A Bolt into the blue

Executive director at Imperial Group Manny da Canha
shows how South Africans are  buying down, but still want all
the bells and whistles, which is why his group is importing the Tata Bolt.

ACCORDIAN Investments — the Imperial Group subsidiary that imports and sells Tata in South Africa, this week launched the Tata Bolt sedan and hatch versions in Johannesburg, while Ford updated its gorgeous Figo.
Comparing the two, the little Tata surprised by not only lasting 12 rounds, but winning four of them, leaving the judges with a pensive look about, running costs... 

On this topic, executive director at Imperial Group Manny da Canha said South Africans are increasingly buying down from B to A segment cars, but they still want all the bells and whistles, which is why he endorsed Accordion Investments importing the Tata Bolt.

The launch event was hosted by Accordion’s new CEO (and former CFO) Kyri Michael, and
attended by the president of Tata passenger vehicles, Mayank Pareek. 

Pareek confirmed South Africa was a very important market for Tata, adding this was the first big launch of the Bolt outside India.

Mayank Pareek, formerly Suzuki, now the
president boss at Tata passenger cars

Low consumption

Now, a car launch in Jo’burg tells you two things: first that the manufacturer is not afraid of the roughly 29% power loss caused by Egoli’s thin air, and second that there is probably going to be a turbo involved.

My memories of Tata’s turbos are not good ones, but it turns out the turbo in Bolt has no lag and keeps the 1,2 engine’s torque at 140 Nm between 1 500 and 4000 rpm for a very enjoyable drive.

More air on the flames of course means the fuel burns quicker, and in India, where cars sell on cents-per-kilometre running costs, this would not do. So the Bolt also comes with an eco-button.

From the left corner, the Bolt not only lasts 12 rounds against
the Ford Figo, but wins three. 

The eco-button works like an off button for that turbo and ensures truly remarkable, real-life fuel consumption for the Bolt.

For example, in a fuel challenge along highways and city roads on a 34°C day (which made Egoli’s air even thinner), Glen Hall of the Citizen achieved 4,1 l/100 and Stuart Johnston, who writes Wheels’ karting reports, got 4,7 l/100. But these two wily old hacks only drove the Bolt using its gutless eco mode.

I drove the Bolt with a combination of normal and eco mode, to record what Michael described as the Bolt’s normal consumption: 5,4 l/100.

This means any careful driver will get over 20 km from each liter of fuel in a Bolt, a claim that cannot be made without by many of the Bolt’s competitors that sell for under R150 000.

Fierce competition

The competitors range from the top-selling VW Polo to the lesser-spotted Suzuki Dzire, but I expect Ford’s new Figo, which had a paper launch on Thursday, will give the Tata Bolt the stiffest competition.

The Figo has the looks, but that waistline
also means it sips more juice.

Like the Bolt, the all-new Figo comes with ample legroom both front and rear, powerful air-conditioning and the latest in airbags, ABS with EBD and corner stability control.

Both have fog lamps, power windows and side mirrors, child locks, drive-away lock and comprehensive dashboard instrumentation, where the Bolt leads with a five-inch touch-screen.

The Figo, however, totally trumps the Bolt in storage spaces and ups the game in connectivity.

Ford kept the smooth diesel in the Figo, but Michael told Wheels the diesel Bolt with an autobox that is on sale in India can only come here when the Rand looks a lot better than it does now.

Figo walks the stowaway battle

The Bolt’s stowage is limited to narrow door pockets, a single, shallow cup holder for the driver and a small glove box.

If you are charging your phone from the USB point or playing an MP3 through AUX plug point, the units have to dangle on the floor.

In the Figo, there is a non-slip tray above the plug points and 19 other nooks and crannies, including space for both a 1,5-litre and a one-litre bottle in the doors, a glove box that swallows a laptop, and a clever anti-snatch compartment in the driver’s side of the dashboard that is only accessible when the driver’s door is open.

Soundwise, the Bolt comes with a very good four-speaker audio-visual system by Harman, which links easily to phones, memory sticks and laptops and uses voice prompts across the range.

The Figo’s sees the Bolt’s Harman, and raises it with its own four-speaker system that comes with Sync2 and “MyFord Dock”, which is basically a smart box that powers, links and stores out of sight any digital device that will fit into it.

Where the Ford trails the Tata is in price and weight, with the Figo about R20k dearer and over 300 kg heavier.

The extra kilos and bigger engine will always make the Figo a lot thirstier than the Bolt in city driving, leaving the Bolt owner with the bigger smile.

And it should be said, after Wheels mentioned the Bolt’s lack of stowage spaces to Pareek, the boss jotted a quick note to his engineers.

Which is where we can conclude: “watch the spaces”.