A ‘glimpse’ sometimes ‘catches our eye’ more than an actual complete take-your-own-time visual and subconsciously garners us with an ever-lasting avalanche of thoughts. A couple of days ago, I was taking a walk around the garden opposite my home when suddenly I heard the subdued roar of a turbocharger spooling up in a low gear to overtake a vehicle in front of it.
Me, the eternal peeping tom (as regards to automobiles) couldn’t resist taking a peek over a hedge and saw a fast moving blur of black going down the road, tires scrunching in the gravel, the low differential gear ratios trying to spread the torque equally between the 4 wheels but failing miserably as the gravel didn’t provide the wheels with equal traction. Just as it was nearing the end of the road, it braked, swerved hard to the right and pummeled up the slope on the next diagonal curve! Then fortunately for me, Goliath had to brake and slow down because of a cluster of speed-brakers on its path and I got a chance to identify the hulking SUV. The first thing I noticed was the flatbed at the back and the loading half-screw vertical shelf. And I went “oooh, that’s the Tata Xenon”.
Back to my garden-love-story, the car braked, swerved under pressure from the calipers, swayed as it was top heavy, realigned itself and then shot off again after traversing the series of speedbrakers. I let out a huge sigh and wondered who was lucky enough to have a Xenon as a guest at their house. A couple of hours down the line, I spot the same tag-less black beauty at a house in my locality. Luckily though, the house just next door to that one belonged to a friend of mine with whom I used to chat ‘occasionally’. This was an ‘occasion’ I mused, So I went up to his house, dragged him out and then we both walked over to his neighbours house on the pretext of searching for our cricket ball.
Once inside, we stalked the car from various angles and were judging its off-road capabilities when suddenly the uncle who owned the car came out with his wife in tow. Some incessant questioning and admiring later, the uncle got tired of us, and gave the keys to my friend and asked us to take it out for a spin. Hoisting myself into the front seat with a lopsided swing of my torso, I pulled the door in towards me and it shut with a satisfying ‘thump’. Then I ignited the monstrous diesel engine under the hood and readied myself for the clatter of the erstwhile 3.0 litre Dicor, But I was in for quite a pleasant surprise, because the 2.2 VTT was not only quieter than the 3.0 litre Dicor, but infact it was also much more refined than the old-warhorse 2.0 litre TCIC. I shifted into 2nd gear, worked the throttled, saw the RPM needle nudge its way upto 2350 rpm and then got a sudden rush of blood in my head as the turbocharger fully spooled up which made the brawny SUV lift up its ‘skirt’ and run! The turbo gave its kick till uptill around 4200 rpm, after which the soda fizzled down and you were left nursing a cocktail ‘sans’ liquor!
That was until you shifted up a gear and got the turbocharger to plonk back into its powerband, then the mayhem started again! Driving the car for about 3 kilometres, I subjected the steering wheel to a ‘sensitivity analysis’ to find it perfectly posed and responding to steering inputs well within the defined parameters. The Power Steering of the car, though not Servo-d as much as I would have liked was a little cumbersome to use, but it got the job done. The suspension meanwhile working with the ground clearance did not let any undulations on the road be a bother and it smothered the potholes as effectively as a snail wandering along on a silk brocade! The 140 bhp engine proved its merit and played its part in tough no-nonsense overtaking situations, but the loading bay jutting out at the back had to be taken into consideration as more often than not, the car would be back in its lane after overtaking, but 5 metres of the loading bay would still be hanging out! (with my friend in it clutching on for dear life)
Then I encountered a traffic jam, which gave me the opportunity to admire the interiors of the car and soak up the cold air of the AC while my friend sweated outside! The interiors of the car were done up like a pseudo-VW car. The car steering wheel was elegant, meaty and sturdy. The gearshift had adequate ratios and the throw’s were just about right (although a shorter throw would have been much appreciated), the knob was a little too big for it to be gripped with ease and an unconscious effort, but I assume its just a matter of time before you get used to not having your palm cupped tightly! The dashboard, the glovebox as well as the tell-tale switches are all laid out in a manner which not only functional but are excellent in terms of reach and practicality! The seats however are a little hard and if you subject the car to a lot of romping around in the countryside, it would earn you the title of ‘ironbutt’ because the ride quality of the Xenon, even though being quite composed, does transmit the jerks and jiggles of roads which are uneven in the general context but not necessarily having potholes or undulations! The loading bay of the car, as my friend was judging, was pretty comfortable for short jump if you found the weather for it.
But because the wheelbase of the car was now compromised (as compared to the normal Safari), the jitters and juggling of the human body was more likely than in the standard car! The dual-cab design is somewhat of a tragedy enveloped in a forum of joy! While you actually get space to sit in the back and the ride is quite comfortable, the lack of legroom is quite evident and more often than not, you may find yourself kicking the shins of the driver in front! Tata, positioning this car as a lifestyle vehicle, should have known this 10 lakh SUV is hardly ever going to be used for loading canoes or sugarcanes onto it, rather, in most forms, it is going to carry around youngsters who would be hanging out of the sides of the loading bay in an attempt to recreate the fire of St. Elmo when the knock their head against an oncoming vehicle! The engine providing a lot of grunt and torque on the low differentials proved to be a boon to use in the city and even on slick wet city roads, but for high speed cruising, the car, even though having a powerful engine, was susceptible to soaring degrees of high-speed wallowing. It was not confidence inspiring, to say the least and any attempt to thwart the suspension and the gearbox further to test it would have resulted into us turning turtle on the rainwater inundated roads!
The car overall, is quite value for money, if you’ve got a farmhouse on the country roads a 100 kilometres away from the city you live in. Having a lake behind the farmhouse would help too as you could carry a canoe to and fro in the loading bay of the Xenon. But asking the car to take you on a journey to cities spread over in different states is not advisable as its long tail is an absolute hindrance while overtaking. You would have to do, what the dog breeders do to a Doberman as soon as its born, cut off its tail to make it more agile and fit, so that it can perform its job with ease!