The Tata Sierra: A star is born!

What's in a name, they say? Well if you are trying to trace one's roots, a lot. That said, the all new Tata Sierra is as closely related to the original Sierra as I am to King Cyrus The Great. The OG Sierra was a beast. It was large, it was expensive, it had character, it had attitude, it commanded respect and despite all of that, it had flopped. The ride was busy, the engines were anemic, the 3 door set up was impractical, the glass panels made ac cooling ineffective, the list is long. Over its life cycle, it was such a sales disaster that Tata Motors had to eventually pull the plug on it. That said, after the Safari, if there is one Tata Motors brand that delivers nostalgia by the dollops, it is the Sierra! It was but natural that after resurrecting the Safari moniker, if Tata Motors had to turn to their next big nostalgic brand, it had to be the Sierra. So how Sierra is the new Sierra or should I say, how Land Rover is the new Sierra? Lets find out.

If car looks could kill, I would be dead by now. The new Sierra is just drop dead gorgeous to look at from every angle. What defines confidence to me is how well you can hold your own ground in a world full of templates and safe options and that is where this Sierra wins my respect. The design may be inspired by various Land Rover models and a small part of it by the OG Sierra as well, but on its own, it's a complete design package that will make you turn around and look at your car after parking it, every.single.time. I will not say much about the large flat panels and the connected LEDs and stuff. Just take a look at it in the flesh and make your own judgement. The design team at Tata Motors definitely deserves a pay hike! 

Step inside and you are immediately reminded that you are in a Tata car. The ergonomic issues resurface. Your left knee is constantly brushing against the centre console and the protruding dashboard that now houses the soundbar. This housing is made of fabric. Fabric that will eventually collect dust and grease marks over the years and it has no business being in the top variant of this car. Speaking of variants, the lower variants get even more fabric all around and this is not something to my taste and liking. If you can't give leatherette, stick to good quality plastic but this fabric business is helping nobody, really. There's too many screens in this cabin for my liking as well. Honestly, just give a central infotainment screen, analogue needles and some digital information to the driver and end it there. The car is the one place where a family gets to connect with one another. Don't ruin that. I will just not have my kid play video games with headphones on, sitting next to me while I drive through picturesque landscapes of this beautiful country, in this beautiful car. Sorry, that is not happening. While many have complained about the AC touch panel, I'm ok with it. I'd only use it to start the AC on and off. For temperature, Tata have given nice, premium toggle switches and my fan speed is always on auto, so no, I don't mind this panel. The Sierra gets electronic parking brakes from the base variant, irrespective of the transmission and that's a great thing. It's a nifty little feature that you can't live without once you get used to it.

What you CAN live without though is ADAS. Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) in particular. I had a heart in mouth moment in my test drive with the Sierra where the car suddenly jammed all four disc brakes in a narrow lane in Mumbai, for no apparent reason. Yes there was a biker sitting on a stationary motorcycle close by but by Bombay standards, he was miles away. If there's anything that needs to get banned in India, it should be AEB. Speaking of banned features, China recently banned retractable car door handles due to safety reasons. The Sierra gets retractable door handles as standard from the base variant onwards. Is Tata playing with your safety then? Well, no. The door handles that got banned in China are the motorised ones. The safety hazard is that the motors may or may not work after the car has had a crash, trapping the occupants inside. What Tata gives you with the Sierra are manually retractable ones. You either need two hands or fantastic finger skills to open them but on the flipside, they do not jeopardise your safety.

Moving on to comfort. The front seats are accommodating, firm and fairly comfortable for the average Indian width. For someone with broader shoulders, shoulder support may be lacking a little bit here but still way better than unusable Nexons and Curvvs. Underthigh support is generous and adjustable in the higher variants. Overall, a good seat to be in for long hours. If only my left knee had enough space! The back seat is really where the magic is. You get retractable door blinds from the base variant onwards. You get that huge panoramic sunroof that doesn't start from above the driver and hence ends in the boot. You get lounger like seats. Firm but premium cushioning that will keep you comfortable and in place for as long as your fuel tank can last you in one go. Not to forget, the rear bench is wide. Wider than the widest in this segment.  So seating three adults abreast is going to be no shakes at all. The boot is genuinely generous and a big part of that credit goes to the height that gets opened up due to the flat design of the rear door. Function over form. Something that not many people appreciate here in India. One last mention about the near vertical A pillar, giving you that proper SUV like wide field of view, making driving that much safer and enjoyable.

Did someone say enjoyable? How enjoyable are the Sierras to drive? I said Sierras because the Sierra gets three engine options and each of one feels like you're driving a completely different car. I won't bog you down with numbers and figures, they are all over the internet, all yours to consume. Gaadi ho ya banda, what matter the mot i CHARACTER! Starting with the base, the 1.5 NA petrol. No showroom is offering test drives of this engine and it seems like for good reason. From what reviewers like Autocar India have reported, this seems like an extremely lethargic and underpowered engine on its own and it desperately needs an electric boost that would come some time in the future when the Sierra gets a tring hybrid powertrain. Till then, stay away from it. Then comes the all new 1.5 TGDI petrol which comes only in the top two variants and only with the Aisin sourced 6 speed torque converter automatic gearbox. Yes, the turbo petrol doesn't get a manual gearbox. Facepalm moment for keyboard enthusiasts. To be honest, this engine was an anti climax for me. Maybe I expected more of it. Maybe I was too fresh from my Virtus 1.5 TSI test drive. Contrary to what most fat reviewers are boasting about, this Tata unit seriously lacks a punch. Especially low down where the tourque converter eats up most of the revs and the engine grows loud but doesn't go anywhere. Count 1, 2 and then the torque reaches the wheels and the Sierra starts galloping like it should. This needs fixing. It's ok if my chauffeur is going to drive the car all the time. In that case, even the dead NA will do. But for driving enthu cutlets, this either needs a manual transmission or a dry clutch DCT or even a well tuned AMT that puts down 1:1 power to the wheels in one gear. This TC is just nannying the engine a bit too much at low speeds. That leaves us with the diesel. Yes, the same Kryojet that you get in the Curvv which makes similar power figures as the Revotorq that you get in the Nexon and the Altroz. Tata and its branding games! On paper, the Kryojet may sound like another underpowered unit but you'd be mistaken in writing it off too soon. The way this engine is tuned to the Aisin torque converter is magic. Plant your foot down and the Sierra immediately jumps and happily pins you in your seat till the next upshift. The torque is linear, the delivery is immediate, the shifts are imperceptible. What's more, Tata Motors have found some wizardry and done away with the DEF requirement. The engine will burn down all bad elements by itself and you don't need to refill DEF like in other modern day oil burners. All in all, this is the engine of choice if you ask me. It's tried, tested and perfected over the years. It will offer a good balance of fun and efficiency to the right kind of driver. And it comes with a manual a well!

Every car should have that one attribute that would make you ignore everything else and buy it. That one element that define it character. Something that makes it stand head and shoulders above the rest in that one aspect. The Sierra has two. The cabin space and the ride quality. The latter is where that Land Rover DNA really shines. The ride remains flat as a flitter on good roads, making you feel like you're seated in a sedan. Come potholes, come bad roads, the Sierra just flattens them with authority you have only seen with more expensive SUVs as also with the Harrier and the Safari. The steering is light, it lacks feedback but boy oh boy is it sharp! Too sharp and too much fun for a high riding SUV like the Sierra. The turning radius is small too, making the Sierra dart in and out of traffic or squeeze into tight parking spots quite comfortably. The braking is ok. Nothing too dramatic, gets the job done kind of ok. I only wish for the AEB to go away altogether. All in all, the Sierra is dynamically a fun car to drive and it will surely plant a big wide smile on your face when you try to push it sideways, not by the speed of it but by that SUV like authority that it does all of this with. 

The features list is long. There are four variants with "plus" versions for the top three, making it 7 variants in total. Add to that powertrain and drivetrain combinations and you have various permutations and combinations to choose from. To me, Pure Plus and Adventure Plus variants make the most sense. No point going beyond or below these. But if you want those extra gizmos like three screens, ADAS or Dolby Atmos to show off to your buddies, Tata is more than willing to spoil you with all of that and more in the higher variants.

So where does the Sierra sit in this Bhendi Bazar of the "Creta segment"? How does it compare to the gizmo forward Koreans, the power crazy Germans, the stuck in the past Japanese or the big daddy Mahindras? For the guy resigned to his fate in life, a Creta or a Seltos is the default safe choice. They will run and run well, run efficiently, get good resale, etc. Will they make him smile? Well, he's forgotten what smiling is. What used to be his smile once, is now burried deep under office meetings that could have been an email, powerpoint presentations, office politics, EMI's, school fees, iphones, foreign holidays and Big Billion Day Sales. The Mahindras are for the Daku janta living north of the Tropic of Cancer and it suits them well. But remember, in the end, dakus belong in jail. The Taigun and the Kushaq are for the confused souls who secretly want the Virtus or the Slavia but bhai, gaddi toh SUV hi leni hai, so they buy the Taigun / Kushaq and end up being nowhere. The Elevate, Grand Vitara, Hyryder and Victoris are for the ones who seek efficiency over everything else. Remember that "Suzuki Samurai. No problem." ad? It applies to this Japanese lot. The Sierra comes in with visual appeal. It pampers you, cajoles you into spending more time with her, to understand her better and make bright, happy memories together. Memories that will remain happy till the car doesn't break down. And then begins the next order relationship with the in-laws: the legendary Tata service centre guys. Their reputation precedes them, Google reviews on any Tata service centre across India would confirm that. The Sierra may be a brilliant car but are you ready to leave your service experience to luck? That's the question you will have to answer for yourself. That's because you don't marry a girl, you marry her family and that remains the toughest pill to swallow for any eligible bachelor before he takes the plunge. My call is, take a test drive but do not commit now. Court for some more time. Maybe for a year more. There will be a hybrid coming, there will be an EV coming and they will bring with them , improvements in quality. Going by the Hyperion in the Harrier and the Safari, there may even be a Hyperion manual coming in the Sierra. So should you buy the all new Tata Sierra? Not yet. The best is yet to come!