TATA SIERRA

Korean C-segment SUVs are about to face their biggest opposition yet, and it's not coming from a foreign multinational OEM; this 4.3-metre Indian SUV with a familiar old name has all the right ingredients to take the crown

- STORY: DIPAYAN DUTTA

Most corners of the interwebs seem convinced that the Tata Sierra is preordained for greatness, as if destiny itself has pencilled in a five-star safety rating and a hero's welcome. I'm less sure. If anything, reviving an icon is less a golden ticket and more a 20-kilo ankle weight.

Ask anyone at Tata who lived through the Safari's reboot; the nostalgia glow lasts exactly five minutes, after which the comparisons begin and refuse to stop. Because carrying a legendary name means you don't just have to match the myth — you have to outdo it, exceed it and then somehow deliver a version fit for 2025 without upsetting the torchbearers of 1990. It’s an exhausting level of expectation, the sort of pressure that can make even the most capable stumble. Just ask Mick Schumacher.

But countering this very thought, I'll give you the crux right at the start. This is the best vehicle that Tata Motors has ever made for a myriad of reasons that I will explain over the course of the next few paragraphs. You should believe what I say because I never thought much of the OG Tata Sierra, having actually driven one, aside from the fact that it was pretty to look at.

Tata remains the only Indian carmaker to have bagged a Red Dot design award for the Sierra — a fact they don’t shout about nearly enough. And nowhere is that quiet confidence more evident than in the new Sierra, a car that manages the rare feat of honouring its lineage without looking like it was pulled backwards through a nostalgia catalogue.