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Bought this car a month back, and feel cheated by Mahindra-Reva. They gave me 50,000 discount, But have been extending upto 1.5Lakh discounts in March! This devalues the car rapidly.

So, if any of you ever consider buying this car, do not accept less than 1Lakh discount from Mahindra-Reva, and insist on a clear letter than if they offer any more discount within couple of months of you buying it, they'll extend it to you too, to preserve the value of the car. They have an awful practice of short-changing the customer customer by charging what ever they can get away with, instead of having an honest to goodness pricing for all, which retains the value of the car.

I personally feel 'cheated' by this company, because in spite of giving me an assurance to pass on any reduction in value of car (other than taxes), they are playing around now.

Exterior: Looks OK. Quality of finish is pretty good, though it has an irregular shape. Some people may even like it, some may not. Not a universally likable design.

Bright headlights, the rear window could have been bigger.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort): Seats are not comfortable. They don't have the regular car seats that have springs/sponge, instead feels harder than even the lower end maruti cars.

Space is adequate, but you'll need to be flexible to get in to back seat. Driving position isn't very comfortable due to wrongly placed pedals. The accelerator is in the place wher enormally Break would be, and break is where clutch would be - thus you have to sit a bit cross legged!! This is done because the front wheel arch eats in to the pedal space.

You won't be able to do much to improve the interiors, as very few options are available.

Air Conditioning: is good, cools well. But, sucks battery!! It takes upto 1Kwh (or 15% of 10.5kwh battery) for every hour. So, if you have AC on and drive in a city for 2-3hours, then expect the battery range to be maximum of 60km (not 100+ you'd get without AC)!! I found this really strange because in my regular cars, AC only reduces mileage by 10%. Here it seems to be almost 40%!!

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox

No gear box. No transmission at all. This is electric-motor, that provides max.torque at 1rpm!!

In 'Forward' mode the engine has adequate performance for most of driving. But, if you want to quickly overtake you'd need to go to 'Boost' mode, and it can be as fast as any performance car in reaching upto 60km!! And that's a lovely feeling. But, you'd mostly want to drive in "F" mode for conserving battery.

Battery will need replacement in perhaps 4-5years. And from an economy perspective, you might be better off buying a Alto/Estillo etc. 

YOU DON'T BUY AN ELECTRIC CAR FOR ECONOMY YET!! YOU BUY IT BECAUSE IT IS GREEN AND IS EASY TO MAINTAIN & DRIVE.

Ride Quality & Handling

This is the best part of the car. It is very relaxing to drive this vehicle even in the most crowded city roads. It takes very little effort (being automatic) and it being small & flexible makes it easy to maneuver around. Parks in much smaller areas (perhaps even smaller area than Nano), has least turning radius of all the cars in India.

Shock absorbers are not as good as what you find in mid-segment cars.

It is a tall boy design and may feel a bit awkward in cornering, but is fairly stable at the speeds it goes (Max 85km). I have rarely crossed 80km and never need to in a city.

 

SO - AN IDEAL CITY CAR.

 

Final Words

I am extremely upset with Mahindra-Reva for spoiling the value of the car by indiscriminate, and unreliable discounts. I don't have a problem in paying for value, but when the manufacturer himself devalues the car - I feel cheated.

But, other than that - I am having fun with the car. It is extremely nice city run about. Amazing feeling not to worry about going to petrol pump, or having to worry about maintenance (once a year is all you need to do, that too for mechanicals like shocks and wearable items).

 

CLEARLY - OUR FUTURE IS ELECTRIC. If you want to sample the future, this is the only car you can buy in India. I had driven Nissan Leaf in USA, and that's a much much better car, but that'd be way to expensive in India. This doesn't even come close in terms of power & comforts, but provides the same hassel free driving experience.

Areas of improvement  

Honesty in their sales process is the major improvement needed. Their practice of shortchaing their customers by providing different pricing, undermines the car.

They also need to provide a minimum of 5year, 60,000km warranty on battery & Motor. Current 3yr/36,000waranty doesn't cut it.

They also need to improve their In Car entertainment system. It seems like some cheap chinese product! And the speakers are a joke (though they are from JBL or Blapunkt).  They should provide better cushining in seats. 

And finally - their pedal positioning can be like regular car. 

ADVICE TO BUYERS:

DON'T BE CHEATED BY MAHINDRA-REVA SALES GUYS. THEY WILL PUSH YOU TO BUY AT FULL PRICE. DON'T SETTLE FOR LESS THAN 1L DISCOUNT. ALSO DEMAND AN WRITTEN UNDERTAKING FOR BEST DISCOUNTED PRICE IN THAT QUARTER.

(i.e. if they reduce the final price for what ever reason other than tax/duty, i.e. subsidy or their own discount, they should compensate you for loss of value by refunds). Otherwise your car value will be down by over one lakh on the day of your delivery, as they will start advertising a huge discount the very next week!!

Only Electric Car you can buyEverything Else.