[chennai-indian]

Originally Posted by prashanthyr

Did the Tata Aria draw inspiration from the Peugeot/Citroen 5008?
Notice the similarities:
- Body shape/size
- External Mirrors
- Green house
- Wheels

Did Tata draw inspiration from Chrysler Town and Country?
Did they draw inspiration from Honda Odyssey? What about Toyota Innvoa? or Toyota Sienna? Or even Ford's windstar?

C'mon guys - it is a van - and will look like any other van - you know - four wheels, a steering wheel etc?

[thedreamcatcher]

Originally Posted by sandygordon

See the picture below.
This was what I was referring to.
Sorry to hurt a TATA employee/fan

Those plastics look cheap. They are not the felt lined ones in the Jetta.
And what is this.. A Jewel Box or a Cupboard..

What are u expected to store in them..?

I agree. I mean, you expect to woo people with these features. From profile, it looks nice, even the rear et al.

But the front is down right hideous

Can only expect Tata to do something like that

On the positives, it seems to be fairly decent with a well laid out dash and controls, Decent amount of equipment.

Just change the front look. One can live with the roof mounted cabinets, but not the front look. Atleast for me

[sandygordon]

Its true the front end looks like a Manza on steroids.. but its looks better than innova or the Xylo..The dash looks decent for a TATA, not for a 13-14L car. The shape of the steering is sort of Land Roverish (Like a clay model of the LR steering) . The cental console and faux wood looks brilliant, not the rest of the dash.

These are all prototype reviews/photos. Nothing can be said about the final product.
Good for TATA if they make a good product.

I hope this wont be another Safari story.

[vinaydas]

i don't get the point of the top parcel shelf.
wont there be decreased head room?
as mentioned it will rattle will due time.
and expect stored stuff to fall over people's head's while traveling on Indian Roads.

[AyAn!]

Originally Posted by chennai-indian

Did Tata draw inspiration from Chrysler Town and Country?Did they draw inspiration from Honda Odyssey? What about Toyota Innvoa? or Toyota Sienna? Or even Ford's windstar?

C'mon guys - it is a van - and will look like any other van - you know - four wheels, a steering wheel etc?

Exactly! Its a MPV,and will quite obviously resemble other MPVs around,in some way or another!

Originally Posted by vinaydas

although the concept model was decent with decent quality interiors(at least looked like it)
the road worthy model will definitely be a victim of cost cutting.

Tata and cost-cutting don't go hand in hand.Expect the production model to come loaded to the gills and decent value for money.But quality will be a different matter though! That we have to wait and see.But that they'll improve is a certainty.

[harry_jatt]

Originally Posted by Wind

Sir,

JLR is owned by Tatas not by any other Indian and they are well within their rights to do whatever they want with their product line, be it copy features or retire their entire product line.

-- Wind

Sir,

I think you are getting a bit emotional here. What you have written here is exactly what i meant.

Jatt

[shortbread]

The Aria looks great especially taking into context its a 7-8 seater pseudo 4x4 MPV. Considering that Toyota has been making cars for so long and their attempt at a 8-11 lac van (Innova) looks like what it does, the Aria is a great achievement by Tata.

@ dasvinay..vinaydas whatever....
'although the concept model was decent with decent quality interiors(at least looked like it) the road worthy model will definitely be a victim of cost cutting.'

Really... how so, u making the road going versions yourself.

'i don't get the point of the top parcel shelf.
wont there be decreased head room?
as mentioned it will rattle will due time.
and expect stored stuff to fall over people's head's while traveling on Indian Roads.'

Bling...bling...the point of a top parcel shelf is to store stuff in it. Would help if you think before you type, but doing that you'd probably run out of words with ur anti Tata rhetoric.
Pretty sure you haven't seen the car let alone travel in one, have you heard any one on team bhp mention the Aria is short of head room.
Heres another bit of info for u as well, these parcel shelves close as well, Wow that must have been a shocker for u.
So no, while traveling on Indian roads stored stuff wont fall over people's heads. Sorry about your expectations, unlike Toyota injuring or killing people isnt a part of Tata's corporate agenda.

@ Sanygordon

'Its true the front end looks like a Manza on steroids..'

Coming from somebody who drives a Dzire that should'nt be a complaint. But honestly mate even a Maruti lover would prefer a Manza on steroids rather than a bloated Dzire eh...

[maxbhp]

Disclaimer :

1. I have seen the car in flesh.
2. I was a visitor of Auto Expo 2010.
3. Am not biased towards any brand or model.

First Impressions

Paint Quality -

• Good atleast at par with the industry.

Body fit and finish -

• Improved a lot over safari and inline with Indica Vista.
• Panel gaps are still evident from a close distance and in certain places its quite noticeable even from a distance hence its far from toyota levels of fit and finish.

Design -

• Fair overall but attractive from some points.
• As someone mentioned blotted Manza look is disappointing but company can justify based on sticking to a common design identity.
• Light fitting looks flashy and trendy though not really a design with a smooth flow.
• Small fitting looks of fairly good quality like Side mirrors/4X4 Decal below the the side mirrors.

Interiors

• Design of dash board looks good but the problem is its not blending. Exterior is all curves and interior is following a totally opposite theme.
• Leather seats looked great.
• Overhead glove compartment and that too 4 in a row is a bit too much to take.
• On a close inspection of the clip (that keeps the overhead glove box in a locked position) it looks really weak.

[airbender]

the road worthy model will definitely be a victim of cost cutting.[/quote]

You look to be having inside knowledge of every tata product even before it's launched.

Any one complaining about the top storage shelf, have you driven an innova or a xylo on a long drive?


I do not work with TATA nor I hold any of it's shares.

[shortbread]

Tata Aria was a part of the Geneva models previewed by Autocar UK, according to their report the major reason why the Aria is restricted to using a 140 bhp powerplant at the moment is because the gearbox isn't designed to take any more power. But it seems Tata is considering a 170 bhp diesel version and there will be no petrol variants.
The 170 bhp immediately brings to mind the 2.2 DW12 engine used in the freelander, a tried, tested and refined powerplant. Theres also the 2.0 JTDM from Fiat which also has a 170 bhp output in its top variant.
But technically these engines arent that different from the present 2.2 Dicor. I think Tata just needs to source a gearbox, perhaps a good enough reason to import an auto box for the Aria.

[CARDEEP]

Originally Posted by shortbread

Tata Aria was a part of the Geneva models previewed by Autocar UK, according to their report the major reason why the Aria is restricted to using a 140 bhp powerplant at the moment is because the gearbox isn't designed to take any more power. But it seems Tata is considering a 170 bhp diesel version and there will be no petrol variants.
The 170 bhp immediately brings to mind the 2.2 DW12 engine used in the freelander, a tried, tested and refined powerplant. Theres also the 2.0 JTDM from Fiat which also has a 170 bhp output in its top variant.
But technically these engines arent that different from the present 2.2 Dicor. I think Tata just needs to source a gearbox, perhaps a good enough reason to import an auto box for the Aria.

I have read that Tata are considering a new gearbox for the 2.2 Dicor Aria rather than a new engine. This new gearbox will enable the Aria to extract 170 BHP out of 2.2 Dicor engine.

I believe 2.2 DW12 Freelander will only increase the (expected) cost of the car phenomenally, thereby hurting the sales. Fiat sourced 2.2 JTDM could be there. Nut at present the company is trying the 2.2 Dicor.

[anachronix]

Any idea on the engine/gearbox spec they were testing the Aria with for long?

I am quite surprised if Tata say they are yet to decide on the engine specs!

[Amartya]

Originally Posted by anachronix

Any idea on the engine/gearbox spec they were testing the Aria with for long?

I am quite surprised if Tata say they are yet to decide on the engine specs!

I think they have decided on the engine specs for India, it has to be the 2.2 Dicor, with some improvements in the gearbox. It's only for the European markets that they have to figure out their plan of action.

[anachronix]

So, its going to be the 2.2 Dicor with 140bhp setup?!

The Aria is a much awaited product. I only hope they don't price it too high (beyond 12L+)!

[SmartCat]

I am salivating at the prospect of 170 BHP diesel engine on the Aria. Is this only for the export models?