Tata Harrier Review. Actually A Land Rover's DNA?
Harrier is a premium SUV from Tata Motors. Priced between Rs.14.50 lakhs - 21.34 lakhs (ex-showroom). It is the second most expensive product from this manufacturer after the Safari. Platform derived from Land Rover's OMEGARC platform. competes with Jeep Compass, Volkswagen Tiguan and MG Hector and is known for its absolute road presence and comfort. Lets see how is it.
Exterior: Talking about the looks, it looks absolutely great. At front, it gets DRL's on top and headlamps below it and foglamps below them. The cheetah nose inspired grille finished in gloss black and Tata logo in between make it look great. In the headlamp section, there is a projector setup with xenon HID in it for low-beam and a halogen bulb for high-beam and a lion made on it and the fog lamps also get cornering function.
From the side, it get body cladding running throughout the car and the new 16-inch alloy also look appealing. ORVM's are finished in black with turning indicators on it. It has chrome on the door handles and up on the windows and Harrier written on the last.
On the rear end, it has slimmer taillamps with LED brake lamps and foglamps on the lower half above the cladding and Harrier written boldly with chrome in the middle.
Overall the car looks muscular in everyway possible with the rugged stance.
Interior: On the interior, the dashboard looks Pretty good with the oakwood finish and soft touch material on the top. There is an 8-inch infotainment system below which there are AC vents and AC controls below it. On the center console there are is a drive mode selector inspired from Land Rover which include 3 modes
Normal mode
Wet mode
Rough road mode
and an aircraft styled hand brake which seems cool. It offers leather seats which are really comfy especially the rear seats they have good amount of cushioning which provide a comfortable drive. The boot space is also good with a capacity of 425 litres.
Engine And Transmission: It gets a 2.0-litre diesel engine ample for producing 170 Hp and 350 Nm of torque mated to a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed Torque converter automatic transmission. It offers great performance and handling. Out on highways, it will easily do 140 km/h without any hesitation and you will feel nothing inside. The midrange has great power but it becomes vocal past 3500 rpm which is felt inside the cabin. In Eco mode the engine gets a bit dull in terms of power delivery to save fuel but as you get into sports mode, the car supplies all the power to the wheels with it's full potential making it really powerful. It will drop the fuel economy but the amount of power you get will balance it out.
Drive ability: The car drives really well. The window area is large which give a good view of the surrounding. You can see the hood which give it a good idea of the distance on the front. The steering is a hydraulic unit which make it a bit heavy on lower speeds but as the speeds increase it weighs up really well. The insulation in the cabin is great. Only some engine sound and some road noise comes inside. Around the corners you will feel some body roll but the suspensions manages it properly. The drive modes also do a great job in wet and rough condition to make you feel comfortable.
Verdict: If you want a car with great performance, handling and comfort then it is the car for you but if you want a car which is easy to manoeuvre, a bit fuel efficient, feature loaded and a bit low on pocket then probably you should check out Hyundai Creta or Kia Seltos or if you have high budget then you can consider Jeep Compass or Volkswagen Tiguan.
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