Tata Tigor Styleback Review – An Impact Design carrying Tata’s Success Baton

You probably may have read about my previous review of the Tata Hexa, late last year. The Hexa was a great step forward in the makeover of a classic automobile brand, Tata Motors. It was completely refreshing to see the dazzling SUV from the Tata Stable and certainly turned, quite a few heads.Barely four months later, I received an invite, as part of a few selected bloggers to attend the launch of a new car called Tigor. Tata Motors seems to surprise the world with yet another stunner, this time in the sedan segment, namely Tata Tigor. So how does the new car fare? Here goes my two cents on the Tata Tigor Review.

First Impressions

 

It’s clearly visible that Tata Motors is moving out of the “utility” car segment (Indica/Zest etc) to a “styleback” segment,as they call it . Coming to the Tigor, the front portion of the car gives you the modern sedan look, esp with a stretched out design fitted with dual colour bumpers, twin barrel headlamps and front grille.

The rear portion of the Tigor, on the other hand takes everyone by surprise.  A design, that you generally do not spot on a sedan, Tigor comes with extended boot space and even minor spoilers with sparkling LED stop lights that really adds a nice touch to it.

Tata Motors had announced that it’ll be available on the following colors : Sunburst Orange, Pearlescent white, Platinum Silver, Striker Blue, Berry Red, and Espresso Brown.

Key Competition

The sedan segment has replaced the hatchback segment,as the most competitive segment to compete in. Tigor, nevertheless has serious competition including Honda Amaze, Hyundai i20 / Hyundai Xcent and also the Suzuki Swift/Swift Dzire.  Additionally, it faces a bit of a competition from its smaller hatchback predecessor Tata Tiago. Some of the cars mentioned here may not be in the same segment or price category, but from my perception falls within the same consideration set of a user. With some tight pricing and aggressive marketing , this could be a successive run for Tata Motors, if they deal the cards right.

Target Audience of Tigor

The target audience, as Mr.Vivek Srivatsa put it is mainly focussed at an upgrader. A young professional who wants to upgrade to a bigger car or a status seeker or even someone socially active and needs a car for both city use and an occasional highway drive. This is an interesting segment to cater to, given the fact that Indian market has a sizeable chunk of buyers in that area.

Technical Specifications of Tata Tigor

Petrol Engine : Fitted with a 1.2 Litre Revotron Engine and capacity of 1199 cc , Tigor comes with a torque of 114 Nm @ 3500 RPM  and horsepower of 85PS @ 6000 RPM .
Diesel Engine : The Diesel variant comes with a Revotorq 1.05L 3-cylinder, horsepower of 70PS @ 4000RPM and max torque of 140 Nm @ 1800-3000 RPM

Petrol and diesel manual versions have been rolled out initially and heard that they are shortly coming up with an automatic version as well.

Feature Specs of Tigor 

The Tigor Syleback carries some impressive specs and features that really gives a competitive edge over its competitors, mainly the i20 Grand and Amaze. Almost resembling a derivation from the Tiago, Tigor however scores its major points in the following features

•  An Impact design that really stands out, true to its nickname, a “Styleback“
• A completely modified dazzling rear that can even give a coupe styled car, a run for its money
• A massive boot space of 419L achieved through a bigger wheel base of 2450mm and a 4-link  mechanism instead of the usual hinge system

• The above wider wheel base gives a longer leg room to the rear passengers and adds immensely to comfort

  

• Convertible rear middle seat to a hand-rest/coffee cup holder, adding to both comfort and stylishness (Something I totally loved and miss in 90% of cars)
• Touchscreen display with added navigation system and a 8 speaker Harman sound system

• Dual Airbags, Anti Lock Braking System (ABS), Electric Power Assist and Corner Control

 

• Improved Lighting with Twin Barrel Head Lamps and LED Stop lamps on the rear spoilers.

Drive Experience

The first thing I noticed about the Tigor is its quick acceleration. It raced upto to 60 km/hr in a matter of seconds and effortlessly glided even at high speeds. My drive was from Delhi Airport all the way upto Gurgaon Heritage car museum. The route involved a fair mix of city roads, highways and of course broken pothole filled roads, typical to any Indian city. In almost all terrains, the car managed to handle itself pretty easily and there was almost no discomfort even in bumps and large speed breakers. To put it simply, it was so damn easier to drive the Tigor.

Another highlight of the drive experience was the touchscreen display,which connected to the phone’s GPS and gave me a smooth navigation system . I was able to shuffle to the music menu by just a flick of my fingers and switch back to GPS whenever needed. (the touchscreen navigation is available only in higher end variants of the Tigor). The Harman sound system added a nice touch to the overall jouney with some impressive sound effects.

Much surprisingly, I didn’t have the  strain or tiredness that follows a 150+ km journey even on a hot Delhi summer day and that totally speaks volumes on the Tigo. Our blogger drive from Delhi till Gurgaon involved 3-4 people/car and this seemed to have absolutely no impact on the car’s performance, handling and most importantly pickup.

Price 

Tigor could be launched anywhere between 5-7 Lakhs with the different variants. Probably anywhere between 50K to less than a lakh, more than the Tiago should fit right into this segment. The price is not officially launched as yet .

My Verdict

The Tigor is an impressive launch from the Tata stable and more of a bold move to take head on its competitors with an impact styleback design. The bold play can strongly work on their favour if they can keep the prices low (given this is a highly price competitive segment).

The large rear seating space,417L boot space , the unique silhouette and the overall design can add to its strong contention. The only thing I feel Tigor seems to miss is a powerful colour like an Intense Black or a Midnight Blue (which the Hexa really pulled it off). Though I could currently settle for the Striker Blue which the Tigor has.