Finding the limit: Tata Altroz Racer vs rivals

You’ve already read the first drive reviews so let’s get straight to the point here. The Altroz Racer is quick. But is it faster than the turbocharged competition? Today, we are attempting to find out by pitting the Tata Altroz Racer against its rivals. The i20 N Line is the go-to hot, well warm, hatch on sale in India today, while the Fronx inherits the 1.0 Boosterjet that the Baleno RS once had. If the Altroz wins this, it has the potential to become a real icon among us enthusiasts.

The ingredients are in place. Yes, it has gotten visual upgrades with the black bonnet, racing stripes, the spoiler and the side skirts and it looks the part of a sporty hot hatch. The insides too, look properly sporty. But the magic, really, is under the hood with an updated engine that makes 118bhp and 170Nm. Proper stuff. The Altroz has always been a great handler. Tata’s Alfa architecture got its fundamentals right and the foundation was always there to be a great driver’s car. And this new engine, it just brings the whole driving experience to life by allowing you to exploit the handling!

The rivals though, aren’t pushovers. The i20 N Line gets an identical power figure to the Racer and 2Nm more torque. But it is down on engine capacity. Can the TGDI engine make up for the lack of cee-cees? We’re about to find out. And I know what you’re thinking — what is the Fronx doing here? Well, look past the identity crisis it is having and this is actually a Baleno with the 1.0 Boosterjet engine.

We must also talk about where we are. COASTT — India’s newest racetrack is a 3.8km-long flowing, sweeping circuit. It is just 30 minutes from Coimbatore and we wouldn’t be standing here without Narain Karthikeyan! Narain is the fastest Indian — the first Indian to reach Formula 1 and also one of the people behind this racetrack. Narain is going to get behind the ’wheel of each of these cars and set laptimes. The track may be damp and lacking a little bit of grip but that would never stop Narain anyway.

First up, Narain climbs into the Altroz Racer. He’s been a part of the development of this car, at this very track so he’s familiar with how it drives. From the get-go, Narain is sending it. And he is all praise for the dynamics. “Tata has been trying to be dynamically far superior to others. This feels quite tight, feels quite planted, actually. Even as a front-wheel-drive car, it still handles quite flat and with good body control. It gives you a sense of sportiness. It’s a great attempt at making a good hot hatch, I would say. And this is a segment that has been kind of lacking in players.”

One lap in, the timer starts. Narain is pushing even harder now. Speaking about driving at the absolute limit he says, “A lot of electronic aids are kicking in and when the car starts to slide, you don’t have to be a genius at the ’wheel. But it still allows you to have a certain amount of fun. The calibration seems to be quite impressive. Overall, I’m really enjoying the car.

Talking about what makes this Altroz Racer an improvement over the older iTurbo, Narain says you can genuinely feel the boost in performance. “It’s got 118bhp and a lot more torque. So, fun to drive for sure. You feel the step-up between the turbo Altroz and the Altroz racer. Pulls hard out of corners and quite linear as well. So, I think people who drive it will notice a major difference in terms of performance.”

Even though he is absolutely belting it, Narain is unable to reach the full potential of the car. And that is down to the damp track. “The conditions are pretty mixed, as it has rained quite heavily. The track is very slick and because it’s new tarmac, you have all these oils coming out. So, you have a lot of these snaps,” he says, referring to the one or two times the Altroz snapped on him. “And this is not an easy track because every lap, I feel the level of grip move, from place to place, as it gets wetter or drier.”

It’s now time for the i20 N Line. The i20 N Line has a few tweaks over the standard i20 to make it better to drive — a more direct steering, suspension tweaks and a sportier exhaust. Narain can’t hold back even if he wants to. He is right on the pace in the i20 as well. “From turn 2 to 5, it’s practically flat,” he says about a combination of corners that make a sweeping left-hander. He has his foot buried in the floor and the way the i20 is putting down its power has Narain impressed. “I think it’s quite linear,” he says. Hard on the brakes for the sharp, blind left-hander. “Easy to modulate, quite nice. It has a proper feel to it as well,” he says about the brakes. But the lack of grip on the track isn’t making it easy. He has a bit of a moment during his hot lap which forces a correction. “The track is quite slippery. There’s portions where there is standing water as well,” he says. The i20 is the only one here with a DCT. “I must say, it’s not one of those sluggish ones. It seems to be quite good on the upshift and I’m not getting many denied downshifts on the racetrack either.” But where the Altroz puts its nose out in front is with the handling. “The steering feel [on the N Line] may not be as direct as the Altroz racer but nevertheless, it’s a great package.”

Jumping out of the i20, he straps himself into the Maruti Suzuki Fronx. The Fronx makes the least power here but still packs a solid punch because it also weighs the least. Narain is pushing hard and is having to work a little harder since the grip levels are low and the Fronx lacks the feel of the other two. “You can see it’s a little bit snappier. The steering feel is very, very light. It feels disconnected. The weighting, they could have worked on it a little better.” The tall suspension isn’t doing it any favours either. “The car’s a little bit taller, so you feel a lot more roll than in the Altroz Racer and the i20… you can see how soft it is. It kind of wallows a lot but I suppose it’s tuned for the roads, for plush ride. On the racetrack, you feel quite a lot of lean. The dynamics of this car might not be the greatest.” However, the power-to-weight ratio does pull back some points. “It is the lightest in this lineup so the engine feels a lot livelier than it should.

And that masks a lot of things.” Narain acknowledges that this car might not be ideal for track driving but out on the road, it makes for a good package.

With the laps done, the only thing left to do is to seek out the India Book of Records adjudicator and find out the laptimes. In third place, it is the i20 N Line with a 2min 23.96sec laptime. Close ahead of it is the Fronx with a time of 2min 22.72sec. And the leaderboard is topped out by the Altroz Racer with a 2min 21.74sec. Over a 3.8km lap, to have these cars separated by a mere 2 seconds speaks volumes about how close these cars are in terms of performance. But fact remains, that over a single lap, the Racer is the quickest and thus is conferred with the award for India’s fastest hatchback!