South Africa has two kinds of bakkie drivers: those in a Hilux; and those in other bakkies.
The other-bakkie-drivers could do a lot worse than to go kick the wheels of Tata’s new Xenon 2.2 Dicor.
Starting at R206,450 for the Xenon single cab 4x4, the Xenon does look a bargain on price alone. On tar, the long wheelbase of the R207,460 double-cab 4x2 will also allow you to balance a load between the axles, and the passengers to stretch out on the back bench.
Under the hood, the Newtons
Yes, the cladding is still hard, old fashioned plastic, and all the launch models had handbrakes that were mounted slightly skew, but this only proves that the Tata dynasty is still sticking to the family principle of employing people rather than robots. However, this also means you get a hand-built bakkie which, while it may remind you of Rolls Royce, also means you should pray to Lord Krishna that you don't get a Xenon which was hand-built after a major Hindu festival involving lots of wine.
Next, we test the Xenon Dicor on the high mountains surrounding Waterval-Boven. Will the air up there cause the hefty Indian to loose as much power between the fly wheel and the rubber as it did for the Navara? Watch this space.
