An awesome car.

The initial assessment of Manza when launched was based on the looks and the specs sheet at the brochure. I had to wait for a while before I could take a test ride of the car, but each time I approached the dealership I could see people packing off with the car without needing a test drive. To me it seemed that customers are increasing putting their trust on the TATA brand. A question I put on hold is if it is pragmatic.

While I waited for the opportunity for the test drive I had a chance to take my existing drive for a service at Maruti and take the chance on test driving a ‘new – improved – SX4’. I had the opportunity to test drive the top end Manza – Aura Quadrajet last week and below is a small assessment of the car. I was given the car on a relatively less congested highway and as I switches seats with the driver I tried to hear the engine noise from near the driver’s door and also close to the bonnet. The engine is relatively silent and bonnet doesn’t vibrate much as one touches it.

The visibility from the driver’s seat is good and there are utilities like the fuel consumption indication and distance to fill (fuel) is of good help and doesn’t need to be toggled around from the drive console like in Linea. The plastic in the front is not as good as the SX4 but good enough and an improvement over the Indigo. Utilities like electronic mirror adjustment is good, the stereo sounds well but the steering mounted controls will need to practice to master. The car moves well in low gear, even at low rpm the engine responds well. Keeping the rpm at 1100 I moved towards 50 Kmph I did not feel any lag or sluggishness. On contrary I felt the car was quite spirited compared to the competition. The accelerator was feather light and to me it’s a great boon for the long drive. The steering responds well and is light. The gear shift is very precise but hard to move sideways. Now once on a bit of an open patch I decided to put the pedal to the floor and as the engine revved above 4000 I could hear a grunt that is very similar to the one I had heard from Linea. The speed climbed to 100 kmph quite easily but less elegantly than Linea. The car would surely pick more speeds but  I could not check that. I compared the quality of drive and surely put it ahead of my experience with SX4 which tells you the weight it carries as it drives and with respect to Dzire, Manza surely is way ahead in terms of space, power and drive quality. The point it gets beaten is the fit and the finish of the car interiors, to my opinion there is scope of improvement in terms of quality of plastic and the finish. This includes the finish of the fitted stereo system which looks and feels like ‘China company ka maal’.

Glances at the fuel meter indicated the engine was doing well (4L/100 KM) when eased at 5th gear. This certainly would need more road experience to verify. The air con was excellent as it cooled the cabin in a breeze. The rear seat has a lot of space and the knees don’t need to touch the front row, this would make the long drives easy to traverse. 3 persons can seat in the rear seat without a fuss.  It was a wonderful drive on a wonderful car. Tata is surely moving towards the global arena.

Engine power, fuel economy, space, drive quality, costFit and finish can be improved