All New Tata Vista Sedan Class Review

Mumbai: Tata Motors, today, launched the new version of its premium hatchback, the Tata Vista. The new Tata Vista delivers a sedan-like experience, with its powerful engine options, stunning new look, state-of-the-art features and segment leading interior space which has always been its signature. The new range will be available at Tata Motors dealerships from September 1, 2011.

The new Tata Vista comes with a new front chrome grill, complemented with a new triple barreled head lamp for excellent visibility in low-light conditions. The car has generous chrome package on the exteriors, sporty new alloy wheels and a new signature color — Summer Sparkle. A mirror polished garnishing below the rear windshield adds to the distinctiveness of the exteriors.

The interiors, with soft feel dash board and door pads, too match the experience of a sedan. The four-spoke steering wheel now sports audio controls, which controls a fully integrated 2-DIN music system. It offers connectivity via USB, auxiliary input and bluetooth using the Blue 5 technology that helps pair up to five mobile phones. Outer rear view mirrors can be adjusted electrically using the joystick on the driver’s side door pad, and electrically operated HVAC controls add style and convenience.

Besides, it allows adjustable driving positions with tilt-adjustable steering wheels and height adjustable driver’s seat with lumbar support. In the rear, the 60:40 flip and fold rear seat makes room for luggage.

The car will be powered by the internationally acclaimed 1.3 litre common rail direct injection Quadrajet diesel engine and 1.4 litre MPFi Safire petrol engine with variable valve timing technology. The diesel engine delivers 75PS of max power at 4,000RPM, while the petrol engine delivers max power of 90PS at 6,000RPM. The new Tata Vista delivers a mileage of 22.3kmpl for diesel and 16.7kmpl for petrol.

The other major addition is the Clutch-to-Start feature, which ensures that one cannot crank the engine unless the clutch is fully pressed, hence there is no risk of re-crank if engine is on.
Other driveability pleasures include:

• Lower pedal clutch effort and smoother clutch operation.
• Improvement in braking efficiency by 15 per cent owing to the bigger brake booster.
• Lighter and more responsive steering
• Smoother gear shift due to improved shift mechanism.

Four top of the line safety and security features like ABS with EBD, dual airbags, crumple zones and side intrusion beams complete safety of the passengers. Features like engine immobiliser and remote keyless entry complete its sedan like experience. 

The Tata Vista will come in four trim levels — LS / GLS (base version), LX / GLX, VX / GVX and ZX / GZX (top-end version) and will be offered in six colours, Summer Sparkle, Porcelain White, Arctic Silver, Spice Red, Brilliant Blue and Cavern Grey.

The new Tata Vista, despite its premium features, has been competitively priced, starting from Rs3.88 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) for the Safire petrol range and from Rs4.79 lakh for the Quadrajet diesel range (ex-showroom, Delhi).The Tata Indica range has seen a lot of changes in the last decade. One major change, though, was the introduction of a bigger sibling – the Indica Vista. The Vista itself has gone through some upgrades in the past – and continues to do so even today – in typical Tata fashion. What we have reviewed here is the new Vista facelift which, as Tata claims, has improved further on an already robust product. 

With the new Vista facelift, Tata plans to offer a ‘sedan class’ experience. Therefore, the new Vista gets upgraded style, performance and entertainment to match up to a sedan. To help their customers draw easy comparisons, the Vista’s sedan-inspiration comes from its portfolio sibling, the Indigo Manza. The most striking difference on the facelift Vista then comes in the form of the new front fascia. It borrows all the vital elements from the Manza to evoke better style and a classier stance. 

The new Vista’s tailgate gets quite a few upgrades too. To begin with, there is a mirror-finish, gloss-black appliqué under the rear windshield which dons the ‘T’ logo. Complementing its black finish are the new taillights which get a black outline (see detail). The thickness of this outline makes the taillight lens look ‘smoked’ – adding a hint of sportiness to the tailgate. With the new Vista, Tata also puts into practice a new naming nomenclature viz. LS / LX / VX / ZX / GLS / GLX / GVX / GZX as replacing the earlier Terra / Aqua / Aura / Aura+. These variant badges and the emblems of the new Vista have grown bigger and get a new font (see detail). And though Tata wants the Vista to move away from the ‘Indica’ tag, the emblems still call this car an ‘Indica Vista’. 

First-up are the triple-barrel headlights which make the Vista look a tad more aggressive and also provide better illumination. Next in line is the chrome grille which still retains its ‘smiley’ form. The ‘T’ logo on the grille has grown bigger and features a unique ‘T-weave’ mesh for its background. The front bumper gets restyled, longer air-dams with integrated chrome surrounded fog lights.

Adding a classy touch (and even more chrome) are the rub rails on the front bumper (see detail) and doors, the window strips and the body coloured door handles (see detail). From the side profile, the new Vista is exactly similar to the outgoing one – which means that the wheel wells are still too big for the tiny wheels that the Vista is shod with. We would have loved to see 16-inch wheels, purely from a design perspective, but 15-inchers should be a good balance between design and ride comfort. The current model comes with 14-inch dual-tone alloy wheels on the top-end variants while the base and mid-range trims get 13-inch steel rims with decently designed wheel caps.

Overall, the new design makes the Vista appear classier and slightly sportier than its outgoing model – however, in the two days of driving that we did around shopping malls and marketplaces, hardly anyone noticed the difference in design – including an uninitiated friend of ours who owns an Indica Vista himself.

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