Tata ACE

The Tata Ace has got a frills-free cabin for the single cab profile it possesses. The dashboard looks very simple and barely has got any talking points. However, for two, the cabin is ergonomically well designed, with the seats slightly placed higher, which along with the large windscreen, gives a very wide view of the road ahead.

The dashboard, which is completely finished in the beige theme, has got a centrally mounted curved instrument console, below which there are two rectangular AC vents with the knob for them located in between of them. Below the AC panel sits a basic 1-DIN audio system, which is the only ‘modern’ thing in the cabin. The round AC vents on the far corners of the dashboard as well as the two spoke large steering wheel are finished in black colour.

The Tata Ace has been bestowed with a very simple design, which has a bit cutesy appeal to it. However, the overall design of the Ace is around in the market for almost a decade now, which however has made it look very dated and old. This is also considering the fact that the model hasn’t gone under any major change all these years.

The front profile of the Tata Ace has been majorly covered by the very large front windscreen, which seems curved when you begin to move upwards. There are round headlamps on offer on the bottom corners of the front shield, in the between of which there is a two-part grille, which is partitioned by a body-colored bar which merges with the front body design.

Just on the upper corners of the front headlamps are placed amber coloured turn indicators, which too are round in shape. The front bumper finished in black here is metallic and comes integrated with tow hooks.

The Tata Ace has a single cab design when you see it from the sides, with the doors having rounded wheel arches and curved window crease. The window waistline too has a curved design, which ends up with black coloured outside rearview mirrors. The black coloured door handles as well as steel wheels with no proper covers accentuate its basic appeal even more. The rest of the body of the Tata Ace comprises of a proper load carrier bay, which has horizontal slats all around its exterior body.

The Tata Ace is helped a lot by its compact dimensions and flat-front profile, which make it a very easy and convenient vehicle to drive. The suspension beneath the Tata Ace is comprised of leaf springs at both ends, which are heavy-duty units supremely capable of giving this small vehicle great load-carrying capacity. The vehicle rides on small 12-inch wheels, which do offer a decent grip on all tarmacs. However, the Ace does not get power steering.

Tata has employed its smallest diesel engine ever for the Ace, which is a 702cc two-cylinder water-cooled oil burner. Coupled to a 4-speed manual gearbox, this engine is quite archaic in terms of technology, and is slightly underpowered too, with just 16.2 PS of maximum power output and 38 Nm of torque on offer.

Given the fact that it is a small entry-level commercial pickup truck, the Tata Ace does not get any noteworthy safety feature, apart from the bare basic necessity of a lockable cabin.

The Tata Ace is understandably bare bones, but that doesn’t make it underwhelming in terms of the purpose for which it is engineered. This small commercial pickup impresses with its rugged appeal and good load carrying capacity, which makes it the first choice of those who want a cheap to run and maintain a small commercial truck.