ZEST ROCKS

Exterior Well, it needs no elaboration as even a person who hasn't driven the zest himself will vouch for its cute styling & looks, must say it is a stunner in its segment.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Absolutely No doubt about it and i have no qualms in mentioning that it is indeed a feature rich car. Tata Designers, Developers & Engineers have spared no efforts to incorporate every little conceivable safety, & infotainment feature in the car. Be it  Air Bags, ABS, Rear parking sensor, Rear Defogger, Day Time Running Lights, Distance to empty, Avg Fuel consumption etc. And to top the charts, the icing on the cake is a very high end  Harmaan Audio System. I purchased my zest xt in January 2015 and I have come to know that the present zest models in the market are even offering navigation and video play back feature also. The car is very comfortable on long rides, suspension is pretty decent provided you don't deliberately jump the car over large Pot-holes. Engine Noise inside the cabin is almost negligible, considering its a diesel engine. Gear shift is very smooth and no vibration in the gear stick. I don't know what R&D Tata has done with the Steering but after driving Zest when  you drive any other car with power steering, you will definately feel that you are driving a vehicle sans the power steering. In short, Power Steering in Zest is super smooth & light and feels equally sturdy on Highways at high speeds. You don't feel fatigued after travelling long distance due to the high driving position & comfortable seats. A sore point is Tata failed to provide sufficient storage spaces & bottle holders inside.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Engine performance is good & very refined, considering its the tried & tested Fiat 1.3 Quadrajet engine. Power delivery is good as the engine is tuned to 90 PS. It depends upon an individual's driving style, so if someone is in the habit of pressing on the gas in the second gear then he might feel a lil disappointed as the real power kicks in the 3rd and 4th gear when the Turbo surges in. Over taking is no problem and you get the desired  power to race ahead when needed on the highway. In city driving (Delhi & Gurgaon)I'm getting a mileage of 14 kmpl with AC and on the Highway I've managed 18 Kmpl with AC and you would be pleasantly surprised when you will see your zest returning impressive figures of 17-18 kmpl while driving in hills. One really nice feature in the car is the Avg. fuel consumption meter and believe me its not off the mark. I have noticed that by calculating the mileage by completely filling the fuel tank and then filling it again, the figures i got were almost comparable with the figures displayed by the avg fuel meter. Gear shift is very smooth as mentioned above.   

Ride Quality & Handling Ride Quality & handling is superb. 

Final Words Considering the parking woes in NCR I planned to buy a compact sedan in the sub 4 meter category and Zest completely fitted the bill and has not disappointed me at all. If you are in the process of buying a sedan then my advise would be to go for zest as no point in buying a Verna or Honda City for that matter. You will end up shelling out a few lacs more for less inner space, a marginal powerful engine and hyped up brands.  

Areas of improvement More Storage space should be provided inside the car.

Cute Looks , Decent space & Reasonable Fuel EconomyLack of Bottle Holders etc