Tata Tiago finally brought some refreshing sales numbers to the gloomy board-room of managers and product planners at the Indian company. Tiago is easily the best car for first time buyers as it is a jack of all trades and master of some. Since the Tiago is such an important product for the Tatas, Indian automobile website MotorBeam.com decided to induct the car into its long-term fleet and test how good the car is to live with.
The Tata Tiago is a pleasant car to look at and the affection to that bug-eyes look and wide-smiling grille only increases with time.
Inside, the Tata engineers have worked very hard and got the vibration levels spot on.
The dual-tone black and grey cabin looks sporty with the piano black inserts and chrome touches. Quality levels are truly phenomenal for this price level and there are no uneven panel gaps either.
We miss the touch-screen unit found on the Bolt though as this one requires one to connect Bluetooth from the phone and not from the car.
We also faced issues streaming Bluetooth audio when a USB device was active. The spacious cabin has good amount of space and there is little to nit-pick about the interiors.
A dedicated door lock button would have been a nice addition though. Tata Motors has done some cost cutting, so the spare wheel isn't an alloy.
The Tata Tiago is a completely new vehicle from grounds-up and thus has all new powertrains, so we were quite keen to test the vehicle over varying conditions.
We are pleased with the performance of the 1.2-litre motor which has ample grunt in the city. The diesel engine makes only 70 PS of power but there is no low-end lag. The motor does get vocal though as you pull into the mid-range.
Tata’s switch to a cylinder less diesel has borne fruit although we do still miss the Fiat powertrain for its punchy mid-range performance.
The Tata Tiago doesn’t feel lethargic on highways, as long as you aren’t driving spiritedly. But when you decide to be in the mood to get somewhere quickly, you have to work the gearbox a lot, which by the way feels slick to use.
The clutch too is light and we have been getting a mileage of an impressive 20 km/l. Although when the Eco mode is activated, it feels a bit slow to react from stand-still.
Just like the Zest and Bolt, the Tata Tiago has also got the ride handling balance spot-on. The suspension has a mature set-up and does a fine job on the pothole ridden Mumbai roads.
Also, the car remains stable even at 140 km/hr and body roll is very well contained. The handling is fun too and the steering feels well weighed at triple digit speeds, also it excels at city speeds too making it easy to park.
At the same time, the brakes offer good stopping power and the Goodyear tyres as usual perform well even in the rains.
All in all, we are thoroughly impressed with the car. The company has got the cabin right, the car looks appealing, is feature loaded and best of all, feels solidly put-together. All this, at a price which makes even the battle-hardened Maruti Celerio shake in its boots.
Thus, it’s no surprise that the Tiago is Tata’s top selling car and manages to sell more than double that of the second most selling Tata car.
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