The first thing that caught my attention the moment I stepped inside the car was its surprisingly premium-looking interiors. And premium they were, unlike any SUV I have come across of-course except for the Land Rover which I took for a wonderful off-roading session some time back. As I settled down on the driving-seat while my team-mates made themselves comfortable in their respective seats, I couldn’t help but appreciate the perfectly in sync with each other interiors and the equally impressive console. It had impressed me yesterday by its looks from the outside and it does the same again today, from the inside. “It is going to be an exciting day”, I thought to myself as I belted-up, all set to hit the highway.

Tata Hexa First Impressions

Okay, before I share with you my feelings about the TATA Hexa after our 180-kilometer drive which took us through varying road conditions, let me tell you that I have absolutely no technical gyan when it comes to cars. This review too, (if you would like to call it one) will, in fact, be just like my review of the TATA Tiago, will be an end user’s review of the TATA Hexa.

The Hexa, even though wide SUV, even wider than the XUV 500, did not feel that way, not even for a brief period. I would attribute this to the commanding seating position of the driver’s seat and the uninterrupted view from there. For someone like me with not so long legs and a height of 5.5′ the seating position was almost perfect. But for someone with longer legs who wants to sit closer to the steering while driving would find his knees touching the surface above.

Maximum Speed of Tata Hexa Review

Just a few kilometers into the drive and I found myself doing triple digits on the outer ring road. The fact that the steering was to my liking — neither too heavy nor too light — only helped make the drive more fun. The 10 smartly placed JBL speakers about which we were briefed last evening made the drive, even more, fun as we left the fast outer ring road behind. The soft suspension worked as the TATA guys would have wanted it to. Me and Ami drove on broken and bad patches deliberately and at not very slow speeds and not even a single time did we feel any hump or bump. The vehicle felt very planted on all the surfaces we took it to but at around 2300 kgs, it is a heavy machine.

Overall Driving Experience of Tata Hexa

We made multiple stops along the way and still reached at the end of the first leg of our journey, the vehicle was that comfortable. But one thing that really bugged me was the navigation. Firstly, for a vehicle of this segment, you would expect an inbuilt GPS which it did not. Navigation is achieved using one of the six Android apps by Tata.

The display console then becomes an extension of the mobile phone and shows the maps on it, which is larger than the mobile screen. Add to that, the navigation app failed to work as expected every few minutes. Nothing significant but after some time it became somewhat irritating.

Driving Experience of Tata Hexa

The drive experience of the manual transmission was wonderful and the torque is evenly divided. Somehow, I found the mid-range a tad bit flat comparatively but as you move towards flooring the pedal you are immediately supplied with as much torque as you expect from it with more of it left in the reserve.

Tata Hexa Manual vs Tata Hexa Automatic

On the return leg, we exchanged our manual transmission 4X4 Hexa with its automatic sibling. Even though the automatic Hexa was a 4X2 one, unlike the manual transmission Hexa that I drove which was a 4-wheel drive, it had got its own share of exciting features. The most exciting of which was the sports mode. You push the stick to the left and almost immediately you feel the engine rev increasing significantly giving you a sports-car feel. The gears in this mode can be quick-shifted manually, something like an AMT if I may say. Also, I found the automatic Hexa’s cabin quieter.

Tata Hexa Off-roading Capabilities

Post our drive, we were treated to a fantastic off-roading experience which to be very honest, left me pleasantly surprised. The HEXA was able to do every single thing which I had experienced sometime back when I went off-roading with Land Rover . TATA Motors for sure have picked a thing or two from the stable of JLR which they now own.

Fellow blogger and friend Ami Bhat recorded the entire off-roading experience above. After spending a good 6 plus hours driving both versions of the Hexa I can comfortably say that Tata has managed to check almost all the boxes right. Now it all depends on the pricing they set. If you ask me which one of the two (MT & AT) I would choose if I had to, I would without any second thought pick the manual version, just because it is more fun to drive.

What do you think about the HEXA? Got any questions you think I can help you with?