My first impressions after the Test Drive

 

Exterior The only negative thing that caught me eye was, the bottom portion of the seemed somewhat uncovered; looked as if the internal engine part (even though it was only the exhaust + silencer) was exposed. Ground Clearance was a big positive surprise for me. I am for it and feel more comfortable given the conditions of some Chennai Roads.

 

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Leg room and high seats are definitely great. But the engine noise is very much a nuisance to the passengers in the back seat.  My 5 yr old son quickly complained about the noise. I understand that this would be the case since the engine is in the rear but ultimately, but I am going for a new car for comfort and satisfaction my whole family hence couldn't ignore their feedback. The interior also lacks in finese.  For example the battery is very much visisble and it was somewhat unsettling for my wife with my meddlesome 5 yr-old son.  Also, an unseemly rod was running through the witdth of the car on the floor, just behind the front-seats. Tata could have done something to decently cover them up.

The back seats could have been split to compensate the lack of sufficient boot space.  That would have been really great for me.  Even a 50-50 split would have been very useful.  I fully agree with Tata's arguement that they have to do away with lot of typical features to bring down the price but they could have done so atleast for the CX and LX models.  Also my wish (don't know how much practical it would be) is, if such a split is provided then the back-seats could be designed for a bottom-up fold instead of the back-rest fold.  I believe that then there would be enough space to carry a decent-sized suitcase too.

 

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Frankly, I didn't specifically test for these but my experience in shifting gears was much better than the clunky experience I am presently having with my M800.  About Engine performace, I could just share a guess that it would be slightly better than M800.  The other day when I was travelling around 60kmph in East Coast Road off Chennai, a Nano overtook me!!

 

Ride Quality & Handling I currently have 1997 model of Maruti 800 A/c.  Nano's Ride quality and Handling is definitely better than my M800. Gear shift is smoother and easier. Steering is also easier. I never used power steering so, this could be a problem for those being used to power steering.

 

Final Words I want to go for city-car with occasional / rare long drives (say upto Pondicherry max).  Nano largely fits the bill but as I said, I have to give due importance to passenger comfort in the backseat.  Even the lack finnese in the interiors is not that much of a problem for me but the noise level in the cabin is definitely a big "no".

 

Areas of improvement

1. Need to greatly reduce the Engine Noise in the cabin.  it could be slightly more than front-engined cars but not to the levels I experienced in the Demo Car

2. Need Split seats (with bottom fold-up) for utility.  I feel it would greatly compensate for the loss of decent boot space

3. Finnese of Interiors - atleast cover up the battery from the passengers' view

4. A/c power - if needs be, upgrade the engine to 800cc or 1000cc.

 

Shape, high seats, Drive ExperienceEngine noise inside the cabin, A/c effect