Catch this Hatch

The passing years have witnessed a sea of change in the Indian car market most importantly the passenger car segment. The eagerness to own a compact fast car has gone up and car manufacturers have their hands full in keeping pace with these demands. The first hatch to get a stronger heart was the Fiat Grande Punto. The 90hp tag caught the attention of a lot of consumers and the demand started to rise. This 90hp tag has caught on with the other car manufacturers and Tata Motors is among the first to take a leap into this ‘power-hatch’ segment.

If you were expecting a powerful diesel hatch from the Tata Motors stable then well your theory is proved wrong. A 1.4-litre Safire ‘fast-paced’ heart which did duty on the Indigo Manza is now transplanted into the Indica Vista, thereby making it the most powerful petrol hatch in its class. So, on paper, the configuration of the Vista 90 is as good as it could get for a hatch but does it live to its expectation of being a ‘power hatch’? We drove the car and here is what we felt.

With the introduction of the Indica Vista, Tata Motors turned a new page when it came to design (exteriors & interiors), features without compromising on the space offered in the car. The front-end design of the Vista was seen in cars like the Indigo Manza and now we see the Aria too boasting a similar front. When it comes to the Vista 90 there is no change in the exteriors of the car. The car is the docile Indica Vista from the outside but the tail gets a ‘Safire 90’ badging which distinguishes it from the other hatches. This badge is the same that we notice on the Indigo Manza.

There is one major change though when it comes to the exteriors. The Vista 90 needed a sporty look to do justice to the 1.4-litre petrol engine under-the-hood and Tata’s have finally given the Indica Vista alloys. The black and silver alloys go very well with all the colours that the Vista will come in. The same alloys were seen in the anniversary version of the Indigo when it was launched and they really do wonders to the overall look of the car.

The petrol hatch comes with a 4-cylinder 16 Valve MPFi engine which generates 90bp of power @ 6000 rpm and produces a torque of 116Nm at 4750rpm. We clocked 0-60 kmph in a tad over six seconds and this speaks volumes about how quick the hatch actually is. Tata Motors talked about how they had refined the engine and made it a quick car and the above results showed us just that. The car is up on its feet from the word go and has all the makings of a quick car.

When behind the wheel the car is peppy and very much unlike its 1.2L cousin which was infact very sluggish (as we found out). The hatch did a 50-70 kph in the fifth gear in 8.7 seconds and this helped us find out how responsive the engine actually is. The Vista 90 felt so unlike a Tata petrol car, the engine was torquey and responsive, the ride quality was great, the handling too had improved and it did what it was meant to do and that is it was fast.

With the Safire 90 badge we did expect the car to do well at high speeds and 0-100 took about 16 seconds. But then there are the usual problems; at higher speeds the steering wobbles and though the rattling in the car has reduced significantly, the rear view mirror shakes once the hatch is pushed beyond 100kph which again puts a question mark about the quality of plastic used in the interiors.

When you open the door of the car, there is a sense of de ja vu as the 1.4-litre power petrol comes with the same interiors as the Indica Vista Aura +. Dual Airbags, in-dash music system with Bluetooth connectivity, tilt-adjustable steering wheel, CD player, radio, AUX-in, USB connectivity and the instrument cluster at the centre (to add to the anxiety of the passengers if you are a pedal-to-the-metal driver) find a place in this power petrol hatch. The safety features in the Aura+ too are noteworthy as it comes with dual airbags and ABS. It also gets an steering adjustable for height but not reach. The hatch gets black and beige interiors which complement the overall looks and brings in a substantial amount of premium value to the car. One also finds a parcel-tray under the navigators seat where you can basically put anything right from magazines, to books to maps. The Vista continues to have the 60:40 split seats at the rear and the drivers seat height adjuster is also retained.

There are a lot of things that could be brainstormed about as to how this power hatch could be altered to make it even better but we just miss a few things in the car and can’t help but share our feelings about it. As mentioned earlier we miss a prominent badging of it being a power hatch. A ‘90’ badging at the front would plainly look devilish and add to the exclusivity of the product. Another thing that we really missed was steering mounted controls. If it got the engine of the Tata Indigo Manza then why not the steering mounted controls? We also spoke about the quality issues in the car and though it has improved there are still those odd incidents where the plastics in the car just give way.

The ‘Power Petrol’ as Tata Motors calls it does leave a lasting impression once its driven. The hatch has the much needed power as the 1.2-litre was sluggish and no fun to drive around. The compactness of the Vista 90 which helps it wriggle through the city traffic and the 90 bhp heart under the hood makes it a great city and highway car. The car is quick and in fact has what it takes to be a fast hatch, its quick, peppy and ready to be gone in minutes. The Vista 90 will come in the same trim levels as the earlier cousins, Terra, Aqua, Aura ABS and Aura + and pricing begins from Rs. 442,567 lakh for the base model to Rs. 577,255 for the top-end variant (prices ex-showroom Mumbai) The power packed deal is not one to miss and owning something that, as Tata Motors put it, is ‘Ready. Steady. Gone’ puts you on the map when it comes to making quick get-aways.

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