Tata Zica: Preview of a Fantastico Drive

If you are the person who believes a car is an instrument that takes the person from Point A to Point B, then you would be wasting your time reading this. However if you are one of those who thinks a car is a vehicle that reflects your personality, it is an extension of you, and you are someone who appreciates performance and appreciates good things in life, then please go ahead and read on.

I am a travel and food writer. I may not understand the finer technicalities of the automobile industry, but I do understand and can differentiate a good car from not so good car. After all I have been driving a car myself for over quarter of a century. So when I visit Goa on an invited review by Indibloggers for yet to be launched Tata Zica, I take a mental note of leaving the technicalities to the experts and focus on the car from the user’s point of view.
It is a lovely Saturday morning of December and while it is getting cold in Delhi, Goa is warm and pleasant. Sixty bloggers from all over the country who write on different genre assemble at Alila Diwa, a premium property in South Goa near Majorda beach. After a day at leisure where we all went to the Gonsua beach for some football fun, we all assembled at the conference hall for unveiling of the car. I will not deny that some of us went with a silent wish list of meeting Lionel Massi (the Argentian born football player and touted to be amongst the best Soccer player in the world) – the current Brand Ambassador of Tata Motors. While that still remains a wish but we met the TV host Cyrus Sahukar, who was our MC for the evening and the entire senior leadership team of Tata Motors who seemed too eager and excited to show us the new product.
The team really knew how to create excitement. The conference was held in a room that resembled a dressing room for players. It was even more exciting to see our name at the cupboard displaying a Messi T-shirt, a sipper and a keychain with a lovely bag to keep that stuff. Now with holding breath we were looking forward to see the car in real. But it was still time. Marketing, Product and Technical experts from Tata Team told us the inside story of making the product from scratch. Zica gets its name from Zippy Car. They also told us that how the experts from their three design centers in France, London and Pune were put together for the first time. Instead of competing with each other, they worked together to bring out synergy and a product that can become a Global leader in its category.

Finally the car was revealed. Here are my first impressions of the Tata Zica Car:

• It looks sporty and modern
• Unlike other Tata cars of its category, it does not have back lights in the shape of a Christmas tree and hence make it looks so much more elegant
• The colors and design will immediately draw an attention from youngsters than the erstwhile cars that were a more of a hit with cabbies.
• The back view of the car is reminiscent of I20 by Hyundai
• The rear defogger is in the shape of a rainbowAnd here are my observations of the car from inside
• The dashboard is very functional with a/c vent in the glove compartment
• Boot space at 242L is great and the square shape means more ‘real’ or effective storage
• Design team has worked really hard to give more cabin space, not only for passengers but also for storage
• The front seats have been scooped from back to allow taller people to get more leg room
• The parking brake has been shifted to driver’s side, allowing storage space in the middle too
• The new 3D Tata logo also takes attention and gives a premium look to the car

The day ends with a lovely dinner with fellow bloggers in the company of Bonny D’costa who is a great karaoke singer. Must say some of the fellow Bloggers like Rahul Prabhakar, and another blogger who has an interestingly named blog called BlogwatiG gave tough competition to the pro.

Next day we all go for long test drive to get the feel of it. I was waiting to see how the 1L diesel engine that delivers 70PS power with 114nm of Torque will perform in real life conditions. However I have a complaint. While the company has spent so much to get us all together, wish they also planned a drive in a way that instead of driving just one type of engine for over 3 hours, we could swap the car midway with the petrol variant. So my views below are only for the diesel variant.

• Car is aptly named Zica – Zippy Car. The diesel engine comes to power almost immediately and the normal fatigue of a diesel engine is hardly visible
• The interiors are also going to delight the younger audience. First time someone is coming with body coloured panels on dashboard that makes it look very attractive.
• The steering is smooth and easily steers to the sharp curve
• Tata Zica has a networked system in which by using the free software one can use Map My India navigation. The navigation voice should come from the stereo speakers but in our case the song would just mute and one could hardly hear the navigation voice. I heard the same complaint from my fellow bloggers too. Since all of us have shared the feedback, hope this will be rectified before the car is launched in the market that is expected Mid Jan.
• The seats can be adjusted for both slant as well the height in the top version, ensuring a good view of the road
• The bottle space holder for every passenger is a plus
• The audio system is undoubtedly the best in class. The 8 speakers do not crank up even at the highest volume and impresses
• Another highlight is the multimode – Sports and Eco mode. If you are looking for performance, then use the sports mode, else use the eco-mode for better fuel efficiency
• Even on the bumpy surface, we found the ride quality to be quite stable
• However, for a small car diesel, there is engine noise as one press the throttle. If you plan to drive with windows up, you won’t feel much of the noise inside.

While the price was yet not revealed, I expect this car to be launched somewhere in the 3.5L – 5.5L range, which will make it compete with one level up segment of entry level hatchback like I10 or Celerio. This is the best try by Tata so far. Not only Tata Zica is feature laden, the plastic and the feel of the car is also much better than earlier. If it is aptly priced, it can surely become a compelling choice for buyers.