Tata Punch Long Term Test: The SUV Joins Our Fleet

Small car or proper SUV? The Tata Punch will be going through our Long Term Test Review to bring you all the answers!

Is the Tata Punch a good car? If I had a penny for every time I got asked this question in the last couple of weeks, I’d have, well, a lot of pennies! You see, at just under Rs 10 Lakh on-road in Pune for the top of the line Creative S Plus variant here, the Tata Punch delivers quite the bang for your buck, which isn’t something you can say about the Indian Rupee these days. Recently inducted into the CarDekho Long Term Test Fleet, the Punch might not be one of those cars that get you all excited, but once you start looking at it from a buyer perspective, it does tick all the right boxes and then some.

The Punch Creative S Plus comes loaded with pretty much everything you’d expect from the top variant - sunroof, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, steering mounted controls, cameras and parking sensors, etc, and you can get that exhaustive list by clicking here. But there are things that the brochure won’t tell you about the Tata Punch and those are the things that impressed us the most not just with our Long Term Test car, but with the model itself right from the time it was first launched almost half a decade ago.

First Impressions

The mini SUV category is proof that India still finds merit in small cars, as long as you call them SUVs one way or another. Which is why most examples that fall in this price range are nothing more than hatchbacks on stilts. The Tata Punch could just be the exception - it is as SUV as it can get and that unapologetic approach is what made it the best-selling car in India through 2024. One glance at the car’s silhouette and stance no matter which angle you look at it from, screams SUV more than hatch. Get inside and the commanding driving position further reinstates that notion. Then there’s the 187mm ground clearance too. So this should be the perfect car for a city like Pune where the roads turn into off-roads and no roads at the blink of an eye, right? Well, that’s exactly what we’ll be finding out over the next few months.

Once all that ‘SUV fanboyism’ died down though, I started to soak in everything else that the Punch offers and as always there are things that I like and things I don’t. First, there’s the touchscreen infotainment system - definitely on the positive list and mostly because the way it’s positioned on the dashboard it doesn’t intrude on your view at all! With my driving position and height (5’6”) the top of the screen falls perfectly in line with the bottom of the windshield and that’s just perfect. The screen is quite responsive and the quality seems right up there, even for the rear camera display.

The driving position is quite good with uninterrupted views all around and all the controls right within reach - good ergonomic design here. The steering wheel is nice and chunky to hold too and the footwell never felt cramped despite the car’s small dimensions. I haven’t once sat in the rear seat yet, and we’ll leave that for the subsequent reports when we do get a full load of passengers in there, but the front seats feel nice and supportive as far as the initial impressions go. Lots of very accessible storage spaces for coffee cups and water bottles are a practical touch along with the adjustable armrest. I especially liked the tiny partition in the door pocket that keeps your water bottle upright and within reach so you don’t even have to bend forward to pick it out while driving. It’s always the little details that impress the most, aren’t they? 

The two immediate grouses I personally have with the Punch are exactly that - very personal. Firstly, the fact that the climate control has no display near the actual buttons meant that I had to hunt for the fan speed icon on the infotainment screen to know what the speed and temperature settings were at and that can get a bit distracting. Then there’s the sunroof - it’s there, but it’s quite small. Now I am someone who doesn’t ever feel the need for a sunroof in the first place so it has remained a non-existential entity for me till now on the Punch, but for those who do value having one, a slightly larger size would have felt more appealing.

Quick Drive Impressions

We’ll get to the detailed driving and performance impressions in later reports, but here are a few observations from the short spins I have been taking in the Punch around Pune city. The entirety of my time in the car has been spent in absolute city traffic amounting to numerous short runs and this seems like the Punch’s element. The clutch is light, the gearbox is slick (enough) although there seems to be an issue slotting into 3rd gear if the clutch pedal isn’t depressed all the way to the stop on the particular car we have on test. Acceleration from a standstill isn’t mind-blowing but it definitely gets the job done.

The three-cylinder 1.2-litre petrol engine doesn’t vibrate too much but does get a tad noisy at higher rpms - not something I’d enjoy on a highway run, I’m sure. Initial fuel efficiency figures on these short city runs in stop-go traffic indicate around 12 kmpl on the display - decent enough for the conditions. While the performance from the engine is in line with what you’d expect from a small cubic capacity motor, there was a very notable difference between driving with the air conditioning On and Off, especially on uphill slopes. The brakes have been nice and predictable too, but then again I’ve barely been going over 50 km/h so far.

The most impressive thing about the Tata Punch for me though, has been how easy and nimble it is to manage in city traffic. Those compact dimensions along with the light steering feel and high seating position makes it a breeze! And then the ample ground clearance and suspension setup take things even further when you have to inevitably go over odd potholes, rumble strips, broken roads and anything else. That’s what has actually been the highlight of the Punch till now and I doubt that will change throughout the course of this test!

What Next?

The Tata Punch is going to find lots of takers in the CarDekho crew as their daily driver - it’s fun, robust and seems decently efficient too. There will be the odd highway run as well, and knowing the team here, we will be piling people into every seat as well. More on that in subsequent reports, so stay tuned!