Tata Punch Review: Mini Harrier made for Aspirational Indians

Tata Motors is on a dream run since the start of pandemic – more people are after Tata Cars than ever before. Products offered in Tata Motors’ portfolio are catching attention of Indians not because its made in India but for the value these products are offering to one’s motoring life. As we know, SUV body type is preferred option in the country and bingo Tata Motors has further extended its SUV portfolio with a new compact SUV called PUNCH. The Tata Punch is priced in between Tiago and Nexon. It feels like an easy upgrade for someone with a budget of new hatchback and aspire to own an SUV. How good is Tata Punch? How does it look? How is the performance of Punch? Should you own a Tata Punch? Lets find answers to these questions in this detailed review.

How does it look?

While looks are subjective, Tata Punch looks nice and makes you remember its bigger sibling Tata Harrier. The Punch’s front fascia, LED headlamps and Tri-arrow patterned grille in the front has a Harrier connection and looks very premium. The car which we reviewed came in dual tone color combination – Atomic Orange color with black roof – that adds a very glamorous look to the car. When you watch the car’s side profile, it looks fantastic with the thick cladding at the bottom that goes well with the diamond cut alloy wheels complemented by wheel arches with cladding.

The rear side doors of the car gets different type of handles which does look unique and goes well with the design. The rear/boot side of the car is quite simple with a big bold Punch logo stamped, and you notice tri-arrow shaped tail lamps which is prominent. The car has a good high stance and gives justice to “compact SUV” tag. Design wise, Tata Punch has good exteriors and on-road presence, which gets easy recognition from public.

How about Interiors and Features?

The interiors of Tata Punch looks premium with good use of colors that blends well. Aesthetically it is very pleasing to be inside a Tata Punch. The driver seat gets seat adjuster using which one can raise or lower the seat height. Because of Punch’s SUV design, you get a very good towering view of the road in normal height itself. There is a dedicated control for driver seat, using which one can recline the seats as per his/her likings. The AC vents gets body colored finishing, you get a illuminated glove box in the front which is quite handy to store documents, bottles or any important things.

There is a dedicated space for you to place your smartphone and the car offers you USB port as well as 12V socket for charging. As you move upwards, you see AC control option, fan speed adjuster, automatic climate control and other options which is easily reachable from driver side and front passenger. The 7-inch floating infotainment system is positioned pretty well, right at the center and it becomes your companion in assisting you with Maps or Music as you drive along. The only requirement for Maps to work is you need to connect your phone having Android Auto/ Apple CarPlay with USB cable.

There are 4 speakers and 2 tweeters which are comfortable enough to listen crystal clear audio from your loved one’s on phone or to hear your favourite music. The steering is light and is also mounted with audio control, voice commands, cruise control buttons, and controls to see MID information in instrument cluster. The instrument cluster displays critical information about the car like Distance to empty, Fuel gauge, speedometer, odometer, trip information and so on. At the rear, the seats are good enough for 2 large adults and a small one in between, at the rear side you get a dedicated armrest. The boot space is about 336 litres which is decent enough to host your travel bags. Tata Punch features 90 degree doors that helps in easy ingress and egress.

How does it drive?

The Tata Punch is powered by 1.2 litre Revotron petrol engine that churns out maximum power of 86 PS @ 6000 RPM and has a torque output of 113 Nm @ 3300 RPM. The one which we tested here is Tata Punch Accomplished with Manual transmission. The engine noise is audible in lower gears as you drive, and it gets better once you are set with the road. We felt the brakes are slightly hard and clutch was soft, it was actually good to drive the Tata Punch this way. I expected the top trim of Tata Punch to have hill-hold assist to negotiate steep surfaces in upward traffic conditions, unfortunately you do not get hill-hold feature in Tata Punch. So you will have to depend on hand brakes, and old school way of driving manual with hand brakes/using half clutch to climb up in not-so-easy way. We think the AMT variant in Tata Punch shall solve these problems. We would suggest you to choose wisely between AMT or Manual, depending on your driving expertise and your priorities.

Driving the Tata Punch in reclining position was very comfortable and it provides lot of space to driver. One annoying thing which we noticed is that the Horn button is made super hard to press by default, we understand horning often is not a good practice, but the hard horn button is not intuitive enough to press in traffic condition to avoid collision or avoid an obstacle. There are also many blindspots as you drive, make sure you adjust your electronic ORVMs according to your view.

Features like 360 degree view is absent, but it is fair enough for Tata Motors to have provided with rear parking sensors and rear view camera at this price point. The car gave a pretty good mileage and had no issues in taking tough and bumpy surfaces. We got a fuel efficiency of about 15-17 Kmpl during our test drive. You also get Traction Pro mode (which we didnt try) which you can make use of to negotiate tougher roads the AWD way.

Variants and Colors

Tata Motors rather likes to call “Variants” / “Trims” as “Personas”. The top trim model of Tata Punch is nothing but a CREATIVE Persona which is feature loaded and also gets IRA connectivity features. The ACCOMPLISHED persona is the one which test drove here that has diamond cut alloy wheels, LED DRLs, Projector headlamps etc. The ADVENTURE persona doesn’t feature diamond cut alloy wheels, LED DRLs etc but gets most features like Reverse Parking Camera, 2 Tweeters, 7 inch infotainment system (With Rhythm Pack). The Tata Punch PURE Persona is the base variant with minimal features and is aimed at people who want functionality only which is priced at Rs 5.49 lakhs (Ex-showroom Delhi).

Tata Punch is offered in 6 attractive colors.

Verdict

What do we think about the car? Should you buy one? Tata Punch is a great product and addresses most requirements what a typical car buyer would need. It satisfies the Compact SUV factor, it has tonnes of features and options to choose (Personas), it is relevant to current market and can be a great competitor to the likes of Nissan Magnite, Vitara Brezza etc. Tata Punch is now becoming an automatic choice for those who wanted to just own a nice small-size hatchback. The 1.2l Revtron petrol engine, Harrier like design, AMT option, GLOBAL NCAP approved 5-star safety rating are positives of Tata Punch.