Nissan Terrano

The compact SUV segment is one that is burgeoning, and everyone that can get in on the action wants in. Premier has the distinction of being the first mover in the segment, but the Rio wasn’t what the Indian consumer was looking for: he wants what is apparently an SUV, with the clearance to go over the worst speed breakers and the suspension travel to deal with the worst potholes but with the comfort and fuel efficiency of a hatchback. Renault’s Duster and Ford’s EcoSport have shown the others how it should be done, and Nissan is going to join the fray with its Terrano.

Nissan didn’t have a lot of leeway with the Terrano, seeing as how it is the last of the model-sharing agreement with Renault. As such, it will look similar to the Duster, just like the Pulse looks similar to the Micra and the Scala to the Sunny. However, Nissan got a fair bit of negative feedback for making twins with Renault, and they’ve worked hard on the exterior of the Terrano. Almost every body panel is different, from the hood to the doors to the tailgate which makes me wonder; how much cost saving does Nissan get from the Terrano’s exterior compared to the other shared models? The grille consists of a lot of chrome with trapezoid chrome strips on either side of a bold logo, and dual-barrel square headlamps with blacked-out insides flank the grille.

The hood has creases that continue from the trapezoid chrome strips to the base of the windscreen, and at the bottom of the bumper a silver skid plate completes the macho front. It is instantly recognisable as a Nissan from the front with that design; there’s a lot of X-Trail and Pathfinder in it.

Move to the three-quarter angle, and the angular, macho front is suddenly softened by the curves of the rest of the body, including the doors, the roofline and wheel arches. The doors have two horizontal creases in them that help with the butch look, but it isn’t enough to alleviate the organic lines of the rest of the car. The machine-finished alloy wheels are superb in their own right, but again, they’re not angular enough for the Terrano’s front. Ironically, they will certainly look smashing if fitted on a Duster. That said, the remaining elements certainly give it enough ruggedness for everyone – the roof rails, the big gap between wheel arch and tyre, the faux running boards all contribute to this.

At the rear, there is a redesigned tail-lamp cluster that eschews the X-Trail’s vertical design for a horizontal one reminiscent of the Fortuner. It resides partly on the tailgate, which houses the reverse lamps. Between the two resides the chrome strip just like the Duster, but the difference lies at the bottom, where a prominent silver skid plate makes an appearance to match the one at the front.

Does the Terrano look sufficiently different from the Duster? That’s the key question, and I think Nissan have only just succeeded in managing this. To those in the know, however, there will not be enough difference to justify a big difference in price between the two cars.

Again, there are a lot of Duster elements present in the Terrano. The layout of the switches, the instrument cluster, the steering wheel itself and features like the one-step height adjustment of the driver’s seat on the top-spec variant are a direct carry over from the Renault. You can find a full description of what the interior is like in our Duster road test. The base XE variant is all black, and the rest are a combination of black and beige. The top-spec 110PS and 85PS diesels have the option of beige leather upholstery.

There are a few places where the Terrano differs with the Duster: the twin vents in the centre of the dashboard aren’t circular, and they’re outlined in chrome. Strangely enough, you can’t direct airflow from one vent to the opposite side of the car.

There is also a very useful cubbyhole at the top of the dashboard, and the standard audio system head unit is ergonomically sound, unlike the strange one in the Duster. It has inputs for aux, USB (including iPods) and Bluetooth, but it sounds as bad as the Duster’s: the new Micra’s audio system is far better than the Terrano’s. There is a 6.1 inch touchscreen sat-nav unit on sale at the dealer level, but we weren’t informed how much more that will cost the consumer. When rivals are offering touchscreen sat-nav units and voice-activated features as standard on their top-end variants at similar or lower price points, Nissan should consider offering a good quality audio system as standard in the Terrano.

The air-conditioning is as good as ever, and Nissan has raised the height of the rear vent compared to the Duster, meaning better cooling for the rear seat occupants. There is also a very intelligent design for the vent that allows it to split the airflow to both sides of the rear seat.

The Terrano’s interior feels a little superior to the Duster in terms of plastic quality, and it therefore seems less prone to rattles and squeaks. It is also beyond doubt that the big boot will definitely be a bonus on long drives – but Nissan could have improved the Terrano experience by a large margin by adding a few things like one-litre bottle holders, an auto-down driver’s window, doors that lock automatically, pull-out door handles, a chilled glovebox, electrically foldable mirrors, and an internal cable release for the boot. It does seem like I’m needlessly bashing the Terrano, but at the price it is expected, at least one of the other products is offering these features, so I expect it to match, if not exceed, the competition, it being the latest entrant.

Where Nissan far outperforms Renault is in the safety department: with the exception of the base diesel variant, the XE, all Terranos have ABS and EBD. All variants have at least one airbag, with the top-spec variants getting two airbags, one each for the front row occupants. The Terrano’s engine is also noticeably quieter than the Duster’s, which indicates better firewall insulation. This brings road and wind noise to the fore, but overall it is a quieter experience.

The Terrano is on offer with a choice of three familiar engines: one petrol, two diesel. The petrol generates 105PS/145Nm and will probably not be a hot favourite seeing as how India avoids petrol SUVs like the plague. The diesels both displace 1.5 litres, but produce 85PS/200Nm and 110PS/248Nm thanks to a different turbocharger. Nissan’s claim that the 85PS is better for city driving and the 110PS is a better highway cruiser is genuine; the lighter steering and more gentle torque curve when the turbocharger starts doing its work makes it better suited to rush-hour traffic.

The 110PS has some lag, but when the shove begins, it is enough to overtake a truck or two easily. The six-speed gearbox of the 110 helps to keep things quiet at triple-digit speed, and it is a nice gearbox with light but positive throws. The five-speed ‘box is shared with the likes of the Sunny and Micra, and feels a little notchy and vague in comparison, although it must be mentioned that it still remains one of the best in class.

This is where the Terrano and Duster are identical. The overwhelming impression is that of a softly sprung front-drive car, with understeer when pushed beyond its limits. There is, at the same time, the impression that the suspension will cope with anything you throw at it, and this belief is justified when you put it through potholes, over speedbreakers and unpaved roads without slowing down, and there isn’t so much as loss of alignment. There is no wallowing at triple-digit speeds, either – something we otherwise take for granted with an SUV at this price point.

The brakes are solid discs in front and drums at the rear equipped with ABS and EBD for all but the base diesel variant. Thanks to the Terrano’s low kerb weight, they are enough to haul the vehicle to a halt from crazy speeds repeatedly without fade. Both bite and progression are good and inspire confidence.

The Terrano has possibly the best ride and handling compromise for Indian conditions, with its predictable handling and 205mm ground clearance. It’s a pity that the four-wheel drive version isn’t on the cards for India, it would have made an interesting alternative to the established all-wheel drive SUVs around its price point.

Tyres are a choice between Apollo Hawkz and MRF Wanderers, and these provide good grip both on and off-road, though they will not be able to do any serious work off the beaten path.

The Terrano is a genuinely nice car, and I do want to like it. However, it is missing some essential features that have been mentioned already. With the new Micra I thought that Nissan India had learned that the market will respond well to value – but according to the Renault-Nissan agreement, the donor car will always cost less than its twin. This means that the Duster will cost less than the Terrano, and this puts the top-spec Terrano between Rs 1-1.5 lakh over the top-spec Duster. That’s a staggering Rs 16.5-17 lakh on-road for great engineering but an incomplete feature set. The Duster filled in a gap in the Indian marketplace and it sold well as long as there weren’t options. The Terrano will enter the market with competition like the Duster itself and the Ford EcoSport. Will Nissan have a surprise in store for us like they did with the pricing of the new Micra? I certainly hope they do.