New Tata Aria review, test drive

However, the Aria’s forte of an airy cabin with comfortable and supportive front seats remains unchanged. The second row bench too offers decent support with sufficient kneeroom for six footers. But, the last row is best reserved for children and even adults of average height will find the squatted seating position and limited kneeroom far from ideal for long durations. In terms of storage, the entire roof is lined with as many as seven cubby holes that will be more than enough for all your knick knacks and with the last row folded, the Aria can easily hold a family’s holiday luggage. But, with the last row upright, space is limited to just a couple of soft bags.

The key improvements to the 2014 Tata Aria are hidden under the hood. The retuned 2.2-litre VariCor diesel motor helps it shave off almost a second to 100kph and now takes 14.79sec, though you won’t notice a stark difference while driving. What you will notice is that the engine feels more refined and free-revving than before and the power delivery is smoother with the turbo-spike being ironed out to an extent. The motor feels quieter too. However, while the gear knob looks premium and is nicely finished, the ‘box still feels a bit unpolished and transfers a fair amount of engine vibrations to your palm.

On the plus side, the Aria absorbs almost everything our roads throw at it. This big SUV manages to make easy work of fairly large potholes and only the really large ones crash through. However, with speed, the ride does get a bit floaty and the steering too is a tad vague, especially around the straight ahead position. Apart from this, the Aria handles predictably and although there’s a fair bit body roll, it’s not too unnerving and the on-demand all-wheel-drive system makes it feel surprisingly surefooted. There’s also a button on the dash to switch it into 4x2 on the fly to extract the best-possible fuel economy.