An Excellent Car for everyday use. Ideal for executives and businessmen.

Hi,

I am Santhosh  Janardanan, Management Consultant specializing in policy making, business turnaround, process and product performance improvements.

I have recently bought a Tata Nano LX from Manakular Motors Pondicherry. Nano is my 5th car purchase. I started with a Maruti 800 in 1985, then an Omni, a Tata Estate, Omni and a Wagon R.I have had a driving close to 300,000 kms so far. Before buying I took a test drive a few months before and was satisfied with the performance. I have also read a few reviews which gave a comfort feel. The sales person Mr.Jaffer and his manager Mr.Arun were truly good professionals and I had a delightful buying experience. I took delivery of the Nano on 24th October. Its an LX model lunar silver car.

My first ride was Pondicherry to Chennai about 150 kms and it was a remarkable journey. The car was zippy and was cruising at 70-80 kmph smoothly overtaking Scorpios, Skodas in a very normal way. I could feel others looking at my Nano in an awe. It was night around 8pm and slightly drizzling. The head lights and wiper was doing really well. I found the air conditioner a little too powerful (it's rare in cars). I reached home at about 9pm and everyone of the family was thrilled at our new possession.

The next day, I got the car fitted with sun control film and a Roots horn ( the standard horn is very feeble as in most cars). On 27th I have started the journey to Bangalore at 4am. A smooth ride of about 370kms. I reached at 10.30. The car has quite good road grip and stable while turning, however it is always best to be at slow speeds while negotiating a curve. The ground clearance is pretty good and I have not yet had any problems with the various kinds of speed breakers in our country!

Driving experience within Bangalore is another thing where gear shifting is the most regular activity. Nano's gears are quite smooth. I really have not checked the fuel economy but feel that its around 20kmpl. Nano is an absolute best for daily use. Its excellent for family ride. The only problem you will face with family is that, there is not much luggage space if four people are in the car. Other than that it's a marvel and great value for money.

I have a few things to suggest to Tata Motors.

These are some improvements, which will make this car an absolute success.

1. There should be a glove box, even two on both sides as the car needs some storage space
    badly. There is enough space to do that.

2. Should have vanity mirror on the left sunshade at least in the LX version.

3. The power window switches need to be at the other side of the gear lever, as it is a little too far
    now.

4. There should be magazine pockets behind the front seats (for LX). The rods behind the front
    seats should be neatly covered, so the aesthetics will be better.

5. A watch with a temp. indicator can be offered as an optional accessory.

6. A special FM radio with an USB and Bluetooth music player for mobile with a charger (optional).
    This will be ideal for executive use. Can even have a laptop charger.

7. More color options like white, black, dark gray, red, blue and green.

8. An optional roof luggage rack ( this should be possible for the basic model too)

9. The ad. campaigns should be changed to give it a different perspective, than the cheapest car.
    It should be the most innovative car with the greatest value for money. It can have another
    model, may be a VX model with all the above options.

Thanks to TATA MOTORS for bringing out a good car.

For those considering buying, just go ahead and buy it. It’s worth the money.

Great style, good response, easy to maneuver, comfortable seating, fantastic A/cNothing much except a few small improvements.