Tata recently launched the new Vista Quadrajet 90 with a new engine and refreshed interiors borrowed from the Manza. We did a short run to check how the engine upgrade and refreshed interior benefit the car.
The 1.3 litre engine now churns out 88bhp against 75bhp, breathing via a Variable Geometry Turbocharger (VGT). The first thing I noticed though is the 8000rpm limit in the tachometer and to be very frank, I inspected it more than once to believe what I saw!
A Tata Vista diesel with that tachometer can be a bit scary. Thankfully the engine doesn’t rev beyond 5000rpm and it turns red in color at the maximum rpm. Nice touch.
Thanks to the upgrade, the car now feels swifter and adequately powerful but under 2000rpm, there prevails a considerable amount of lag which forces you to work that not so sporty gearshift a little too much. The power delivery is very abrupt and downshifting during higher rpm is rough. If you put the pedal to the metal, you can feel that the car is a little sporty than its regular version since the engine now produces more power but the gearbox and the chassis spoil the fun.
Except for the engine upgrade and the new badges, the Vista 90 borrows the dashboard from the Manza, which means, the car now has the speedometer cluster behind the steering wheel, everything else remains the same. For prices and specifications, click here.
With added power, the Vista is up there with the most powerful diesel hatchbacks namely the Fiat Punto and the Hyundai i20 while offering more value for money.
