Tata Motors field their latest, safest and greatest challenger in the seven-seater arena long dominated by one big name. Will the Hexa help them carve a larger piece of the pie?
Story: Jim Gorde
Photography: Sanjay Raikar
Hexadecimal codes and protective charms are not my strong point. It takes a fair bit of knowledge to get the various elements right and put them to good use. Good use? Yes, give the car-buyer — the one who wants a capable car for six or seven passengers — a car that can do everything they need in a manner that doesn’t require them to do everything themselves. Take capability and give it an appealing form with enough going on under the skin to encapsulate applying all of that ability into action at the turn of a knob.
The Tata Hexa is not just an Aria reincarnate. It’s a new challenger with new weapons and abilities and it will take you by utter surprise if you come bearing expectations of complacence. First of all, the exterior has been given a modern makeover and not just with the shape of the metal. There are smoked projector combination headlamps with LED daytime lights on either side of a piano-black finish aggressive grille, while the rear gets swanky new tail-lamp clusters with LG’s LED tech that almost seems like it’s from their OLED stable. The side profile is accentuated by the contrast body-cladding and the large 19-inch wheels with 235/55 specially-developed MRF Wanderer rubber. The design is smart, but it doesn’t really belie its size. It’s a large vehicle, and it weighs in at a large vehicle-like 2,280 kg.
Inside, the first evidence of quality fit-and-finish and a well-put-together interior comes not from the perforated black faux leather or the various imported soft-touch materials used in the cabin; it comes from the feeling that there were rulers, gauges and other precision measuring tools used in its making. And from the black upholstery with contrast white stitching and the attention to detail about what meets the fingers and the arms when you first get in and get comfortable. Yes, they’ve spent a good amount of time choosing the right material for the right job and it shows. Appreciably so.
I first got behind the wheel of the automatic transmission version. Yes, Tata are being generous with their variant structure. You can have the Hexa with a choice of six or seven seats, manual or automatic transmission, and even four-wheel drive. For now, a 4×4 auto is not on the launch list, but Tata say they are indeed working on one. Right. So the automatic version is just rear-wheel-drive and doesn’t get something the manual does, which is quite an interesting feature: the Super Drive Modes; or a bit of Land Rover in a big Tata that looks like it hopes to replicate ability on a budget.
The Hexa 4×2 XTA — yes, there’s no more ‘Pride’ or ‘Prestige’ so far as variants are concerned but it looks set to deliver on both counts. The interior is the recipient of quite a bit of kit. The central touchscreen display may not have a very large screen but it does incorporate a lot of features. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto apart, there are a set of Tata ConnectNext Apps that let you mirror your smartphone’s sat-nav and also use it as a remote control for media and playback. Useful bit, that.
The car we received was a six-seater XTA and that meant two rows of captain’s seats, plus a rather spacious third row. The ergonomics and support are excellent and everything falls into place expectedly well. Right, time to get down to business and see how it is on the move.
