Vista D90, a sneak preview

Close on the heels of our trip to Ahmedabad, Tata Motors had called me up and delivered a spanking new Tata Indica Vista D90, Tata’s new hatchback in the Vista series before its launch, at my door step. The reason, well, drive it in the city and highways and let us know what you think about.

Since I was to have the car for 3 days and had some work in Pune, I decided not to go too far but picked Pune as a destination for one day and the other days just drive around in case I need to go somewhere. I am not a fan of wasting fuel & time just for the heck of it.

The next day we started for Pune. First thing that you notice is the high ground clearance, when you open the door and slide yourself into the car. Ample space for a person who is very tall or fat. S/he won’t feel cramped. It also gives a feeling of ruling the road since you are seated a bit higher. 🙂

Second thing you notice is the bright white ring which helps you to locate the ignition key slot. A very nice feature, especially useful in the dark.

If you don’t put the seatbelts on, it reminds you by beeping. 🙂

Other nice features not immediately discernible are the adjustable steering tilt. I was told the driver height adjustment was possible but I could not figure it out. Electric adjustments for both door mirrors at the flick of a switch is indeed convenient.

I put it on first gear and I am disappointed with the sluggishness of the engine. The pick up was not great. Maybe because of Diesel Engline? But beyond 2.5k mark of the tachometer the response was quite good.

There is a digital display which gives out the fuel consumption per litre on the fly. I was amazed to see at some stretches I could get as much as 23.2 kmpl! Apparently the new Quadrajet Engine did its trick. The car was reasonably stable at 120Kmph and I did not dare go beyond. There was however, an irritating ‘hum’ when you drive at these speeds.

The Stereo was of good quality and sports both Aux-in and USB ports at the bottom. Some system controls on the steering wheel were very convenient. Also convenient was being able to pair it with my cellphone via Bluetooth and was able to pick up calls, if only to say “I am driving, please call again later” :), without having to juggle and wiggle around to locate my cell phone. I could even make calls using the dialpad on the music system!
Good performance on the expressway. Once we reached Kothrud, we encountered some heavy traffic zone. The car performed well, but I found the clutch was too stiff to my liking as was the gear shift. Maybe because it was too new. 🙂

Enough space for 3 at the back, but I guess it has been this way for sometime with Indica, not a new feature. The rear seat splits 60:40 is also a decent feature for those who carry loads of loads! However, I would have preferred if there had been space for a bottle of water in the insides of the doors.

All in all a good car. It is a first time I have driven a Tata car. It looks like they have come a long way from the initial buggy Indica introduced several years back. 🙂

You can see more photos of this car on my Facebook page here

Thank you Tata Motors for giving me the opportunity to drive this car. Wish you all the best for its success.

If you want to travel places with me, I suggest you to join me on my Facebook travel page.
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