Tata Bolt Review

Hello Everyone…Siddharth Lal here with a new post on the review of Tata’s hot hatch “Bolt”. Its 2.30 am here in India and the excitement of my new blog doesn't let me sleep so here I am reviewing the understated Tata Bolt. Tata has striving to make their cars equivalent to international standards and they have done really well with considerably upgrading and improving their cars over time. The major problem Tata is facing in commanding high sales volumes for it’s private cars is their brand perception. Tata’s image has been solidly hampered by people looking at their cars as a “taxi” and unreliable cars. But this is not true anymore, Tata cars are now reliable and are good in terms of quality. Tata’s poor after-sale services adds to another factor for below-expectation sales figure. Tata Safari has always remained as India’s favourite Tata model and in terms of sales volume, its the Indica and the Indigo. Now Tata has  set a new standard with the launch of Tata Bolt in the year 2015 and Tata Zest in the year 2014. Both these cars are not offered as commercial vehicles by Tata. An average sales figure of 700-800 units in a month (last six months) is really poor for a car of this segment. Tata Bolt is really an excellent car, lets find out how: 

Exterior Styling

The overall body structure of the Bolt resembles to both Indica Vista/eV2 and is based on the same platform as of Zest. The Bolt’s got style, it has got poise and bold and beautiful road presence with its first-in-class smoked projector headlamps which are elongated, big and sharp, Premium looking Tata signature grill with unique humanity line in piano black finish and chrome inserts, the inverted smile grill on the front bumper, the stretched fog lamp housing with chrome accents and creases on the hood makes the front look seriously aggressive. The side profile is where this car looks most like the Indica/Vista. The dynamic 15” Alloy wheels and bold shoulder and cladding lines makes the car look more  aesthetically aerodynamic. The rear look is not much exciting, it is rather bland but the flame-shaped tail lights do look good. Vaibhev (Co-author, TurboCharged Wheels) pretty much like the rear too, never mind as looks are preceptive. The skinny 175 section tyres is a big disappointment, it goes well with the 14” rims but not suitable for 15” Alloy wheels of Bolt and especially when rivals like Swift and Punto offering 185 and 195 section wide tyres with 15” Alloys. 

Interiors

The Bolt gets all grey dashboard with a combination of piano black and silver and chrome accents. The dashboard gives a big-car look from the inside. Bolt gets a fully automatic A/C with controls on the in-dash integrated touch-screen music system. The Music system offers a smartphone enabled GPS navigation system, bluetooth, AUX, USB, Card reader connectivity. The Music System also features advanced voice command recognition to make calls, change track and control A/C which sounds really fantastic to me as it makes the drive more convenient. The overall fit and finish of the interiors are good. 

Engine & GearBox : 

Bolt get two engine options under it’s hood, first being the tried and tested 1.3L Quadrajet diesel engine which again is manufactured by Fiat under the name “1.3L Multijet diesel engine” which is also used in many other cars. It produces 75bhp at 4000RPM and 190Nm torque at 1750-3000RPM by returning a milage of 16-17Km/L (City) and 19-20Km/L on the Highway.

The 1248cc Quadrajet Diesel Engine

Second option is of a 1.2L turbocharged Revotron petrol engine generating superb 90ps power at 5000RPM and immense torque of 140Nm at stunning band of 1500-4000RPM. 12-13 Km/L is what you get out of the Petrol engine. 

Both the engines are refined but I have more confidence on the Diesel engine as it is a tried and tested international award winning engine. 

Both the engine comes with a 5 speed manual transmission and gearshift is not one of the smoothest and does not go well with the sporty performance of this hatch.  

Performance & Handling: 

This is a aspect which has a lot to talk about, the petrol mill accelerates and responds superbly, thanks to its turbocharger. The acceleration and throttle response is real quick even at high-rpm band and the car asks for more even while redlining. The petrol version is a must try for the enthusiasts and it will leave you shocked with its superb performance. You will surely feel like revving the car and will be eager to find stretched roads every time you’ll be behind the wheels. The hatch is the most fun to drive car in its segment and no other competitor comes close to Bolt in terms of performance. The top speed I could achieved was 170 Km/Hr as I felt short of roads. It reaches swiftly to a speed of 150 Km/hr and later slows down. Tata has been boasting with the Multi-drive feature of it’s Bolt, this feature offers three drive modes namely SPORTS, ECO and CITY. The Sports mode is for a burst of power delivery, ECO for boosting the milage and City for a perfect balance between Performance and milage. It is all about the restriction to the RPM levels in different modes. 

The 1.3L Diesel engine has been much talked about so I will briefly  highlight the points: 

The diesel motor is a gem in terms of acceleration, it goes from 0-100 under 14 seconds and achieves a top speed of 160 km/Hr (Tested by me on DND expressway Delhi). The diesel swift is real quick from 0-140 km/hr but later on struggles a bit to reach its top speed. The top speed of the Diesel mill is 160 Km/Hr. 

The speed sensitive Steering offers excellent control and hold and is confidence inspiring but not as good as of the Maruti Swift. The steering also traits active return feature. 

Tata offers Dual-path McPherson strut suspension with coil spring and anti-roll bar at the front and a Twist beam suspension with coil spring and shock absorbers at the rear. This set of suspensions has a bit of body roll and feels smooth jerks on bad roads at low-speed. This car is stable at high speeds and around corners but the only issue here is the high wind levels on 3-digit speeds. Overall this car is packed with good acceleration supported by excellent steering control and a great suspension. 

Comfort and Convenience 

Space and Comfort is the aspect where Tata excels and is standard across all models. The body hugging rugby shoulder front seats are really comfortable and back-pain is not experienced on long drives. The driving position is good too with high seat position and the driver gets a clear view of the road. The cabin has ample head-room, knee-room and shoulder-room. The rear seat is comfortable and can seat three adults with easy, rear head-room is a bit less for tall passengers and the seats are a bit hard though. Hard cushion seats are actually more comfortable for longer drives. 

Good Leg-room at the rear

Like Vista and Manza, the Bolt has a huge glovebox that can fit a 13” laptop. 

All the Tata cars have effective Air-conditioning system, it chills at 23 degrees auto even in scorching heat of Delhi summers. 

Another disappointment with the Bolt is its not so big 210 Litres boot which is very less as compared to its cabin space and dimensions. 

Decent capacity 210 Litres boot

Braking and Safety:  

Tata cars had poor brakes, be it the previous generation Safari, or Indica or the Indigo. All these cars used to skid on sudden braking even at a speed of 60 Km/Hr, serious my father has previously owned all three. But now the brakes are really improved and are of the standards at par backed by the ABS with EDB and CSC (Corner Stability Control) which is present in all the models except for the base. Dual front SRS airbags are standard on the Top-end model and a model below (XMS). 

To sum up, I would say Tata Bolt is a competitive car backed by its good fuel efficiency, stylish looks, long feature list and its zippy nature that to at a price Rs 20,000 lesser than the Swift and Grand i10. Tata has tried hard to improve this car and has done well, refinement is the only thing Bolt lacks. If you like a car that has got modern eye-catching presence, Superb performance, and loads of features, then this is surely the one for you but if you prefer a car which is more economical, refined and Sturdy, then the Bolt isn't made for you.