Tata Altroz Review

The Tata Altroz is the recent offering from the Indian Car Manufacturer Tata Motors. It is a premium hatchback to take on the likes of Maruti Suzuki Baleno, Hyundai i20, Toyota Glanza and Honda Jazz. Although Tata says they didn't have an offering in this segment, I believe the Indica, Indica Vista, and the Bolt were quite good hatches. Speaking of the Altroz, the word Altroz comes from the word albatross which is an agile seabird. The Altroz is based on the ALFA architecture platform which stands for Agile, Light, Flexible and advanced. Tata says this is an all-new platform which is flexible and will be used for many upcoming models. The Altroz Ev which will be launched sometime later will also be based on the same platform. The Altroz was launched in the Indian market on 22nd January 2020.

Design-

Tata Motors showcased the concept version of the Altroz at 2018 Auto Expo which was named 45X back then. The concept was liked by everyone and I must say the production Altroz is very much identical to the concept. The car looks very attractive and distinctive and surely turns heads. The front looks smart and sharp with the wide smiling grill finished in gloss black.

The side profile looks distinctive because of the small kink which runs below the window line. Also, the rear door handle is placed near the rear window (Like we have seen one on swift and Chevrolet Beat). Coming to the back you get a lot of gloss black finishing in the middle. There is nice and bold ALTROZ spelt over the glossy black surface. Overall the design of the Altroz is unique and it is a modern-looking car in its segment.

Performance-

Petrol- The tata Altroz comes with a 1.2 liter 3-cylinder Revotron engine which we have already seen in the Tiago and the Tigor. The engine churns out 86 PS of power and 113 Nm of torque which is quite adequate for city use but out on the highway, it lacks a bit of punch. Being a 3-cylinder unit its not the most refined, the engine is quite silent at the idle but once you start revving it, a lot of engine noise starts filtering into the cabin. The Altroz being heavier than the Tiago the engine somehow lacks the punch. Tata should have offered the Altroz with a 4-cylinder at least.

Diesel- Tata knows how to make diesel engines and with the Altroz too they have nailed it. The Altroz gets a 1.5 liter 4-cylinder Revotroq engine. This is similar to the one we have seen on the Nexon with slightly less power. In the Altroz the engine produces 90 PS of power and 200 Nm of torque. There is a good amount of grunt that you get from this engine. There is a slight turbo-lag below 2000 rpm which is quite common to diesel cars. Past 2000 rpm the engine offers a good power surge which is linear. The engine is surprisingly silent and offers good refinement levels. This engine feels lively for most of the time and you will love driving the diesel more than petrol.

Interior and cabin space-

Tata is known for making spacious cars and the Altroz is no exception to that. The car feels spacious and the 90-degree door opening makes ingress and egress easy. The front seats are comfortable and have good cushioning. The driving position is nice and everything is laid out

ergonomically. The 7'' floating touch screen is always in your line of sight so that you don't have to take your eyes off the road. The rear seats have good under-thigh support and the headroom is quite decent too even for tall passenger. To make the rear passenger comfortable it also gets a central armrest which is first in its segment. You also get rear ac vents and a 12V charging socket at the rear. The boot space is quite decent with 345 liters of storage capacity.

Features-

To begin with safety the Altroz comes with ABS and 2 airbags as standard across all the variants. It also gets Electronic Brake-Force Distribution (EBD) and Corner Stability Control (CNC). It also gets Isofix child seat mounts for all variants, Rear parking sensors are standard while you get a rear parking camera for the top trims. The park assists feature is quite useful in bumper to bumper traffic too. The Altroz gets few segment-first features like 90-degree opening doors, rear armrest, cruise control, ambient lighting.

The 7'' touch screen from Harman is nice to use and comes with Android Auto and Apple Car play connectivity. The only issue I have with the screen is it a bit small for my liking. The display of the automatic climate control system is also shown in the infotainment system. I would love if they had kept separate display for climate control as it makes it convenient for the driver while on the move. The instrument cluster is part analogue and part digital. The digital display shows a lot of data such as rev counter, distance to empty, cruise control data, exactly which door is open etc. however the speedometer is analogue.

Ride and Handling-

The Altroz is a fun to drive car. The gearbox is smooth shifting, the clutch is light and the steering offers good feedback. The ride quality is just superb just like other Tata cars. Tata engineers know how to tune the suspension system. The suspension of all Tata cars is perfectly set up for our Indian roads. Although it gets 16-inch alloy wheels, the profile of the tire is big enough to make the ride comfortable. The car gets 2 driving modes-City and Eco. The city is the drive mode that you will mostly prefer as eco mode dulls the performance to some extent. The car feels stable and planted at all speed especially the diesel.

The Tata Altroz is a real promising car from Tata Motors. It looks stunning, gets all the features, although it misses out on a few like an automatic transmission(which will be offered later, 6-airbags (as an option). The car shines in certain areas like ride and handling, diesel engine, steering feel and feedback, high speed stability, build quality. The premium hatchback also received a 5-star rating from the Global-N CAP in safety making it the safest car in the segment. Summing this up the Altroz is truly a Gold standard in its class.

Disclaimer- Photos are taken from TATA Motors official website.