BEST OF TATA TIAGO

What you'll like: Great styling. A very chic-looking hatchback at a value-for-money price. Tata has put in a lot of effort on quality and it shows. No signs of cost cutting at all. Solid build & construction, unlike most of its flimsy competitors. High quality, well-designed interiors. Lots of storage and a useful 242 liter boot too. Suspension offers excellent ride comfort with neutral handling.

City friendly nature: light controls, agreeable ergonomics & good driveability (both engines). Amazing 8-speaker Harman entertainment system. Sounds top class.

Feature list with 2 driving modes, parking sensors + display, cooled glovebox, full MID & more I own a Tiago XZ Petrol purchased on all India launch date. I've done around 3500 kms so far.

Initially I was too worried about the mileage of this car because whenever I used to full the tank the orange refuel indicator will turn on too soon after few hundred kms. So I calculated the mileage by filling petrol brim to brim. When the first time i filled upto brim, it swallowed 44.2 liters when the fuel indicator was blinking.

I maintained a speed between 70-80 kmph in CITY mode and after 40 kms refilled again upto brim. Surprisingly, it got full in 1.52 liters only, that means I draw 26.315 kmpl of mileage.

Also the next time when I went to trip I got a snap of the mileage indicator from the console, see what it shows in the picture. I don't want to comment on city mileage because it will differ from city to city depending upon road and traffic conditions.

BRAKES: Brakes are good on Tiago, I have the Diesel Non ABS version and stopping distance is less. Even under light braking, they do well to bring speed down.

AC: AC is very good. In the pre production batches, there was complaint regarding AC and Tata has rectified it to an extent. The newer cars have very good AC although the blower noise is higher on speeds of 3 & 4.

ACCELERATION: This is because 4th & 5th gear are considered top gears and they are meant to keep RPM and noise level low at high speeds.

In the Tiago, 3rd gear is the best when planning for overtakes while 4th gear comes handy when you want to overtake but for that you need to be above 70-80 kmph, below that it struggles.

STEERING: The electric power steering is one of the nicer units around. Being smaller in diameter (360 mm), it's very convenient for urban commuting and manoeuvrability. It's light at city speeds and weighs up sufficiently as the speedometer needle climbs.

We both agreed that the diesel's steering was noticeably firmer, while the petrol's was one-finger light. Still, it isn't lifeless and does give you some feedback of what the front wheels are up to.

At higher speeds, you get the confidence to chuck the car around a little due to its weight. I liked this steering much better than my Grand i10's inconsistent EPS.