It’s been a while;
since I’ve written here
&
been so….
erm….how should I put it....
under-whelmed?
Dangit – "
Another car review?"
I like my cars, so
suck it up homies & stay with me!
After having read so much about this mysterious world beating, monster crossover concept that TATA were secretly building, to help take the world over…my excitement, at the prospect of seeing it in the flesh was understandable right?
It took a move of cities, a complete re-shuffle of my life & a chance crossing of a TATA dealership in my newly adopted hometown, to allow me the pleasure of having a look & feel of the Tata Aria. Some smooth talking meant that a gleaming (
not), new (
not), mint condition (
not) maroon coloured (err...
yup) Aria rolled up at my doorstep (
that might be stretching the truth just a wee bit, since I do live on the 21st floor!) the next day for a test drive.
Exteriors
The Aria is a big good looking car / crossover / muv / atv. The front end of the car looks muscular & full. The side profile looks spot on & the rear 3 quarter section pretty much looks like a CRV (which is a good thing!). The
rear treatment is bland & straightforward, but given the market they are trying to tap, it will
not be the deal-breaker for too many potential buyers. The panel gaps are better than my just turned 3 year old Safari too!
Paint quality on TATA products has been improving in leaps & bounds & to this end, the Aria comes clad in some bootilicious colours (a total of 6/7 shades if I remember correctly.) It all comes together very nicely as a visual package & I liked that. A bit like an
Innova on steroids really!
Interiors
The Aria interiors look a whole lot better in pictures. Of that little truth, I can unashamedly promise you. But then..."
so do I"! (You should see me in the cold hard light of day *
sheesh*
I scare myself sometimes!!!)
The version that arrived for the test drive had the optional black & plum interior combo. Discounting the fact that this was a test vehicle that would have been abused many times over, I submit that the insides will tend to look grubby & tired really quickly. At first glance a very Land Rover(ish) styled console & steering wheel greets you, which in-itself is pretty darn impressive, but sadly that’s also where it stops. For a vehicle that costs the better part of 18 lakhs (in top whack on road in Mumbai), it just does not
feel premium enough.
Even though all the controls fall easily to hand & have a level of tactility that has so far NEVER been available on any TATA product, the ergonomics & quality of the Innova, (which is a whole 5 odd lakhs cheaper btw) blow it clean out of the water. There is a smallish size central display unit, which will pull up the gps display when you insert the relevant dvd into the dedicated gps slot. It also doubles as the screen for the reverse camera (& is much larger than the excuse for a screen they have on the VX version of the Safari)
For people who are now used to large, glossy touch screen enabled displays, “oops” this ain’t any of that!!! I felt a little stupid when I tried to poke around on the screen, to be blithely told by the salesman sitting next to me,
“
Sir…it is naaat a touchscreen.”
Aaaaah '
NOW' you tell me.
Compound that with the little fact, that the reverse camera is horrific even in bright sunlight & you get the picture (sic), that this is a big failing. Large comfy seats in the front, pretty much bog standard capacious seats in the 2nd row & “Oh my God” in the 3rd row! Forget the 3rd row as space that you will use for seating on a regular basis. There just is not enough room. With the 2nd row pulled a long way forward (yes, they are on rails & can be adjusted backwards & forwards) there is just adequate space for children to be happy for a short time.
An adult WILL have an aneurism, sooner rather than later!
Oh I forgot to add. There’s cubby holes. LOTS of cubby holes. LOTS & LOTS of cubby holes. No no no….
just in case you didn’t get it, LOTS & LOTS & LOTS of cubby holes. A veritable CUBBY fest! What you are supposed to do with so many cubby holes, might make for an entertaining question, for all the engineers at TATA!!!
There are a couple of neat AC vents incorporated into the B & C pillars for air conditioning all around & they look & perform very well. It’s a whole lot better than the clumsy roof mounted affairs on the Toyota offerings or even the Sumo Grande shebang. The central console also house a single CD changer & the climate control / radio etc controls. Done in a matte black, these are surprisingly well build & stand out as some of the few, premium feeling features.
The Drive
I need to qualify that the Aria runs an identical engine, with the exact same tuning set up, as the 2.2 Safari that I drive. It has 140 bhp on tap, so my driving impressions are constantly compared to what I know of the engine, over the past 3 years.
Starting the Aria up, the 1st thing that strikes you is how
quiet it has become. The sound deadening in the cabin is impressive. It isin’t a Merc, but then again you aren’t paying 50 lakhs for an E class either!!! The gear shift is a shorter / sharper shifting stick than the Safari. The clutch itself is appreciably lighter too. Out on the road, it feels very nicely planted, has less body roll than the Safari (
though I suspect, this has more to do with it being lower than any better suspension!) There are steering mounted controls for audio / phone (paired via Bluetooth) as well as cruise control, (which is a bit of a waste in our country) because save for maybe 2/3 roads across India, there is nowhere that you can engage cruise control!!!
But…& here’s the very big
but. The Aria seems to labour with its engine, where the Safari relishes it. I was rudely surprised at how it behaved on being floored. There was hesitation, there was dithering & then there was a groan when she realized that I wasn’t giving up. Drive her sedately & she doesn’t complain, but ask some grunt of her & she whimpers. She’ll give it out but grudgingly. You can switch between all the 4wd & 2wd on the fly (unlike the Fortuner). Thinking 4wd was the issue, I switched over to 2wd mode.
With the same effect. “
Nada. Nyet. Zilch.”
Although it might have been an issue with the particular engine I drove, we all know that this engine is capable of being tuned upto 200 bhp. The Aria
needs the engine to be tuned to 200 bhp! Sort it out TATA. However, having said that, this iteration of the engine has now been around in India since late 2007, so the initial niggles have been rectified via the test mules like us(!) who bought it when it first appeared!!! Expect between 9.5 to 11 in the city & above 14 kmpl on the highway. This also might be the reason that a 200 bhp version engine does not figure - it'd
bury the mileage figures underground & you know how we Indian are…
"
Kitna deti hai....
sirf 76 km per litre? tch tch tch"
Road composure is exemplary, on par with the Safari. The large 17 inchers she rides on, play their part well! She handles in traffic like a much smaller car & it feels like, she has a tighter turning radius than the Safari. The steering feedback is reassuringly like a sedan. All versions of the Aria come with ABS & EBD, which I put to the test
(
purely from an academic point of view – promise!)
The Aria rapidly hauled her speed from 110 to 10 kmph with no swerving, no weaving, no diving & no fuss. But then…
that’s what ABS+EBD is supposed to do in any case!!! Conclusion
As I stepped out of the car, I had concluded that I liked the Aria
in bits. To my sensibilities, this should have been pegged against the Innova & priced accordingly. At that price point,
I’d buy it in a flash.
Where it stands today…I’d much rather shuck up a
further fistful of cash & get myself a darned Fortuner.
And
that’s a real shame...
be safe y'all.