Tata Zest long term review: After 5 months and 6,587km

My Punto was sent for servicing and things haven’t looked good for her ever since. I’ll speak about it in detail once (and if) she comes back. In the meantime, I took over the Tata Zest as my daily driver and so far, the car has left me impressed. The suspension is the primary reason for this since its relatively softer setup makes for a world of a difference over the Punto. Especially with the monsoon doing its bit to dig up the road, the Zest certainly does of a better job of tackling the potholes and craters in and around Mumbai.

I also managed to take the car for a few trips to Pune and the Zest managed to impress with a highway efficiency of around 15kmpl. The 1.2-litre turbopetrol feels effortless for highway cruising and has a strong mid and top end. The top spec trim we have has good road manners to support the engine’s enthusiasm, thanks to the fatter rubber which gives the Zest a decent level of grip through bends and makes for good stability at highway speeds. Around the city, the efficiency seems to take a big hit if you need to run the air-conditioning at full swing. On a typical Mumbai day, the fuel economy can be as low as 10kmpl when the highly effective temperature control tries to keep the cabin cool. Otherwise, a range of 12-14kmpl is achievable, which is almost as much as what the Punto returned.

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Total Mileage: 6,587km Date acquired April ’15 This month: MilEage 3,969km Fuel 300 litres Efficiency 13.2kmpl

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