FORGET the green wellies, the Tata Gurkha is for wearers of black wellies - with reinforced steel toe caps.

Rugged it may be - but refined it is not.

Tata may be a rare name on the roads, but the Indian manufacturer is busy chiselling itself a small but satisfying slice of Britain's four-wheel-drive market.

And it has its eyes set on growth.

Tata's most visible presence in the UK up to now has been the 6ft tall Gurkha, which the firm describes as a "specialist vehicle which has carved its own niche market."

Despite its size, it is no Land Rover Discovery and doesn't pretend to be.

It is priced directly at the lower end of the 4x4 market, with recent price cuts slicing up to a further £1,900 off both four and two-wheel drive versions.

Though it can double as family transport for five, the gruff Gurkha is probably happiest living as a hard-working humble commercial or sporting vehicle.

It is absolutely in its element ploughing across a muddy field loaded to the gunwales with soaking wet angling gear.

Sopping wet labradors would be equally at home in its roomy rear end.

With the rear seats folded forward, it can cope with a massive 935kg payload.

Its 2.0-litre turbo-charged and intercooled diesel engine puts out bags of low-down power and the four-wheel-drive system engages at the flick of a switch.

But on the open road, it's a less happy picture, where heavy steering, unrefined ride and handling combine to deliver a less soothing experience.

Both four-wheel-drive and two-wheel-drive models offer the same distinctive four-wheel-drive styling, high ground clearance and interior space.

This is fine for rough, tough agricultural and commercial use, but if the company is to make a mark in the UK car and leisure vehicle market, it will need to make greater strides in fit and finish, ride and refinement.

Electric windows and a stereo radio-cassette are all very well, but when the basics of the vehicle are very basic, no amount of electrically-operated frills can cover that up.

I can live with poorly-positioned, unlit switches. I can suffer an instrument panel whose illumination varies between dim and dimmer, but I can't put up with a leaky roof.

Visibility is excellent thanks to the high driving position and huge areas of glass - so large, in fact, that the rear screen has two wipers.

If the lighting and windscreen stalks feel strangely familiar, it's not surprising - they are straight off an ageing Austin Montego.

Tata is not satisfied with carving a niche in off-road and commercial products and last month gave a taste of products in the pipeline with the UK debut of its European-inspired 4x4 leisure vehicle and a prototype of a supermini.

The five-door hatchback unveiled at the British International Motor Show, was designed and engineered at the company's engineering research centre in India, with styling input from Italy's IDEA design house.

It will go into production early next year and will initially be offered for the domestic market in India where it will challenge local rivals for the title of India's most popular car.

The company also unveiled the Trekker; a special equipment version of its double cab pick-up.

Its leisure vehicle - which comes with 'shift-on-the-fly' electrically controlled four-wheel drive - will be priced at the more affordable end of the market when it goes on sale towards the middle of 1999.

Every new Tata is covered by a three-year/60,000 miles warranty, six-year anti-perforation guarantee and a year's free membership of Green Flag roadside recovery service.

Auto facts

Model: Tata Gurkha 2.0 TDI 4x4

Price: £11,995 on the road

Insurance: Group Seven

Top speed: 87 mph

Fuel consumption:

Urban 26.9mpg

Extra urban 34mpg

Combined 31mpg

Fuel tank: 11 gallons

Comfort: Fair

Braked towing weight: 3,110kg

Dimensions: 174in long x 75in wide

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.