Before moving on to the interiors, sharing an excerpt of the IMPACT design language from official press release:
The Interior of the vehicle will be defined through ‘INviting’, ‘INtelligent’ and ‘INtouch’ features.
- Inviting interior architecture and proportions including Layered Cockpit Design; Driver Focussed layout; Outstanding Textures, Fabrics and Materials
- Intelligent Cabin Layout with clever storage spaces, surprise & delight features. All displays, commands & controls will be within easy & intuitive reach
- Intouch and connected to the world inside and outside the vehicle
Open the front doors and the first thing you will notice is the heft. Yes, the doors of Tiago are hefty going by the segment standards and feel more so because of the wafer light doors of Wagon-R and Celerio. Close the door and there is a thud with which the door closes and this is what welcomes you in:
It’s since the Zest and Bolt that Tata has deviated from their older dash themes but it is the Tiago which came as the biggest surprise of all. Of late, like many other manufacturers; Tata also has deviated from beige and what we have is a black + grey dashboard. Anyhow, the first points of contact when you enter the car are steering wheel and driver’s seat and while being seated in the driver’s seat (Yes, you don’t sit on them like in Celerio or Wagon R but you seat in them) the first thing anyone will praise is the seat design and cushioning. I am a 5’10” medium sized adult and had absolutely nothing to complain with those front seats. They are sized perfect, the cushioning is spot on and best part; thigh support is adequate (something almost all low stance hatchbacks miss). The steering wheel is carried from Bolt and scores well in terms of look and functionality. The diameter is on a smaller size but thick rim with right contouring given at right places.
Although the cockpit design is more or less simple, but what makes it different from the plain designed cockpits of the competitors is the dual color theme as well as the design language itself. The dashboard is well sculpted and there are many minor design elements which the customers will appreciate during the term of their ownership. The upper layer of dash and the door pads is in a well textured material that is going to please the customers for sure. Additionally, piano black finished AC vents (body color in orange and red cars) just add that last bit to the feel good factor which will anyway help prospective buyers sign on dotted line.
Driver Focused Layout: Well, “if it’s a Tata car then it will be an ergonomic disaster”, that’s the notion I always carried for Tata cars but not anymore. Steering wheel is small but acceptably well sized, the steering rim seems to have the right thickness, the buttons feel perfectly placed, horn pad is also easily reachable and requires acceptable effort to blowing the horn. But the adjustment range seemed quite less; I wish it was an inch or two more towards the lower side as the steering always felt set a bit high to me. The brushed aluminum finish on the steering wheel as well as on the instrument panel does look nice and had a durable touch to it. The instrument cluster has two pods of which it houses a tachometer on the left and speedometer on the right.
![instrument panel.JPG](/forums/data/attachments/185/185120-0b3c3426563d5beac97807c55926501d.jpg)
The temperature and fuel gauges in form of LED lights (very inaccurate, we would have preferred analog needle or digital display here) inside the left and right pod respectively. In the center is MID that shows data like which door is open, instantaneous FE, twin trip computer, average FE for both the trips, gear shift indicator on the top along with gear shift recommendation. On the top of MID is the drive mode display which simply states if the vehicle is in city mode or economy mode. Additionally, there are regular warning signs in the instrument panel for various purposes. The seat belt reminder is the one with an alarm and the alarm gets annoyingly sharp once the speed goes over 20 kph; this will force even the most shameless guys out on roads to buckle up.
Part sharing: Instrument panel is shared between both diesel and petrol siblings, only the needle turning red is different for showing redline. But yes, 8000 rpm marking looks a bit too optimistic on the diesel, especially for an engine which redlines at 4000 rpm itself. The stalks are same as that of other Tata cars and that’s no bad. The chunky stalks have all the controls over them like front and rear wiper controls on the left stalk and all the lighting controls on the right stalk along with that of blinkers. There is that dummy button too which we used to oppose strongly in first gen Storme for being the ICE mode selection button. Though it would have been better if Tata had kept at least headlight leveling switch different as both the stalks seem to be a bit too cluttered with the controls. The saving grace is that they feel well built and positive in action too but yes, many controls means more expenses in case anything fails.
The hexagonal ORVMs provide nice view of the going on behind the car. The IRVM has a limited scope of coverage, thanks to small rear windshield. It’s also positioned in such a way that coverage won’t be far enough, there will always be some bias towards downwards, I guess a placement around an inch lower could have helped here (I was driving with seat at lowermost position BTW). Overall visibility is really good given the fact that the glass area is quite large and you sit quite high even at the lowest seating position. The driver’s seat itself is quite comfortable place to be in but pedals, like most of the Tata cars seem to be placed a bit too close to each other (my foot touched brake once while depressing the clutch). And yes, there is a dead pedal too, although a bit away from clutch but there is one, it is on a higher side but still better than not having one at all.
Outstanding Textures, Fabrics and Materials: Well, the upper black portion of the dash gives a sense of premium quality, be it the plastic quality or the texture on it; we couldn’t resist but appreciate it. Mark my words; some cars from even two segments above also don’t get such quality plastics with such a rich texture. What disappointed us a bit is the quality of lower grey section of the dash but it is also well acceptable if one goes by the price this car asks for. Ya, you can say that this lower dash in no time will remind you how much you have paid for this car at times anyhow. The fit and finish is on a good side (not close to Hyundai standards but maybe segment best) and so is the material quality overall. The piano black finish on the AC vents, inner door handles (front only) as well as around the center console gives a good sense of luxury and so are the tastefully added touches of chrome (I’m happy that Tata has deviated from overdose of chrome in and out) especially the ones those surround the AC vents. The door latch is chrome finished and looks quite well. What is a downside is that there is no dedicated central locking button and there are those ugly old school pull type door locks; the quality of them is decent though.
The seats are made up of a durable fabric and they feel good too. Roof lining feels real nice and will never give you the feeling of a budget car. The buttons have a nice tactile feel to the way they work (some people like a bit of heft in buttons, including me and there these buttons disappoint but they aren’t bad either) and so is the finishing on the ICE and AC controls, overall there is very less to complain and if you bring the price into picture then we are also left searching for the points where we can put a complaint or two. What actually makes for biggest amusement is the glovebox opening mechanism. Firstly there’s a nicely integrated button on top black section of dashboard. Secondly, the glovebox opens up in a very damped manner. My photographer friend opened and closed it at least 50 times just to get a feel of it time and again (it’s actually that good; even I too did the same).
Additionally the rear seat passengers also will be happy to have a decent amount of legroom and nicely contoured seats instead of a flat bench. Although the seats are set a bit low but they aren’t devoid of the legroom and thigh support. Headroom can be a bit of concern for anyone over 5’ 10” as I was also facing the problem of my hair brushing against the roof. There is no piano black here but the door trim has good fit and finish. The legroom is acceptable for anyone upto height 5’10” sitting behind an another occupant of same height, six footers may feel a bit claustrophobic on the rear seats at least and if co-driver a six footer too then rear passenger is definitely going to curse them.