Tata Altroz Review by a Zest Owner - VIDEO

Tata Altroz is the brand’s first attempt in the premium hatchback space and a competent one indeed. It is designed on the baselines of Impact 2.0 design language. The Altroz is a fine balance of looks, space, and performance. But is it any better than older Tata cars, is a question to be answered? To find that out, Team Indian Auto, planned to let a Zest owner (yours truly!) spend a day with the Altroz. Why a Zest owner? Because Zest is the closest car in Tata Motors' lineup in terms of space, performance, and price. It is old as well. To extract the best of my experience, a questionnaire was prepared. I was made to go through it after driving the Altroz in the city and on the highways and the twisties.

The first question that came flying to senseless me was, how will you sum up the overall ownership experience of the Zest till date? The answer is simple. It has been a mixed bag of some good bits and some bad. The Zest as a complete package is a great car with the FCA-sourced 1.3L oil burner. But, the after-sales & service remains a gamble here. With over a lakh kilometre on the odo, there has been no point where the car got us stranded till date.

How well the Altroz fares in terms of look is what I was asked next. Without a second thought I replied, it is the best-looking Tata car till date. Even on the inside, the Altroz boasts of a nice design for the interior. Also, the colour scheme makes the cabin feel a lot airier than it actually is. Moving over to another question - How would you rate the build quality and fit-finish levels on the Altroz. Interestingly, they are on par with the Zest. Everything feels solidly put together. But, the panel gaps are inconsistent at places.

Talking of the ride quality, the boss man asked me if the Altroz feels any different to drive than the Zest? Yes! It does. The engine of both of these cars produce identical figures of 90 PS and 200 Nm, but the way they deliver these numbers are different. The Zest starts creeping as the driver starts to depress the clutch pedal, but the case is not the same with the Altroz. The low-end grunt is stronger in Zest, but the mid-range is punchier in the Altroz. The ride quality, however, is supple on the Zest, whereas the Altroz feels tighter sprung and is a better handling car here.

With all of this, came the final question – If I would consider the Altroz as my next car? The answer is yes, but I would wait for the turbo-petrol variant of the Altroz. Since the daily running has reduced to nearly 10-15 km, buying a diesel car does not make sense, and the petrol motor on the Altroz is dull. Moreover, I would love to check out the upcoming Hyundai Elite i20, since it looks good and gets a capable powertrain (1.0L GDi motor). The after-sales & service affair of the Hyundai is much better than Tata Motors’.

Note – If you want to get featured on our channel and website like the way I was. You are just a mail away from us.  Click on the author’s name (Mohit Bhardwaj) above, shoot us a mail, and we will plan to record you and your car soon.