS, Lot of Chromes plus those lines definitely gives the car lot of presence and we think this is pleasant looking car. The Swift Dzire, well it’s been around for some times now and its styling has become aged now. Still its face lifted will be coming soon which will change it. So then overall when it comes to styling, the Zest wins the battle.

Step inside and you will be surprised by seeing the Tata Zest cabin and you may say it is a pleasant surprise as this one is the best cabin ever designed by Tata Motors. The design look and feel is definitely very good and now you have to say that it is now the class’s best. What we really liked was the steering wheel, the clean dials plus the center console but what was the major surprise is the quality which is far better than the previously Manza. On to the Dzire and it is one of the strongest point of this car and we think the interior looks much better than the exterior. The quality is good and design is clean and well laid out which is the strength of this car. So then, when it comes to interior, it is definitely a close battle and you have to say on design and space terms both of them have even chance. Now space at the rear both of them are pretty good but for seating 3, the Zest has much more spacious cabin than even the Swift Dzire even the boot of the Zest is slightly bigger than the Swift Dzire but both can’t match the space of the boot with Honda Amaze and even Hyundai Accent.

When it comes to features, it is clearly advantage Tata Zest, it completely blows away the Swift Dzire. First of all, the main talking point here is the Harmon infotainment system which is one of the major highlights of this car but along with this you will get a Bluetooth, climate control, parking sensors, auto headlamps plus even voice commands. I think this all just not present in the Maruti Swift Dzire which has got basic feature like auto AC but what is good thing is that both them having ABS and airbags. So then overall when it comes to features, it is major advantage for the Tata Zest.

When it come to engine options, Tata Zest is available with a 1.2 L Riverton Petrol delivering 89 BHP and 1.3 L Diesel delivering 2 power outputs of 74 BHP and 89 BHP. The Zest diesel also has the AMT Gear box while the petrol has 5 speed manual gear box. The Swift Dzire 1.2 L Petrol and ever popular 1.3 L Diesel engine while the petrol delivers 85 BHP and Diesel delivers 74 BHP of power. The petrol has also an option of 4 speed automatic while the diesel comes only with 5 Speed Manual gear box. When it comes to fuel efficiency Dzire is slightly more fuel efficient than the Zest but when it comes to driving and dynamics the Zest really impressed us with it smooth turbo petrol. You will like the smooth power delivery and general lag free nature of the engine. The Dzire well its also quite fun to drive, we like the diesel engine lot. Both also have similar ride and handling characteristics.

Price of the Zest starts with Rs. 4.64 lakhs while the Dzire start with Rs. 4.85 Lakhs which ultimately sieze the deal. You see the Zest is cheaper, better looking and better equipped than the Maruti Swift Dzire which means also the fact that Zest has and advantage of being a Diesel Automatic. Yes you could say that the Dzire has an advantage of massive Maruti sales network but that is just not enough. So then it seems the Zest job well done by Tata Motors and if you are shopping for a compact Sedan, you should give Zest a serious look. 

Tata Zest First Drive Review

Well TATA Motors has been suffering in terms of sales recently and the company renders sizes to get it act together due to customer feedback they put in the lot of research and outcome of it is the ZEST.

We have all seen the car before it was showcased before the AutoExpo.

Today we are here in GOA to actually drive this vehicle and feel this really is the game changer for TATA or Not. A car is essentially about three things: Design, Interior & Features and Drive, Everybody can priorities these three aspects as per their own need. But I like to put the drive first and that is why as soon as I got the ZEST, I hit the road.

We will take a pick stop and introduce you to its features but that will be later.

TATA Motors has put a lot of hard work in to the car, 3 years of rigorous testing and innovation and the outcome is the ZEST. The good trick is they have kept in mind the safety and convenience factors too. For Starters, The diesel ZEST is the first car in its segment to come an AMT Gearbox. The engine firing the ZEST is the 1.3 L Multijet engine that TATA Sources clear. The Power output is 90 PS and peak torque 200 Nm. It is made it to a 5 speed AMT. Now this is automated gearbox that TATA has introduced with the ZEST, first in its segment is actually interesting, it is touch free drive basically. The gear box, it shifts your gear accordingly so if you put it in the auto mode and you are going in the city it will turn out to be actually very very convenient. However when you going the automatic mode, if you are going fast and you have to break suddenly that down shifts comes to the hike up, so that change in gear is the very very evident which is something that is not very pleasing about this gear box.

When there is a sport mode, which I thought is quite interesting. When you put it in the sports mode only you have to do is press this little button near gearbox. You put it in the sports mode and the gearing becomes really really long so that gives you that extra punch that extra enthusiasm that you are looking for if you would really like driving the car. The downside of that is that if you put it in sports mode the gearing is longer, the engine noise kinds of became a little deafening, it filters in to the cabin.

Now TATA Cars were never popular for drivability but this one is different. Put the automated gearbox in manual mode and you can enjoy the car even while taking the corner the car seats stable, we do not have variants and features facts here but the top variant comes with ABS and EBD but also corner stability control. TATA has also worked on handling in with the ZEST and the car handles much much better that any other TATA Product. The feedback from this steering is not very précised but the steering gives you good amount of feedback, it does not feel very light but even when you are going at higher speeds and the responsiveness from it is quite positive. So that’s I think a very positive change in the ZEST. Push the car hard around the corner and you will see flaunted on the road, in fact the suspension setup is reason too. Body roll is well under control and the ZEST takes bumps and in-regularities of the road readies.

Now we have given the ZEST, the diesel ZEST with the automated gearbox and of course this is first in its segment, look quite promising but the cars on of the ZEST, the Petrol siblings of it is also making a lot of news for its all new Engine that TATA has developed especially for this car. The 1.2 L Engine, it is a Revatron Engine, it comes with fuel injections, so this is again a first from TATA for the ZEST. Let’s drive it to see how this one performs on the road.

Now its time to know the ZEST a little closely, the looks of the ZEST is very modern in its design. There is chrome around the grill, The ZEST will come with Projective head lamps with LED’s, the fog lamps also get a strip of LED’s, and there is mount on the bonnet which flews in to the LOGO. The front profile is very impressive and I particularly like lower lip of the grill which starts as calling the humanity line and I think it looks like a smile. The side windows are defined with an outline of chrome. The alloys in the petrol versions are good looking too. Another impressive bit in the exterior of the car is that the boot blems in to the body very well and it does not look like as an outside attachment like other entry level Sedans but when you move to the rear is when you feel a little disappointed. The rear kind of false paint, there is strip of chrome below the logo. Step inside the cabin and the trendy ness is carry forward, the double layered dash board, chrome inserts for the air convents, the wing shape centre console are all very easy on the eyes. The petrol siblings, gets automatic climate control while the diesel does not. The touch screen music system is exclusive to the petrol too; it can connect USB, IPOD and AUX IN and other music devices. Controls are present on the steering wheel. This music system has specially been designed by HARMAN for TATA Motors. The system also takes voice commands but it depends on its mood, multiple tries and eventually you will be lucky. Apart from this, it can read out sms’s and even send out texts. Coming back to the cabin, the screen duplicates as parking sensors display, again only the petrol version gets space. The seats of the ZEST are comfortable and well cushioned. Like other all TATA cars, this one also not lag the leg room. Take a look at the rear seat and three can sit here comfortably with good amount of knee room and space. What’s disappointing in the cabin is, is the lack of cupping holds. There is only one cup holder and one parcel tray under the front passenger seat. Coming to the boot, it seems sufficiently big, though we do not have the boot capacity right now, as TATA holding on to it till launch. We sure can see that it can fit your family’s luggage quite comfortably. On the road again now, This new revatron engine has been designed by TATA especially for the ZEST and the BOLT.

1.2 L Turbocharged Engine, Now this all new 1.2 L Engine we have specially made for the ZEST, Revatron engine is a good engine to drive, it feels comfortable, there is enough punch, it is peppy and it is quite convenient both for City and for Highway drives. There are three driving modes for this engine: City, Eco and Sports. The car starts in City mode until you don’t switch it will stay in it. The eco mode is for optimize fuel efficiency and the sport mode is for the crazy days. We do not have the fuel efficiency figures yet as TATA Motors has decided to keep back some information for the time of the launch.

So this is the all new ZEST by TATA Motors, The car that companies deeply relying on. You can expected to be launch in somewhere late August and early September, It is an entry level sedan and the entry level sedan segment in the market has a lot of competitions, there is a Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire “The Segment Leader”, then there is Honda Amaze and the there is Hyundai Xcent which is already creating a lot of wave in the market. So ZEST has a lot of competition in the market. Prices how ever are going be key event when TATA launches it.