Tata Motors, a pioneer in the Indian automobile industry was engaged in the manufacturing of heavy vehicles before it forayed into passenger car market. Among the best-loved automobile brands in India, Tata has offered many popular cars like Indica, Nano and Safari among others. Even though these cars enjoyed great popularity, and were sold in great numbers, many people found the drab looks of these cars highly uninspiring. Recently, Tata decided to address this issue and when the Zest was introduced few months ago, it attracted the attention of the onlookers due to its eye catching design and styling.
This car was revealed at the 2014 Indian Auto Expo. The first car to promote the ‘DesigNext, DriveNext, ConnectNext’ philosophy adopted by Tata for its new breed of cars, the Zest is a compact sedan. This car is available in both petrol and diesel engines, in addition to a diesel variant equipped with advanced F-Tronic AMT transmission gearbox.
The price of Tata Zest varies from 5.64 lakh rupees to 6.99 lakh rupees according to the variant chosen. Tata has offered several first in segment features like projector headlamps, LED daytime running lights and signature LED tail lamps with a wraparound look, among others. The state of the art Electronic Power Assisted Steering (EPAS) system provided in the car offers active return and speed functions to make driving an effortless exercise. Other attractive features included in the scheme of things are ABS with EBD, cornering stability control function, a 5-inch touch-screen, advanced voice command recognition and surround sound effect with eight speakers. Features like dual front SRS airbags, parking sensors and speed sensing automatic door locks are also offered for ensuring safety.
An all-new, indigenously developed 1.2-liter Revotron petrol engine powers the petrol variant of Zest. This 1193 cc engine with 4 cylinders and 16 valves obtains fuel through multipoint injection system. It can generate up to 88.73 bhp of power at 5000 rpm and a peak torque of 140 Nm at 1750 to 3500 rpm. It is connected to a five-speed manual transmission gearbox. A 1.3-liter Quadrajet engine powers the diesel variants. This 1248 cc unit has 4 cylinders and 16 valves and is set in the DOHC configuration. This engine generates a top power of 77.73 bhp at 4000 rpm and a peak torque of 200 Nm at 3000 rpm. This is coupled to a 5-speed manual transmission system or an F-Tronic technology enabled automated manual transmission gearbox. The Zest offers a mileage of 20 to 22 kmpl on diesel variants and 15 to 18 kmpl on petrol variants.
An attractive and powerful car, the Zest competes with cars like Honda Amaze and Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire in the sub-compact sedan segment.
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