Tata Altroz DCA Test Drive Review

Parth Gohil

3 years ago

Tata Altroz DCA – Click above for high resolution image gallery

Tata Altroz DCA Review

Car Tested: Tata Altroz DCA; Road Test No. 1390; Test Location: Mumbai

Price OTR Mumbai: Rs. 9.55 – 11.62 lakhs

The Tata Altroz finally gets an automatic gearbox after a long wait!

The wait for the Tata Altroz automatic has been long but the vehicle is finally here after undergoing extensive testing for almost two years! Now, we expected Tata to launch the automatic with the i-Turbo engine but that is not the case and it has been made available with the Revotron engine. How is the performance? Is it good enough?

The Altroz is offered with a 6-speed DCT with the Revotron petrol engine

Performance – The 1.2 Revotron engine is a 3-cylinder unit delivering 86 PS and 113 Nm. The 6-speed DCT (or DCA as Tata likes to call it) is available with only this engine for now but there is a chance of Tata offering it with the i-Turbo at a later date. The Revotron engine isn’t known to be very responsive in nature. It is a rather sedate engine and with the addition of the DCA, things are better but there is still room for improvement.

Drive sedately and the gearbox rewards you with smooth shifts

The Altroz DCA misses out on paddle shifters and driving modes

The wet-clutch gearbox is fairly smooth when you’re going easy on the throttle but try to drive a bit fast and you’ll feel that the transmission could have done with quicker shifts. When pushing the car, the transmission upshifts at higher RPMs and that is when you do feel some of the gear shifts. The engine also starts feeling a bit strained and noisy at the higher spectrum of the rev band. We found the low-end response to be fine but there is a noticeable amount of lag between 80-100 km/hr.

On our VBOX test, the Altroz managed to reach 100 km/hr in just a hair under 18 seconds

The vehicle misses out on paddle-shifters and there are no driving modes too. The Altroz MT gets an idle start-stop system too which has been skipped with the DCA. We timed the Altroz DCA with our VBOX and the vehicle managed the 0-100 km/hr run in 17.99 seconds with just the driver in the car and 22.35 seconds with 4 passengers in the car. The DCA is priced at a premium of about Rs. 1 lakh over the MT variants, making it the most affordable dual-clutch auto on sale at the moment.

Superb ride quality and high-speed stability give the Altroz an edge over its competition

Driving Dynamics – The Tata Altroz boasts of brilliant road manners and it is dynamically sorted too. The vehicle has a very mature stance and feels highly confident no matter what speeds you’re doing. The stability is the best in this segment and the steering also offers a lot of confidence. Tata has nailed it on the ride quality front as well, providing the Altroz with a well-rounded suspension setup. Overall, the vehicle has a big car feel to it which you can experience while driving it.

The trendy looking Altroz gets a new Opera Blue colour along with DCA badging on the boot

Exteriors – The Altroz is already quite sorted inside out so no other changes have been made to the DCA variant. The vehicle gets a new Opera Blue colour and DCA badging on the boot. The Altroz is a stylish looking hatchback and boasts of a well-laid-out interior too.

At a premium of Rs. 1 lakh over its manual counterpart, the Altroz DCA offers good value

Verdict – The Tata Altroz is a pretty sorted car in most ways and the DCA is a nice addition to the line-up but yes it could have done with some punch. A lot of people want an automatic these days and if the Altroz has made a place in your heart, you can go ahead with the DCA provided you don’t have very high expectations in terms of performance because for sedate commuting, the gearbox is just about fine and the pricing is pretty decent as well.