Tata Curvv: The engine gets much louder during aggressive take-off but the DCA offers some of the benefits of this type of diesel lag. It has shift paddles and has its upper revs well marked out. Albeit, the car maker is no longer enjoying the previous boom of diesel variants, the potentials are still present.
This is the first time Tata has introduced a DCA option in the Curvv, and it will offer the feature for both the diesel and the petrol variants. Including a dual-clutch automatic for a diesel is unusual for this class, as most rivals resort to torque-converter automatics for their oil burners.
Diesel Powertrain & Features
For Diesel version on the Curvv, the company offers 1.5L engine which boasts of 118 bhp of power and 260 Nm torque. It is mated to a wet-clutch DCA gearbox with active cooling and integrated machine learning and paddle shifters. At low-speed there is little diesel noise or clang, though the sharp shift-throws of the gearbox can feel somewhat snatchy at times.
All in all, the DCA is nice and smooth and stands out greatest when one has to make progress on the highways. The CoD increases smoothly and the engine’s note rises slightly under full throttle, it does not sound like a usual diesel and the DCA does an excellent job of minimizing lag. They are noticeably quicker to respond than a torque converter and noticeably less jerkier than AMT. The steering wheel mounted paddle shifters and a preset rev point make the system all the more fun when you need an instant change in pace.
Driving Modes and Fuel Efficiency
New to the Curvv, there are several driving modes; the City mode is optimal; Sport mode is too assertive. On the whole, the Curvv diesel seems to be among the select good diesel-automatic SUVs mainly because of its comfort, fairly reasonable price tag and fuel efficiency. In the course of our 700 km test drive involved a lot of aggressive acceleration, the overall fuel economy was approximately 14-15 km/l and if driven more calmly this figure should be pushed even higher.
Adding to the comfort were few more bells and whistles like the JBL premium audio system, ventilated leatherette seats and a truly impressive cooling in the Infiniti QX50. Another physically integrated useful technology was the instrument cluster with navigation where the driver can choose the type of information he or she needs.
Practicality and Value of Curvv Diesel
Another interesting feature of the Curvv is that the generous 500L boot containing all our carrying gear was maybe the most important characteristic of the car we observed during our test. The Curvv diesel DCA is as this comes to a staggering ₹19 lakh and is much better of rivals in terms of performance.
Although this may not be the smoother or most powerful of engines, it is thus well suited to long distance touring. The diesel automatic combination is specially useful for such purpose, and we further think that the DCA dual clutch automatic is brought to withstand the future pretty well.
