[Aafaq]

Excellent review Already rated 5 star


No doubt Tata has really improved leaps and bounds in terms of design language. Their cars are getting better and better.
I can't imagine that Altroz is from the same manufacturer who used to produce cars like Indica and Nano.
Now they should also focus upon improving the fit and finish and the after sale service.

PS : Even video reviews are nothing in front t-BHP reviews!

[tristis2008]

Thank you so much for this thorough review. It also clearly brought out, how much thought Tata has put in, in designing this car. While Tata could certainly fix those little issues, I would certainly appreciate Tata Motors' efforts here. The handrest design I believe while not obstructing the handbrake operation, wonder how frequently the driver's hand would slip out of the rest. While the steering is looking much more premium, it should have also had both reach and rake adjust.

[puneeth2]

A great detailed review as always. Well worth the wait!
I think Tata has done a great job with the design of the car. They have been consistently good in that aspect.

I haven't driven the car but I feel for the masses, the engine performance should be adequate. 85 odd BHPs is the usual power figure anyway.

I'd definitely want to see a more powerful version with the performance to complement the looks of the car.

Originally Posted by ZenMaster

If any of our in house designers can try their hand at making a concept Altroz hothatch during their free time during this lockdown it would be GREAT.

Check this out! A hotter variant of the Altroz. We might not ever see a real JTP version of it, but here's what it should look like in my view.



P.S.: Team-bhp, I hope you don't mind me using the photo.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by HYPERTOURER

One thing I observe is that most media houses have negative comments about Tata's fit and finish.

Guess the trick is to pay full attention to the visible parts of the cabin.

Altroz also has good fit and finish throughout most of the cabin, but then lost it by getting some very visible parts wrong - like the glovebox for example. It is right up there for everyone to see and forms an impression straight away! The shot below is from the media car and thankfully, seems slightly better off in the owner's car used for the review.

The sad part is - the concealed button design and all the utility elements of the glovebox (as explained in the review) are impressive indeed!

[Aditya]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Pardon, but I didn't get the above disclaimer. I guess Tata didn't provide Altroz for t-BHP's test drive, but a BHPian did? How they covered travel expenses for the driving event then? I just wanted to clear my doubts.

For a new car, most car companies hold a media drive. Tata Motors held one for the Altroz as well. Team-BHP was invited and 2 of our moderators attended. Hence, the disclaimer.

The time we get with a car in such media drives is never enough to do an exhaustive review. We might manage a facelift (as in the case of the Ciaz or Endeavour) but it is highly unlikely that a new model can be covered fully. It is better to get a car for say 3 - 5 days. Nothing like living with it day and night to be able to make a proper assessment of the vehicle. Tata couldn't provide us a car for the above-mentioned period. We had to borrow one and the Kothari family obliged.

[sanchari]

A very detailed review, as expected from Team-BHP. Thanks for the detailed write-up. One question though, in the comparison chart for premium hatchbacks, why is the Honda Jazz missing?

Underbody covering is very important in Indian roads, what with humps and other stones etc sticking up on the road. I hope Tata looks at adding that in future. Also, disappointed to know about the weak engine. Given that its premium hatchback, and the demographics there are probably not the most sedate of the drivers out there, I wonder why Tata went with this petrol engine choice??

[hdman]

Thanks for the great review, Aditya. It was quite exhaustive and well written.

Agree with GTO on the way Tata competes, it's hilarious and sad at the same time. Shocked to know there was actually no diesel available, which Tata is known for. I have had 3 different Tata cars in past - 2004 Indica 1.4L Petrol (sold), 2010 Indica Vista 1.3 Quadrajet (sold) and 2015 Zest 1.2L TPetrol, and I know Tata's Petrol engines aren't the best, like Aditya said. My dad was a fan of Tata for it's VFM and practicality offering (clearly).

Sadly with the evolution of design Tata has lost it's niche, for instance no 60:40 split at Rs.10L is just absurd. Ride quality in my Zest is undoubtedly one of the best if not the best in its segment and perhaps a segment above, on the contrary Altroz comes with a firm suspension and weak motor (possibly to limit the body roll), which doesn't add up to me. The shocking part for me was it's priced more than the Baleno, the segment leader. You add on Tata's ill famed ASS, and not sure who Tata is targeting with this. Hopefully, JTP is on it's way with the Altroz version that can make use of the car's dynamics better.

[harimakesh]

Tata is known for their diesel hatch back cars. But TATA motors now hesitate to offer diesel engine for their hatches.

Offering same Tiago 1.2L 3 pot petrol engine without turbo charging on Altroz is not attractive.

Tata motors used to offer 60:40 split seats on their indica DLX but surprisingly Tata motors new generation hatch back cars Altroz, Tiago even top end variant XZ+ doesn't get split seats.

In guise of strengthening Altroz positioning, on BS6 Tiago XZ+ variant, TATA motors decided to delete small but useful features like boot lamp, rear parcel tray strings, side body plastic moulding, multiple drive modes, projector head lamps.

When Tiago is already available in AMT, Altroz not offered any type of auto transmission is not going to help its launch complete and impressive.

Tata motors new hatchback cars off late get connected with viruses. Tiago got the name as the original name Zica had to be changed since Zika virus brokeout in summer 2016. Now in 2020 Altroz got launched and corona virus brokeout and global lockdown happened.

[lifeat100k]

Such an excellent review! Thank you very much.
Huge thanks to the Kothari Family.
I was really looking forward to the review and here it is
! So happy to see the review.
My close buddy is very much interested in Tata Altroz. This is going to be his first car and he had almost decided to go for it. He is not much into the technical details and is going ahead only on the basis of its looks! After reading about the engine performance, I have told him to just hold it for sometime. Atleast till a Turbo/AT is on the cards.
I really like the way Altroz looks. The front, the rear, the attention to detail, the peacock motif, the glove box, DRLs-especially liked all of them. Kudos to Mr.Prathap Bose and Team.
Hoping that TATA releases the Turbo/AT soon🤞

[Tulok]

Great review.

Looks better than it’s rivals. Feels premium all around. Sunroof or a moonroof would have completed the package. Purely my personal thoughts.

Though I can’t afford it at the moment.
What do you guys think about it’s value after 5 years+ down the line. Will it depreciate like Indicas and the likes ? If it does, a pre worship Altros in the house will be dream

Regards
Tulok

[five46]

Originally Posted by hdman

Hopefully, JTP is on it's way with the Altroz version that can make use of the car's dynamics better.

The JTP bliss was a short-lived one. Read here.

However, with the news (Tata Motors to hive off passenger car business into a separate subsidiary) to hive off passenger car business, TaMo gives us a little glimmer of hope. You never know, with a focused PV strategic business unit, JTP 2.0 may be a possibility.

[DheerajNK]

This is such a good looking car. I hope Tata comes up with better engine options & fix some of the minor niggles as soon as possible because time is the key here.

The number of sales a car will do in the first year after launching is very important, in my view. Tata should know it better than anybody else because even though they have refreshed the Harrier & fixed a lot of issues now, I don't think the sales are going to pick up greatly because people make up their minds very quickly on whether a model is success or a failure. It is almost impossible to change that impression no mater what you do after that.

Thanks,
Dheeraj

[aniketi]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Over & above the weak power delivery of this motor, what also blunts its performance is the car's kerb weight. When driving around in the city, the Altroz doesn't feel energetic like the Baleno. Power on tap is strictly "adequate". The talking point is its driveability, not power. You can easily potter around in 3rd gear at 40 km/h with the engine revving at ~1,750 rpm. Make no mistake = it has enough poke to carry you around town with few gear changes, albeit in a relaxed manner. You won't find the need to rev the Revotron hard as long as the driving style is sedate. However, if you need to quickly close a gap in traffic, you’ll have to drop a gear or two. Not really enjoyable as the engine gets noisy, with that classic 3-cylinder thrum too! Overall, the car is a practical point A->B commuter, but it is no scorcher at all. Like some other 3-cylinder engines, city driving can get a tad jerky, especially in stop & go traffic. One needs to be more careful with the accelerator & clutch pedal co-ordination to avoid jerks.

Thanks for great review, though diesel review is missing which is more important for many. Above paras are important for me in terms of engine as it is the most talking point for now in Altroz. From these observations, I think many people will not be very unhappy. Though this is not great engine, I am sure this will satisfy 60% people's needs in India. It's good for sedate drivers as review mentions, rest car is anyway very good. Lot of people see car as overall package & Altroz fits that bill perfectly. Overall very nice car by Tata and hope they will come up with different & more powerful engine as an option. Overall great car Tata, all the best.

Off topic - Now you have got sufficient break Tata, try to utilize it to improve some of the shortcomings you have. Work on that and you will gain out of it for sure in future.

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by GTO

Tata Motors is like a competition runner that prepares really hard, wears the right safety equipment, is fast & muscular, runs in the marathon and leads it all the way….but when just 10% of the race is left, the runner collapses of dehydration. He recovers later, but is no longer leading the race...ending up in the mid-pack. See the Altroz & its lame petrol engine, or how the 2019 Harrier was launched unfinished, with flaws, niggles and no AT. Tata hurried up with the Harrier to beat the Hector & Seltos to the market = did it make any difference at all? Please take more time and launch it RIGHT from day 1. You've done it with cars like the Nexon, Hexa etc. so why not the Harrier & Altroz?

I liken TAMO to one of the video game studios that have development houses spread around the world. So they will do A, B, C (say graphics, campaign mode, content) very well because Development House A in Scotland developed it. Then D & E (say a terrible play 2 pay model, performance and bugs) will be horrible because some other development house put it together and these two pieces were united by Corporate HQ. Then through a DLC model they keep patching things up and a year or two later the game is in the state it should have been on release.

I was in the market for a csuv in Oct, took a test drive of the Harrier, loved it's looks but it's engine was such a drag and it's "feel good" things were lacking and my son and wife used their veto because of things like lack of a sunroof. The CS guys also definitely were lacking and had a "take it or leave it approach". I was still willing to give them a second chance and asked the CSM who got the TD car to see if he can get the other TD car as I wanted to double check the clutch play (which was terrible in the first car), he promised to call back in a day, after 3 days I called back, he promised to call back and never did.

TAMO needs to invest in good high quality CS, above the transactional cabbie market. They also need to take their time and release a full product and not depend on later "patches". This can change the way the market perceives them

[HammerHead]

Excellent review as always.

After stunning Harrier and Nexon, I had high expectations from Altroz with regards to design. This one did not impress me.

It looked great in the concept phase (45X) but in reality looks like they messed up with the proportions. Of-course they had to fit it under 4mtrs.

Originally Posted by Astitva

Tata Motors, if you are reading this, please consider blue as an option.

Tata Motors would rather expect you and your friends to consider Altroz as an option