[400notout]

Nice review! Looks like a decent entry level hatch but i think the price could have been lower.

One question i have is the price now begins 3.12L ex-showroom, Does this include the excise duty sops by the govt.? or will it change once excise is increased?

Also I find this car to offer lots of space, decent driveability, and the information display at a tight budget. That would sum its USP.

Also the production of such cars makes me wonder how much an eon/spark/alto would cost with the omissions/alterations like;

Grab handles,
Glovebox lid,
Single wiper,
Detachable front Headrests (spark has ones),
single reverse lights,
single horn,
unknown brand tyres,
internally adjustable mirrors,
Downgrading NVH (like Making the spark engine a 3 cyl noisy pot and shed some cladding to change from being ultra quiet to adequately noisy)
etc.,

How much does a Manufacturer save with these omissions??

[harry10]

Excellent review. As usual.
I dare say the exterior at least in pictures looks the best in this segment.
However, interior is a kinda let down.

Cost cutting is fine but their are some basic things like internally adjustable Orvm which shouldn't be missed on any car in any variant. Still, people might prefer it just cos of it space which i assume is best in segment. Few missing things like fog lamps etc can be added aftermarket so that's not a big thing. Concern will be lack of service centers pan india. That's where Maruti rules and Hyundai isn't far behind.

All in all i will never buy it just cos its missing Abs and Airbags and i value my life and my loved ones more than the money we can save buying a car without safety features. Will be interesting seeing the sales number for initial months.

[Vitalstatistiks]

Excellent review. One of these days, I'd like to pick brains of senior management at auto companies as to who gives them ideas about what product to launch, its positioning etc. I mean this product is a flop from the day it was announced. Multiple factors. Lack of brand name, lack of dealer and ASS network and lack of drive/zing in publicity killed/will kill this car before take off. Even with all those negatives, if a company launches an amazing product, people will take notice. This car is barely competent. How can it hope to compete with anyone with all those negatives.

Why launch a car in this manner and incur all this expenditure ? Really wonder at times.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by thoma

how many cars provide unlimited warranty in the segment or near by?

A good point that you raised there - unlimited km warranty which shows the confidence that the manufacturer has in their product's reliability.
And regarding your guery, I don't know of any car in this segment or even a few segments above it that provide this kind of warranty.

[Sweet Chariot]

In my opinion the car looks very neat and big. liked the interiors too but not happy with the front join seats and hand brake placement. reminds me of the older outdated cars I some how see the car neither being a super hit nor a super flop.
i am guessing the average sales would stabilize around 2 to 3.5 thousand. i hope datsun keeps up the service well to woo customers from maruti/huyndai.

[Rajeevraj]

Auto car has come out with a comparison between the go and the wagon r. I thought an ideal comparison would be with the alto and eon. These days many of these comparisons on autocar site make no sense to me.

[100kmph]

Let us not bash Datsun/Nissan for the few misses. Some of the positives are:

1. Provision for fog lamp fitment. Alto does not even has a provision.
2. Interior space is at par with B2 hatches.
3. Only the drivers co-passenger grab rail is omitted. How many times does one use that while getting in or out of the car?
4. The K10 competetition cannot hold a candle in terms of low end torque to the micra derived 1.2L having 14 Nm more torque. (As per the review;I have not yet test driven one)
5. 2 years unlimited warranty as mentioned earlier in this thread is also a segment first. Puts a lot of confidence in the brand.
6. As for the tyre size, Wagon-r, Santro, A-star, Estilo also provide 13 inchers. The Alto and Eon are worse at 12 inches.
7. The rear awkward seat belts will be detached from the car within hours from purchase. How many first time car buyers use the rear seat belts?
8. Santro, Eon and Alto 800 dont provide a tacho in any variant. Now the Santro is stripped down to such an extent that it has a rotary odometer like a splendor or Activa. The Go has at least a digital tacho and a MID on the top variant.

[S.MJet]

Thanks for an excellent review.

Product is looks good for the price & in many areas better than direct competition.

Brand building will be a huge task for Nissan especially in a market where this segment buyers won't take any chances on reliability and after sales.
Will not be easy for Nissan to come anywhere close to competition volumes or have some impact on their monthly numbers.

[Sudan_NFS]

Thanks for good detailed review.

knowingly or unknowingly Nissan has made an revolution in this entry level A segment. I believe 90% of the buyers in this segment will look for space in the car they are buying and this car would perfectly fit them. If Nissan can get the dealer network straightened out in rural and suburban areas then this car could eat sales of Eon, Santro and Alto. If this car could manage at least 5000 per month in sales, then we could see other players either adding more features or would provide a better quality product to differentiate themselves in this A segment market. We could also see some repel effect in other segments too but this might take some time.

Providing airbags in this car would not make any sense, since the structural strength of this car is in question but ABS could have been provided as an option.

[lifebuoy]

A very detailed review. Thanks Bblost & Parrys.

Had a good look at this car at the Auto Expo. I tend to agree with the reviewers and with comments of S.U.N as well. The car is definately made to a cost, and it seems that the finance dept had actually had their way.

From the vintage of certain essentials, this seems to be some design of the 90s that was shelved / not pursued, which has now been brought out of hibernation and "offered" as a car to the third world country like ours !

The hand brake pull, twist and engage was last seen on the initial SUMO and was borrowed from the 407 pickup. Even TATA has emerged from that era, why is Nissan sticking to it now ? Because it's the only type that would fit in there ? I don't agree.

The cable operated direct pull lever for the bonnet - exists in the HM Amby and the Nano. Even the Indica has a decent lever mechanism.

No further explanation needed on the shut lines and panel gaps - this is an outright POOR product, by any standard. I would rate the Nano miles ahead of it.

In my opinion, Nissan has created an Alto / Nano competitor by plonking the Micra engine into an old shell, that's all. Similar engineering genius had once created the 118 NE with a 124 body and a Nissan 1.1L engine+gearbox (to create a luxury car though).

The extended co-passenger seat serves what purpose ? I can't think of any. Totally useless, made to fit in an extra child there, that's all, without saying it, I guess.

(I am comparing especially with TATA as the junta rate this manufacturer as the lowest, which is NOT my opinion).

[swiftnfurious]

The only thing I didn't like much is the 2 year / unlimited kilometer warranty. Whose going to drive this petrol car so much? More than a 10,000 kms a year? Instead they should have made a 5 year / 50,000 kms warranty which would have boosted the confidence even more. The 2 year clause is more of a gimmick where they know most of the owners would NOT clock more than a 20K kms.

Even better if they had a maintenance plan - something to the tune of "Chevrolet My Promise".

[drjkonline]

As some team bhpians have pointed out the quality of the car seems appropriate for the price and segment. It also has a few pluses like space and decent looks. Also aim left wondering if we would have looked differently if the same car came with a Diesel engine. I feel we would then have ignored the nvh issues and other shortcomings and gone ahead and praised the car. Lakhs of diesel hatches have been sold in the last few years when the corresponding petrol engines offered superb refinement and nvh levels.

[MaddyCrew]

Originally Posted by FINTAIL

Now, now! I advise some restraint, dude.

Have I experienced the car?
-Yes. Reeks of cost cutting, and what not. Compared to a WagonR, this one lags behind, by miles. K10B is preferable, compared to the junk on this.

This car reeked so much of cost cutting, that I had to double check, whether, even a fuel injection system was present, or not. It had one, surprisingly!. Seeing is believing, I say. Have you checked this, might I ask?

UNDERENGINNERED- Cost cutting everywhere. And, I was checking out a Merc W123 240D, just a while, before I saw this crate i.e The Datsun.

Compared to the bucketloads of quality on a 3 Decade old Merc, this one felt.... lets not speak about it, shall we? ITS OBVIOUS.

This nonsense! In 2014! Nissan, do you lack some sense? Saving ₹ at production level, cost cutting, what not!

And, if I'm spewing doom over the next product, the GO+, IT IS JUSTIFIED. Have a look at it. Worse than this one.

Imagine! A sub 4m MPV, with a 3 cylinder engine. No turbo, no nothing. That, my dear fellow, is the GO+

Cheers!

Quite an interesting comparison indeed my friend. You are comparing what is probably an "over engineered" piece of German luxury with a car that was built with the sole purpose of being "affordable" to an average joe in countries like India. Forget the dirt cheap options like the Go, Alto, Eon etc., IMHO a reasonably well maintained Merc will be far more superior to even the 'better' Indian hatchbacks like the Swift, i20 etc. Now the key part of that argument is how each one of us defines 'better' - for you it could be the style & comfort, for me it would be driving dynamics & the solid build, for someone else it could be the brand and so on.

I can understand your frustration regarding the fairly obvious cost cutting - but wasn't that expected for an affordable offering for the developing markets? IMHO a large section of the typical Indian customers would rather pay less for the car, rather than worry about ABS/ Airbags/ better quality plastics - proof being the biggest seller in our car market, the Maruti Alto. And I guess you do agree that the primary reason for the Alto's success is not its quality but the Maruti name - which makes it a really attractive package.

Just my my two pennies worth.

[deetjohn]

Great review! Thanks for sharing.

From the pictures, the Go looks pretty big inside out. But unfortunately size isn't everything for a car.

Alto' stronghold is the rural and suburban areas and I doubt how people will take to a new name like Datsun. I think it will be hard in the urban areas as well. You should either have a great brand which brings in a lot of trust and/ or a product which is very desirable and VFM. It will be very interesting to see how the Go fares.

There is a full page Advt in the Hindu for the Go. The base variant D doesn't have AC and the mid variant A doesn't have PS. Do people really buy cars without these today? Would love to know the sales figure for the base variant of the Alto.

I feel, 3.75 L for the variant with AC/ PS is just too much, the Eon is a much sensible option here. And its got lots of kit (driver airbag etc.), should have a great advantage on build and there are some tasty discounts on it at the moment.

Going to be a very tough sell I think.

[Kaumad]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

The only thing I didn't like much is the 2 year / unlimited kilometer warranty. Whose going to drive this petrol car so much? More than a 10,000 kms a year? Instead they should have made a 5 year / 50,000 kms warranty which would have boosted the confidence even more. The 2 year clause is more of a gimmick where they know most of the owners would NOT clock more than a 20K kms.

There is an additional 2 years extended warranty, for unlimited kilometres.
Essentially it will be a 4 years unlimited kilometres warranty.
No gimmick whatsoever, all genuine.

Originally Posted by 100kmph

Santro, Eon and Alto 800 dont provide a tacho in any variant. Now the Santro is stripped down to such an extent that it has a rotary odometer like a splendor or Activa. The Go has at least a digital tacho and a MID on the top variant.

The MID & digital tacho is standard across all GO variants.