29 March 2017. The credit of creating the sub-4 meter compact sedan segment in India goes to Tata Motors. It started with the launch of Indigo CS but soon the competitors became active bringing options like Maruti Swift Dzire, Hyundai Xcent and Honda Amaze that saw more success.

Tata then worked on improving the design quotient, refinement and performance of its vehicles under the Horizonext strategy and gave us the Zest. After some initial success this sedan too could not contribute significantly for the company’s sales chart. We now have the third sub-compact sedan called Tigor to take on the competition.

Tigor (pronounced Tee-gor) is based on the Tiago hatchback. Launched on 29th March 2017, it is stylish, feature-rich and has the practicality and comfort that we expect in a sub-4 meter sedan. At the starting price of Rs 4.70 lakhs, it is also cheaper than Dzire, Xcent and Amaze.

The diesel and petrol engines of the car have been carried forward from the hatchback on which it is based. So the power for Tigor Petrol comes from 1.2 litre, 3 cylinder engine that generates 84 bhp and 114 Nm of peak torque.  The diesel model has 1.05 litre turbocharged unit with 69 bhp and 140 Nm of torque.

When it comes to its exterior essence, the Tigor does look largely like hatchback version of Tiago. Both the cars have similar front ends with hexagonal grille pattern and the humanity line – the chrome strip beneath the grille that joins the headlamps. Fog lamps housings too are shared. But Tigor does not get the LED daytimes running lights. Also, its headlights get a smoked effect and have projector lenses with new chrome lining for the lower end of the glasshouse.

It is from the B-pillar that the car takes a different identity than the Tiago. Its wheelbase is longer by 50 mm and the rear doors have been modified. The window line is distinct with upward kink towards the rear quarter glass.

Petrol model of Tigor has 15 inch diamond cut alloy wheels that look good with its design. The diesel however has to make do with 14 inch wheels.

Things get very different at the rear. The designers at Tata have given a coupe like styling with the roofline and have also differentiated the boot integration style.  Tigor is not a Tiago with the boot – it looks proportionate and better than most other sub-4 meter sedans.

There is a high mounted roof spoiler with built in lamp. It looks jazzy glowing in sync with the tail lamps on the boot. These tail lamps also have a dramatic design popping out of the boot structure in a 3-D style. To cut off the visual bulk of the rear bumper, there is a chunk of black plastic with reflectors on sides.

Getting inside the cabin you will see that the front part of this interior is similar to Tiago. But Tigor is more feature-rich. Higher variants have automatic climate control. There are colour coded AC vents surrounds and instrument cluster is easy-to-read and tachometer needle turn red when it approaches redline. MID layout displays tank range, average fuel consumption and has 2 trip meters.

Unlike Tiago’s LED, Tigor gets a large touchscreen infotainment system with Mirrorlink. So you can sync your phone with it to get navigation updates and media updates on the screen. There is no Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility. 

Seat cushion is on the softer side but the legroom is good and driver’s seat can be adjusted for height. Headrests are also adjustable.

With 50 mm longer wheelbase, Tigor has more space for its rear seat occupants. The rear seat is wide enough to accommodate three adults. The scooped out door panels also add some space. There is no rear AC vent.

The rear seat in Tigor gets a flappable arm rest with cup holders. But the headrests cannot be adjusted. Thankfully though, they are supportive and provide desired comfort.

In the cavernous trunk of this compact sedan you will find 419 litres of space for your luggage. The trunk lid hinges on exclusively-designed hydraulic arms on the side instead of those conventional metallic arches that intrude into the boot.

Tigor has four variants – XE, XT, XZ and XZ (O) with both the engines - Revotron and Revotorq. The petrol line up is in price range of Rs 4.70 lakh and 6.19 lakh. The diesel variants start at Rs 5.60 lakh and go up to 7.09 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi prices).

You can choose from colours like Copper Dazzle, Berry Red, Striker Blue, Platinum Silver, Pearlescent White and Espresso Brown.

Tigor is fairly stylish and feature-rich. Tata Motors has also priced it aggressively to challenge the rivals.  The success of Tiago has already proved that there are buyers for a reasonably-priced Tata car. We hope that the new ‘Styleback’ will sell much better than the Zest. Look out for a detailed report including the performance check of Tigor in our Expert Review section.