TATA SFC 407

The cabin of the Tata SFC 407 looks extremely dated with an all-black finish for the cabin and vertical alignment of the dashboard.

The two spoke steering wheel, as well as the instrument console of the Tata SFC 407, looks very plain, but the latter with its functional-looking dials is quite informative. The instrument console is housed in a rectangular panel, and the same rectangular theme has been carried out for other consoles as well, such as AC vents, center console with 1-DIN audio system and panel for switches of AC. The overuse of rectangular design elements in the cabin makes it look very functional and primitive.

There is nothing much to complain about the stance of the Tata SFC 407, which looks more like that of a medium duty truck rather than a light duty truck. However, considering the fact that the original design of the Tata SFC 407 was conceived back in the eighties and has remained almost unchanged ever since makes it appear a bit dated.

The Tata SFC 407 is one of the very few trucks available in the market, which do not get a flat looking front profile. Instead, it has got a cab looking slanted bonnet and angularly placed front windshield. The bonnet ends up on a wide looking fascia, which has a blacked out panel spread across its width. Within this blacked out panel sits the main grille with lower rounded edges and rectangular headlamps with inner rounded edges. The simple looking turn indicators are placed just adjacent to the headlamps, on the corners of this fascia. The sleek and long front bumper of the Tata SFC 407 comes integrated with a squared out fog lamps.

The side profile of the Tata SFC 407 has a very clean looking design for the door panels, with three different horizontal creases placed one over the other. Other conventional bits like single window panels with tapering waistline, hinged rear view mirrors and blacked out door handles make it look simple and basic.

The Tata SFC 407 might be the smallest truck in the lineup of Tata Motors, but its large size gives it the dynamism of a medium-duty truck. For suspension duties, the Tata SFC 407 comes with semi-elliptical leaf springs at both front and rear, with hydraulic double-acting shock absorbers at both the ends and an anti-roll bar at the front. For braking setup, the Tata SFC 407 has been armed with a vacuum-assisted dual-circuit hydraulic service brake with a tandem master cylinder and a hand-operated parking brake.

Since its inception in the Indian market, the Tata SFC 407 has been coming with a 3.0-litre four-cylinder diesel engine, which over the years has been tuned up for delivering better performance and lesser emissions. In its latest avatar, this engine makes 75 bhp of maximum power and 225 Nm of maximum torque. For the size of this truck, the engine feels underpowered but gets the job of making it a proper load hauler done. The engine has been paired to a basic 5-speed manual gearbox.

The Tata SFC 407 is priced at the lower end of the commercial vehicle segment, which skips out on the majority of safety features to keep the price down. The Tata SFC 407 too doesn’t get many features, apart from basic safety seat belts.

The Tata SFC 407 has proved its reliability for a very long period of time in the Indian market, and now in the Philippines, the truck is outshining its rivals with its bigger dimensions but equally convenient to drive when compared to rivals. The diesel engine is decent for the job and the chassis feels sturdy enough for the task.