[pedrolourenco]

I was desperately hunting around for a used Baleno RS. Couldn't find a decent one at a decent price. Then the i20 Turbo DCT came and though overpriced, I almost booked it but stopped because of the 2 months waiting. Now the Altroz turbo looks like an easy choice. Since the top end Diesel costs around 10L OTR, lets hope this one is a lakh cheaper. Then it's a no brainer. As some have said, it could be better after a remap. Which tuning companies have already done remaps of the Nexon? Spending around 25K to get it to around 130-140 BHP seems worthwhile.

[gusfring]

Totally appreciate the dedication to that Tri arrow on the seats, looks dope. Excellent design, that's for sure. Probably will end up doing really well, being an all rounder.

[Stranger17]

Another Point that would have worked in Altroz's favour is that there is no turbo petrol all-rounder in manual avatar.
Polo tsi while being a hoot to drive is too old with poor rear seat space whereas i20 is not provided with a proper manual and atrociously high pricing.
Nexon based on older platform with heavier weight wasn't able to make full use of 120 ps of power whereas Altroz based on new alfa platform with lighter weight and 120 ps and 170 nm of torque would have been far more fun to drive and a second quicker to 100 if not more.

[PrasannaDhana]

While we keep on cribbing that Volkswagen keeps selling a 10 year old Polo without substantial upgrades on the exterior and interior, - the engine, transmission and the dynamics of the Polo prove that it is still the benchmark to beat when you are looking for a driver's car at a 10 lakh rupee budget.

While Altroz can boast that it is safe(r) and more practical, it is always going to be the head's choice while buying the car. Polo tsi will always remain that choice which the heart yearns.

Personally I find the flash red polo and the red Altroz equally gorgeous, but the interior quality feels more premium in the Volkswagen.

Let's talk about the MT, the polo's 6 speed MT is much better to use than the 5 speed MT in atlroz (which is the same as in Tiago if IIRC)

I really don't find big differences in the fuel efficiency between the 1.2 iturbo and the 1.0 tsi. The tsi was a hoot to drive! Will have to test drive the Altroz.

I have a feeling that Tata takes extraordinary effort in keeping the Altroz an ordinary car. Why not AT, and why not Nexon's tune?

Hyundai and Ford do that, Tata should too.

[safari_lover]

Thanks for the wonderful review, Aditya and GTO. Looks like the Altroz can hold on its own against the rivals now. I take it that in your view, the engine and gearbox from Nexon would've made it a clear winner.

How do you find performance compared to Baleno and the i20 - it's main rivals, IMO.
Is the ground clearance adequate for our speed breakers? My reference points are the Vista and the old Figo. Vista being adequate and Figo inadequate.

Also, the brochure says that the Altroz will come with 14" wheels on the XT variant for the iTurbo unlike the 16" wheels on for the NA. This looks quite unnecessary.

[DeathPig]

This looks like the Altroz I would have purchased had it released last year around March, when I needed a car. The petrol Altroz I did a TD of was sluggish and slow.

[Napalm]

Good to know that this turbo petrol engine is vastly better than the regular n/a petrol with good drivability in city and even better performance on the highway with the sport mode. It’s amazing that they have managed this with lower state of tune than Nexon and a 5-speed gearbox.

With this better turbo-petrol engine with manual gearbox and new features like connected car tech, express cool, perforated leatherette seats etc in the new XZ+ variants, the Altroz has somewhat narrowed the feature gap with i20, and should do even better sales in 2021.

The sales difference between altroz and the new gen i20 was not that large in last few months anyways. (~6k vs ~8k).

Although Altroz still does not get an auto, it is ironic that the i20 may be suffering due to lack of a manual on its competent turbo-petrol engine! Hyundai seems to have done a self goal here.

My only concern is why didn’t Tata make this turbo engine as the only petrol choice on at least the top-end XZ and XZ+ variants. Perhaps they will in future, after seeing the customer demand.

The perforated leatherette seats do look very premium.

Great review!

[kamilharis]

A worthy makeover for an excellent car. And thanks for the review Aditya & GTO.

Good to see TATA improvising as per customer demands. But hey make your reactions a bit faster!

New smart features look good and this is where cars like POLO doesn't come into the picture.
POLO might be a hot hatch, but Altroz is more of an all-rounder.

Does the 1.2NA variant get the smart feature update?

Can anyone post the power/torque to weight ratio of Altroz and Nexon ?

[ATRONIX]

Here's how it performs against the Hyundai i20 Turbo DCT.

Source : Motorbeam

[spkrnh]

Though I am happy with a new TATA as always, this was poor product planning IMHO.
My 2 cents :
1. I read in this month’s Autocar that Altroz EV is not coming this year. Hope it’s not true.
If you see last year’s sales of Nexon EV it’s roughly 200-210 cars/month. And it’s only going to increase as the infrastructure develops. Ideally an Altroz EV at 3 lakhs lesser should find more buyers than the turbo petrol which is only going to end up in buyers cross shopping between NA petrol and turbo petrol and might not increase the sales as much as TATA might hope. They should have concentrated more on the Altroz ziptron since it’s a first mover advantage and got it here earlier.
If TATA is reading this, 2 recommendations. Please cap the top speed at 140kmph and not 120. And please get it here at the earliest. With the 200odd kilos weight advantage and better aerodynamics this should be faster and offer more range than the Nexon.

2. Though it’s a better petrol than the NA one, TATA could have gone the whole hog and given the Nexon’s petrol with the 6 speed box. Even with that engine it might not out accelerate a polo gt but atleast it would have been a better competitor. More importantly when the dsg is still not ready they need not have hurried into this launch at all. The reason quoted for Altroz EV’s delay is that TATA is going to be busy with the Altroz iturbo and Safari launch. Instead they should have concentrated on the Safari and Altroz EV and reserved the Altroz turbo petrol for when the dsg was ready.

[2000rpm]

I think of below comparison

C+ Segment: City :: B+ Segment: Honda City.

The current Altroz with this engine option, is definitely the most rounded car in the segment with class leading safety, class leading space, good enough feature list, Good interiors and sound and........SMASHING LOOKS!

[ZenMaster]

I really don't understand Tata's fragmented approach to its launches.

Is it a marketing decision or engineering constraint?

It looks like Tata Motors' engineering dept. doesnt have the bandwidth or is understaffed & underfunded(compared to other companies) or both because they seem to be not able to handle R&D / launch of multiple variants of a model at a time and therefore have to go with this fragmented launch approach that makes no sense other than some fool in the marketing dept. suggested this to keep the car "in the news cycle" or whatever.

I also think Tata wants to launch the DCT version as the relatively "Hot" hatchback with higher power figures and better performance while also keeping the price of the manual variant lower and hence opted for the 5 speed GB. This Turbo pertrol Manual could well be their high volume variant if it can attract all the buyers who shunned or may shun the N/A variant because of its sluggish performance.

A large volume of buyers looking for an Altroz are people looking for a relatively "premium" car and not willing to compromise in terms of power unlike a typical Tiago buyer who is looking for their 1st entry level car or a second city run-about car etc.

[WhiteSierra]

Here is PowerDrift's Tata Altoz iTurbo First drive review.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vjrUvb19Wk

I really wish if this came with a 4 cylinder engine, better Power figures and 6 MT & DCT there by beating all the competition cars hands down and making it the best HOT hatch in the country. A lost opportunity for Tata in terms of building the best Hot hatch but it is still the best looking car, better performer, and the safest car in the segment. Waiting for the DCT / AT version of it. As GTO said, 1 year later after the initial launch, we got a much sorted out and better version of Altroz.

[Cessna182]

Good effort but the automatic should have been the first priority. The Altroz is phenomenal value for money in its base variant. 6.5 lakhs for a 5 star safety rated car is perhaps the cheapest globally. Hope the turbo retains this value for money attribute.

[AZT]

Originally Posted by spkrnh

With the 200odd kilos weight advantage and better aerodynamics this should be faster and offer more range than the Nexon.

I've wondered why they didn't do something to improve the range of the Tigor EV. It's already available but the range is 213 km vs Nexons 312 km. These are brochure numbers so real world range would be even lesser.