As the Tata Zest is finally launched in the country today in both petrol and diesel trims; the compact sedan segment has once again started to boil up with severe competition. Zest could be touted as an exceptional product from the homegrown automaker, which clearly reflects by its exterior design philosophy, interior cabin styling and impeccably tuned powertrains. Being placed in the most sought after compact sedan segment in the country, it directly lock horns with the likes of Maruti Swift DZire, Honda Amaze and Hyundai Xcent. Life is not easy for the Zest amidst such heavyweights and it is the survival-of-the-fittest kind of scenario in this segment. Lets have a look at the mechanical and dimensional aspects of the diesel variants of these value-for-money sedans:
Tata Zest comes loaded with a 1.3L Quadrajet diesel motor which returns two states of tunes 74bhp and 190Nm of torque and 89bhp and 200Nm of torque. It is quite a powerful motor that the company has tweaked effectively to obtain decent power, although not the best in segment. Honda Amaze in-houses a 1.5L i-DTEC motor that musters out maximum power of 100PS and highest torque of 200Nm, albeit the noise it creates, is intolerable. It is the most powerful diesel sedan in the entire segment with the highly acclaimed i-DTEC mill being the savior for Honda. The segment leader Maruti Swift DZire uses Fiat’s 1.3L MJD engine which belts out 75PS of power output and 190Nm of torque performance. However, it is less powerful than both of the aforementioned engines but it is less noisy and frugal than the two, delivering top-notch performance. Lastly, the recently launched Hyundai Xcent, adorning the 1.1L diesel engine that is also doing duties to the Grand i10 hatch, is the least powerful sedan in the segment. This 3-cylinder engine pumps out 72PS of maximum power output and 180.4Nm of peak torque performance. All these engines are paired with a 5-speed manual transmission, except for the Tata’s motor that also comes with an AMT gearbox – a one-of-its-type in the entire segment and the country’s cheapest diesel sedan.
Coming to the dimensions, Amaze is the shortest of all with a length of 3,990 while the remaining three Maruti Swift Dzire, Hyundai Xcent and Tata Zest tie at 3,995mm. As far as the width is concerned, Hyundai Xcent, Honda Amaze, Maruti Swift Dzire, and Tata Zest measures 1,660mm, 1,680mm, 1,695mm and 1,706mm, respectively. As one can clearly see that the Zest is widest of all the sedans which further imply that immense shoulder room than any other car in the segment. In the height department, the numbers are 1,505mm, 1,520mm, 1,555mm, and 1,570mm for Honda Amaze, Hyundai Xcent, Maruti Swift Dzire, and Tata Zest, respectively. The Zest, again, emerges triumphant in this aspect as it offers massive head room than any of its counter-parts. Coming to the wheelbase, Tata Zest is presented with best-in-class 2,470mm of wheelbase, while the wheelbase of its closest competitor Maruti Swift DZire stands at 2,430mm, followed by 2,425mm and 2,405mm of Hyundai Xcent and Honda Amaze, respectively. Hence, by now, it would be quite clear that Tata Zest is the biggest, largest and the most spacious sedan in the entire segment and as a subsequent result, head room, legroom, and shoulder room is enormous.
