Alright, the reviews I have read here are mostly overlooking
many aspects, that at atleast a one time car owner would not leave
unnoticed…(that’s the way in my case atleast) So in this review I would like to
give a clean and realistic picture of what my experience with the grande was.
Now this review is based on a complete up-close and personal
touch and feel experience with the Sumo Grande and also 2 Ripping and
unforgiving test drives on the back streets of the Lower Parel Area.
*What the reader should know is…
I am a
fan of Tata Motors, I
Currently own and drive a Sumo Victa
GX Turbo
I too
was anxiously waiting for the launch of the Grandeand
the first pictures from the Auto Expo of the Grande made me go WOW too!*
So please bear these points in mind and know that I am not a
guy who just likes to defame the Tata brand like many others do! People say a
lot of crap about the tatas and mostly compare them to other brands like ford,
Honda etc… They gladly choose not to take into account that the TATAs have been
making cars only since the last 10-15 years!! While the others have been doing
so for almost a 100 YEARS!
*SO How the hell can you compare a 10
Year old to a GRANDFATHER!!! HUH?*
That said, Lets get on to the Review quickly… I was invited
to come check the Sumo Grande for a Magazine who was doing a reader review
segment for one of their publications…
Long story short… I ended up at the venue and was looking at
this beast called the Sumo Grande parked in the office compoud, Spanking Glossy
Metallic Orange or whatever they call that color!
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!!!** This car looks at least 5 times
better than what it does in the pictures you see… I mean I was spell bound,
Simply amazed at how huge it felt, it felt biiiiiiig, very big! Bigger than my
Sumo Victa… I took a quick look from every angle before I headed up to meet up
with the people I had to for the test drive. It looked smart and fresh from
every angle, the rear end was something I was not too fond of, but that lasted
only till I saw it in person, I love the rear end now, better than the Front
end. Other things wortha mention on first sight are, the masculine appearance
of the car and clean new age styling, it surely goes miles ahead of the old
sumo and completely displaces the form of what the old version used to be, It
has an amazing road presence and it sure makes heads turn, (I noticed the heads
turning on the test drive)… So looks wise I personally think it kicks the
Scorpio’s over done exteriors! And looks way, way better than the very van
like appearance of the Toyota Innova! A
true SUV appearance and loads of eye candy to impress people who drive other
brands!
ON THE INSIDE: **When I sat in the drivers seat, I noticed
there was something wrong with it, my legs (Im 5.11’ Tall) didn’t feel well
supported and there was ample space between the seat and the underside of my
thigh, so if was to get comfortable I would need to get a special seat cover
with extra padding on the front to get adequate support… The drivers seat can
be adjusted for height via a pump action lever on the right hand side, however
I noticed instead of moving up and down in a straight line, it moved at an
angle, so when you would be at the highest position you would be further away from
the wheel, and closer when in its lowest position… Apparently all these
adjustments did not give me the support I wanted. HOWEVER, for the other
shorter reviewers it seemed perfect and they had good things to say about the
drivers seat.
The steering wheel is adjustable, a pull on a lever under
the steering raises and drops the steering in 1 increment up or down, it didn’t
feel too different for me… so that feature did not impress me too much… The
steering wheel itself is a fresh new design, however there are now two tiny
horn buttons that you have to target with your thumb and you cannot jab the
entire middle portion to activate your horn, so that was something new, not bad
mind you… just new… its only a matter of getting used to.
The steering wheel itself felt very thin, My Victa has a
fatter grip, and you need that kind of grip for a large vehicle, but that can
be taken care of with a leather cover. However I would like it fat from the
company to start with… The View from the Drivers seat is as good as any SUV,
you can see above all other cars. SO that’s my view from the drivers seat….
Looking around, I noticed, the dash board has not changed,
except for the instrument cluster behind the wheel… everything else is carried
forward from the victa, I wish they had changed it, because It still felt too
much like the victa I drive… The Air con controls have more options, and are
better designed, but it was something I did not bother too much about, because
TATA has always got their air-con right, So as you would expect the air-con was
good…However I need to mention that switching the AC on and off is now a push
button affair comapared to the dial switch in the Victa… Another feature to be
noted is that unlike the victa, each seat behind the first row has its own
vent, that can be opened or cut out completely, just like they have in the
Airplanes! That right there is a superb feature! The AC vents on the dash too
are an improvement, they move very smoothly. The speedo/tacho dials on the
cluster are redesigned but pretty ordinary…I prefer the older design.
The ORVMs are controlled via a motor, I tried using it, and
it was pretty effective, but even though this was my first experience with
motorized ORVMs, I felt it to be very slow in response…The mirrors themselves
are larger than the victa and have a better view, this was a nice little common
sense upgrade. The Alpine sound system that comes fitted is adequate for the
car, no comments there… Another big improvement from the drivers point, is that
the hand brake is in the normal position ie. In between the two seats… and not
on the right of the driver, like in the Victa… The foot pedals, like the Victa
are light and very easy on the Knee, thanks to the hydraulic clutch and a light
accelerator pedal.*
THE TEST DRIVES: **Just before I shut the door I noticed
the door panels were pretty plain, not much styling effort put into it, simple
and boxy… but it did not bother me, what did bother me is the newly designed door handles, I did
not like the fact that there were no handles, just a well type notch, into
which you could sink only the first section of your 4 fingers to pull the door
shut, this was something I didn’t like at all… Coming to the other furniture,
the grande has magazine pockets and cup holders all over, so good going on
that, not so important for everyday use, but adds value for that weekend
outing.
[More on the interiors after the following section…]*
Note: Mouthshut, could not accommodate my running mouth, it has a limit of only 7500 characters, so I could not post the complete review here, what you see here is only the tip of the iceberg, however you can view on this link along with Pictures... https://hangar-77.com/tata-sumo-grande/