‘Zest up your life!’ This is what the Zest came with. Tata Motors came in with a sedan that very few people might know about. It had a lot of first-in-class features, powerful engine options and Tata’s safety at its disposal. Without wasting any further time, let’s take a look at what it has to offer.
Tata Zest | Engine Specifications
Powertrain Specs
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| Engine | Revotron 1.2-litre | Quadrajet 75 | Quadrajet 90 |
| Type | Petrol turbocharged MPFI | Turbocharged Diesel | Turbocharged Diesel VGT |
| Power (PS) | 90@5,000rpm | 75@4,000rpm | 90@4,000rpm |
| Torque (Nm) | 140@1,750-3,500rpm | 190@1,750-3,500rpm | 200@1,750-3,500rpm |
| Transmission | Manual, 5-speed | 5-speed Manual | 5-speed Manual / AMT |
| Compliance | BS4 | ||
Tata Zest offered powerful engines back in 2014 when most of the cars used to offer puny ones. Just for reference, Maruti Suzuki DZire’s 1.2-litre petrol engine used to produce 84hp of power and 115Nm of torque. Now let’s take a look at the dimensions of this car. It had the first-in-segment automated manual transmission with the diesel engine option. The petrol engine was offered with multi-drive modes: Sport, Eco and City mode. It was also a first-in-segment feature.
What were the dimensions of the Tata Zest?
Dimensions
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| Length (mm) | 3,995 |
| Width (mm) | 1,706 |
| Height (mm) | 1,570 |
| Wheelbase (mm) | 2,470 |
| Kerb Weight (kg) | 1,115 |
| Boot Space (litres) | 390 |
Being a compact sedan, Tata Zest came with the benefits of the tax deductions, which made it a competitively priced sedan. We’ll discuss that later. It had a decent boot space to offer too.
Was the Zest safe as the Tigor?
Safety Features
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| ABS with EBD |  |
| Cornering Stability Control | |
| Front and Rear fog lamps | |
| Immobiliser | |
| Speed Sensing Auto Door Lock | |
| Driver and Passenger Airbags | |
| Rear Parking Sensors with Display | |
| *Across all variants | |
Tata Zest was safety feature-loaded for sure. Although not all the features were offered from the base variant itself. It was rated 4-star at the Global NCAP for the variant.
Comfort and Convenience Features
It was safe, for sure! But was it comfortable? Let’S FIND OUT.
Features
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| 1st In Segment | |
| Projector Headlamps | |
| LED DRLs | |
| LED Tail Lamps | |
| Other Features | |
| Fully Automatic Air Conditioning | |
| Steering with Integrated Controls | |
| Foldable Key | |
| Infotainment System by Harman | |
Zest had a lot of 1st in class features to offer. Tata Zest had a premium design with a premium exterior as well as an interior. Even though the Tata Zest was a compact sedan, it had a spacious cabin with enough legroom and headroom at both the front and rear sides of the cabin.
So, why did the Tata Zest fail?
Tata Zest came back in 2014 and had a really good list of features as well as powerful engine options. Then, how come only a few numbers of people know about the car and the sales figures were so low, even when the car had a starting price of ₹5.82lakhs. Maruti Suzuki Dzire had a price tag of around ₹5.90lakhs at that time. Still, Tata Zest was not able to attract a lot of customers. There is no particular reason for the car to be a failure. People were not ready to trust Tata at that time, the way they do now.
It was discontinued for the private ownership sales in 2017 while the commercial one was discontinued last year. The compact sedan segment has been carried forward by the Tigor for the company.
Also, read Tata Tigor vs Maruti Suzuki DZire | Can the DZire Justify the Premium Price Tag?
Was Tata Zest a worthy car? What are your views? Let us know in the comments section below.
I own zest from last 5 years and clocked 47K Kms. It’s one of the best in segment when released but people didn’t dare to try Tata.
Service for 15K Kms, with P2P ( pay to performance like AMC) they gave lot of wear and tear parts for free and negligible service amount.
I could get a mileage of 25 in Eco mode with 60 speed once.
Otherwise consistently between 17-21 based on driving style
The only problem I faced was the fuel pump, they got it changed under warranty.
Service has been outstanding in the city Mysore. I have no bad experience.
Apart from that no major issue. is a fantastic piece of engg from Tata.
Hi Vinay,
Tata Zest was indeed a good car, yet failed in India due to the company’s previous non-reliability issues. Good to know that your experience has been good so far! Stay tuned!
Tata zest car is one of best
Hi Shankar,
Tata Zest was indeed a very good car in its segment. Yet, it failed! Stay pinned!
Very nice car. I drove it for 4 years, 35K km. Recently met with a severe accident. The car is so sturdy that despite toppling upside down, I got out unhurt. Air bags opened at the right time and while the car is badly damaged, the frame is still sturdy and intact and saved me.
Very much a car that should have succeeded much more than what it did!
I’ve been driving Tata Zest diesel for last 4+ years and odo is 1.55 lakh kms. It’s a outstanding vehicle with good power and performance. Got avg of 25+ on highway before 1 lakh kms now getting 21 to 22 on highway. Maintenance has never been any issue. Tyres lasted for 1.1 lakh kms brake pads 1 lakh kms, timing chain still not required to replace.
Tata service is upto the mark.
Pretty strong built. Had a major accident but after major damage from outside body it was scratch less from inside.
If they had continued it my next would have been zest it self.
Zest a diesel rocket
Hi Gaurav,
We are glad to know that you and your Tata Zest are having fun with each other. Indeed Tata is getting its cars right lately. #Vocalforlocal #Madeinindia. Stay Pinned:)
Prior to owning the Zest, I used to own the Maruti Zen Estilo for about 8.5 years. Zest was my first car in the sedan category, which i purchased in Oct 2015, so my car is completing about 5 years now. It has done around 65000 kms+ (this includes the last 8 months of lockdown and about 6 months when i was not in the country). Cost me about 6 lakhs on road, after exchange of my old car.
Firstly, the good things :
1. A perfect VFM car. I had compared Zest with Amaze and Excent before making the purchase, and this was the car that offered the most bang for the buck.
2. Extremely powerful car – considering i use for commuting in Mumbai and for road trips (500 kms + types). Easily overtakes most cars in the highway near and around Mumbai. AC Works amazingly well, despite the Mumbai moisture and heat. Also the Engine is quite smooth and noiseless – unlike Indica. Indigo etc of the old lineage.
3. Good fuel economy – easily get around 13 kmpl on a mix of highway and city in little offpeak hours. At Peak traffic and more city kind of driving, I got 10 kmpl.
4. 3 modes work great – City for regular driving, Eco when on highways, and Sports when you want to show off
5. No major Engine troubles so far. Drives amazing, performs well, Superb handing – no under/oversteer. For a compact sedan, you dont feel scared like in the Dzire or some other lighter cars in same category.
6. Ground Clearance – with 10mm extra ground clearance than any other car in the category, It rides Mumbai potholes in Monsoon as if they were just a minor irritants.
THE NOT -SO-GOOD
1. Some plastics components are cheap. For example – The cap of the windshield wiper fluid tank has disintegrated twice atleast.
2. The electricals have some issue – Had 2 battery replacements so far, in addition to the original battery. Have had to replace the HT cables and Spark plugs. I have also had to replace the
3. My Power windows have broken down 3 times – nothing to do with the electricals here thankfully, but the plastic harness has broken on 3 out of 4 windows.
4. AC Cooling coil has broken down once and had to be replaced.
Please note that i have never faced so many issues in my Zen Estilo – but then again the features in that Zen car were also pretty limited. But atleast the Plastics never gave up on me, and i faced relatively lesser electrical issues.
All in all a pretty good car, and you feel quite safe when driving it. However some finer aspects in product quality have marred the experience quite a bit (as mentioned above). However the actual Engine, transmission and overall drivetrain has performed quite well. The interior is also quite good, even when compared to a Dzire or Etios or even Amaze.
Would i buy a Tata car as my next car …? Most probably, but would depend on the additional refinements and quality improvements Tata has made on its products.
I purchased Tata zest on 2017,after completing 30k my car’s clutch getting very hard ,and then i changed it and then completing 52k the problem is repeating again,the problem means low clutch ply ,when iam in trafic it is very risk to drive it.no good pickup,and it is very hard to shift the gears.
I owned Zest XM petrol in 2015. Still driving like a new car. Not a single Engine trouble till date. Zest is indeed Best. People did not realized.
I own tata zest from last years. Clocked 1.5 Lakh kms.
No issue except fuel pump twice. replaced once under warranty and second time paid from pocket.
Best car in this segment. Best in comfort. Best in style. Its being 3 yrs now with my Zest, still its a low maintenance car.
Proud Zest owner from 2015.
I purchased XM Revotron and Buzz Blue Color and its still the Heads Turner when i took it for spin in the town.
People love my car and me too.
I have clocked 20K+ happily.
The highest average i got was 21.6 KMPL.
Shocked!?
Yes, its true believe me, for a petrol car its an awesome mileage
I own tata zest xms petrol varient, 2016 model. Buying this car was the biggest mistake of my life.
Clocked 70k and changed clutch plates twice, tyres also changed twice, very poor mileage on highway it gives 14-15 and in city 9-10.
Makes too much noise, it feels like I’m seating in a tractor. Turbocharger got failed at 50k kms, even though every service was done at authorised tata service center. Changed turbo core and it again got seized.it has threeddriving modes, eco, city and sports. Sports mode doesn’t feel helping either. It still has a poor pickup and acceleration. Dezire, swift are naturally aspirated but they have amazing pickup and gives more sporty feel than this garbage.
Car is just 4 and half years old and resale value is just 200k. If it was dezire it’s resale would be 400k.
Poor parts, windshield viper fluid tank cap broke twice, stay rod end is made of plastic, it also broke once, changed battery twice. Front power windows became very slow. This car is full of problems, that’s why it is a failure.
Poorly engineered car, lower ac vent throws air on legs not on feet. Also they occupy a large area of leg room. During winter the hot air will burn your legs. Instead of giving ac vents there, they should have given dead pedal, which would be very useful. I don’t know what material they used to make steering wheel, during cold morning it becomes wet and sticks on hands. Overall this car is just a piece of crap. Underpowered bulky garbage. Soon I’m replacing this car with swift and never ever gonna buy Tata cars in my life.