Tata Manza

Tata Manza offers a great sense of space and big car appeal on the inside, with the sedan offering best in class under-thigh support, knee room and legroom. What does dilutes the overall experience is again the dated appeal of the dashboard layout, which clearly shows that this is a car from the bygone decade.

The four-spoke steering wheel looks very simple, but thankfully gets audio and Bluetooth controls mounted on it. The unconventional design for the centrally placed instrument console looks sober and provides decent information on board, which might take some time to adjust to.

The waterfall theme center console below it looks simple too, and houses a very archaic design for the 2-DIN audio system, with rectangular AC vents above it and manual levers for the AC below it. The entire centre console is finished in a contrasting silver finish as opposed to the entire cabin which is finished in a black theme. There are very few modern touches and features onboard, which again dilute the overall premium experience of the car.

By the stance of it, the Tata Manza has got the dimensions which can put sedans from one segment to shame. The car has got a great stance which does make it look like a proper conventional midsize sedan, despite being priced compared to premium hatchbacks. However, what does rob its appeal is its overall design, which is almost a decade old and is now showing its age very much.

At the front, the Tata Manza does catches your fancy with its sweptback long headlamps, which doe come with a double barrel design but do not possess any modern projector or LED illumination. The curved front grille with horizontal chrome slats add to the premium appeal of the car. There is additional chrome in the form of sleek slats on either side of the front license plate housing, below which fog lamps are placed.

The Tata Manza looks quite sleek from the side, thanks to a long wheelbase and elongated boot design. There is a prominent crease running through the door handles and a sleek chrome garnish on the lower portion of the doors. The multi spoke alloy wheels look decent as well. At the back, the Tata Manza has got a very simple design for the boot, at the either ends of which there are vertically laid trapezoidal tail lamps.

The Tata Manza might be low on modernity, but where it gives a tough fight to other sedans is in the sense of space and comfort it has on offer. This is well complemented by the supple and planted ride quality on offer, with the sedan getting independent lower wishbone McPherson struts at the front and semi-independent twist beam at the back.

Tata has made the Manza available with two different engine options, each of which is offered with a 5-speed manual gearbox as standard. The petrol engine on offer is a 1.4-litre dour cylinder mill, which produces 90 PS of power and 116 Nm of torque. The diesel engine, on the other hand, is a 1.3-litre four-cylinder oil burner, which makes 90 PS of power and 200 Nm of torque.

Tata Manza is dated by overall appeal, and so it misses out on contemporary safety features which are offered by modern sedans. Nevertheless, it has the crucial inclusions of dual front airbags, ABS with EBD and remote keyless entry.

The lack of any modern-day comfort and convenience, as well as safety features, do make the Tata Manza quite a dated car. However, the areas where it truly shines out are the ride quality and fuel efficiency, especially in the diesel engine, which does make it a very practical sedan, backed by a very affordable price point.