Drive Impressions of the Tata Harrier XZA+

Before the launch of this vehicle, who would have thought that the Tata badge will showcase something premium. Before the launch of this vehicle, who would have thought that a Tata will go head to head with some of the well-established badges like the Hyundai, Kia and even the Jeep to some extent. Before January 2019 no one, including me, had dreamt even in our wildest dreams that Tata motors could launch a car as compelling as the Harrier. The Tata Harrier with its butch proportions, a large SUV like footprint along with the design that is unlike any other Tata, received a tone of attention from automotive journalists and people. However, even with all the media coverage and appreciation, the Harrier failed to express the same in terms of sales figures. Tata motors soon took this into consideration and launched the updated Harrier along with a new BS6 compliant engine about which I‘ll be noting down my experience in this blog.

EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR

The Tata Harrier’s exterior design was already a trend setter in this segment with the primary high projector beam positioned below the DRLs doubling up as turn indicators. This design element alone made the Harrier distinctive and a class apart. The SUV even with its butch proportions looked sharp and angular, thanks to the stunning Impact Design 2.0. A minor niggle that Tata addressed with the BS6 Harrier was resizing the ORVMs which were a major hindrance and blocked the field of view while turning. Apart from that the already macho looking bumpers have also been redesigned for that added flair. The major exterior update though remains to be the panoramic roof, which in our country is more of a necessity. Earlier Tata motors were not ready to incorporate the full glass roof by trading off the torsional rigidity of the car, but later had to because of customers’ demands. Along with the sunroof, another area that needed to be addressed was the alloy design and size, which has now been upgraded to 17” instead of 16”. So, all in all the rugged beefiness of the Harrier is still retained with inclusions that have ever so slightly amplified the overall design of the car. Now if we talk about the interiors, nothing much has changed apart from the repositioning of the USB slots that were previously housed way deeper in the cubby department of the centre console. Besides that the interiors remain unchanged with the best in class space, both in the front and back with comfortable and well bolstered seats, powerful AC unit, plush wood and leather accents along with materials that are built to last elongating the tough build quality of the Harrier. So, to cut a long story short the Harrier still offers that commanding and tallboy feel of a proper SUV with quality materials that feel solid which now have been further accentuated with the little enhancements made both inside and out.

ENGINE AND TRANSMISSION

Now, after the cosmetic bits, it’s time to talk about the engine and the technical advancements of the Harrier BS6. The Kryotec 2.0 litre turbocharged engine, which is the rebadged and mildly retuned version of the Fiat’s Multijet II engine debuted with the Jeep Compass and the MG Hector, makes a comeback with the Harrier BS6. Though the earlier engine with 140ps was enough to get the job done for most conditions, enthusiasts complained that the engine did not have the oomph to haul a 1675 kilo SUV, especially with full house. So like always, Tata took this feedback into consideration and addressed this problem by according the Harrier a major power bump of almost 30ps, from 140 to 170ps. The torque, apart from arriving a bit earlier in the power band at 1750rpm till 2500rpm, remains identical at 350nm when compared with the pre-facelift car and to some extent so does the overall engine response. Now don’t get me wrong, you can feel the bump in power when you give an aggressive dab on the throttle, however it’s not that pronounced as you would have expected. There is a surge of power in the initial rpms and the car pulls off more cleanly, but that’s about it. So, if you’re expecting a kick in the pants feel or sudden diesel torque rush, then you’ll be left wanting for a bit more. Now a lot of that has to do with the new 6-speed Torque Converter unit that Tata has introduced with the Harrier BS6. Like it or not, this AT gearbox has upped the convenience factor of the Harrier by a fair margin. Tata decided to ditch the Fiat sourced gearbox for the Hyundai sourced torque converter unit code named A6F27 that was previously used in the Tucson AT. Tata took this decision in favour of keeping the costs low. The shifts with this gearbox are smooth and pretty seamless most of the times. Only the transition from 1st to 2nd gear is noticeable keeping rest of the transmission experience almost as good as the Hexa AT. A transmission experience so good brings the Harrier close to the segment benchmark, the diesel Seltos. However, if you like to shift gears more often and want to experience that 30ps power bump, I would suggest you to opt for the 6-speed manual transmission. Another key area where the Seltos is a bit better is the overall cabin refinement. Surely the BS6 Harrier is a bit more refined than the BS4 model, but it’s still not as refined as the 1.5 Seltos Diesel AT, especially in the lower gears where you can hear the engine quite a bit. But still and all, you can completely mask that by dialling up the 320W JBL 10-speaker unit that comes with a separate sub-woofer which offers an unmatched audio experience in this price bracket. Also, due to the superb build quality, even with that extra bass, nothing in the cabin rattles at all which again elevates the overall luxurious aspect of the vehicle.

SUSPENSION

The key area where the Harrier completely trumps all its competitors is the ride quality and chassis balance. Recent Tata cars have always been lauded for their segment best ride qualities and the Harrier just takes the bar couple of notches higher. A huge credit goes to the perfect tuning of the suspension which the engineers at Tata seem to have mastered over the years for our road conditions. The car gets an independent lower wishbone McPherson strut with coil spring and anti-roll bar in the front with a semi-independent twist blade with Panhard rod and coil spring at the rear. In layman’s terms, the car gobbles up the undulations, smothers portholes and simply glides over the expansion joints and rough patches on the highways. The more the speeds increase, better the ride gets with an almost flat ride at highway speeds. The suspension setup of the Harrier strikes the best possible balance between ride comfort and driving dynamics. Now if you scrutinise the facts a little bit more, things will start to make sense as to why the Harrier is able to possess a flagship grade dynamic package which the other manufacturers are still striving to attain. The answer to that is the OMEGARC or the Optimal Modular Efficient Global Advanced Architecture which has been derived from Land Rover’s D8 platform and is said to be stiffer than any other chassis construction in its segment. For reference, the pre-facelift Discovery Sport used the same platform which is still deemed to be the best off-roader of its class. This frame incorporates a Monocoque chassis construction with optimised torsional rigidity and bending stiffness which is attained by using high strength steel in most of its construction. These technical bits have immensely bolstered the overall dynamics of the car and provided an unmatched torsional rigidity that is even better when you compare it with the SUVs from a segment above. The Harrier not only is well mannered on high speeds but can be rated as the safest car in its segment.

SAFETY

Taking the safety quotient further are some life saving features like Corner Stability Control, Hydraulic Brake Assist, Dynamic wheel torque by brake, Roll over mitigation along with 6-Airbags and Hill Hold and Descent controls. So, with all these safety gizmos, best in class chassis construction, a decently powerful engine, feature packed cabin experience and the added convenience of a smooth auto box, can the Harrier be crowned as the best SUV in its class?

VERDICT

The answer to that is highly subjective in a market like India where people are ready to trade off the overall torsional rigidity of the vehicle for a panoramic glass roof. In a country where technical specifications are secondary to what meets the eye, the Harrier even with a prodigious build quality, an unmatched road presence along with the segment shattering underpinnings is struggling to perform as per the expectations. By the same token, it’s quite hard for me to firmly hold on to a verdict for a car that possibly has all the creature comforts an individual can ask for in this price range on top of technical terms that might even perplex SUVs positioned a segment above. However, on the basis of whatever knowledge I have managed to come away with about automobiles, I can avow that the Harrier is not just a name in the comprehensive list of mid-size SUVs in our market. Instead the Tata Harrier is among the very few cars ever introduced and manufactured in India that have stayed true to their DNA of being an SUV irrespective of what the segment best pseudo SUVs are purveying.

Author - Soumil Dey

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