The 2024 Tata Harrier offers some bold colours that make it a head-turner, drawing attention to itself while being high on equipment and style. Does the facelift drive better than its predecessor, though? We hit some roads and a trail in Pune.
A home-grown product with futuristic design never fails to tug at the heart-strings of many in the country. With Tata bidding adieu to the Safari about five years ago, the new “Harrier” nameplate, based on the H5X concept car, showed a lot of promise. The production car looked a lot similar to the concept car and that helped big-time. Just before the lockdown kicked in hard, Tata Motors brought in a more powerful version as well as the automatic transmission choice. Now, the facelift raises the styling game yet again and gains an even longer equipment list.
The shape and lines make the 2024 Tata Harrier look like a concept car that someone who didn’t get the memo put straight into production. The sharp creases and distinct new elements make this new model a bold and proud Tata with head-turning looks and a list of what could be cutting-edge equipment. The headlights are bi-LED units and sit in a stack above the “ice-cube” fog-lamps and below a new LED light signature. The LED daytime light clusters are joined end-to-end and create a seamless—and animated—light bar across the front. The highlight is the animation when it is locked and unlocked—something seen only in upmarket and premium cars thus far. The large grille gets body-coloured accents and a revised lower air-dam—distinct from its seven-seater counterpart, the Safari—of which the review will follow. The list of changes also sees “personas” instead of regular variants—this is the fully-loaded “Fearless+” that also brings unique colours, such as this “Sunlit Yellow” example, as well as new 18-inch diamond-cut wheels with 235/60 tyres.
The styling of the 2024 Tata Harrier is definitely a huge plus, if not the most important talking point, but let’s get inside and below the skin. The diesel engine, updated to the BS6-II emission standard, is just one element. The transmission have here is a six-speed manual and it sends the power to the front wheels only, on what is the OMEGA (Optimal Modular Efficient Global Advanced) architecture—derived from their Land Rover D8 platform.
