Nano review by A Santhosh Kumar

Exterior Depends on personal preference, I like the cute looks. Paint good

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) More cabin space than any other small car. . Nano has all features of full option small cars EXCEPT POWER STEERING. To mention specifically, tinted glass, left side rear view mirror, fog lamp, rear spoiler, stop lights at roof and bumper, central locking, front power window, music system, alloy wheels. Ground clearance and Interior space (yes; Until you get into nano, u will not believe this!) are more than all other small cars.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Engine is under powered. Gear ratio too high for city. Maximum speed I have achieved is 90 km/hr with 4 persons and A/C switched on. With just two occupants and A/C switched off, the speedo touches 100.  Hard and competitive highway driving gave a milage of 19 km with A/C on. With 4 occupants and A/C switched on, near ideal driving without any hard breakings or accelerations and with speedo never touching 80 mark, gave a milage of 22 km for highway driving. This I feel is the maximum milage in actual highway driving. The company claimed 25 km/L may be with one or two occupants and A/C switched off, I feel. Nano goes out of breath in 4th gear when engaged at speeds of 30 or 40, so city driving will involve almost exclusive lower gear drive and milage is poor. Gear shift is ok, but not in the league of modern day cars.

Ride Quality & Handling Ride is quite bumpy. Nano steering is real tight when stationary. And so parking into tight slots is unpleasant. Breaks are drums like old gen cars, but appears power assisted. stops promptly without wavering at speed of 80 km/hr. Noise vibration levels of nano is unacceptably high. At high rev the noise is disturbing and the vibrations are transmitted to passenger compartment and steering wheel.

Final Words If its ok for you to shell out an additional one lakh plus a little additional money for routine maintenance expense, I would not recommend nano. However if you want to save one lakh, then nano is a good option (a well maintained used car is another option); nano has all features of any other small car except power steering; u ve a car with more cabin space than any other small car; and you have a car which is more economical to run and maintain. The negatives are the underpowered engine, and noisy bumpy ride.

Areas of improvement TATA must stop marketing this car as a cheap car. That has back fired. Even the guys buying small cars these days do not want cheap cars. TATA must consider power steering, water cooled engine and change in gear ratio (avoid overdrive for top gear). It will still cost lower than any other small car and so will attract buyers.

Price, appearance, cabin space, A/C, ground clearanceNoise & vibration, underpowered engine, lack of power steering