Quick Drive: 2017 Tata Hexa
Great feature package, middling engine and surprising off-road chops!
It took one hundred and sixty kilometres behind the wheel of the upcoming Tata Hexa to realise that I’d have had a much better time if most of that distance wasn’t on paved roads. The epiphany struck as I was being driven around a mildly-prepped natural trail behind Hyderabad’s Novotel Airport hotel. There were some deep ruts, gravelly inclines and steep banks to show off the Hexa’s 4x4 capabilities. Here’s a protip Tata Motors: make more noise about this!
The Hexa is the third vehicle on the X2 platform that underpins the original Aria and the more recent Safari Storme SUV. So to address the elephant in the room, yes, there is a family connection. Little else reminds the driver of the other two platform stablemates, however. Clearly, the Hexa is going up against competition such as the Mahindra XUV 5OO and the Toyota Innova Crysta, and the package, equipment list are chosen to be competitive. The design also reflects Tata’s now global design team, and there are shades of JLR in the vehicle. There are new wrap-around headlamps, LED DRLs, wraparound tail lamps using flexible LED strips, a very butch front fascia with Land Rover inspired grille, and those 19" alloys that fill the wheel wells nicely. The overall visage is less minivan and more SUV, which is clearly the intent.
Most impressive of all is the feature list on the Hexa. Mahindra has made a habit of throwing surprisingly sophisticated gadgetry at even their mid-tier models, and Tata has been taking notes. In no particular order, the feature list includes rain-sensing wipers, automatic headlamps, reverse camera, traction control, ABS with EBD, 4x4 with limited-slip and torque on-demand, 10-speaker JBL sound system, touchscreen infotainment system with smartphone integration and custom apps, a choice of a 6-speed manual or auto ‘box, a choice of 6 or 7 seats, climate control for all three rows, auto-down on all power windows, 19" alloys and a massive range of Tata-designed, dealer-installed accessories.
Clearly the Hexa lacks little for a vehicle of it’s class. Tata’s new HorizonNext philosophy is on display in many nuances. For instance, the door lock/unlock button is front-and-centre where either the driver or passenger can reach it. The reverse camera can be activated by a button without engaging reverse. The maps are co-developed with MapMyIndia and run off your smartphone. Little good decisions that add up to a nicer experience.
Inside the vehicle, the dash is very smart to look at, maintaining an all-dark theme. Controls fall to hand easily and visibility of the infotainment system and driver binnacle is good. Plastics look better than they feel. Seats are a particular high point, being in leather with contrast stitching (another learning from upmarket stablemates). They’re nicely bolstered and quite generous in size, which should be a plus for the heavy-set. Headroom is ample, save for the third row, which is okay. The second row provides a lot of legroom. There are a couple of ergonomic niggles. The door locks are hard to grab, for instance, and the front centre armrest is useless for the driver, since it has a cutaway for the handbrake. The driver footwell is also cramped in the manual, with some space freed up in the automatic. There is no dead pedal.
On the go, the Hexa is clearly the superior use of the X2 platform. It is a body-on-frame design, but body roll is controlled and the vehicle stays relatively flat around corners. Suspension is also well-damped, but some may find it firmer than expected. Steering is light, but not feathery, providing a secure feel at speed. It is also tilt-adjustable. The driving position is commanding and visibility is good as well. Tata Motors have made the clutch self-adjusting so that feel remains consistent over an extended period of time. The cabin is a quiet place at speed, and we heard no squeaks or rattles even over mad roads; or off-road for that matter. Then there’s the engine.
Unfortunately, we believe the Hexa’s Achille’s heel is the motor. Sure, there’s 156bhp and 400Nm on tap from the 2.2-litre Varicor 400 diesel engine, but you’d be hard-pressed to report the impact. Part of the reason is likely the Hexa’s near-2.3 tonne weight, which dulls the twist supplied by the motor. Much like other turbo mills over two litres, there’s lag below 2000rpm, when the boost kicks in and you see progress. With the Hexa, you must avoid this part of the rev range vigorously, or get stuck behind agonisingly slow trucks on a two-lane road like we did. The situation is not helped by the manual gearbox, which has long throws and feels vague; not receptive to quick shifts.
Having sampled this motor in the Safari Storme, we were not surprised by this performance, but held out hope for the automatic variant. And the automatic delivered. It’s a 6-speed torque converter supplied by global OEM PPS, and it is excellent. Shifts are smooth and reasonably quick in either D or S mode, and Tata Motors have configured the transmission with a “race car derived” mode which aggressively holds revs and downshifts when you’re using more than 80% of the throttle. Tata Motors officials tell us this is useful in ghat roads where one needs to keep the engine on the boil to overtake heavy vehicles going uphill. It’s an interesting concept and works as advertised, and a bit of a surprise on a vehicle of this class. We found the Hexa immeasurably nicer to drive with the automatic, which will be available in rear-wheel-drive only at launch.
The most surprising aspect of the Hexa was left for the end of our drive in Hyderabad. While our initial reaction to the 4x4 demonstration track was that it was a sweetener, it turned out to be a revelation. The Hexa’s ground clearance is ample, and we were unable to scrape it even in unnaturally deep ruts. The traction control, hill hold and descent features work as advertised, and you can actually traverse some silly terrain in comfort. The hyper-modified camping Hexa Tata Motors had on display doesn’t seem optimistic after our brief off-road experience.
Tata Motors appears to benchmark the Hexa against the XUV and the Innova Crystal. We’d expect pricing to be somewhere in the middle of those vehicles when announced. It’s a solidly specified package, let down only by the manual-engine combo. If you opt for the automatic, you should be fine.
Pros: Features, 4x4
Cons: Engine, manual gearbox
Rating: 3/5
