This is a continued post about my Tata Hexa Experience, thanks to IndiBlogger. I spoke… err… wrote about how immensely important it was for me to meet and converse with the people who were behind this project. Most of the automotive channels like magazines and websites will not be speaking about that – or for that matter, I don’t know if they cared. Here on, then, let’s talk about the car.

The Hexa is an improved effort from Tata Motors, who have been going through a rough patch in the domestic market. Thanks to JLR, they continue to make the profit. Lack of visibly all new products did hurt. Tata Motors did launch the brilliant Zest and Bolt – thoroughly re-engineered cars based on the Indica Vista platform. They also did bring out Safari Strome, like Bolt and Zest, thoroughly re-engineered.

The whole new Tata

What let them down was the design that got carried over. Bolt and Zest did resemble Indica a lot, thanks to the limitation of the platform they carried over from Indica. Safari was a different case, but the image carried over in spite of it being an all-new car. Tata Motors had got the design sentiment wrong. These products in their previous avatars did have a lot of negativity. The perception remained in the minds of customers, which made them stalk away from a Tata Motors showrooms. Service quality took a beating, sales staff pushing people to buy diesel engined cars, etc. A lot needs to be changed!

The Change!

Starting with Tiago, the new Impact design language conjured by Pratap Bose saw the dawn. It was well received, and Tata Motor’s Ashish Sahni and Vivek Srivatsa did say Tiago is doing pretty well for the company today. And that is an approval to the confidence in design that Tatas have put on Pratap.

New Impact Design Language

It is a welcome change. Tata Motors was never known to make beautiful looking cars, and this is changing! It is appreciated, too. Bringing in the in-house design teams from UK, Italy, and India together this is one project that looks too great to be a Tata Motors. That, my dear reader, is a change that people did not expect.

It is particularly challenging to bring this car out, in a short span of time of 2 years. Yes, that is all the time it took for Tata Hexa to be ready for production. Everything moved faster, and people worked their bases off to get this product out on time. I was honored to get the director of the project, Bharat from Tata Motors, be my passenger when I drove Hexa for the first time.

Aria, Hexa is here.

Aria’s concept started as cross-over. That was not the interesting bit. What blew everyone away was that Aria never felt like a Tata car from the inside. It was a sign of Tata’s intent to go premium. They did deliver premium with Aria. However, it failed to garner the benefits Tata Motors had hoped, primarily due to styling. Starting with the prohibitive price, the after sales and image of the car failed to gain many fans.

Tata Hexa is not a cross-over. It has been designed inside-out to look like a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), with the practicality of a Multi Utility Vehicle (MUV) or better known as a people mover. And it will be promoted like one. Hexa has a distinct advantage over from Aria, and the learnings from it were well read and exercised.

Hexa – Power, Feature and Adrenaline.

Tata Motors came up with an interesting marketing analogy to describe the prowess of Hexa. Power Packed, Feature Loaded and Adrenaline Pumped. Things that you will expect from an SUV. Based on the improved hydro-foamed X2 Platform Aria used, with a body on ladder chassis. And that is not a bad thing at all – it is strong, tough and rigid. It makes the case all the more interesting. It looks eye-catching.

Tata Hexa stands out. The design looks brilliant from all angles, with the floating roof (thanks to pilers in black) that looks amazing on the car. It does miss out on the sun-roof, and push start though (sorry Tata Motors, forgot to mention this to you as feedback), but not that much of an issue for me. There is ample amount of chrome, which the ‘shine-crazy’ Indians would hugely appreciate. I surprised myself by loving it too, as well. The chrome is not overdone and melts into the design so ever smooth that someone like me, who hates chrome does not mind it.

Impact of the Inside

Move into the car, and you will have a familiar feeling. Like Aria, you will not feel that it is a Tata car till you look at the steering wheel. The quality of the interiors will make you wonder if it is a Tata car. You will have to remind yourself that this is indeed a Tata. Superb is the word that I got in my mouth!

Dashboard

The design team traveled as far as US, UK, and South Korea and everywhere between to source parts to make this car. The roof lining, the leather seats in contrasting thread colors, the seat design and comfort foams, the AC vents with brushed aluminum effect on sides oozes supremeness. The effort and hard work that is put on this car is visible. The cool glove box design caught my eye and probably is a standout design feature for me – I love how it looks. Very neat Tata, very neat!

Move into the car, and you will have a familiar feeling. Like Aria, you will not feel that it is a Tata till you look at the steering wheel.

Interior Color

The black theme of the cabin does pretty well to hide any gaps, which are rare to find as compared to previous Tata cars. The dashboard is relatively simple however is brilliantly functional. It stands out still, complimenting the solid looks of the exterior.

My only grouse though is the position of the A/C controls. While driving, it may be a bit too low and can fiddle with the gear, however, is not a huge issue for someone who will get used to the position. Most of them would set the AC before the ride starts too.

Entertainment, entertainment and entertainment…

The dialog from The Dirty Picture, expressed by talented actress Vidya Balan, found a perfect match in the talented Tata Hexa. The sound duties are via custom designed-for-Tata-Hexa awesome JBL speakers, delivering fine sound via ten speakers positioned strategically to entertain you like none other.

The Harman-JBL nexus!

The woofer in the boot helps bass to be crisp as it could get. The touch infotainment system connects to your smartphone via a USB cable. Tata has created individual apps through which you can use navigation, jukebox, etc. These apps need to be installed on your phone though.

The touchscreen is responsive enough but feels a bit smaller for the car this size. You also get a remote controller, which helps in case your chauffeur drove (who won’t love hitting the Hexa, I wonder) the car.

Other features

Then there is an array of technology that will make the competition sit up and take notice. It has got cruise control, hill assist and phone controls on the steering wheel, automatic headlamps, and wipers. There are also two USB ports to charge your phone as well, one on the dash and another one for the second row.

Kitna deti hai?

Wait, we have not spoken about the creature comforts yet. Common, be a sport!

Comfort x 6 times

The multiplied by six note above stands for Hexa if you have not already figured out. And that is how you will feel inside Tata Hexa. It has one of the most brilliant seats I have ever felt in recent times. During the design brief, it a call out made that Tata put special effort to ensure the seat ergonomics are nothing but the best. Again, kudos to good folks at Tata Motors! The supports built around the seats work great and help you have a brilliant and comfortable drive irrespective of the distance. The armrests are at perfect positions, and a brilliant touch. So much so that it has to be one of the best bit in the car. The quality overall sounds unbelievable for a Tata vehicle.

Rear AC Vents

The rear AC vents and its positioning ensures that temperature remains comfortable across. The leg room in the second row is just like in Safari – huge. There are also blinds in the second-row seats, which you can pull up for a makeshift sun shield. The third-row seats are unlike other cars and fit a reasonably well-built person like me (5.5″). Not as much leg room as the second row, but so much better than every other car in the segment with third-row seats. Overall you will not at all feel tired after a long drive, except for maybe the third row of seats.

Seating Confort

The seating up front has an eight-way adjustable height seats gives you a commanding view of the road. You also get a sunglass holder on the driver seat – that is a neat touch. Right behind the steering wheel you have a Speedometer and Rev meter, and sandwiched between them is a nice LCD which shows varied information. You can read the drive mode, door open alarm, seat belt alarm, fuel economy and trip meter.

The Storage Question!

With all seats up, the rear luggage area is not the best place to put your suitcases. Folding the third row of seats also do not give you a flatbed, which is a shame. I did not try folding the second row of seats, but I read that they are not completely flat as well. If Hexa fails in any area, it is only this. It is a happy trade-off you can make to get awesome contoured seats.

Another thing that Tata’s have vastly improved in Hexa is to provide more than enough cubby holes (err.. they aren’t holes… let’s call them pockets!) to store things. The front row gets an additional storage which doubles up as armrest. With the cool glove box I had mentioned earlier, there is a normal glove box below to store your papers and other things.

Kitna deti hai?

Wait, we have not spoken about performance yet. Hold your horses!

How does the Tata Hexa perform?

The Tata Hexa carries the engine from Safari Strome, which is a 2,179cc Varicor 400 engine. The engine produces 156 hp of power, along with 400 nms of torque. The engine name borrows the number from the Newton meters of torque. The car weighs 2.2 tonnes, and with the power figures quoted above, it is difficult to imagine how it will suffice.

The Automatic!

Tatas have decided to bring forth an automatic version up front as well. It is a conventional automatic and not AMT, which gives a much better performance. The manual is a 6-speed gearbox, which is a lot rubbery to use. The manual transmission failed to win me over, though. I drove both the manual and automatic – and can tell you that Automatic makes the best choice. For a novice driver like me, it is effortless to drive, quick to got accustomed to for a car that size.

A bonus you get is a Power mode in Automatic, which helps you push through in case of overtaking on a highway. The engine controller smartly manages up and down shifts, moving to the red line before shifting up. If you need to make that overtake move while driving the Hexa Auto, using the power mode makes a lot of sense.

Off Road on Hexa

Though if you want to go off-road, and Hexa does that brilliantly, you only have the choice of Manual transmission. The manual transmission variant gets a multi-drive mode which tunes the car to perform in 4 different conditions.

The ride quality is plush, and is very stable at high speeds. I took the car up to 160 kmph on the outer ring road at Hyderabad and the car never feels like going as fast.

How safe is Hexa?

Social media is abuzz on negative NCAP results of Indian cars. Tata Hexa is no exception. Richard Winsor, head of exterior design at Tata Motors says “Hexa complies with all the existing norms in India, even though there is no such crash test certification required according to India laws”. However, given the sturdiness of the X2 platform, it should be fair to say that Hexa would be on par or better with all other leading brands in India.

To ensure there is enough safety, Tata Hexa sports six airbags. In addition to airbags, it has Electronic Stability Programme (ESP), ABS with EBD, Hill Hold Control (HHC) and Hill Descent Control (HDC), and Traction Control System. It is a comprehensive safety suite.

Finally, kitna deti hai? (Mileage)

Alright, I know patience is a virtue. While Tata Motor’s Vivek Srivatsa refused to divulge details on the price and fuel economy, during the test drive the following day it was very much evident. Tata Hexa returned a respectable 11.2 kmpl mileage in the automatic. Surprisingly, we got 10.9 kmpl in the manual. Of course, these numbers are not exact figures since sometimes the system calculated mileage may not be accurate to 100%. But assuming a 5% give and take, this is still great news.

Automatic was a revelation, to be frank. The automatic Tata Hexa returned a respectable 11.2 kmpl mileage compared to 10.9 kmpl in the manual.

Does competition need to worry about Tata Hexa?

So, do the likes of Toyota’s and Mahindra’s of the world need to be worry about Tata’s latest offering? Yes, they should be. Hexa in the true sense, is a comprehensive, balanced achievement. It is not every day that you get to see a product that people should have bought. With all the safety controls baked in, luxurious interiors, powerful engine and best seats in the class, Tata Hexa is a value proposition.

If I was in the market looking for a family car, Hexa automatic it will be.

More car per car, like erstwhile Indica. With an estimated price ranging from 13 to 18 lacs, you get brilliant looks outside, elegance and premium feel inside. Yes, that is a lot of money for a Tata Hexa, though it is a technologically advance and a feature loaded vehicle. It connects emotionally with its audience. It is a perfect car for a family, to travel in extreme comfort. The cabin quality will surely appeal to the buyers ready to shell money in this bracket.

If I was in the market looking for a family car, Hexa automatic it will be. 

Verdict

85%

Brilliant

How good is Tata Hexa?

On the onset, Tata Hexa is excellent proposition and value for money. It has got the looks and pricing going for it. Tata's IMPACT design language is making the right noise in the market today. Tata Motors suddenly started making desirable cars, and Hexa is no different.

The nearest competition for Hexa is Toyota Innova (another MUV) and Mahindra XUV500 (pricing). Hexa manages to outshine on many fronts against these two formidable opponents, and hence wins my heart and mind alike.

• Design
• Performance
• Features
• Comfort
• Ride Quality
• Off Roadability

However, Hexa is not perfect. It has a lot of things going right for it, but you cannot get everything on the platter, they say.

Lack of Start/Stop button (novelty) and Sun Roof are immediately noticeable misses. The engine is powerful enough; however, the car weighs in at 2.2 tonnes which makes the power output a bit underwhelming. The manual gearbox is rubbery, and not the best.

My personal choice will be the Automatic. It has the best gearbox in town, offers a quick (sports mode) and pleasant ride, and is the best car to be in traffic jams!