6th April 2016 Ending the consecutive delays over the launch, Tata Motors today drove in New Tiago at starting price of Rs 3.20 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). Originally called Zica, Tata Tiago got its new name after the spread of notorious Zika virus due to the unwitting similarity between the terms. The original name Zi-ca however stood for ‘Zippy Car’ and was probably derived the way company chose the word Indica to represent ‘India Car’.
Tiago takes forward Tata Motors’ Horizonext approach. It is the latest quintessence of their 4 fold program that incorporates intense customer focus, world class manufacturing practices, enriched customer purchase experiences and consistent quality of service.
This is a fresh model with a size comparable to Hyundai i10 and in Tata’s own line up it sits between the Nano and the Bolt. Tiago comes with petrol and diesel engines.
• Revotron Petrol is a 3 cylinder in-line DOCH unit that churns out 83.8 bhp and 11.6 kgm torque.
• Revotorque Diesel is 3 cylinder in-line common rail engine with 69 bhp and 14.2 kgm torque.
Both of these are mated to 5 speed manual transmission. Fuel efficiency has been rated at 23.84 km/litre for the petrol and 27.28 km/litre for the diesel.
The car is underpinned on a new platform and Tata has tried to avoid the Indica silhouette for a more contemporary look. Still, the family-look front comes from large swept back headlights and the honeycomb pattern grille. The raised bonnet defines the design neatly. Down on the bumper, fog lamps outlined with chrome also look dapper.
For its dimensions, Tiago has a length of 3746 mm, width of 1647 mm and height of 1535 mm. Its wheelbase measures 2400 mm. This (wheelbase) is shorter than that of Maruti Celerio, although in terms of overall length, the Tiago is ahead of the Celerio.
The character lines on the sides highlight the finesse of the paint job with their shadow lines like appearance. This also breaks the monotony of door panels. Tiago gets 175/65 R14 tyres and alloy wheel design is pretty. What’s more, the wheels fill out the arches better than they did in older Tata hatchbacks. In the top end variants, the ORVMs come with LED turn indicators.
Rising sweep of windows, chunky C pillar and a sharp waist line are features that make Tiago look stylish but together they also put in it a hint of updated Ford Figo.
Resemblance with Figo may also be noticed at the back with a quick glance but if you see closely, Tiago has its own identity with a more sculpted tailgate and the large bumper has a neat black portion. There is a roof mounted spoiler over the rear windscreen.
The cabin has a black & grey combo and that means Tata did not bring beige this time. It looks well designed and quality of the materials used is also praiseworthy. Designers have used black and chrome well on the dashboard to make its look attractive. You will be able to identify the parts that have been taken from the common bin - steering wheel, control stalks, gear lever, and power window buttons.
In the new Tata cars, we have seen the Harman-developed infotainment system and the same makes its way onto the Tiago’s centre console. Sound quality from its 4 speaker + 4 tweeter combination is good. It does not have a touchscreen but provides the facilities of Bluetooth connectivity, USB and Aux ports. You can sync a smartphone with the system for display and readouts on turn-by-turn navigation guidance.
Overall seat comfort feels fine in the front and but taller occupants (6 feet and above) may find the thigh support inadequate. Surprisingly, this is a departure from the previous cars’ seat design where we did not find a problem with seat base. But then this is a small hatch, next only to Nano in the company’s line-up. Height adjustment for driver’s seat is not available on base variant, is optional for all other variants and comes as standard only on the top-end one.
At the rear occupants get plenty of space and the large glass area makes the cabin appear bright in here. Seats are also well cushioned. The single-piece rear seat backrest can be tumbled forward to create more room for storage. The boot however has 240 litres of volume which is enough for a car in this segment.
There are 5 variants available in ascending order of XB, XE, XM, XT, and XZ. The petrol models are priced between Rs. 3.20 lakhs and 4.75 lakhs. Diesel Tiago stands in the price bracket of Rs. 3.95 lakhs to Rs. 5.54 lakhs (all prices ex showroom Delhi).
Colour options for the “Fantastico Tiago” (as Tata Motors markets it) include Sunburst Orange, Pearlescent White, Expresso Brown, Striker Blue, Platinum Silver and Berry Red.
The company has been using innovative marketing strategies for its cars under the Horizonext concept and for the Tiago they distributed free lens boxes with Times of India newspaper on 11th April 2016. It was to let the prospective buyers watch the Tiago Virtual Drive video on smartphones in a more intuitive environment.
The well styled car priced sagaciously can bring Tata good number of actual buyers.