When Tata Motors, the home-grown auto major, finally launched its much anticipated sub-compact sedan, the Zest, in India at a starting price of Rs. 4.64 lakh, it became the first product based on their ‘DesigNext, DriveNext, ConnectNext’ philosophy. And it does look good….and why not? The car has been designed with inputs from the three design studios of Tata Motors situated at Pune, as well as Conventry and Turin.
Let us take a look at the Zest. The new signature grille with the ‘Humanity Line’ flows into the head-lamps. The projector head-lamps with chrome accents and a new set of 15-inch alloy wheels are the other external features. The rear is defined by a well-designed lamp cluster, sculpted bumper and a chrome strip that runs almost the entire length of the boot deck.
The dual-tone colour scheme looks good. The cabin gets a new-age infotainment system that has been developed by Harman Kardon. The top-end trims get a 5-inch touch screen panel that controls the audio system and AC. The manual controls look a bit down on fit-and-finish. The touch-sensitive, voice-controlled infotainment system looks good.
The Tata Zest diesel engine is a 1.3-litre Fiat-sourced unit that produces 89 bhp and 200 Nm. The diesel has an automated-manual transmission which in essence a manual gearbox with an electro-hydraulic mechanism that makes it acts like an automatic. The hydraulic system, together with an electronic control unit, manages the use of clutch and shifting through the cogs. Tata is calling this F-tronic 5-speed AMT. A base diesel variant in the 75 bhp tune is also available.
The 1.2-litre turbocharged, fuel-injected engine ‘Revotron’ petrol engine produces 89 bhp of power and a maximum torque of 140 Nm. The engine comes with a 5-speed manual transmission. There are three driving modes – City, Economy and Sports.
The front gets all-new dual-path independent McPherson struts with anti-roll bar and the rears carry semi-independent twist beam configuration.
The Zest measures 3,995 mm in length, 1,706 mm in width and 1,570 mm in height. Its wheelbase is 2,470 mm. The Zest has a ground clearance of 160 mm and a turning radius of 5.1 m. The car weighs 1,170 kg.
The Zest petrol variants start at Rs. 4.64 lakh and go till Rs. 5.99 lakh while the 1.3 litre diesel variants start at Rs. 5.64 lakh and goes till Rs. 6.99 lakh. The Zest is available in four trims in petrol (XE, XM, XMS, XT) and five trims in diesel (XE, XM, XMS, XMA (AMT), XT).
The car is available in six colours – Buzz Blue, Venetian Red, Sky Grey, Duen Beige, Platinum Silver and Pristine White.
The Zest is manufactured at the Pimpri and Ranjangaon Plant in Pune, on a completely modified X1 platform.
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