Review 07 – Tata Harrier – Love it or Hate it but you can’t ignore it

This car created a lot of buzz when it was first displayed at Auto Car Expo 2018 and was on radar of many potential buyers. It’s built on Land Rover platform and is powered by a Fiat sourced engine.

Please don’t have a misconception that this car is Tata Nexon on a heavy dose of steroids. This car is in a different league all together. It is here to compete with the famous Mahindra XUV 500, Jeep Compass and others.

The front profile of the car is different yet eye catching. Projector head lamps are housed in the bumpers along with the fog lights. The LED light set up on top double hats as a daytime running lights (DRLs) and indicators and looks very aggressive.

From the side, there are lots of interesting elements too, specially the floating roof at the end. Also, there is good use of chrome on the side along with Harrier name embossed which is a really nice touch from Tata. At the rear end, there are sporty looking sleek tail lamp (inspired from Jaguar).The car comes with alloy wheels and wrangler (AT) tyre 235/65 R17.

Once you step in the car you will be surprised to know how much Tata has improved when it comes to interiors and built quality. The car comes with All-Black interior with some accent of wooden finish in the dashboard. The seats are brown in shade. The car has a boot space of 425 liters which is more than enough for a 5 seater car.

On the equipment and feature front, the list is huge and exhaustive; such as keyless entry and go, auto climate control, cruise control, six airbags, auto headlamps and wipers, a rear-view camera and rear parking sensors. The car comes with 8.8 inch floating touch screen which supports Android auto and Apple car play and comes with pre-installed JBL 9 speaker’s music system with a sub woofer. However, the car lacks a sun roof which is an important feature for a car of this segment.

Under the hood you will find a Fiat sourced 2.0 liter diesel engine (similar to Jeep compass) which churns out 140 bhp of power. Unfortunately, the car does not get automatic transmission as of now which might be a deal breaker for many buyers.

The car will be priced at 12.69 lakh to 16.25 lakh (ex showroom). The company claims a mileage of 16.7 KMPL.  

Tata, as a brand, is redefining its presence in the car industry and will no longer be identified as a brand who manufactured cars such as Tata Indica, Indigo and Nano in the past.

- AR Auto week