BHPian TurboKat recently shared this with other enthusiasts: Many detailed reviews and test drive impressions of the Tiago already exist on Team BHP. So, I don’t expect my observations to add something new. The car in question belongs to our tenant. He was in the market for his first car. I had suggested some other options, but he was hell bent on buying a Tata. The final contenders were the Tiago and the Punch. Eventually, the Tiago emerged as the winner. How and why that happened – I won’t elaborate here as it would digress from the main topic. By now, I have experienced the Tiago four times:First time was in 2016, when we were planning to buy a new car. Dad took me to a Tata showroom on a whim, and we checked out the Tiago. It has improved a lot since then.Second time was in 2022, when I drove a 2017 Tiago diesel. That was a horrible experience.Third time was a couple of months ago, when I test-drove a 2024 petrol XZ+. The car was poorly maintained, and the NVH levels were terrible.Fourth is this recent drive, in our tenant’s brand-new Tiago XZ.Okay. So let me divide the first impression into parts. Do note that these impressions are for the XZ variant, driven in mixed conditions (40% in bumper-to-bumper city traffic, 50% in 4-lane highways ,and 10% in broken and unpaved roads) Driveability:LikesLow-end torque is good. I didn’t test the top end as the engine is new, ODO reads 204 kms. after the 60 km drive. The car had 110 kms. When our tenant took delivery (a bit more than what a car should ideally have during delivery).Visibility is excellent.Seats are comfortable, driving position is good.The clutch pedal’s travel is very long; it took me a while to get properly adjusted to the biting point.The gearshift is smooth but rubbery, gates are not very precise.Steering felt light, even lighter than the 2016 Grand i10, which we have at home. Parking in the city is a breeze.Features:New 10-inch display. It is a nice-to-have feature (positioning is good), but my eyes never went towards it throughout the entire drive.There’s no knob to adjust volume. Everything was touch-based. I hated this.One other thing I didn’t like is the AC’s display. It comes on the touchscreen head unit instead of the climate control panel. Fonts are small. And it is a bit difficult to adjust the blower speed and temp without looking at the screen.Headlights are sealed units like all cars today, with LED headlamps. So, a bulb fuse will set one back by more than 6k rupees. (Not good news for budget-conscious people)The 2025 car gets the 2-spoke steering with the Tata logo on a display. The horn feels very hard to press. Steering Is sufficiently thick to hold. Thumb contours are good too.Interior:Space inside the cabin is ample for 4, but not sufficient for 5.Boot space is sufficient, although competitors have bigger boots. The boot lip is high. So, a bit of effort will be required to load luggage in it. Cost-cutting is seen as the boot lamp is absent, and the rear parcel tray has no strings.Fit and finish, although improved, leaves a lot to be desired.Accessibility/simplicity of engine parts for DIY work + things which I liked/ disliked in the engine bay:Tata has kept things pretty simple. Many things are directly accessible.The engine oil filter is accessible directly as it is placed upwards. So, it is a bonus for DIYers.O2 sensors are also directly visible as the exhaust manifold is towards the front instead of the back. So they are easily accessible.Insulation is beefed up on both the firewall and the bonnet. They do a very good job of reducing the engine noise in the cabin. Typical 3-cylinder vibrations are there, but well insulated.Overall: It is a good car for a first-time car owner or a new driver. It has sufficient features as well. But I’ll prefer the competitors with 4 cylinder engines over it any day. These are my initial impressions. I’ll keep on updating more as the car racks up more kilometres. It will be driven both by our tenant and me. Some pics: Front end Side view with the steel wheel-wheelcap combo, which looks like alloys at a single glance. In fact, I think they look better than the alloys of the XZ+. I hate the moustache type design on the rear bumper. The first version of the Tiago had a cleaner looking bumper. The Tiago and the Grand i10, parked side by side. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
