The diesel moves off the mark effortlessly. As is typical of big turbo-diesel engines, the 2.0’s low end is superb & overall driveability is good.
Driving the Tata Harrier 2.0L Diesel 6-speed MT
Fiat-sourced 1,956cc diesel engine that produces 168 BHP & 350 Nm is carried over:
With the facelift, Tata hasn’t made any major changes to the engine or transmission. So, if you’ve driven the pre-facelift Harrier, you will notice that the characteristics are the same. This is a fantastic engine that offers a punchy mid-range and has been very popular with buyers.
The diesel moves off the mark effortlessly. As is typical of big turbo-diesel engines, the 2.0’s low end is superb & overall driveability is good. The engine doesn’t feel dead at low speeds, and you can quickly get up to speed with a dab of accelerator. Driveability is very good, and the engine is city-friendly. 2nd gear test over a speed-breaker? Easy as pie. You can even take off from a standstill in 2nd gear with a slight clutch slipping. You won’t be using the gear shifter too much in the city and depending on the traffic density, you could use either 2nd or 3rd like an automatic. There is some lag below 1,500 rpm, but it’s not excessive at all; you can start pulling the engine from ~1,200 rpm itself.
On the open road, you can really stretch the legs of the Harrier and make fast progress. The mid-range is simply fantastic and gets very addictive. The engine comes into its stride once the needle crosses 2,000 rpm, with a nice spike of torque. You’ll enjoy the punch & it pulls very nicely till ~4,000 rpm. The torque on tap means you don’t have to shift down much to overtake. On the expressway, light overtaking is taken care of in the 6th gear itself. Push the engine and it will rev to ~5,000 rpm, but honestly, there is no point doing this. Not only does it get noisy beyond 3,500 rpm, but it also runs out of muscle past ~4,000 rpm or so. When you want to cruise, the diesel can be an able & relaxed mile muncher, thanks to that 6th gear.
The 6-speed gearbox is a likeable unit with its medium throws. The shifts are sure-slotting and don’t feel too notchy. The clutch of our test car was on a slightly heavier side, and the travel range wasn’t too long. The bite point is a bit lower than you would expect so you might end up stalling the car in 2nd gear at times. It also has a springy action which means that you have to make conscious efforts to drive the car smoothly. Driving in the city for long periods will get cumbersome. If your commute involves a lot of bumper-to-bumper crawling, definitely go for the automatic.
You get two selectable driving modes (apart from the default City mode) that alter the engine map and the steering weight.
Eco Mode – Switching to ‘Eco’ mode makes the throttle response a lot duller. This mode limits the power output and the engine uses less fuel as compared to the other modes. Even so, the low-end torque makes Eco mode useable in the city. On the highway, this mode can be used for cruising. And especially for driving smoothly, the Eco mode is very useful. Steering is light in Eco mode and makes the car easy to drive in the city.
Sport Mode – As expected, switching to Sport mode makes the car more responsive to throttle inputs (both, in terms of pedal and engine mapping). A slight dab on the accelerator and the difference is immediately felt. That said, this mode is not very nice to use in urban conditions, particularly if the driver has a slightly heavy foot. We felt the car gets just a little too jerky for regular city commuting. Where the Sport mode is at home is on the highway. The improved throttle response is always welcome when you want to cruise fast or overtake.
The steering gets noticeably heavy in the Sport mode and grants a lot of confidence to the driver when on the highways. The heft makes the steering more predictable on twisty roads as well.
Noise, Vibration & Harshness (NVH)
Tata has made efforts to reduce the NVH levels, but compared to the pre-facelift version, you won’t notice a huge difference. At idle, the car is relatively silent and at city speeds, while you can hear the engine, it’s not very intrusive. Floor the accelerator and you hear the diesel engine grunt which sounds nice in the mid-range, not so much on the top-end where it gets too loud. Road noise and tyre noise on the highway are well controlled.
Mileage & Fuel Economy
The Tata Harrier facelift has a claimed fuel efficiency of 16.80 km/l for the manual and 14.60 km/l for the automatic version.
Suspension
Ride Comfort
The Harrier is equipped with an independent McPherson strut front suspension with coil springs and an anti-roll bar, while the rear is a semi-independent twist blade design with a Panhard rod. The Harrier’s ride quality is mature but has a firm edge to it. At city speeds, it is compliant enough and the Harrier’s occupants will be kept comfortable. No owner will complain. Still, it’s not what we would call “plush” as the sharpness of potholes is obvious inside & you’ll feel a hint of firmness on bad roads (with some side-to-side movement of the cabin too). What’s good is that the suspension is absorbent and you can carry some good speed over bad roads. Our test car was shod with 235/60/R18 and the overall ride comfort with these tyres is good. The #DARK edition cars get 19-inch alloy wheels with 245/55 section tyres and you can expect a stiffer ride with those tyres.
On the highway too, the Harrier’s ride quality is compliant & adequate. Vertical movement is well-controlled, and the car doesn’t feel floaty at high speeds. Munching miles on the Harrier should be a comfortable affair. What’s nice is that the suspension goes about its job silently – it’s not clunky or loud.
Steering
Since this is one of the biggest talking points of the Harrier facelift, we thought we’d get right into it. Tata has switched from a hydraulic steering unit to an electronic power steering (EPS) unit. We talked about the poor calibration of the hydraulic unit in detail in our official review. The switch to EPS has been a welcome addition and there are many reasons why this was done. Primarily to be able to include ADAS features like lane keep assist and also to improve the fuel economy by a bit.
The EPS is a nice unit to operate in the city and is very convenient for urban commuting. It’s light at city speeds and weighs up nicely as you build up speed. Especially driving in Sport mode, the heft in the steering wheel feels very good and very confidence-inspiring. While the earlier hydraulic unit was very sensitive at high speeds, this electronic power steering is predictable and owners will appreciate this steering. As an enthusiast, while it may feel a bit artificial, the predictable behaviour allows you to carry more speed into corners. While you would still be left wanting some more feedback from the steering, it is direct enough for you to appreciate the steering calibration.
Handling & Dynamics
Straight-line stability is good, even at high speeds. Grip levels are satisfactory from the chassis & 235 mm tyres, but this isn’t an SUV that we’d call a corner carver. You can turn into a corner and the Harrier holds its line well. Body roll is present and you feel the Harrier’s height + weight. Still, all of this is fine and the behaviour is acceptable.
In addition to the switchable engine remaps mentioned in the engine post, the Harrier gets a Land Rover-esque terrain response system with two selectable modes (apart from the normal driving mode). Wet Mode is designed for driving in the rain by providing better traction and handling. If you should hit a rough patch on your holiday outings, Tata has you covered there too, with the Rough Road Mode which optimizes the vehicle’s behaviour on broken roads. Braking performance is also tuned to support rough road surfaces.
Braking
Lower variants (Smart(O), Pure (O), and Adventure) get disc brakes up front and drum brakes at the rear. Adventure + variant onwards you get all-wheel disc brakes. ABS, EBD, brake disc wiping, after-impact braking, ESP, hill hold control, traction control and corner stability control are standard on all variants of the Harrier.
The all-wheel disc brake setup works really well and the car sheds speed effectively. The pedal feel is progressive and the car stops in a straight line without any drama. The bite point is high, so that takes some time to get used to.
Niggles & Problems
With the Harrier facelift, Tata has made a lot of changes and added a fair bit of electronics too. And while Tata has been developing these systems for some time now, chances of them going wrong are also high. On our test drive, we didn’t have any electronic issues with our test car, but some fellow journalists faced issues with the infotainment screen. Also, worth mentioning that this was the first car that we noticed in which the indicator ticks were out of rhythm! For someone with OCD, this will get extremely uncomfortable very soon.
As mentioned above as well, some plastic bits weren’t finished well, and we would recommend that you do a thorough PDI before taking the delivery to ensure that your car is free of any niggles or issues. Also as always, we recommend that you get the 2-year extended warranty over the standard warranty of 3 years or 1,00,000 km.
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Keyword: 2023 Tata Harrier Facelift : Our observations after a day of driving