Tata Bolt Price in India
They have been making trucks, SUVs and cars for many years now. The
popularity of these vehicles is in the exact order as mentioned. All
is well in Tata Motors except for a small change. They have become
young…again! As absurd it may sound, it is superbly true. They have
shrugged off their conventional approach and have become more Zesty
than ever.
Grab a daily or visit online and you shall see how the Zest is lapping
sales records and creating many in its course. The waiting period of
Zest has also gone up, a trouble which Tata Motors wanted to face for
a long time. Now that the Zest has got its feet fixed, it’s time for
its younger enthusiastic brother to step in. The elder, being the
matured one, is called the Zest while the younger one has a wild
streak and thus aptly called the Tata Bolt.
Paying attention to the demands of the young, the Bolt comes loaded
with many class rivaling features. Will this Bolt Strike leave the
competition in a state of complete discomfort? We reveal soon
DESIGN
Tata Bolt is based on the Vista platform, just like the Zest. Both are
twin siblings with a DNA similar to the Vista. To not go away from the
current design, Pratap Bose, Tata’s chief designer has evolved the
styling of the Bolt from the existing Vista design. If one notices
closely, it is the same shell like the Vista. This will be the new
design language for the coming Tata products; first we saw it in the
Zest and now in the Bolt.
The fascia of the Bolt retains a lot of similarity to the Vista, but
it does look fresh. It isn’t old or out-dated at any given point of
time. There is a chrome lip on the top of the front grille and
headlamps integrate well with this design. It looks like a smiling
front than an aggressive snout. It does have projector headlamps, but
it misses out on Move to the side and one can notice striking
similarity between the Vista and Bolt. The Bolt gets the blacked-out
pillars that give it a floating roof feel. The rear is a bit of
confusion for me, as it is floating but the round ends confuse me. The
new tail lamp design is compact and it does look stylish
CABIN
If the exteriors don’t manage to convince you that the Bolt is a new
Tata, then the interiors certainly will, because apart from the
spacious cabin, the Bolt doesn’t share much with the Vista.
In fact, the all-new dashboard is similar to the Zest’s but, instead
of the sedan’s dual-tone scheme, the hatchback gets a sportier
all-black look. If you’re familiar with the Vista, you’ll find a big
step-up in quality, especially with the switchgear and some nicely
damped buttons on the centre console. However, some plastics, such as
those on the mirror casing and door pockets, have rough edges. Also,
the rear seatbelt’s retracting mechanism on our test car went bust
after a few uses, which is more worrying as it’s a sign that Tata’s
well-known quality niggles still persist.
Typical of Tata hatchbacks, you walk into the cabin and sit relatively
higher up in the driver’s seat. The front seats are generous and plush
but feel a touch too soft, and lack of support for the lower back can
lead to aches after a long drive. While finding a good driving
position is easy, taller drivers may find the tilt adjustable steering
blocking a chunk of the instrument cluster. Other ergonomic irritants
are a narrow footwell which leaves little place to rest your left foot
and the ‘Multi-Drive’ row of buttons which are set too low.
The Bolt’s strength, however, lies in the spacious rear bench. The
ample legroom rivals many mid-size sedans and thanks to the wide
cabin, passengers seated three abreast here won’t have to jostle for
shoulder room. Surprisingly though, while the front seats feel too
soft, the rear bench feels a bit too firm. Tata needs to give the
Bolt’s seats consistent foam density.
For convenience, there’s just a single cup holder in the front and an
open stowage in front of the gear lever to hold your phone. The top
trim also gets a storage tray under the front passenger’s seat –
useful to hide valuables when parked. That said, the lack of bottle
holders and slim door pockets hampers practicality and even the
210-litre boot isn’t particularly large; in fact, it’s around 10
percent smaller than the Vista’s.
Equipment, though, is what the Bolt has in abundance. The top XT trim
gets a Harman-sourced touchscreen interface that also doubles up as
the screen for climate control. In the Bolt, this infotainment screen
gets an upgraded firmware (vis-à-vis the Zest) that adds GPS
navigation through an Android phone. For better readability, the
screen’s contrast has been tweaked as well, but that hasn’t done much
to improve legibility in direct sunlight. Thankfully, you won’t have
to strain your eyes much as the infotainment system can read aloud
text messages and supports voice commands for dialling. Surprisingly
though, there isn’t a CD player but it supports most modern audio
sources such as Bluetooth, USB, iPods and aux. Sound quality from the
eight-speaker (four mid-range drivers and four tweeters) set-up sounds
great; most customers won’t be tempted to spring for an audio upgrade.
PERFORMANCE
Tata officials only offered the petrol Bolt with manual transmission
for us to test drive. The diesel and the AMT (automatic) will have to
wait for a date closer to the launch next year.
The 1.2T, turbocharged, 4-cylinder Revotron engine is offered in
pretty much the same state of tune in the Bolt too. The powertrain
remains almost identical with the same TA65 gearbox also on offer in
the Bolt. But, compared to the Zest, the Revotron in the Bolt manages
to offer a slightly wider band of torque, despite the fact that the
peak continues to be the same 140Nm. Maximum power is the same 90PS
and though it peaks at 5,000rpm, power delivery from the engine is
very linear.
The Bolt shares the new light-weight chassis architecture with the
Zest and it becomes clear that it has helped the car massively, making
it nimbler and quicker. It is only a few kilos lighter than the Zest,
but Tata engineers have done an excellent job in boosting the ride
quality. Vibrations and noise have been extremely well contained
inside the cabin. Suspension geometry has been calibrated for keeping
the ride quality cushy on bad roads, though that didn’t mean that the
car bounced or bobbed about too much either. Body roll has also been
contained, though you tend to feel that there is a bit more lateral
movement due to the tall seating position.
DRIVING DYNAMICS
Tata cars always score high on comfort and the same can be said about
the Bolt. Ride quality is excellent (a bit soft which results in some
bounciness at speed over bad roads), the vehicle takes everything in
its stride with utmost confidence and irons out bad roads like it’s
child’s play. Even bad roads don’t pose a threat to the Bolt and it
won’t be wrong to say that this is the best riding car in the
hatchback segment. Where Tata cars aren’t popular is the driving feel,
while they are neutral, they won’t make you rave about the handling,
the Bolt is a bit different here. Set-up to give you a good time
around the bends, the Bolt handles nicely and is eager to corner but
there is some body roll.
The new electric steering has good feel and decent feedback at speeds
(although it’s on the lighter side) which inspires confidence to drive
fast. We love the appearance of the 3-spoke steering wheel and the
size just fits in perfectly to make you feel at home. With 10 mm
smaller width of each tyre over the Zest, the Bolt still has plenty of
grip on offer and cornering really hard makes the acres of under-steer
make itself very evident. Stability at speed is excellent and braking
performance is also very good. Turning radius is a tad more than
rivals while ground clearance is more than adequate for our roads. The
Tata Bolt offers a fantastic blend in the dynamics department and is a
car you can actually have some fun driving.
SAFETY
Tata Motors has given the Bolt front airbags, ABS, EBD and Corner
Stability Control. Unlike its rivals from Japan and Korea, the Bolt
isn’t a light car and the heavy weight does make its presence felt as
you simply don’t feel like your driving a hatchback, the vehicle feels
robust. Yet to be tested by NCAP, we expect the Bolt to fare very well
but safety equipment on lower trims would be a nice touch. Tata Motors
is doing a lot to improve the service experience for its customers and
the same is reflecting already although such things take time.
CONCLUSSION
After spending a day behind the wheel of the Bolt, we can say that the
Bolt lives up to the standards set by the Zest. It looks decent, is
spacious and rides pretty well too. In fact, Tata Motors has been
smart in changing the suspension setup as well as the steering feel,
thanks to which it is a lot more fun to drive and will appeal to a
slightly larger audience. Will it beat the competition? Well, a lot of
it will also depend on the pricing, but one thing’s for sure, Tata
Motors has once again got it right with the Bolt.
Tata Bolt Ex Showroom Price in New Delhi ranges from 4,63,449/- (Bolt XE Revotron 90PS Petrol) to 7,16,908/- (Bolt XT Quadrajet 75PS Diesel) .Tata Bolt has 8 Variants of Petrol are available in India. Tata Bolt comes in 5 colours, namely Venetian Red,Platinum Silver,Sky Grey,Pristine White,Dune Beige.