Test drove the 2023 Harrier: What I think has improved over the old car

Steering is very well tuned now and is not cumbersome to drive in the city. Although it still retains that feeling of driving a macho SUV !

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Did a 14kms highway + city test drive of Harrier AT and here are my observations –

Highlight:

Steering is very well tuned now and is not cumbersome to drive in the city. Although it still retains that feeling of driving a macho SUV !

Positives:

The engine tuning feels better than before, the response is sharper in normal mode and sports mode feels quite fast.
The interiors are wow! Even in the yellow shade, they don’t look garish, but my personal preference is the darker shade.
AC and ventilated seats work well. The button to activate ventilated seats is placed awkward though.
Sound insulation is good, not eerie silent, but traffic noise is cut down significantly. Engine noise is audible in a good way when you rev.
The ride felt slightly stiff but enjoyable. Felt cocooned inside the cabin.
Mileage on MID hovered around 11-12 with a mix of aggressive highway and calm city drive.
The space inside is humongous, including the boot.
Adaptive cruise & autonomous braking worked well and are easy to use.

Negatives:

The left knee hitting the centre panel issue is still there and somehow they have created a design around the space – causing it it to be even sharper than before. This started bothering me quite a bit towards the end of the test drive. Long drives could become painful. I tried adjusting seats several ways, but no relief. For reference, my height is 5’5 with an average build.
If you try to change the AC vent direction the touch panels get triggered inadvertently. This happened 5-6 times in 30 min test drive. Even the hazard signal is operated via touch – this should have been a proper button.
Exterior design is not to my taste but it’s subjective.
I think Tata should fix point 1 on priority, 2 and 3 can be lived with. Somehow I was not able to convince myself of Harrier as compared to XUV700. So waiting game is still on.
The dealer experience was excellent, Akash from Dev motors SB Road Pune was very helpful in arranging the test drive at a preferred time, location & duration.

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