The Sunday that I Bolted!

I, among a few other bloggers, received an invite from Blogadda on behalf of Tata Motors to join them for a drive to Lonavala from Bandra Kurla Complex, a distance of around 120kms so that I could experience their latest hatchback Tata Bolt.

We met at Café Infinito on the 19^th morning at 7.30am for a sumptuous breakfast, a briefing about 

the car and the route that we would take to ensure that we could experience a variety of road surfaces.

We were divided into teams and each team, of 3 bloggers and a representative of Blogadda, was allocated a car each. We were allocated the Tata Bolt with a Revotron 1.2T engine. Let me at the outset make it clear that my opinion of the car will be that of a ‘user’ and not a technical one.

The exterior was pretty much like that of any hatchback. Did not excite. But the interior, as we sat in, proved to be very comfortable. I sat in the rear seat and the legroom was impressive.

Then came the most impressive part – the Harman infotainment system. It can play music from the Radio, USB or via Bluetooth connectivity. That is not all. It has a touchscreen and responds to voice commands as well to control the A/C or any other functions that have been enabled. There is more, yes. It also has smartphone enabled navigation with MapMyIndia maps! So with our route fed in, we set out! This car engine has 3 modes that can be used for optimum fuel utilisation – Eco, City and Sports, depending on where and how you drive.

The 1^st stop was at MMRDA grounds to show how wonderful the suspension was. We were given a ‘connect the dots’ chart and I had to connect the dots while the car moved over rough patches on a laid out track with a small stretch of rumbler strips too. You can see the results for yourself in the video shot by Anuja from Blogadda.

Then we had a great comfortable ride with Disha Kotak at the wheel who was testing out all the

different modes of the engine and Ekta was in total command of the Infotainment system playing music that we requested and also navigating all the way! The comfort level at the rear was indeed very high.

The 1^st pitstop was at the Food Mall after the 1^st toll booth at Khalapur on the Mumbai Pune expressway where I replaced Disha at the wheel and Disha decided to grab 40 winks.

From there on to Triose Plaza for lunch was a short distance but I enjoyed it though I felt that it was not very responsive in higher gears while the torque was great at the lower end which was a great help as there was no need to change gears constantly while negotiating traffic on the ghats. Disha slept like a baby in the rear seat. It was so comfortable.

Post lunch we got to exchange our cars and our team got the much powerful Quadrajet 1.3 diesel Bolt. It was a breeze driving her up the curves to Tigers point in Lonavala where we had the mandatory selfies.

And then it was back to Mumbai. Overall a wonderful experience in a seemingly improved car from the Tatas! Get Set Bolt!

For technical specifications and other FAQs please visit http://bolt.tatamotors.com/faqs.php

It sure was a Sunday well spent at #BoltDrives with BOLT from TATA Motors in association with BlogAdda.

Get set and Bolt!

As part of their promotional activity, I was invited by Blogadda on behalf of TATA Motors to check out the new hatchback ‘Bolt’ on display at the Oberoi mall.

I went there last weekend and as I was entering the mall, I overheard people talking about Narain Karthikeyan. Apparently one could get a photo opportunity by just visiting the ‘Bolt’ arena in the mall! I was thrilled. Was indeed a great opportunity not only to check out the car but also get photographed with the one and only Narain Karthikeyan.

Having reached the ‘Bolt’ arena which could be identified easily as there were a lot of people milling 

around I headed straight to one of the many guys in the bright ‘Bolt’ Tshirt and asked where I could meet the famous Narain Karthikeyan. He pointed to a tiny low platform next to the car on display and asked me to stand there while he would take my photo. Dutifully, I stood on the place indicated and got myself photographed, all the time wondering ‘Whats up?’ The mystery was soon cleared as the photographer showed me my photograph with Narayan Karthikeyan and transferred it to my phone via Bluetooth. Here it is J

Now about the car. Bolt is being projected as a premium hatchback car with all the trappings that are offered by others in the market. So what is special about this? Is it the price? The price is not 

revealed yet, they said. So what else? The reply he gave me was impressive. I shall list out the five features that would make ‘Bolt’ stand out among the hatchbacks in the market.

1)      First time ever Multi-Drive: Sport mode when you need that power, Eco mode for excellent fuel efficiency and City mode for the perfect balance of the other two.

2)      Revotron 1.2 Turbocharged MPFi Petrol Engine for that exceptionally powerful driving experience. This is what I would love to check out as and when I get to Test drive this beauty.

3)      Generation Next Safety with 9^th Generation ABS by BOSCH, Corner Stability control (I would surely love to test this out too) and dual airbags (finally someone has decided safety is more important than cutting corners to reduce price!)

4)      Segment Superior space and comfort. This has been traditionally a TATA Motors forte since their TATA Indica and am glad this is still being followed religiously!

5)      Connect Next – Not only to keep up with the times but also to be ahead in the race, the ‘Bolt’ will have ‘Touchscreen Infotainment’ by Harman which will give you an access to an array of entertainment and connectivity features like smartphone enabled navigation from MapMyIndia in addition to advanced voice command recognition.

So guys Get set Bolt!!

“This post is a part of the Get. Set. Bolt. activity at BlogAdda.”.