ZICA is Tata Motors fresh attempt to regain a foothold in small cars market. ZICA, which means Zippy Car is a fresh new attempt- with new design, new engines and lots of segment first features. ZICA is expected to be launched in 3rd week of Jan with aggressive pricing. Fortunately I had an opportunity to drive the new ZICA ahead of its launch, at the company organized event for bloggers early December.
In this post, I will be taking you through unique attributes of ZICA and what I feel about its drive, handling and comfort features.
The Engines
ZICA gets two new engine. The petrol engine is a derivative of existing 1.2L 3 pot unit from Zest, but slightly de-tuned (5PS less) for better fuel economy. Revetron is a light weight and technologically advanced engine from Tata Motors and has been proved reliable and successful in Zest.
ZICA gets a new one litre diesel engine too, offering 70 PS, which is quite powerful compared to other cars in the segment. Diesel engine is also 3 pot and is named Revetorq. I drove both Petrol and Diesel ZICAs during the event- petrol is naturally light weight and more peppy to respond while Diesel will cater to those planning long drives once a while.
The Body, interiors & looks
Unlike Bolt that was cosmetic refresh on top of Vista, Zica gets an all new body and design bottom up. Tata has assembled best of their designers from India, England and Italy to come up with design for an all new small car- these people have done phenomenal job- there are 22 storage spots in the car, from the outside, the looks are really refreshing, small attention to details (take close look at door handles) makes Zica very unique among its peers. Built under Designext principles, ZICA has many innovations- the first row seats are thinner without compromising comfort (body hugging bolster seats)- this results in more knee room in second row. Glove box gets cooler, hand brake is off centre, AC vents are re-designed for optimal flow, the speedo console looks very upmarket.
Infotainment system gets lots of unique features too- everyone in the car can queue their songs to be played next, avoiding an awkward situation where everyone needs to fight for control of music system to play their choice of songs. Built in navigation system is very handy.
Zica also gets lots of customization options. Users can change colours of AC vent panels etc with colour of their choice- this helps make the car feel lot more personal.
Drive and Handling
Zica is very powerful in its class. Handles pretty well in city and highway driving. Fuel economy figures are not officially announced yet, but is expected to be pretty decent. Suspensions have been reworked for better comfort. Top variant gets ABS, EBD and airbags for safety.
Tatas have been re-working on dealership experience as well. Great Footballer Lionel Messi has been roped in as Tata Motors global ambassador. Overall, ZICA is a very promising product from Tata. We need to wait for another week or so for details of variant wise features and price range.
We need to wait and watch to see if ZICA can uplift Tata Motor’s fortunes by logging good number of bookings.
