Tata Aeris review: Has it evolved enough to take on the competition?

While the Tata Tigor has always made a strong case for itself, the segment has evolved enough to warrant a serious upgrade. Buyers have become much more value-conscious, and they want better safety, more features, better road manners and, increasingly, lower running costs. That is where the new Tata Aeris comes in. It’s no longer available for fleet owners, and that means more exclusivity for buyers.

Alongside the new Tiago, the Aeris sits on the X-ALFA architecture, which is an upgrade of the Alfa platform we saw in the Altroz. Tata says it brings a stronger structure and higher ground clearance. The familiar 1.2-litre engine continues, and this time, the Aeris also gets a reworked CNG package, with twin tanks under the luggage area in the iCNG variant – read the review of the Aeris iCNG here. Moreover, there’s a completely new design, interior, and feature set. The question, then, is whether all of this actually makes the Aeris a better car to drive and live with. Let’s find out if it does.

Tata Aeris design

The Aeris follows a familiar compact-sedan silhouette, but Tata has given it a more upright and squared-off stance. The bonnet line is higher than before; the front gets new LED headlamps with DRL functionality – similar to the new Tiago, and the bumper and grille have both been redesigned.

The front also gets a camera as part of the 360-degree camera system, while the black panel between the headlights gives it a wider visual stance. The side profile is still recognisably Tata, and the 15-inch wheels, dual-tone black roof and chrome-lined door handles add a little more visual interest. Unlike the iCNG, you get alloys, which is a much more suitable option for a car like the Aeris. At the rear, the tail lamps have been revised, and there’s a full-width lamp treatment across the boot, which, unlike the Tiago, has LEDs in it. The high-mounted lamp is the brake light, while the overall rear design is cleaner than the outgoing Tigor. The only differentiation between the petrol and iCNG versions is the iCNG badge at the rear.

There are some neat details here, too. The boot gets hydraulic support mounted externally, rather than the conventional arrangement tucked inside the luggage area. It is a small thing, but it adds to how much luggage you can fit inside.

Tata Aeris interior and features

Inside, the Aeris follows the familiar Tata template as we saw in the new Tiago, but there has been a clear effort to make the cabin feel more premium. You get a 10.25-inch infotainment screen, a 5-inch digital instrument cluster, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a dual smartphone deck – one of which supports wireless charging. The steering is taken from the Tiago EV with its matte finish, and even the new window switches are from the Tiago EV, both of which are good additions. The matte finish doesn’t attract fingerprints, and the window switches are far more intuitive. With the new X-Alfa architecture, even the electronics have got a boost, and the entire infotainment experience is much more lag-free.

There is automatic climate control, rear AC vents and 65W Type-C charging, including a 65W port for rear passengers. The front also gets a wireless charger and Type-C connectivity. The seats are leatherette, and the front seats are ventilated. The rear seats get the same leatherette treatment, but aren’t ventilated. The ventilation itself works really well, and you immediately feel much more comfortable. But the fan could be unbearably loud in the highest setting.

An interesting piece of tech is the new factory-fitted DVR that effectively works as a dashcam. Its internal 4GB storage can hold around 30 minutes of footage, with the oldest clips overwritten when the memory fills up. In the event of a collision or heavy braking event, it saves a five-minute clip, comprising two minutes before the event and three minutes after it. Continuous recording can also be saved to external storage, with support for storage devices up to 256GB. There is also a blind-spot monitor, 360-degree camera, automatic headlamps, rain-sensing wipers and rear defogger. And then there is the safety equipment. Six airbags are standard, along with ESP, ABS with EBD and cornering stability control, hill hold and ISOFIX mounts. Tata has also added rollover mitigation and torque vectoring by braking. For the CNG version, there are additional systems for leak detection, thermal incident protection and rear crash protection.

Tata Aeris powertrain and performance

The Aeris uses Tata’s 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine, producing 84.4bhp and 113Nm. The engine can be paired with either an AMT or MT. Truth be told, if you are expecting hot-hatch performance from those numbers, you’re going to be disappointed.

The petrol engine is the quicker one compared to the CNG, but it’s still not exciting by any stretch. Power really arrives only after about 3000rpm, leaving the lower part of the rev range feeling boring. Push it beyond 5000rpm and the three-cylinder gets loud and coarse, making the useful powerband rather narrow. It’ll be fine in the city, but you’d notice all that on a highway. The manual gearbox is generally pleasant, although the shifts have a slight stickiness to them. Still, it gives you much more control than the AMT, particularly when you want to decide exactly when the car should drop a gear.

Tata Aeris iCNG ride and handling

The Aeris is much more impressive here. At normal speeds, it handles speed breakers with a firm but controlled movement. There is no thump as the suspension takes the hit, and it doesn’t feel like the car is being unsettled afterwards. It gets even better when the road gets properly bad. On broken patches and rough surfaces, the suspension does a very good job of keeping the body controlled. There are sections where the car almost seems to skim over a series of undulations without transmitting too much of them into the cabin.

Importantly, it isn’t floaty. There is a firmness to the way the suspension works, but it remains controlled. Hit a bump, and the car settles quickly rather than continuing to bounce. Even over high-speed undulations, there isn’t any obvious loss of composure. That gives the Aeris a surprisingly mature ride quality for a compact sedan. The steering is similarly easy to live with. Around town, it is light without becoming excessively light or vague. As speed increases, it doesn’t feel very direct, but that doesn’t stop the Aeris from feeling confident at highway speeds. It holds a straight line well and doesn’t require constant steering corrections.

Push it into a corner, and you’ll notice some body roll, and you can feel the weight transfer through the car. But the important thing is that it remains planted. It doesn’t suddenly feel like it is running out of grip or control. This isn’t a car that encourages you to attack corners. It doesn’t need to be. What matters is that the chassis remains predictable when you ask more of it, and the Aeris does that quite well.

Tata Aeris iCNG price and verdict

The Tata Aeris petrol starts at ₹5.29 lakh and goes up to ₹8.74 lakh, ex-showroom. With that in mind, the Aeris makes a fairly convincing case because it isn’t relying on one big trick. All things considered, Tata has built a car with a strong safety package, plenty of useful technology, a well-packaged cabin and, most importantly, very good ride and handling.

The engine feels like the weak link – but only for someone like me who’s excessively focused on performance. For a lot of other people, it will come off as plenty sufficient. After spending time with it, what stands out most is how sorted the car feels underneath you. In essence, the Tata Aeris is one car you can absolutely rely on to fulfil all your needs of a city car. All that without looking like a hatchback on steroids.