2017 Tata Hexa XTA long term review: After 20,536km and two months
When you are in Mumbai, an issue that most people encounter is space. Be it at the house or on the roads, there is always a compromise that one has to make. Thankfully, that is not a problem for me. Not because I live in some premier sea-facing villa in Mumbai, but because my daily commute to the office, the Tata Hexa, has lots of space.
Driving the Tata Hexa around is similar to driving around a 3BHK apartment everywhere. This, by my reckoning, is something almost every Tata car is famous for. In fact, because of this, it seemed like forever before I finally got my hands on the Hexa, since everyone in my office "suddenly" had a large family and too many friends. Rahul was the first one to escape with it for 2,400km road trip. The next one was Rishabh, who took his extended family for a long tour around the city. He mentioned that his in-laws loved the captain seats and the amazing ride quality that soaked the rubbish potholes in Mumbai.
I personally feel that the Hexa is almost comfortable for every occupant. Why almost? Because, while the rear occupants enjoy generous kneeroom, it's not the same at the front, especially when you are a little above 6 feet, in my case. The amount of travel for the front seats is limited and that makes my knee brush with the dashboard â€" an annoyance when you are driving on bad roads.
The humongous boot of the Tata Hexa can swallow almost everything I'd need. It can happily accommodate my complete riding gear as well as luggage for trips, some of which are unplanned.
While Tata Motors engineered a lot of space for people and luggage, they seemed to have forgotten to carve out smaller storage areas for knick-knacks. There is a two-storey glove box, where the upper section is almost like a secret compartment; however, there is no space to place my mobile phone. At present I slot it in the single cupholder placed between the front seats. And when I do this, I can't use the cupholder to hold a cup! Sigh! The only other option is to keep the phone in the door pocket, and I'm not comfortable keeping my very expensive phone there.
The other issue is a few interior trims have begun to age, already! The chrome on the door lock pin, for instance, has begun to wear out. And on some occasions, the entire pin has come out of its housing. This is something I didn't expect from a flagship offering.
While my colleagues have raved about how good the car is on long journeys, I'm waiting to experience this first-hand. Hopefully, that would help me overlook these minor niggles.
Date acquired: May 2017
Total mileage: 20,536km
Last reported at: 17,670km
Fuel: 382 litres
Economy: 7.5kmpl