cars

2013 New Tata Vista D90 – review

Vista D90, Tata’s new hatchback in the Vista series is to be unveiled on January 28, 2013 at Buddh International circuit, Noida. Luckily, we at Ginger Chai got an early opportunity to review the car before its official launch.

Vista D90 Exteriors

After pushing the Manza upmarket by giving it a club class treatment, Tata has liberally taken the design cue from the the mid-sized sedan for Vista D90. The large and bold wrapping headlamps, black roofing which contrasts itself from the body color, generous embellishments of chrome accents all around the exteriors yet not overdone gives away all the indicators where the Tata designers took the inspirations from.

The large headlamp is quiet captivating and compliments the Vista’s body…

The fog light gets a chrome dip and a thin chrome strip decorates the bumper…

A dash of chrome again on the door knobs and not to mention the doors are quiet solid thanks to extra reinforced steel and the evenly spread out weight plants the car pretty comfortably on the move.

The typical Indica Vista D90 design element with a thin chrome strip running on the bottom half of the doors… It sports tubeless tyres with alloy wheels, with a split-spoke pattern which looks good.

The typical Vista rear lights gets a smoked black trim around the edges complimenting the over all black effect that graces the car.

The infinity contrast roof with the contrast black on top gives a striking look at certain angles especially looking down from an elevation…

The boot has a 232 litre capacity…

Vista D90 Interiors

 

Get inside, the interiors of Vista D90 carries forward few refreshing changes.  The  driver-aligned dashboard is again Manza inspired and the instrumental cluster is nested behind the steering wheel. Two big dials and two small dials on either side looks classy and  features a speedometer, RPM meter, fuel and plethora of other indicators. Moving a little aside in the top middle of the dashboard is a digital driver information system which displays a digital clock, distance to empty, average & instantaneous fuel consumption and ambient temperature.

Then there is the centrally placed music system with FM/MP3/CD playback with remote, USB port and axillary input. The car infotainment deck supports upto 5 bluetooth devices and you can pair your smartphones and access  and stream your playlists and phone book.

The dual tone interiors gives a very roomy, warm feel.

All the variants of D90 has driver seat height adjustment system for good back and lumbar support. It also has a tilt adjustable steering column with mounted music and call answer buttons on it in all variants.

The whole instrument cluster and car infotainment system come alive at night with moonlit white illumination. Also very handy is the illumination ring around the keyhole which is very useful at dark while inserting the key.

There is a good space utilization all around the car, you get two cup holders near gear knob, all the four doors has door inserts for slipping into stuffs like magazines etc, a storage tray under the co-drivers seat, a deep and big glove box with visiting card holder, pen holder and coin box.

Thoughtfully, there is an extra mobile charging port for the rear passengers in addition to the one in the front.

The seating is decent enough on comfort factor and they come with 60:40 flip and 100% rear seat folding option.

A 232 litre boot space is good enough for a hatch of this size.

Engine and Drive quality of Vista D90

Under the hood of new Vista reveals  a Quadrajet engine with Variable Geometry Turbocharger (VGT), with double overhead camshafts and 16 valve technology. The 1248 cc  engine delivers a 90 PS @ 4000 rpm.

The D90 drives good in city traffic, the ride feels peppy and comfortable even in bumper to bumper traffic. On highways the D90 stays well planted and grooved, offering better cornering at high speeds. Thanks to the ABS flooring, it feels more safe and breaking in tricky conditions is even more confidant. Tata has fine tuned the suspension keeping in mind the more power this car throws, it works good on bad roads. The new Vista also sports a decent ground clearance and uphill and bad road driving was zippy without the need for many downshifts.

Safety features include ABS (with EBD), dual front airbags, central locking with keyless entry, warning indicators for seat belts if not fastened and driver door if opened with key on, child safety lock on rear doors, collapsible steering and solid steel reinforced doors.

The only part where vista lags is the gear lever knob which is bit hard and feels bit rough during gear changes.

What works for Vista D90

• Black contrast roofing
• Chrome garnishes which is not overdone
• dual tone driver aligned dashboard with good features
• Illuminating ring around the keyhole
• Peppy drive and overall good driving experience

What does not work for Vista D90

• Hard gear lever knob

Thanks to Tata Motors and BlogAdda.com for the review opportunity

Maruti Ertiga – Fall in LUV with this MUV

While you might call it as MPV (Multi-Purpose  Vehicle) or MUV (Multi Utility Vehicle), Maruti would love to call it LUV – Life Utility Vehicle and for the car buyers there are good enough reasons to love this new vehicle from the staples of Maruti Suzuki. One can love its sedan-like handling, impressed by its  fuel efficiency, floored by its  better driveability and ofcourse fall for its sensible pricing and making this 5+2 seater a sure shot winner on our roads.

Key Features of Maruti Ertiga

With Ertiga, Maruti Suzuki aggressively re- enters the Multi Utility Vehicle segment hitherto ruled by segment leader Toyota’s Innova and Mahindra Xylo.

Measuring 4,265mm in length, 1,685mm in height and 1,695 in width Ertiga is chiselled with much detailing for design and visual appeasement, unlike its earlier vehicles like Omni and current van like Eeco. The end product is pleasure to watch from whatever angle you look at.

Ertiga? wonder what the name means? In Indonesian language, Ertiga means Three Rows.

Incidentally, Ertiga will also be exported to Indonesia by end of the next month.

Inside of Ertiga gives a deja vu moments for all those familiar with new Swift. The dashboard especially is borrowed from the new Swift and one cannot complaint about it since it fits well into Ertiga’s scheme of things though it sports a  different shade.

The interiors are quiet vibrant and has a good quality and finish. The light beige interiors makes the vehicle roomy and bright, though one might also have to take extra care to keep it clean, considering the dusty environs we have.

All the variants comes with power and tilt steering and with A/c, though the seat height adjustment comes only with the top variant.

Like the Mahindra XUV, Ertiga is built on monocoque design, compared to a body on frame chassis in the Xylo and Innova, resulting in better handling.

Ertiga Engines, variants and fuel efficiency

Ertiga is available both in petrol and diesel engines and in total 6 variants – 3 in each engine types. LXi / LDi, VXi/VDi, ZXi/ZDi

The petrol variant of Ertiga is powered by a 1,373 cc K14 engine with VVT (Variable Valve Technology) which delivers a maximum power of  95 ps at the rate of 6,000 rotations per minute (RPM) and with a good  fuel efficiency of 16.02 km per litre.

The diesel variant is powered by a 1,248 cc D13A DDiS super turbo engine which produces a max power of  90 ps at the rate of 4,000 RPM with an impressive  fuel efficiency of 20.77 km per litre.

Ertiga is available in 6 colors

 

Competing models to Ertiga  from rivals in near future

Indian UV segment is fast growing and currently has a  370,000 unit per annum utility vehicle (UV) market. With Ertiga, Maruti has in it to carve a good pie of the market share. Though competition would soon close in with Renault to launch its own compact SUV Duster and Ford to drive in its EcoSport and also M&M set to launch a mini Xylo and Nissan to offer Evalia.

Priced between Rs.5.89 lakh and Rs.7.30 lakh for the petrol variant and Rs.7.90 lakh and Rs.8.45 lakh for the diesel-powered one (ex-showroom Delhi) Maruti has sensibly priced Ertiga and with the features, styling and performance combined with Maruti’s branding you would definitely see a large numbers of Ertiga soon on Indian roads.

We would come up with our complete test drive and review soon.