[arunkrishnan4]

Nice review on the 'GO'! Btw, on the comparison section across A segment, shaky gear lever is mentioned as one of Eon's cons. Is it still shaky? I guess this was fixed in 2013. The shaky lever was one reason that made go for i10 instead of Eon.

With good AS.S., GO can give Eon and Alto a scare; and easily march ahead of Spark, eV2 and other A segmenters.

[garyag79]

Nice review bblost. Seems like another failed attempt to break the MSIL / Hyundai stronghold at the entry level hatch market. The exterior and interior do not invoke any emotions but that of "eew". Wish they had kept the dash simple like Alto and could have sold the car on the space that it offers.

I thought Toyota Etios was the benchmark in in your face cost cutting, but "Go" has raised the bar further.

[rahul4321]

My God! You guys really think of everything! And i'm reffering to the statement about continuous seating but no keyhole on the LHS door. So even if you slide out from there; you err- need to come back to the RHS and lock 'that' door (central locking assumed). And that kind of defeats the purpose of sliding out from the LHS door! Also the 'stretching at toll booths' statement was spot on and put up a huge grin on my face!

Its the depth of these reviews that got me attached to Team-Bhp in the first place and that legacy still goes on! I cant imagine any other automobile review magazine/show/website commenting about these two 'trivial' things- but 'we' picked it up in an endeavour to write an ultra-comprehensive review.

[jessie007]

A great comprehensive review - a standard routine now on Team-BHP. I was reading through the review, and couldn't help comparing it with the Nano. Was considering it as a third car in the family for next year. In the Datsun Go, A/C is there only in the middle 'A' variant and upwards, and only the top-end 'T' variant has power steering, power windows and mobile input for music, not to forget an awkward hand-brake (esp. for female drivers) in all variants.

The top-end 'T' variant of Datsun Go will come to around 4 lakhs on-road Delhi. If one doesn't need much boot space and running is limited to short trips within the city, Nano Twist XT at around Rs 2.5 lakhs on-road Delhi is fully loaded with all these features (A/C, power steering, power windows, remote locking, MID with Distance to Empty & average display) plus a bluetooth enabled full-fledged music system. No to forget a regular hand-brake and covered glove-box.

I understand that you get what you pay for - but the value proposition in the Nano is not bad even with a 2 cylinder 37 BHP engine and puny tires. Even passenger space in the Nano is great for such a small car and I find it better than the Alto. Warranty offered by Tata for the Nano is also good at 4 years / 60,000 kms. That said, the Datsun Go makes for a decent first or second family car.

[FINTAIL]

Originally Posted by h@r$h@l

but to me they looked like they had taken delivery of the car.
Regards,

They have indeed. So much so, that I've already seen a couple of rash driven examples.

However, this momentum of sales won't last long. Simply because, the car does not deserve the volumes. The WagonR OR The EON are actually superior.

Consider this- Majority of cars are bought on EMI's. Now- @10-13% Interest, one simply can afford a better car. Now- I'll rather risk spending my hard earned money, on a WagonR or an EON.

The GO is under-engineered. Plain and simple.

Now remember this - A car says a lot about your character. Now picturize what a Datsun GO would tell about you-

"I love cutting costs to such an extent, that I'm called a miser"

But seriously. A Datsun is a car, that when I saw it, I literally fell down with uncontrollable laughter. Simply- How can such an under-engineered car exist?!

Appaling fit & what not. Less said the better.

Things are going worse with the MPV. Imagine, an MPV which is below 4M!:

Cheers!

[blacksport]

Another sub-standard car like the Alto 800 and the Eon. But the more important thing is there are enough and more buyers in the segment. And the Go is a size bigger than their competitors, the Eon and the Alto. What needs to be seen is whether the buyers would ditch the trusted Marutis and Hyundais and try something new like Datsun. In this segment, brand name matters a lot.

Perhaps Nissan would have benefited more if they had launched this as a Nissan Go. They could have done away with the Micra active variants which is doing nothing else giving the "Micra" brand a cheap feel.

[garyag79]

Originally Posted by FINTAIL

But seriously. A Datsun is a car, that when I saw it, I literally fell down with uncontrollable laughter. Simply- How can such an under-engineered car exist?!

Appaling fit & what not. Less said the better.


Cheers!

Agree. I remember a Top gear episode way back in the early 90s and jeremy was reviewing a basic car and said "well its just a car, dont have anything else to say, it is just a car". I still hold that line whenever I see such "miser" automobiles.

[mints21]

I think they will have to rework certain areas in the long run. The missing lid from the dash is something that should not have been repeated. They did a similar mistake with Evalia. The seat belts at the rear seats and the huge panel gap under the steering which should have been covered will soon see some changes.

I really do not understand the wisdom behind designing of the front seats. If they cannot accommodate three adults then why have they gone with this design which is tough on elbow while changing the gears.

I also wonder, why do they have to wait for the consumer feedback to incorporate these changes.

[karthik123]

Excellent review! I really like the car when compared to alto and other competitors, definitely better than the aging santro, spark but I'm not so sure about the Hyundai Eon.The music player is really good! to be frank that is all most of us need these days.

For that price it looks like a nice car!

The Maruti Alto hovers over all other models like some mystical cloud.

Had me in splits!!

[Cooltronics]

Excellent review
I somehow find the rear of the car similar to Toyota Etios Liva
In terms of the entire package, I find Datsun GO to sweep over the market provided they drastically improve their ASS and build the brand image. The car in size is comparison with Swift, i10, Ritz and at the package offered, surely people are going to incline towards it for the sheer size and the Indian mentality of "badi gaadi kum paise mein" similar to what we saw in Dzire.
I also assume it to be a driver's city car, peppier than its comparison and a bigger better engine.
What it lacks is a good interior, glove box lid and has dated handbrakes & not so great seats but with the price to feature offering, my bet is on the car to make it big.

[veyron_head]

A really well written and comprehensive review bblost. Thanks for that !

Except the space, there is simply no other USP. If anything, the screen-less audio system and the locked (from outside) rear hatch would only work against it. If this were a diesel, the cabbies would line up to buy, but there is not even a CNG as an option.

But I guess this product could work in rural india where practicality could be more important than creature comforts. Could well be another rural chartbuster like the bolero.

BTW, I still don't understand why the passenger seat is bigger. I for one, would n't want to sit in that center with one leg on either side

[Dieseltuned]

This launch once again proves how backwards our country is in terms of vehicle safety parameters. These guys have gone and omitted the Fog lamps and look at that head restraint, it is more of a head breaker in case of a crash. Forget the ABS, EBD, etc.

I seem to wonder, why would a person buy this car, when at the same price tag he/she can get more better cars like WagonR !. The WagonR Vxi in roughly the same price range as the top end GO gives so much more like 'Rear Defoggers' , 'Fog lamps' , 'Height adjustable steering' , 'All 4 power windows', 'ICE with AUX and Radio and CD player' , etc, etc, etc.

I think it is high time our country has a minimum requirements set on things to be given in a vehicle!

Regards
Dieseltuned

[amolbh]

Very nicely reviewed bblost.

The car seems to be overpriced for the features. Heck, even the Maruti 800 has grab handles and a vanity mirror. The Alto800 gets internally adjustable mirrors.

The front 3/4th profile looks good. The rear wheel arches are plain ugly.

Since the car is based on the Nissan V platform, I have some hopes regarding its safety. Amongst the cmpetition, the Alto800, Alto K10 and the Nano all have pathetic safety standards. The Santro and the Spark may not be much different.

PS: Any more pics of the car in silver?

[theredliner]

Originally Posted by jessie007

There is even a D1 variant between the D & A variants, which adds passenger outside rear-view mirror, front door map pocket and front door bottle holder - basically a different interior door card. http://www.datsun.co.in/models/go.aspx

Why did they even launch the D variant? They could have launched just the D1 as D. This is the first time I am seeing a new variant which is intended mainly for providing passenger side RVMs

[AlphaLamb]

Nice work with the review, bblost and Parrys.

Overall impression is of a vehicle made to a cost point and IMO the vehicle has what it takes to ring in some numbers for Nissan/Datsun and could go on to give some scary days to the Altos and Eons (this provided Nissan can sort out some of the basics like no Grab handels, no retracable seatbelt, exposed steering column...etc).

As pointed out by one of the members, these might by rectified going forward but the biggest concern remains brand recoginition and SERVICE. Wonder how Nissan plans to cover these pain areas.