2019 Tata Harrier Review: Its Features, Pros and Cons

2019 Tata Harrier Review: Its Features, Pros and Cons Tata Harrier was first previewed as the H5X concept at the Auto Expo 2018 in February, and since then it has become one of the most talked SUVs of the year.

What excites people the most is the platform on which the car is based, known as the OMEGA Architecture. The Tata Motor’s OMEGA (Optimal Modular Efficient Global Advanced) Architecture has been taken from Land Rover’s D8 architecture and features the company’s latest design philosophy. This architecture was seen in the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque.

Exterior Tata Harrier has Impact Design 2.0, with stylish exteriors that grab the seekers attention at once. The distinctive face of Harrier has piano-black finished grill LED daytime running lamps sitting right on top of it. The design of Harrier is different from the design of any other Tata car. The look of the car has an upmarket feel. The DRLs are shaped like bolts of lightning and also function as turn indicators.

The car has a Jaguar feel about it, especially with its slim, high-set, rear windscreen, a narrow glossy black strip and elegant set of LED tail lamps.

There is a badge with the name ‘Harrier’ on it. The rear part of the car is also equipped with a rear skid plate and faux exhaust outlets.

The length of Harrier is quite big in comparison to most SUVs. It has an overall length of 4598mm. The fat, 235-section, 17 inch Good Year Wrangler tyres add on to the overall muscular design of the car.

Interior The interior of Harrier is made up of leather which gives an elegant look. The impressive insides of the car is equipped with things like a faux-leather dash top, a rich-looking slab of imitation wood on the dash and thick metallic door handles. On top of the dashboard is a wide-format 8.8 inch touchscreen.

Covered with soft touch plastic and a faux textured wood finish, the dashboard has a premium look.

The door panels and the seats have the same brown colour as the faux-leather dash top. With fancy parking brakes, the steering wheel has more buttons. There is a digital instrument cluster which features a 7 inch display integrating the tachometer. It also offers lots of information and can even mirror some of the functions of the infotainment screen like music and navigation. There is an analogue speedometer that sits on the right side of the screen. The Harrier's AC also has excellent cooling abilities.

With adjustable seats, there is a lot of boot space for front as well as rear passengers. We also get good recline angle and under-thigh support. There is an additional slot in the door panel to place a cell phone or a wallet. The airconditioning vents for rear seat occupants offer decent ventilation. The boot is quite spacious with a volume of 425 litres.

Engine and Power Tata Harrier is power by a Fiat-sourced 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel engine. It offers 140 PS and 350 Nm of torque. The engine is mated to a six-speed manual gearbox and this is the only engine-gearbox combination on offer currently. The automatic transmission is expected but there is no time line for that yet.

The performance of the engine is quite good enough to figure out that the car is actually underpowered as compared to Jeep Compass. The clutch and gearshift have a quick response and are impressively light for this sort of big diesel car.

The Harrier uses the same independent suspension as the Land Rover Discovery Sport upfront, though at the rear it uses a semi-independent 'twist blade' setup. The suspension does an excellent job of soaking up potholes with making noise and giving shocks. It comes with hydraulic power steering unit.

Safety features Tata Harrier is equipped with many safety features. There is a long list of these features that include, 6 airbags, electronic stability program (ESP), ABS with EBD, off road ABS, electronic traction control, electronic stability control, corner stability control, hill hold control, hill descent control, roll over mitigation, brake disc wiping, electronic brake pre-fill, hydraulic brake assist, hydraulic fading compensation, dynamic wheel torque by brake, seat belt reminder, reverse parking camera, remote central locking, speed sensing auto door lock, child locks and fog lamps with cornering function.

Pros of driving Tata Harrier • Tata Harrier comes with great space, comfort and a plush interior.

• It has great muscular looks and gives a good ride.

• When it comes to handling, the Harrier handles unlike any of its competition can even think of.

• The security features of the car are great.

Cons of driving Tata Harrier • The 2.0 litre Kryotec engine isn’t very quiet. The engine is a little noisy.

• The plastic quality in some places does not match the overall quality of the car.

• There is absence of automatic transmission gearbox.