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Exactly my point. I was thinking that this can be a very practical and safe caravan for two persons with fold out beds and the works. Good for vacation travel with kids also as they would be in a more relaxed and spacious environment. And all that at lesser cost than innova

Innova is based on the Hi-Lux pickup truck and Xylo has a pickup truck variant. Between the 3, the Evalia is the most car like.

Nice van, but the biggest let downs are the skinny tyre and the middle passenger window.

Will Renault launch an avatar of Evalia as well :D.

For the tyres, 175 was acceptable. 165 is not.

I think a big reason for the choice of 165 was better ARAI mileage too.

Nissan really needs to push the mileage of the Evalia as a USP for it to get to the target buyers.

I believe the Qualis was also launched with sliding middle windows, which were later fixed in the revision.

Interesting fact:

The Tata Winger is actually based on the Renault Traffic van.

Take a look at the latest Renault Traffic, and you'll see it looks quite similar to the Evalia! So you could think that the Evalia is an evolution of the winger in a way...


Source

In casual talk, one person we spoke to said they knew of nothing in the pipeline - but y'never know!

cya
R

That was the mid 80's version Trafic which is a rust bucket. The current Trafic is a shared platform between Renault, Nissan and Opel

Thanks for a thorough review Rehaan.
Much has been said about the Looks, the tyres and the sliding doors.

For me, im in the market to buy a vehicle like this. I have owned a Versa and hated everything except that it was a RWD and it had the esteem engine so was pretty peppy and most of all the short throw of the coggy stick shift. Rest everything else was crappy. I upgraded from the OE tyres to 195s in the Versa and they made a huge difference in my driving confidence.

I have owned a Qualis and loved the vehicle for everything it had except its OE thin tyres and its ugly looks. It was a great drive

I presently own an Innova and am very fond of the vehicle. Need another one and the pricetag has kept me waiting for the Evalia.

Now to come to the Evalia as a prospective buyer.

I dont have an issue with its boxy looks. I have lived with the Qualis and have overcome its looks. Also when the Innova was introduced, everyone thought Toyota had gone mad as there would be no buyers buy boy, have they proved everyone wrong. So the looks of the Evalia will not matter eventually, if everything else is right.

Coming to its puny biscuit tyres. The first thing i would do is get it new shoes of considerable width. I would not want to toy with upgrading the rim size as one of the main advantages i presume would be the turning radius on such a large vehicle and also make the vehicle yet taller by an inch. The Qualis had similar dimensions and came out a winner....eventually. I would consider upgrading to 195-205 of the OE wheels will allow this, else Alloys are the only way to go and well worth the money spent i should think so.

Sliding rear door: In my opinion, is an advantage. Because of the narrow 2nd row bench seat, the advantage of sliding doors is a larger area to get in from. Yes while it still is a challenge. I wonder if Evalia should consider a middle row captain seat configuration like the Innova. The captain seats in the Innova are nothing short of brilliant.

The middle row non roll down windows, a huge mistake and probably a cost saving factor which Nissan should correct immediately. even if one does not roll the window down that often, this is just not right. Even when i take my dog out for a drive, he loves to stick his face out of the window rolled down 2/3rds of its actual capacity.

Now coming to what actually will get people to book the vehicle......The cost. If Nissan get their act together and price it as a killer, things will go Nissan's way. The price has to be in the sub 10-11 lakh bracket. Anything more will get people to reject it outright. The Xylo has done nothing to reduce Innova's sales, so the Evalia has to be another couple of Lakhs below and it is quite easy for them, using a smaller block as compared to all others. So it will all boil down to the price in the end. If one wants more power, one can get an aftermarket box like the Pete's box to make it a whole lot more peppier.

Space always comes at a premium and if Nissan can deliver this at a considerable price advantage over its competitors, this one will be a great opportunity for Nissan.

Im going to get a test drive asap and if the things mentioned above are not that mucg of an issue, ill be getting one.

I didnt even consider the Ertiga because that is not in the same bracket. THis is Innova/Tavera/Xylo/ territory, more so the Innova.

One thing i cant understand. Why no lidded glove box?

While one company screws up the front-end (read Tata Aria, Tata Indica, etc), Nissan has royally screwed up the rear-end of this vehicle! I wish this car retains its front-end and gets Aria's rear! With simple pull-open rear-doors (not the sliding ones), factory-fitted roof bars, roof-spoiler, and power-rear-windows, this could be my next car!

If this is the case, i wish to know which version in a model lineup is considered by ARAI for mileage?

If its the base version,Nissan could have considered fitting 175 profile tyres on all but the base version, this could have served both purposes.

I think if you follow in the footsteps of your Innova (black + alloys + tyre upgrade) the Evalia will look significantly better. See the picture here

Keen to know what you think after your TD!

Good question. I'm not sure what the answer is.

Have posted it in this thread : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2887537

cya
R

The thing is that in the Innova, the OE alloys did allow for the upgrade. With these tyres i doubt the OE alloys or rims will allow for an upgrade to a 205 which, IMHO should be the minimum rubber for this vehicle. Also i would stick with the 14" rim size, merely for the awesome turning radius and availability ease of the tyres. All this after TD and decision.


Ill put up my thoughts as soon as i get a chance to get behind the wheel. The deciding factors for will be;

1) Drivability - mostly owing to the fact that i tend to drive myself 75% of the times, whether or not the driver is available,

2) On road manners - this will do many trips out of Bombay on the highway, most of them being Bombay Poona and well in Maharashtra.

3) Engine pep and behavior - mostly in the city and also on the highway

4) Seating comfort

5) Driving Visibility and ease of moving it around the trafffic.

6) Price as directly compared to the Innova.

Looks i dont care for much in a vehicle like this. If the Qualis and the MB-100 looks were not a problem, i dont see a hitch here.


I wonder what it would behave like if Peted (or given similar treatment)? Ive seen an Innova do drastic things, my own Octavia was Peted and it was a blast to drive so i guess the Evalia if Peted should also be a much fun vehicle to drive.

Seriously doubt whether you can upsize from 165 to 205 on OE rims. That's a 40mm increase! Also other issues such as the tyre rubbing against the body will be an issue. I think 185 might be doable, but not more than that.

Exactly, thats why i had mentioned that one might want to invest in non OE rims.

185 might IMHO suffice. i had 195s on my Versa. This vehicle will need at least 205s. Since the wheel well is big enough, im sure they have kept n option for increase in the tyre width, anyways all this we can only know when a technical person from Nissan will be available for queries. It will be scary for anything lower than 205s considering the taller stance, even to the Innova.

Very Nice & Detailed review. This review has everything that a prospective car buyer looks for in a shortlisted car, Its a one stop shop to find answers to all queries. I currently own a Ritz VDI and am looking to trade my Ritz for either Ertiga or Evalia as I need a bigger car. In an earlier post some one said " I have owned a Versa and hated everything except that it was a RWD". What are the advantages of RWD over FWD? Are both Ertiga and Evalia RWD vehicles? From what I understand, RWD vehicles have a pumpkin joining the rear axle. Oil levels in the Pumpkin has to be checked and changed unlike in a FWD car. Can a vehicle of the size of Evalia be FWD??

I wonder if, as a part of the 2-brand strategy, Renault will launch a significantly better looking twin of the Evalia that has bigger tyres, with the butterfly windows replaced with normal ones, more body curves and more mainstream personal vehicle styling to take on the Innova. The Evalia could be more of a taxi segment oriented vehicle.

Nissan confirms launch on 26th Sept.

http://indianautosblog.com/2012/09/n...a-september-26